He shook his head. “No. But I’ll get the chance this August. I’ve been invited to speak at a linguistics conference in Moscow.” He stopped and looked at her as if he’d just had a brain wave. “Why don’t you and Nicole come along? You should see the country where your father was born.”

“Are you serious? I’d love to go to Russia. I can catch up on any coursework I miss, and I could take Nicole out of school for a while. But isn’t it hard to get a visa?” Her mind was galloping ahead.

“I’ll ask my hosts to arrange it. I know my parents would love to meet you. We can tag on a trip to Leningrad afterward so you can see the Romanov palaces.”

Val could hardly contain her excitement. “What about Ekaterinburg? Could we go there?” She longed to see the Ipatiev House and the town her father came from.

“It’s called Sverdlovsk now,” he replied, “and it’s closed to foreigners. The Soviets are very sensitive about the fate of their erstwhile royal family, so you’d better not mention your research while we’re there.”

“Mum’s the word,” she said. But secretly she hoped she would learn more about the Romanovs on this trip, and more about the father she had hardly known. She could take along his Fabergé box and try to find an expert to explain how it worked. Of course, she’d learn more about Bill too: it would be wonderful to travel with this seemingly perfect man who, as far as she was concerned, had yet to put a foot wrong.

Chapter 48

Leningrad, January 1944

ON JANUARY 27, 1944, THE SIEGE WAS OFFICIALLY lifted and Maria and her children joined the crowds of Leningraders celebrating in the city’s parks. They were a sorry sight, with skeletally thin faces and overcoats that hung off their shoulders. Even the young ones were stooped and pale, but the celebrations were heartfelt. No more air raids! No more gunfire! No more claustrophobic sense of being encircled by enemies!

Conditions had been improving over the last year, with the electricity and water supplies reinstated and more food arriving via the land corridor along the lake, but Maria had been unable to find any information about where Mikhail and Katya might be. Not a single letter from them had gotten through. Yuri had not returned to his apartment, which still lay empty, and she was met with blank looks wherever she tried to make inquiries. She would have to wait till the authorities brought her children back or they made their own way home.