Wonderfully told!!
Ah, crud! I cried!!
Maybe all the freakin' cold, rain, cold & rain here have gotten to me. It isn't a 100 ft of snow and all, but...
There was something deeply touching and profoundly sad about this chapter. It came in waves... roaring, reaching in and gripping your heart then ebbing, settling in like a hovering fog. Beautiful yet sad.
Nickolai and Sunshine's last moments together before their trips was sad. Stanislavsky’s tale of losing his son, then losing the light in his late beloved wife's eyes was so honest and raw... and sad. I hope it wasn't a hint of what WILL happen, versus what could happen.
Accounts of Nicholai's estrangement from his parents were always poignant, when Sunny could choax details out of him. The estrangement itself was so tragic and unnecessary. Their attitude and behavior, how they broke Nikki's poor heart, pissed me off.
So Nicholai's so-called reunion with both, which had potential to be very healing; was dissappointing and seriously pissed me off.
Was his mother in super hypocrite bitchiness mode or what? And his father? Dying and spewing venom. Thankfully the blackness didn't overcome Nicholai and drive him to put a bed pillow over his father's face and snuff him. I was tempted.
I cheered when Nicholai told him off, called him out on his shit, called him out for disrescting Stanislavsky and told him he'd never meet Sunny.
I'm not certain he should introduce Sunny to his acid-tongued mother either, for that matter. She lives in Russia, but her hear is as cold as Siberia. Brrrr.
I think I've said this before... Two things (continue to)bother me about Sunny... the fact that she never tells Nicholai that she loves him and that she has painted him into a corner by asking him a question that is a lose-lose. He loses her if he lies, as he's promised her never to lie to her... and she will know if he lies. And he loses her or will set her free rather than keep her if the light goes out in her eyes if he tells her the truth.
On a brighter, happier note; I did notice a new peace and gentlenss in Nicholai, reaching out to Kostya as he did. Sunny did ask him, even encouraged him. He complied and ut his heart into it.
I also was moved by how concerned she was about him and his sadness after the visit with his parents.
His reflecting on how she related to him even in the beginning when she should have loathed him, been cold, angry and hostile was touching, repentent.
Ohhhh... pleazzzze don't take Nicholai's Sunshine away!
You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. Youll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my Sunshine away. <sniff>