“Within two weeks!” the judge ordered. “Or you’ll find yourself back in front of me again.”

Outside the courtroom, Val hugged her attorney. The money she’d been awarded was enough to buy a decent house in Camperdown and put away a financial cushion. No more cleaning jobs. No more worrying about next month’s rent. And what was more, she would never have to see Tony again.

That evening, she explained to Nicole that a judge had decided she did not have to visit her daddy anymore.

“OK.” Nicole nodded, quite happy with this. “Will I get a new daddy now? What do we have to do? Should we apply somewhere?”

Val laughed. “I think we’ll be fine, just the two of us, without a daddy. Don’t you?”

Nicole considered this. “Can we have a rabbit? I’d rather have a rabbit anyway.”

Val agreed that this seemed a very good idea. Preferable to a man, certainly.

Peggy and Ken phoned to invite them for a celebration that weekend and Val knew she should be dancing on air. It was a huge relief, certainly. She felt proud that she would be able to give Nicole a secure childhood. If only her mom had been around to hear the news, it would have been perfect.

Chapter 37

Leningrad, October 1937

MARIA LAY AWAKE ALL NIGHT, HUGGING A SWEATER of Peter’s. She could smell him in the wool, and see the indentation of his head on the pillow next to hers. How was it possible that a person so good and true could simply be gone? What would she tell the children when they woke in the morning? Katya would never forgive herself and the little ones wouldn’t understand. How could anyone understand?

She tortured herself imagining his final moments. Did he know he was about to be executed? Did he think of her at the end? She wondered if it had been a firing squad, and if they put a sack over his head so he couldn’t see who fired the fatal shot. Or was he gassed? She had heard the NKVD had vans in which they gassed people. She prayed that however he was killed, it had been swift and efficient, unlike the bungling, bloodthirsty executioners who had slaughtered her family. Once she had his body, she would be able to tell from the expression on his face.

The first light of dawn came through the window: a new day that Peter would not see. She murmured the words of the traditional panikhida for him but they stuck in her throat. He hadn’t believed in God. Did that mean he wouldn’t go to heaven? That she wouldn’t meet him again on the other side?

She heard the children wakening, Mikhail calling to Yelena. Now was the moment when she must end their childhoods.

Five minutes, she decided. Let them have five more minutes of happiness. Then she would tell them.

* * *