Mari Saat - The Saviour of Lasnamäe

Then Vova turned to Natalya again, patted her on the shoulder and said softly, rapidly, “Kiira’s explained that you have a daughter, but Jaakko said that that doesn’t matter, he has two sons, both grown up. Kiira’s explained that you live only for your daughter, that she was the only reason that you ever did the work you did here for us… But Jaakko said that it’s completely understandable for women to live just for their children and that he won’t interfere with that, he wouldn’t disrupt your lives, he’d have no idea how to bring a daughter up… He doesn’t know a thing about women – he wouldn’t have the cheek to disrupt your daughter’s life…”

“Kiira said that you have a dream, that you liked Crimea, being by the warm sea… But Crimea isn’t what it used to be in our day. There’s a war in Crimea these days – they might not be fighting at the moment but everything’s in turmoil and it’s poor – there’re no spas or holiday accommodations there any more… But Jaakko says that there’s warm blue sea elsewhere – in Greece, Italy… There’s a rocky island in the middle of the sea, Capri, it’s even more beautiful than Crimea, and the water there is like a precious stone, clear and limpid…”

Natalya lifted her gaze again and looked directly at Jaakko – his eyes were clear and light… But somewhere in the innermost depths of those eyes she saw looking back at her the same yearning, the same sadness that moments before had again flooded through her being like the spring rain…

“Oh Lord,” she thought in bewilderment, “oh God, could I really? Could I really settle for him and not end up despising him?”

© Mari Saat 2015

Translation copyright © Vagabond Voices Publishing Ltd.

November 2015

First published on 2 November 2015 by Vagabond Voices Publishing Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland.

ISBN: 978–1–908251–54–1

The author’s right to be identified as author of this book under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has been asserted.

Printed and bound in Poland

Cover design by Mark Mechan

Typeset by Park Productions

The publisher acknowledges subsidy towards this translation from the Estonian Cultural Endowment

The publisher acknowledges subsidy towards this publication from Creative Scotland

For further information on Vagabond Voices, see the website, www.vagabondvoices.co.uk