“Nina, have you finished writing your book?”

My heart breaks every time my mom asks me this question. I laugh and cry at the same time. Despite her dementia, she still connects “work and the book”; her memory of me writing books and numerous articles, still exists.

“Yes, I have finished my book!” I answered her proudly last January.

I wrote my book in my native Russian language. It was accepted by the leading Russian publisher, Eksmo, who contracted to publish, sell, and organise a promotional tour with book signings.

I was very proud and excited to be included in their roster of many famous Russian and foreign authors. We were almost finished and were working on the cover design when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

“I won’t publish it!” I told my mother with sorrow.

I immediately cancelled the contract.

My dear readers, I would like to share an excerpt with you:

The afternoon I first met Bill, we walked to a small cove next to Horseshoe Bay.

A radiant sun shone on a sea so turquoise it took my breath away. White birds soared over the white crested waves, and the wind blew through my hair with a caress of salt and sea.

We were walking slowly together, barefoot on the pink sand.

It was our first time alone together.

We gently asked each other questions about our past and present, revealing ourselves with great care as strangers do when they feel a deep attraction. I told Bill my home is now Vancouver and I live and work on a cruise ship but I am originally from Russia.

Bill told me he is Bermudian, he loves the ocean and, on his return from a dive trip to Indonesia two weeks prior, he flew over Russia. The pilot announced: “If you look below, you will see Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the second largest body of fresh water in the world and the deepest lake anywhere.”

Everyone on the plane was asleep. Bill looked out the porthole and saw vast midnight blue waters surrounded by the endless green taiga of the boreal forest stretching empty and pure, vanishing in the curve of the distant horizon.

We stopped walking. The ocean foam swirled among our toes. He looked at me and said softly: “I wondered then who lives there? Does anyone live there?”

My heart fluttered. I turned to look at him in total surprise. I took his hands in mine for the first time and he looked deeply into my eyes.

"I lived there." His hands were warm and held mine gently.

He slowly smiled, holding my gaze, and I knew he pictured me on the shore of that eternal shimmering lake with the sun falling on my upturned face, my blue-green eyes reflecting the dancing shadows of the white birch trees with their autumn leaves of gold; a young girl alone in the heart of a wilderness so vast it stretched to the Arctic Sea.

He heard the howling of wolves at night, the soft padding of Siberian tigers in the moonlight, and saw a sky flung with stars clear as diamonds; for a moment, he held the hands of a young girl in a land of mystery, and heard the drumming of shamans and the rustle of forests alive with ancient secrets.

I fell in love with him at that very moment.

Why did he mention Lake Baikal? How did he know that in all of the vastness of Russia this is my place?” I was lost in wonder.

Such a coincidence simply does not exist. At this moment, I realised this was not just a casual meeting. It was fate. I felt that something already bound us together. It was such a strong feeling, I felt my world shift.

“I have to get back to the cruise ship,” I said breathlessly. “There are very strict rules and I have to be back by 3pm.”

"Where are you going now?“ Bill asked me. I saw the loss in his eyes.

“Back to New York and then around the Caribbean islands.”

"’Will you ever come back to Bermuda again?"

"In ten days.”

"Ten days! Would you like to go on a date with me then?”

"Yes, I would.”

I spoke with great certainty.

Bill told me weeks later that there was such gravity in my reply, that he knew.

He just knew. As for himself, he had already fallen in love with me the instant he saw me walking in Dockyard a few hours earlier.

"Could you meet me on May 21 at 10am at the same place where you first asked me for directions?”

“Yes. We will exchange e-mails, but I am sure.”

I returned to the ship with a happy smile and butterflies in my stomach. I sang and danced in my cabin. After ten years, I am still dancing, smiling, and have found the true love I dreamt of as a girl.

The name of my book is Love on the Turquoise Sea. I hope to translate all of it into English. It is my dream, when published, to give it to my dearest mom.

I will hug her and tell her: “Thank you for your motivation and encouragement. Thank you for believing in me!”

And thank you, my husband, Bill, for being the poet and the warrior, and for always seeing the girl in me, standing in the autumn gold on the shores of Lake Baikal.

Nina London is the founder of Mermaid Wellness Centre for Women and a certified Qigong and laughter yoga teacher. Her mission is to support and help cancer patients and survivors and inspire mature women to make positive changes in their body and mind. Contact her at www.ninalondon.com and on Instagram: @coachninalondon