Birthday presents and reunions

We walked to the car with Josh's arm around my waist as I paid little attention to the road with my eyes more focused on the gorgeous engagement ring on my hand. Josh knew this as I kept gushing on and on about it but surprisingly he would not let me have my phone back so I could call my sisters as well as friends about the engagement. I just ended up agreeing with him to tell the tomorrow, I was just so happy to finally be engaged to him.

We soon got to the car and Josh got the door for me as he always did, I smiled and said thank you before sitting in the car as Josh gave me my bag which he had been holding for me since we got up from the table. He soon got inside the car as I fastened my seat belt and soon took off towards the mansion in Beverly Hills. Luckily there wasn't much traffic so we got back home in under 20 minutes.

When we got home all the lights were off and Josh soon parked the car before we got out of the car. We walked to the main entrance since I had left the keys to the entrance that could be used via the garage in my car. We walked to the main entrance as Josh held my waist while gently rubbing it as he usually did when we were slow walking.

As we opened the door the lights came on which made me jump in a fight of surprise straight into Josh's waiting arms as I heard a chorus "Surprise!" From all around the now bright room.

"Happy birthday Ana!" The chorus said once more.

I smiled while my heart was still beating fast from getting surprised. Josh chuckled earning him a light punch on his chest from me. I turned to see everyone in the room who was pretty much everyone I knew here, Zlata, Olga, Stella, Natasha, Priyanka and a whole lot of other people.

"She said yes!" Josh shouted from behind me which made everyone cheer.

I smiled happily as my older sister in all but blood came and hugged me tightly while congratulating me.

"Ana?" Josh called out from behind me.

I turned to face my fiancé who smiled as he reached his hand towards me. I took his hand into mine gently while smiling as he pulled me closer to him. I literally melted into his embrace as he hugged me.

"There is someone who wants to say happy birthday too my love." Josh said and I looked at him in both confusion as well as surprise.

"Привет Ана." I heard a familiar voice which made me freeze.

I turned around from Josh to see a short 40 something year old blonde haired woman wearing a pair of blue jeans, a shirt with Judas Priest and a pair of low profile heels. She smiled towards me showing her perly white and a forming crow's foot on an otherwise young face. I let go of Josh very slowly afraid of moving to fast least she disappears again.

As I slowly walked towards her I did not realise that I had tears flowing down my face as the woman in front of me opened her arms wide. I crushed into her embrace and held her tightly as I cried, not loudly but silently.

"Мама." I whispered as I cried.

She just said nothing, maybe out of guilt maybe because she had nothing to say I don't know but all I knew was I had seen my mother today for the first time in almost half a decade. The last time I saw my mother was when I was 17 and she had said she was leaving to go to Serbia with her boyfriend. I wanted to be angry, I really did if it was still the old Ana she would have been pissed off but I had realised early on that my new mother had been a caged bird who wanted to never be tied down again after she left her home.

Because she had me she had to try to be responsible which was hard as she had not one bone of being a responsible person let alone a parent. I was just lucky she had enough sense to put me with the kind nanny downstairs in the building I grew up in otherwise I would have probably died before I turned four.

"Я извиняюсь Анастасия." She said after the hug ended and I just smiled brightly towards her.

"Это нормально, я понимаю маму." I replied as I smiled towards her.

We stayed in silence for a moment before Stella broke the peace by saying it was time for cake. I just laughed and hugged my mother once more because it could be the last time I did so as she could just skip town once again. We talked and talked as I subconsciously kept my mother where I could see her because I was afraid she would leave.

I got so many presents from everyone but honestly what mattered to me was having such great relationships with everyone here today. My mother surprisingly had a gift for me as well and she handed it to me. I was so excited about getting a gift from her I opened it as soon as I said thank you.

In the present wrap was a picture of a younger version of my mother which was pretty much a different version of me with blue eyes and not as curvy as I am. Next to her was a man who I had never seen before but he was tall, rugged which was pretty much how most men in my mother's generation were soon after the fall of communism in Russia. Similarly to me he had the same eyes as me. Between the two of them was me but a baby version of me, the only reason I knew it was me was because of the eyes, hair and the clothes I was wearing which I was very familiar with because I had seen them in some of my baby pictures.

"Мне жаль, что меня давало много времени, чтобы сказать вам, что человек твой отец. Я думал, что он умер, но он очень жив, и он хотел встретиться с вами так много, после того, как он услышал о тебе от Злата своей дочери, твоей сестры." My mother said as I looked between her and Zlata who stood next to Olga who was just as surprised.

I had never met any of Zlata's other family members except for Olga but I was still surprised to find we were related. We group hugged as mother looked on while everyone celebrated. We then continued to party until late into the evening when everyone had to start leaving to go home.

I thanked everyone who had come to celebrate my birthday and soon made the bed to the guest room for my mother who I sincerely hoped would be there in the morning. Olga, Zlata and Sergei declined to stay saying they were in a hotel but after some nagging they finally agreed to stay in the guest rooms. I was all smiles when I got to my and Josh's bedroom.

"Thank you so much for such an amazing birthday." I said to Josh as I straddled his lap.

He grinned and stood up as I wrapped my long legs around his torso as he kissed my lips.

"Who said that that's all I had planned for your birthday my love?" Josh grinned.