“Mama, you are fifty years old. Don’t you think you are rather old to be mending conveyor belts? Why not retire and let your children look after you?” Stepan had clearly given this a lot of thought.

Maria didn’t love her job, but she enjoyed the company of the other women there. “I couldn’t just stay at home and do nothing,” she protested. “I need to be occupied. Anyway, what about my missing persons file?”

Ludmilla had a suggestion. “Why not give your file to the missing persons office in town? They have details of many more people than you, so the chances of them achieving reunions is surely higher.”

“They didn’t find Mikhail,” Maria objected. “They can’t find Katya.” The truth was, it was simply a job to the women there, while for her it was a mission. If she kept searching, she hoped that one day she would find Katya and then maybe Tatiana. But if she gave up, it wouldn’t happen.

Ludmilla clutched her hand tightly. “You know I think of you as the mother I no longer have. Please say you will be with me for the birth.”

“Yes, of course I will,” Maria agreed. She wouldn’t have missed that for the world.

* * *

Stepan and Ludmilla moved into their Petrodvorets apartment in March 1950, and Maria went to visit soon after. It was a clean, spacious modern block with communal gardens all around and pleasant views across town. Ludmilla had put up some watercolors of flowers that Maria had given them as an Easter gift and they looked very grand in gilt frames.

“This would be yours,” Stepan said, leading her into a large corner room with windows on two walls that looked out onto some lime trees.

Maria had to admit it was nice. She could imagine sleeping there and wakening to see the branches swaying against the sky and hear the rustling of leaves.

“I’ll stay some of the time,” she agreed before leaving. “When you need me. But my home will still be in Leningrad.”

Stepan nodded, with a smile. “That’s fine, Mama. Let’s just see how it goes.”

* * *

On her next visit, Maria brought vegetable seeds and cultivated a patch at the back of the garden. She liked gardening. It was peaceful there, and full of birdsong from rosefinches, siskins, and nightingales, as well as the squawks of hooded crows.

When Ludmilla reached her eighth month, Maria took over the shopping and cooking to ensure there was a proper meal ready for Stepan when he got home, and that her new grandchild got plenty of good nutrition.