Chapter 14

                                    

                                          
 "The first time I fell in love, it was with a girl from Pravda. She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen up to then. She was tall, slender, and had long flowing hair. We were young at the time, perhaps 16 or 17, old enough to think we understood the world, but not old enough to even start to. She was here in the country to spend time with her uncle and aunt for the summer, and I was here because, well, I was born here.
                          
	"Anyway, we met in the town's square. In those days there was a fountain since not too many people had wells and it gave people a place to go and get water for their utilities and to drink. And on this particular day, the two of us were there to collect water for our respective families. I remember looking at her as the two of us filled buckets. I thought I was so clever, turning away to look past her whenever she looked towards me.
                          
 	"At the end of the day she simply walked over to me and said 'hi' and we struck up a conversation. We talked about the weather, and then each other, where we were from, what we each liked, some basic aspirations, and we decided to meet there again sometime later the next day. And so I came and we met and we had a nice time. We walked around town, I bought her flowers, she held my arm....
                          
 	"We had a nice summer together but we had to split up, since she was going back to school at Pravda, and I was needed on the farm for the harvest to come. We swore to meet again the next summer. And so fall passed and spring passed and at last summer came. And there I went, flowers in hand to the fountain where we met and there she stood, beside her new lover. I asked her why she didn't wait for me to which she said, she changed her mind, and that was the first time I had my heart broken."
                          
 	"So what did you do?" asked Katyusha.
                          
 	"I learned not to fall for those who had yet to prove themselves worth loving. It saved me a lot of heart break."
                          
	"But what about when your family died."
                          
 	"I wasn't heart broken by that. Well let me rephrase that. I was, especially in the time afterwards, but it wasn't that hard for me to understand the emotions, it was hard for me understand why people could do awful things to others. What hurt was thinking about the suffering my family had to go through at their end. But, I guess... I guess, I'm not heartbroken by it anymore. Sure they've left me here on earth, but I know they're in a better place. They never really left me. Someday, I'll see them again," said Vanya, looking down into his lap. "But, after losing the love of my life, nothing really ever hurt so bad as that. Until losing Nonna." Vanya looked at Katyusha and whispered, "Now all I have is you."
                          
 	Katyusha leaned against Vanya and put an arm around him. "Vanya?"
                          
 	"Yes, Katyusha?"
                          
 	"Is Nonna with me still?"
                          
 	"She is. Not in body, but in spirit."
                          
 	"Do you suppose she can hear me?"
                          
 	"I think so."
                          
 	Katyusha was still for some time, holding still onto Vanya's arm until at last whispering, "I love you, Nonna. I miss you, and I love you." Vanya wrapped his arm around Katyusha and pulled her in close to him. "I wish we never had to leave from this embrace," whispered Katyusha.
                          
 	"I can hold you as long as you need me to," replied Vanya.  
                          
	"When Nonna used to take me to nap she would often sing a song for me, but it wasn't really the song that helped me sleep, it was her singing it for me. And her being with me." Katyusha pushed her head into Vanya's chest and sighed. "I may not have her body by my side, but I'm thankful to have you," she said.  
                          
	"You know you really shouldn't fear loving again. Life will come and knock us down, but as long as we have love, we can pick ourselves back up. That's the thing about Verniy, I realized. I never stopped loving her. And I think that kept me going through all the hard times I had in my life."