“She was old,” Maria said. “She must have been eighty. I hope the end came peacefully.”

“But your aunt Olga lives on a farm near Copenhagen, where she has raised two sons. Matthias said she enjoys painting watercolors and sometimes exhibits them.”

Maria remembered Olga encouraging her drawing when she was younger and felt a wave of longing to see her. Copenhagen was closer than Berlin; they were linked by the same sea. But that made no difference when it was virtually impossible for Soviet citizens to travel.

“If only Matthias could hide us on his ship and take us to Copenhagen,” she wished out loud, then looked for Peter’s reaction. “Do you think he might, if we paid him with a diamond?”

Peter pondered this. The jewels Maria had sewn into her clothes at the Ekaterinburg house were hidden beneath a floorboard under their bed. They couldn’t risk trying to sell them in the Soviet Union, where they would instantly have marked them out as kulaks, but Matthias would be able to sell them in Denmark.

“Do you mean for a visit, or to stay there?” he asked.

She turned her head away. She had been thinking perhaps they could all move to Denmark and live with her aunt, but that wouldn’t be fair to Peter. It wasn’t his family, he didn’t speak any language but Russian, and besides, he loved his country. “A visit, certainly, to see how the land lies.”

Peter nodded. “I don’t think it is practical for us to take all the children and then attempt to return again. The entry requirements at the port are very strict. But perhaps you could visit your aunt. I will see what Matthias says.”

Maria panicked. “I couldn’t go alone. Who would look after the children?”

“I would manage, with the help of Stepan and Irina.”

She did not say so, but she knew she could not get through so much as a day without Peter. She would be heartsick the entire time. He was as necessary to her as air.

“Perhaps I will write first,” she decided. “Will Matthias take a letter for us, do you think?”

“I am sure he would,” Peter said. “He is an agreeable man.”

* * *

My dearest aunt, Maria wrote. I have recently been overwhelmed with joy to hear that you are alive and living in Copenhagen. I hope Uncle Nikolai is with you and that your life is full of happiness. I have such wonderful memories of the time you spent with us at Tsarskoe Selo and all the parties you took us to before the Great War.