Who is Tony Sanford

I wasn't quite sure what to do, whether to be worried or to simply accept Dimitri as a friend. Perhaps I'd know more when Tony returned. I hoped so.

It was over an hour fretfully filled with pacing and a feeble attempt at reading a book before Tony returned.

I gave him a questioning shrug.

"He's still willing to be a double but isn't able to. But for him, there's nothing in the world that's more important than Ukraine, and he would do anything to help her."

"That's okay, isn't it?"

"It sounds good to me."

After all of that, it was a very satisfying evening and bedtime and beyond.

It was Saturday morning, and Tony was off to the gym, which usually covered two hours. I'd just finished the last donut when the was a knock at the door. I wondered if Tony had forgotten something. I opened the door.

"Hello, Jasmine. Do you have a moment to talk? It's important," Dimitri said.

I had no reason not to talk to him.

"Sure, come on in. I'd offer you a donut, but I ate the last one."

He smiled. " I had breakfast, but thank you. How long have you known, um, Tony?"

I eyed Dimitri. Why was that important to him? I shrugged.

"A few months?" Dimitri suggested.

"Probably."

He shook his head. "Did he tell you that he has a wife in Ukraine?"

"What?" I said, my head snapping around.

"And two children."

"That can't be true!" I exclaimed, already in shock.

"I spoke with Vasily yesterday, trying to talk him into telling you, but he said there was no need to."

"I don't understand," I said, already trembling.

"There is no possibility of his wife and children ever coming to the United States, and he has no plans to return to Ukraine. He wants to have a family here since I think he misses the other."

Could what he was saying be true? I hadn't seen or heard anything to indicate that it was. Could I have missed something? Tony had said that Dimitri could be trusted, but now it seemed that Tony was the one who couldn't be trusted.

"I'm sorry I had to tell you, Jasmine, but it only seemed right. I just couldn't stand to see him lead you on this way. I did my best to convince him that the honorable thing to do was to tell you, but he couldn't see it. He insisted that his life in Ukraine was over, and he wanted this new life. He actually threatened me if I should as much as hint this to you, but I'm not afraid. I'll just disappear now."

"Thanks, I guess," I said as Dimitri closed the door behind him.

I ran to the bathroom, dropped to my knees, and puked over and over. At last empty, I stood, walked to the bedroom, and cried. I grabbed a few clothes and tossed them into a garbage bag. I wiped my tears with the sleeve of my shirt and closed the door to my apartment, and a part of my life that I had imagined would end quite differently than it was ending.

I took the elevator to the lobby level, peeked around the corner, and saw that Pierre was occupied. I hurried to the door into the parking garage, tossed the bag into the backseat of my car, and I was off to I had no idea what.

After several blocks, I pulled into a parking lot and called Niki.

"Hi, Jas. Sup?"

"My whole world just crashed, Niki." The sobs began again.

"Jas, what's wrong? Tell me."

"Can I crash at your place? I'll tell you about it."

"Sure, you can, but what the hell?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

I stuffed the phone away and began the twenty-minute drive, concentrating on my driving, mostly to occupy my mind. When I pulled into Niki's driveway, she was standing on the porch, waiting.

"May I park my car in your garage?" I could tell that she was willing to help but would need thewhy quickly. She opened the double-wide door, rearranged a few things, and I pulled in beside her car. She put the door down, and we went inside.

Niki sat down on the couch and waited.

I took a deep breath. "Tony has a wife and children in Ukraine."

"He told you that?"

"Of course not. He doesn't know that I know yet."

"How'd you find out, then?"

This is where things got difficult. Despite what had happened, I wasn't quite ready to reveal everything.

"A friend of his told me."

"You're sure this friend isn't hot for redheads, and I don't think you ever said that Tony was from Ukraine."

"No, the friend said I'd probably never see him again, but he thought I needed to know."

As I said that, what I was talking about brought all my emotions to the surface once more, and I began to cry.

"Jas, how could he do that? I mean, he seemed to be so in love with you."

Through my tears, I told Niki much of what had happened, her mouth hanging open most of the time.

"Do you want me to be with you when you confront him?"

I hadn't considered confronting him. I hadn't considered much of anything except what Dimitri had told me. Confront him?

"I never want to see him again, Nik. I think I'd throw up." The heat of my anger was drying up the tears.

"He might have something he'd like to say to you."

"I'm through. I never want to talk to him or see him again."

My phone buzzed. I handed it to Niki.

"It's Tony."

"Just switch my phone off."

"Jas, shouldn't you --?"

" -- Please." I watched her switch the phone off.

"He'll just keep calling. Want me to block his number?"

"He'd just get another phone, which I'm going to do tomorrow. I can register it and charge it to work."

We spent the rest of the evening reminiscing and lamenting, and I don't know how many times Niki said she couldn't believe that Tony would do something like that.

I reminded her that I would have married him in a minute and that maybe that was why he hadn't asked me. I didn't sleep well that night either in a strange bed with my brain in overdrive.

~~~

I drove to work early on Monday, parked in a public garage about a block and a half from work, and then crept down the alley and in the back door. I had a master key, so that was no problem.

I turned on my phone, erased all messages from Tony, and removed him from the contacts list. I used a Post-It note to remind myself to get a new phone. We did a lot of business with a local Verizon store, so I'd order the phone and have them deliver it. That afternoon, with the new phone set up and working, I texted everyone in my contacts list with my new cell phone number and suggested they not use the old one as they would most likely get no response.

After work that Monday and all the days that followed, I would sneak out the back door and along the alley to the parking garage and head off to Niki's. After a few days of that, it began to anger me that I was the one sneaking around when it should have been Tony doing that. But it continued, and I did avoid seeing Tony if he was indeed outside looking for me.

Work was my savior as it occupied my mind during the day. Niki was very competitive, and we played games in the evening with her keeping a continuous score on some of them. I had contacted the apartment building, and there was no problem with my lease, as they had a considerable waiting list, and there'd only be a small charge for cleaning it.

I was in the process of finding a new place to live so that I wouldn't be infringing on Niki's hospitality much longer. I would miss the beautiful place I'd had but was sure I'd be able to find something at least close to it.

I'd thought I would recover emotionally faster than I did, but I decided I had been so invested in Tony and him being a part of the rest of my life that it was taking longer than I'd expected. I had lots of pictures on my old phone, and every once in a while, when I was in my room alone, I'd look at them. Sometimes, there was even a sniffle or two.

It was a Saturday morning, and Niki had gone shopping for a dress to wear to a friend's wedding. I'd picked out an apartment and expected to be with Niki for only another two weeks, so I'd decided to stock her place with groceries to cover those two weeks. As I backed out of the garage, I checked the rearview mirror... and there was someone standing there blocking my path - Tony. A million thoughts tumbled over each other in my brain. I rolled down the window.

"Move, or I swear to God I'll back over you," I shouted.

"Shut off the engine, and I'll move."

"Tony, I'm warning you."

"Jasmine, I just need a few minutes of your time."

You could have had the rest of my life, I thought, except for what you left in Ukraine.

"Please. I can't say you owe me, but I'm begging you. Please."

He sounded, well, frantically sad, and his voice had a futile tone to it. I shut off the engine and stepped out of the car, hands on hips in defiance.

"Thank you," he said as he approached me. He shrugged his shoulders. "What happened?" he said.

"What happened? You tell me what happened."

"I have no idea. I came home, and you were gone and clearly didn't want to talk to me. I had no idea then, and I still don't." His expression was one of utter futility, and I began to ponder."

"Dimitri stopped by to talk with me."

He frowned. "Yes, and what did he tell you?"

"Nothing important, except for the wife and children you left in Ukraine."

His eyes flew open wide. "WHAT!" he fairly screamed, frightening me.

"I guess you forgot to tell me about that."

He grabbed my hand and held on as I fought to free it.

"As God is my witness, I have never had a wife in Ukraine or anywhere else. And I have no children either. I swear that to you, Jasmine. I swear."

There was passion in his answer that was difficult to ignore. But why would Dimitri tell me that if it wasn't true? Perhaps I should ask.

"Why would Dimitri tell me that, then?"

"For Dimitri, there is only one thing - Ukraine. There is no family, no fun, no anything but Ukraine. He would do anything for her. He came to me and insisted that I return and help them deal with the Russians. I speak Russian fluently and could possibly be a spy for them since I have experience and knowledge along those lines. I told him I had given a part of my life to that, and I was ready now to start a life with the woman I loved. He kept insisting and saying everything he could to get me to change my mind. I assured him that nothing could change my mind. So, he lied to change your mind."

I was hearing the words, and they were registering, and they were certainly words that my heart had been longing to hear. But I had spent weeks clearing those kinds of things from my mind, and now they were here again.

"How can I be sure that what you're saying is true?" I knew that was a question that only I could answer, but...

He dropped to one knee. "Only you can answer that, Jas. But I love you more than anything I'd ever imagined, and not knowing where you were or why I couldn't contact you had me reviewing everything I'd ever done or said to you, hoping to find whatever it might have been and correct it. Finally, I knew I had to find you and ask. At this very instant, my head, heart, and entire being are yours. I can only pray that you believe me and still love me."

The hardened spy had a tear coming from his right eye.

I dropped to my knees in front of him. "I love you, Tony, and it nearly broke me all these weeks telling myself that I didn't and that you weren't what I thought you were. Can you forgive me for that?"

"There's nothing to forgive. You believed an excellent and very selfish liar who's very lucky that he's on the way back to Ukraine." He smiled. "As long as I'm here on my knee, would you marry me?"

I couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago, I didn't want to talk to Tony, and now I was going to say yes to his proposal."

"I will marry you, Tony, of course."

Before I could hug and kiss him, he put his hands together and looked skyward.

"There is a God in heaven, and He answers prayers." He grabbed me and squeezed me so tightly that I could barely breathe. I've missed the aroma of your hair, the feel of your skin, the sparkle of your beautiful eyes, and most of all, the sound of your voice. I've missed you, Jas, and I don't know if I could stand missing you like that again. "

My head was on his shoulder, my tears wetting his shirt. It seemed that the sun was lighting an earth that was rotating once again.

"I love you, Jas," he whispered as he nibbled my ear.

"I never thought I'd hear those words again," I answered.

"You'll be hearing them often now," he said as we stood.

"I gave up my lease," I said, wondering where that thought came from. "But all my things are still there until the end of the month.

"I still have my lease, and I'm inviting you to cohabit with me there."

"Cohabit?" I asked with a giggle.

"I used it correctly, didn't I? There are other and more descriptive words I could have used."

"If you want me to live with you and have sex with you, then it's a very appropriate word."

A long and low sound came from his throat. "That's exactly what I want for the rest of my life.

It's what I wanted, too. I gathered my things from Niki's, and we headed toward the apartment in our separate cars. When I parked in the garage, I texted Niki.

Call me to find out how my world just came together again.

You can imagine what happened when Tony and I were alone again in his apartment.