Page 5 of Blood & Snow

"Aunty Nadya, will Ded Moroz bring presents even if we don't have a tree yet?"

Anya looks up from her math homework with those enormous green eyes that make refusing her impossible.

She should be focusing, but I indulge her in some pre-holiday cheer.

I sit cross-legged on my sister's living room floor, helping six-year-old Mikhail sound out words in his reading book while Anya works through multiplication tables at the kitchen table.

Their textbooks spread across every surface, pencils scattered between half-empty teacups and the remnants of dinner.

"Ded Moroz doesn't need a tree to find good children," I tell her.

"He follows the trail of excellent grades and completed homework assignments."

Mikhail giggles and points to a picture in his book.

"This rabbit has a hat just like yours, Aunt Nadya."

My knitted cap sits crooked on my head, unraveling at the edges where I've pulled loose threads.

The same navy blue wool our mother bought me three winters ago, before her cancer diagnosis changed everything.

I reach up andtouch it softly and smile at him.

My hat is threadbare now, proof that it gets used extensively in Russia's colder months.

"The rabbit looks much more fashionable than I do," I say.

"No way."

Mikhail shakes his blond head seriously.

"You're the prettiest aunt in all of Moscow."

"I'm your only aunt in all of Moscow."

I tickle him, and he giggles again.

"That makes you the prettiest by default," Anya calls from the kitchen, not looking up from her multiplication.

"Basic math, Aunt Nadya."

Irina appears in the doorway wiping her hands on a dish towel.

My sister looks tired, dark circles under her hazel eyes that remind me too much of our mother during those final months at the hospital.

Twelve-hour nursing shifts at Burdenko drain her completely, but she never complains about the work or the patients who depend on her skill.

And I'm grateful that while I've been struggling to find employment, she's been paying the bills.

"Homework finished means bath time," Irina announces.

"Both of you."

"Five more minutes," Mikhail pleads.

"Aunt Nadya was about to read the part where the rabbit finds the magic carrot."

"The magic carrot will still be magic after you've scrubbed behind your ears," Irina replies.