Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(162)

Quietly Anthony said, "Was my daddy really a major in the Red Army?"

"Yes."

Pause. "He wouldn't have missed."

"Shh, Anthony."

Tatiana thought about tomorrow.

Continuing through fear, living through fear. And worse. Living through death. Loving throughhim . Courage, Tatiana. Courage, babe. Get up, get up for me, and go on. Go on, go take care of our son, and I will take care of you.

Her guardian angel Alexander, her sweetest angel Alexander, floating above her veiled in sorrow, whispering to her:Tania, do you remember what you said to your sister as she was dying on the ice, on the Road of Life, as she was collapsing into the snow unable to walk, you said to her, come on, Dasha, get up. Alexander is trying to save your life. Show him your life means something. Get up and walk to the truck, Dasha.

Well, I'm saying it to you now. Show me your life means something. Get up and walk to the truck, Tania.

Tatiana lay next to Anthony until he was asleep. It was very late, and Vikki was still not home. Finally she got up off the bed, and went to put the pistol away into her backpack. She did not look at anything else there, but she did take the wedding rings from around her neck, kissed them once quickly and placed them in the pack too, to rest with his cap, and hisBronze Horseman book and the picture of him receiving his medal for rescuing Yuri Stepanov. To rest with his medal for rescuing Dr. Matthew Sayers from the ice--hisHero of the Soviet Union medal. Rings, medals, pictures, book, money, cap. Their two wedding photos.

All of it inside, and Alexander, too.

And Tatiana, too.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

New York, January 1946 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

NEW YEAR'S DAY. TATIANA, as usual, went ice skating in Central Park with Vikki and Anthony.

After they were done and walking to 59th Street to take a bus home, Vikki was staring at Tatiana.

"What you looking at?"

Vikki didn't reply.

"What?"

"We've passed three phone booths."

"So?"

"Aren't you going to ask me to mind Anthony for just a few minutes and run off to make your phone call?"

Tatiana stared down Fifth Avenue.

"No," she said. "But do you think Edward might be interested in going out with me again?"

Vikki beamed. "I think he's going to fly to the moon!"

She and Edward were having lunch at NYU hospital, soup and tuna sandwiches. Tatiana really liked tuna with mayo, lettuce and tomato. She had never had tuna before she came to America. Or lettuce.

"Hey," she said brightly, reaching across the table and taking his hand. "Mildred Pierceis hailed as the next masterpiece. Want to go and see it?"

"Sure. When?"

"How about Friday evening? Come over after work. I'll make you dinner, and then we'll go."

Edward paused. "You want me to come overin the evening? " he asked slowly.

"Please."

Edward looked at her hand on his, then at her. "Something is terribly wrong. What is it? Have you found out you only have five days to live?"

"No," she said. "I found out I have seventy years to live."

The next day, she was in the examination room at Ellis, filling out papers on one of the Polish refugees, when another nurse walked in and whispered, "There is someone outside to see you."

Tatiana didn't look up from the application for residency. "Who?" Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Never saw him before. Says he's from the State Department."

Tatiana looked up immediately.

Outside in the corridor, Sam Gulotta stood, dressed in a suit, waiting for her.

"Hello, Tatiana," he said. "How are you? Did you have a happy New Year?"

"I'm good, yes, and you?" she replied, and then couldn't say anything else, but reached out slowly, hoping Sam wouldn't notice, to get hold of the wall behind her.

"I've been waiting for you to call."

Very carefully, she shrugged. She didn't want him to notice she was shaking. "I didn't want to bother you anymore. You have been so patient with me over the years..."

Sam looked up and down the hall. "Is there somewhere we can go and talk?"

They went outside and sat on the benches by the swings where Anthony used to play.

"I was hoping you'd call me," Sam said.

"What's happened?" she said. "Are they still looking for me?"

He shook his head. Tatiana's white fingers bored into the sides of the bench. She was grateful for the cold that allowed her teeth an excuse to chatter.

"What?" she whispered. "You have information for me? He is dead?"

"I have something, yes. I have an inquiry on his file. As always, it went to the wrong department--Global Affairs, who forwarded it to Population, Refugees and Migration Bureau. They said it wasn't their jurisdiction, and sent it to the Department of Justice to EOIR, Executive Office for Immigration Review." Sam shook his head. "Someone should explain to them the polar difference between immigration and emigration--"

"Sam," was all Tatiana said.

"Oh, yes. I just wanted to explain the bureaucracy of our government. Everything moves in geological time. Let me tell you what the inquiry is: it's very short. An Allied American soldier, PFC Paul Markey of the 273rd Infantry Division contacted the State Department--last summer, no less--asking if they had any information about an American named Alexander Barrington."