Page 17 of The Unseen (Echoes from the Past #5)
FOURTEEN
Petrograd, Russia
Valentina’s eighteenth birthday came and went without much fanfare.
As Tanya had predicted, they ate well that week, and the one after that, but no one particularly enjoyed the food.
Elena and Ivan presented Valentina with an exquisite choker crafted of three strands of pearls and adorned at the front with a diamond-encrusted lily.
Tiny diamonds were evenly spaced throughout the necklace, their shine bringing out the luminescence of the pearls.
On any other birthday, Valentina would have been speechless with awe.
The choker was a present for a woman, not a girl, and her parents’ acknowledgement that she was now an adult, a woman about to be married, but Valentina felt nothing but sadness.
The weeks since the Revolution had been tense and frightening.
No one really knew what to expect, and as the days wore on, they tried to regain some sort of normalcy.
Petr went out every morning and brought back every newspaper he could find for the master.
As soon as he returned, Ivan locked himself in his study for the remainder of the morning, reading every word until he finally emerged in time for luncheon.
He assured everyone daily that the situation was under control and all would be well, but Valentina expected nothing less of her father.
He was surrounded by women, and like most men of his time, believed the womenfolk should be spared any unpleasantness.
Elena rarely asked, preferring to focus on domestic issues and her sparse social calendar.
People were slowly beginning to resume their lives, going about their business and even holding small gatherings to bolster their spirits.
Elena insisted on attending a musical evening and a small dinner party, but Ivan drew the line at going to the theater .
“Elena, it’s out of the question,” he said, his tone firm, as if speaking to a wayward child.
“But why? The performances have resumed and I see no reason we have to hide here and give those beasts the satisfaction of knowing we’re scared.”
“Darling, think about it,” Ivan reasoned with her, softening his tone. “Should anything happen, we’ll be trapped in a building with hundreds of other people and few exits. There will be panic and a stampede, with everyone trying to get out. It’s not safe.”
“Princess Kuragina attended an opera at the Mariinsky Theater last Saturday. She is not afraid of a stampede,” Elena argued.
“Princess Kuragina is eighty-six years old. Her children are grown and her husband’s been in the ground these past thirty years. She doesn’t have much left to lose. You, on the other hand, have our children to think about. An evening at the opera is not worth the risk.”
Elena scoffed, but didn’t argue further.
Instead, she took a different tack. “How about we host a small supper then? We were forced to cancel Valya’s birthday party, but we could make up for that.
Perhaps I can convince Angelika Mironova to come and sing for us.
She has the voice of an angel, and her brother might make a good match for Tanya one day. ”
Ivan sighed. “Lena, please. I know you’re anxious and want nothing more than for normal life to resume, but these are uncertain times. We can’t continue as if nothing’s happened.”
“You really are becoming quite stodgy, Vanya.”
“If that’s the worst you can say about me, I can live with that,” Ivan grumbled.
The morning after her parents’ argument, Valentina knocked on the door of her father’s study.
Not knowing what was really happening was much more frightening than knowing the truth, no matter how dire, and she meant to talk her father into explaining things to her.
If he believed that going to the theater wasn’t safe, then clearly, he wasn’t telling them the whole truth of the situation.
“Come,” Ivan called.
She entered and shut the door behind her. “I’d like to talk to you, Papa.”
“Are you going to demand an outing to the theater as well? I already told your mother it’s out of the question.”
“That’s not why I’m here. I need to understand what’s happening.
You burn the newspapers after you read them, and I’ve hardly been anywhere since the uprising.
I haven’t even seen Alexei, and his notes are about as informative as your daily reports.
Please, Papa, I’m a grown woman now, and I deserve to know what’s happening. ”
Ivan leaned back in his chair and studied Valentina, as if seeing her for the first time. His brown eyes softened as he looked at her and he nodded, decision made. “I suppose you’re right, Valya. You are a grown woman, and you’re different from your mother. I tend to forget that.”
“In what way am I different?” Valentina asked as she took a seat across from her father.
“Your mother was hardly more than a girl when I met her. I was charmed. She was beautiful, vivacious, and childlike, in a most endearing sort of way. Trouble is, she never really grew up. I saw to everything from the day we were married, and shielded her from anything that might distress her. I only wanted her to be happy, you see, but she’s not strong or decisive.
She never had to be. You will make a good wife to Alexei. You’ll be a true partner to him.”
“Are you saying Mama is not a true partner?” Valentina asked. Her father had never said a negative word about Elena in the presence of the children, and the revelation that he had doubts about her ability to handle hardship came as a shock.
“She’s my partner in all the ways that count, Valya, but she’s not strong-willed like you. She’s happy to let someone else make the important decisions, which has worked well for us over the years.”
“Papa, tell me what’s happening. I want to know the truth.”
Ivan sighed and leaned back in his chair.
He suddenly looked older than his forty-five years.
Valentina hadn’t noticed the strands of gray at his temples or the deepening lines bracketing his mouth.
To her, he was still her handsome Papa, but the past few weeks had taken their toll and the cracks were beginning to show.
“The truth is that no one really knows, dochenka.”
Valentina almost teared up at the endearment.
Her father rarely used the diminutive version of “daughter” to address her, not since she was little.
He still called Kolya sinok , but Kolya was seven, not really old enough to be called “son,” as an older boy would.
Her father was feeling more emotional than she’d realized.
“There are several factions vying for power, and I really don’t think the provisional government will last long.”
“Do you think it will be replaced by a new tsar?”
“That would be the ideal solution, but right now that doesn’t seem likely. Grand Duke Michael has been named successor, since he’s next in line for the throne, but he hasn’t accepted. He’s asked for ratification of his claim by an elected assembly.”
Valentina gaped at her father. She’d always been taught to believe that the Romanovs had divine right to rule.
They’d been emperors of Russia for three hundred years.
To ask an elected assembly to sanction a tsar was like asking your groom whether you might have permission to ride your own horse.
She’d never taken Grand Duke Michael for a coward, but he clearly feared the revolutionaries and had no desire to put himself in harm’s way.
“Will they ratify his claim?”
Ivan shook his head. “I don’t think so. At this stage, no elected assembly will agree on anything. Do you remember that Krylov fable I used to read to you when you were little, about the swan, pike, and crab? You loved that story.”
“You mean the one where the swan, pike, and crab were harnessed together to a wagon, but couldn’t move forward because they were all pulling in different directions?”
“That’s the one.”
“Are you saying that’s what’s happening in this country, Papa?”
“In simple terms—yes.”
“So, what would have to happen for this situation to resolve itself?” Valentina asked, but she already knew the answer. One of the factions would have to break free of the others and seize control.
“I don’t know, Valya. I really don’t know. Come summer, I will be sending you all to Pulkovo, to the Petrov dacha. You will be safer there, away from the city.”
“What about you, Papa?”
“Count Petrov and I will remain here in Petrograd. We will come to visit you, but we must protect our interests and our investments. Your mother will try to argue with me and demand that we go to our own dacha at Tsarskoye Selo, but it’s not safe right now.”
“I will back you up, Papa. Don’t worry. I like the Petrov dacha better anyway. It’s more private and we’re not constantly under the watchful eye of other summering families. ”
“I just don’t want you near the Alexander Palace.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where the royal family is being kept under house arrest.”
“Do you think they’re in danger, Papa?” Valentina asked.
She hadn’t given the royal family much thought over the past few weeks, but she suddenly wondered what became of a dethroned tsar.
What would be his role in this new Russia, and how long would the revolutionaries keep the family under arrest?
Surely they had to release them at some point.
Perhaps they would seek asylum in Europe until things settled down, and maybe, in time, Tsar Nikolai would be invited to take the throne once again.
“I don’t think they’re in any immediate danger, Valya, but their situation is certainly unique, to say the least.”
“Will you keep me up-to-date, Papa?” Valentina asked.
“I will do better than that. I will save the newspapers for you so you can read the articles for yourself, but please, do it while Tanya and Kolya are at their lessons and your mother is otherwise engaged.”
“It will be our secret.”
“Our secret,” Ivan agreed and came from behind his desk to kiss Valentina on the forehead. “You’re a good girl, Valya. May God keep you safe. Now and always.”