Hughesovka

  Evening, British Easter Day 1871

  Misha dismounted, secured his horse’s reins to the hitching post, and looked at the hospital. The oil lamps had been lit but the blinds hadn’t been drawn. To the right of the door was an office full of people. He saw Alexei and Richard, and recognised Richard’s sister Anna from the journey out of Taganrog. Sonya moved among them like a golden glittering angel. She was pouring wine and talking to Ruth, Miriam, and Nathan. He balled his fists. The last people he wanted Sonya to talk to were Nathan and Ruth.

  A hand clamped on his shoulder. Startled, he whirled around.

  Vlad looked down at him. ‘You sober now?’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Your mother lives across the road.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘What brings you here and not there, Misha?’

  ‘I wanted to ask after the man I brought in earlier.’

  ‘He’s in better condition than a drunk with a broken head has a right to be. You Cossack soldiers never learn.’

  ‘You’re a Cossack.’

  ‘But not a soldier any more, thank God and Christ.’ Vlad made the sign of the cross. ‘Your man needs rest but no one will object if you go into the office to ask after him.’

  ‘They’re having a party. I don’t want to disturb them.’

  ‘How can you disturb people you grew up with?’

  The last person Misha wanted to see was Alexei, especially in company with Nathan and Ruth. He took a package from his pocket. ‘Do me a favour, Vlad? Ask Sonya to come out. Tell her an old friend wants to see her.’ He held up the parcel. ‘I’d like to give her this.’

  Vlad smiled, showing twin rows of brown, broken teeth. ‘So it’s like that between you two, is it?’

  ‘It’s not like anything, Vlad. I haven’t seen her in years.’

  ‘It’s freezing out here. Come into the nurses’ kitchen.’

  ‘Who’s in there?’

  ‘No one. All but two porters have left for the night and they’re in the office.’

  Hospital, Hughesovka

  Evening, British Easter Day 1871

  ‘Someone in the nurses’ kitchen to see you,’ Vlad whispered to Sonya as she carried a tray of glasses out of the office. He pushed open the door to the kitchen and retreated.

  Sonya saw Misha sitting there. Alexei was right. He was taller, broader, and even better looking than she remembered.

  ‘Hello, Misha. Come to see your officer?

  ‘I came to see you.’ He thrust the package at her. ‘I would have been here sooner but the day we arrived we were confined to barracks so we could build, repair, and clean our quarters in between drills and weapon practice. As soon as everything was to the Colonel’s liking we were quarantined because of the cholera. Then there was scarlet fever. This is the first leave I’ve had since my return.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you be spending it with your mother and Praskovia?’

  ‘I’ll visit them later. Will you come with me?’

  ‘I can’t. I promised my aunt I’d spend the evening with her.’

  He took the tray from her. ‘Open your present.’

  Sonya was reluctant to take the box because she sensed what was in it.

  ‘You remember what I promised to give you the next time I saw you?’

  ‘We were children, Misha.’

  He set the tray down and wrenched the box open. Inside was a three-banded wedding ring, one in yellow, one in rose, and one in white gold. ‘It’s from a Moscow jeweller,’ he said proudly. ‘The best. He promised this ring will last a lifetime. The gold is real, top quality. I’m a captain, Sonya. We can marry …’ Sonya heard Alexei call her name. She retreated into the doorway.

  Misha grasped her wrist. ‘Sonya?’

  The look on Misha’s face was heartbreaking. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. But he left her no choice.

  ‘I’m sorry, Misha. I can’t marry you.’ She wrenched her arm free and fled.

  Glyn Edwards’ house, Hughesovka

  Evening, British Easter Day, 1871

  ‘Misha, my son!’ Yelena smothered him in an embrace. ‘God heard my prayers and brought you back to me.’ Gripping his forearms, she pushed him momentarily from her so she could study him. ‘So tall, so handsome in uniform. A captain. We had your last letter.’

  ‘It’s good to see you too, Mama.’ He disentangled himself from her arms.

  ‘I hope your colonel will allow you to spend more than five minutes with us.’

  ‘Mama, let the boy into the warm.’ Praskovia looked up from the cake she was slicing.

  ‘What do you think I’m doing, girl.’ Yelena locked her arm around Misha’s waist and pulled him into the kitchen.

  ‘I hope you’re hungry, Misha,’ Praskovia smiled.

  ‘I ate at the barracks.’ He succeeded in freeing himself from Yelena and kissed his sister’s cheek.

  ‘You’ll have a glass of cherry wine and a bliny?’ Yelena pressed.

  ‘I’d prefer vodka.’

  ‘What time do you have to be back?’

  ‘Mama, the boy has just come through the door.’

  ‘I can stay an hour or so.’ Misha took the vodka pail and glass Praskovia gave him. He filled the glass, raised it, and toasted, ‘to our family.’

  Praskovia filled three glasses with cherry wine and handed one to her mother. ‘Our family.’

  ‘Where’s Pyotr?’ Misha asked.

  ‘Seeing to the fires and stoves.’ Yelena left and reappeared with an embroidered bag and Pyotr in tow. ‘We have presents for you, Misha. We bought them at Christmas.’ She emptied the bag on the table while Misha hugged his brother.

  ‘This is from me.’ Praskovia pushed two pails of vodka towards him.

  ‘You know me so well, little sister.’

  ‘They’re not for you alone but to share with your fellow officers.’

  Misha raised his eyebrows. ‘Perhaps, if they’re good.’

  ‘From me.’ Pyotr handed him a box of cigars.

  ‘Thank you little brother, they’re expensive.’

  ‘Mr Edwards is paying me to live here and the work isn’t hard,’ Pyotr confided.

  ‘In that case, I’ll enjoy them and think of you.’

  Yelena presented him with a package wrapped in tissue paper. ‘This is from me. Every stitch made with love.’

  Misha unwrapped a hand-knitted sweater. He embraced his mother, turning his head aside so she, Pyotr, and Praskovia wouldn’t see his tears. ‘I’ve missed you, my family.’

  ‘Well, you don’t have to miss us any longer,’ Praskovia bustled around to conceal her mounting emotion. ‘Now your barracks are in order you’ll be getting regular leaves.’

  ‘Who told you they’re in order?’

  ‘Cossack soldiers visiting family and friends in Alexandrovka. It’s all over the village that your colonel couldn’t manage without you and you’ll be made a major before spring.’

  ‘I wish I knew as much, but I’ve been busy. Life’s easier for the lower ranks than officers. All they have to do is obey orders. We don’t have such an easy time. We have to check the men’s work, chastise them for not doing it properly …’

  ‘Chastise?’ It was Praskovia’s turn to raise her eyebrows.

  ‘Punish those who fail to carry out their orders efficiently and arrange for the work they left incomplete to be finished to the required standard.’

  ‘You sound like a rule book,’ Praskovia teased.

  ‘I’ve read it. As a regiment we’ve made progress. Our new quarters are finally at the required standard and provided they stay that way I should have more time to visit you.’

  ‘Alexei is living here.’ Pyotr was excited at being able to give his brother news.

  ‘I may not have been able to leave the barracks but I do know a little of what has been going on in the outside world. Are you happy working for this Welshman?’ Misha asked Yelena.

  ‘Very happy, Misha, although I can’t understand a word he says.’

  ‘Mr Edwards is making more of an effort to learn Russian than you are to learn English, Mama,’ Praskovia chided.

  ‘It’s enough that you can talk to him. We told him about you, Misha. He said you can stay here whenever you want. There are spare bedrooms in the servants’ quarters although we’ve taken on more people to help us run the house.’ Yelena pointed to the food on the table. ‘We live and eat like aristocrats. The master never complains about the cost of housekeeping or the amount of wood we use on the fires and we dine on the same meats and vegetables as him and his guests.’

  ‘You may live like aristocrats, but thanks to your hard work he lives likes a Tsar.’

  ‘He pays us as well, Misha,’ Yelena said.

  ‘How much?’

  ‘More than Mama, Pyotr, and I would earn if we were carting coal or working in Efim’s fields.’ Praskovia took her brother’s question as a reproach for the way she was caring for the family.

  ‘If Alexei is living here, I suppose you’re looking after him as well.’

  ‘Why wouldn’t we?’ she demanded. ‘He’s paying the master rent.’

  ‘Stop it, you two.’ Yelena stepped between them. ‘Sometimes I think you’ve never grown up. Misha, why spoil for a fight when we haven’t seen you in years? Sit, finish your vodka, and eat. I’ve been baking, not just for the master but for you.’

  Misha sat at the table. He emptied his pockets and set three small parcels on the table. ‘These are for you.’ He pushed a package towards Pyotr.

  ‘For me?’

  ‘For you,’ Misha smiled at his brother’s reaction to the pocket watch he’d won at cards.

  ‘They’re beautiful, Misha. Could you afford them?’ Yelena held up a pair of amber earrings.

  ‘No, but I did. I thanked you for your vodka. Aren’t you going to open your present?’ he asked Praskovia.

  She opened the box and removed a small silver and amber spider.

  ‘It seemed appropriate. You used to spend all your spare time crocheting.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She pinned it to her smock.

  The door opened. Misha rose.

  Glyn walked in. ‘Please, sit down, the last thing I want is to disrupt your private celebrations.’

  ‘You’re not, sir,’ Praskovia answered. ‘My brother has arrived from the barracks for a visit.’

  Glyn extended to his hand. ‘Hello again, Captain Razin. We met on the journey from Taganrog.’

  After what his mother had said, Misha was surprised by the fluency of Glyn’s Russian. ‘We did indeed, sir.’

  ‘Please, feel free to visit your family here any time. It is their home as well as mine. I trust your mother told you there is a room for you whenever you choose to stay.’

  ‘She did, sir. Thank you.’

  ‘Praskovia, I’m expecting guests next Sunday for dinner. I’ll leave the menu to you. Nothing fancy. Just soup and one of your mother’s regular meals.’

  ‘Of course, sir. Will there be many guests?’

  ‘No more than twelve including the people who live in the house.’

  ‘I will have everything ready, sir.’

  ‘I will have everything ready, sir,’ Misha mocked after Glyn left.

  ‘That’s enough from you, Misha,’ Yelena snapped. ‘The master is a good man.’

  ‘If it was up to you, Misha, Mama, Pyotr, and I would have starved to death after Papa was killed.’ Praskovia regretted her outburst when she saw Misha’s reaction but it was too late. The words had been spoken.

  ‘I’ll leave you in peace to serve your master.’ Misha opened the back door.

  Yelena picked up the sweater, cigars, and vodka and thrust them at him. ‘You’ll come again soon?’ she begged.

  ‘Given sister’s welcome, I’ll take you to tea in the hotel next time, Mama. The waitresses there might give me a smile.’ He took the sweater and cigars from her slammed the door and walked down the path.

  The lamps were still lit in the hospital. They illuminated the office. Sonya was standing between Nathan and Ruth. She was looking up at Nathan, eyes shining, a smile curving her lips. He clenched his fists.

  ‘One day, Jew,’ he muttered. ‘One day …’

  Chapter Five

  Glyn Edwards’ house, Hughesovka

  Evening, British Easter Day 1871

  Sarah changed out of her uniform as soon as she returned to Glyn’s house. She picked up a copy of Moll Flanders from her bedside table, went down to the drawing room, poured a glass of wine, and curled on the sofa. She was lost, deep in Moll’s criminal activities in the London of the last century, when Glyn came in with two plates he’d filled at the cold supper buffet Praskovia had laid out in the dining room.

  ‘I thought you’d be too tired to move after tending to a troublesome officer.’

  ‘You heard?’

  ‘Vlad called into Catherine’s kitchen and the news percolated up from the servants’ quarters. The gossip grapevine in Hughesovka is almost as good as the one in Merthyr.’ He handed her one of the plates.

  ‘Smoked salmon, potato salad, piroshky, caviar, pate, and Yelena’s home-made bread, all my favourites, thank you.’

  ‘You were missed at Catherine’s dinner.’

  ‘As it happened I was needed at the hospital, but to be honest I couldn’t face the empty chairs.’

  ‘There weren’t any, Mrs Ignatova ordered her servants to carry them out of the room. We all experienced loss in that cholera epidemic, Sarah, and we’re all concerned about you and want to help, if you’ll let us.’ He sat next to the open hearth and stretched his legs in front of the fire.

  ‘I’m grateful to all of you for your concern, especially you. I haven’t thanked you properly for the photographs you gave me, but there always seems to be someone else around. Whenever I look at it, I …’ tears started in her eyes and she faltered.

  ‘I’m sorry …’

  ‘Please, don’t be, Glyn. I love the frame and the photographs. They’re wonderful, the best gift I’ve ever received apart from the ones Peter gave me. For a while after Peter died the only image I carried of him was his corpse. Now I only have to look at the photograph you took on the boat to see Peter as he was. It’s as if you’ve given him back to me to live again, at least in my memory.’

  ‘I did debate whether to keep the photograph for year or two. In the end I decided it would upset you whenever I gave it to you.’

  ‘Those pictures are a beautiful reminder of Peter and what we had together.’ She set her book aside.

  ‘I knew the one I took on the ship was special as soon as I developed it. Whenever I look at it, I almost believe Peter’s in the room with me. You made him so happy, Sarah. If I’m ever fortunate enough to have a tenth of what you two had, I’ll die content.’

  ‘Please, no talk of dying. Did you have a good time at Mrs Ignatova’s?’

  ‘The afternoon passed quickly. Did you know that Sonya and a few of your ward maids and porters came here afterwards with Richard, Anna, and Alexei?’

  ‘We walked here together.’

  ‘They’re holding an impromptu party in the dining room but I thought it would be more peaceful for us mature people in here. I told Praskovia we’d serve ourselves until it’s time to clear the table. Before I forget, I’ve invited Mr Hughes, Catherine, and Sonya to dine here next Sunday. You won’t be working in the evening, will you?’

  ‘Barring another epidemic I should finish by seven, which gives me plenty of time to come back here and change.’

  ‘Would you invite Nathan and Ruth to dine with us as well?’

  ‘You know how reluctant Nathan is to accept invitations.’

  ‘It might help if you ask him for a list of things they can eat in Christian households so Praskovia can plan a menu to suit them. Mrs Ignatova told me Alexei wants to marry Ruth.’

  ‘Ruth Kharber!’ Sarah’s eyes rounded in astonishment.

  Glyn explained Alexei’s subterfuge and Catherine’s concern at his choice of bride.

  ‘I understand Catherine’s unease.’

  ‘Nathan knew about Alexei and Ruth. He hasn’t mentioned it to you?’

  ‘We’re too busy to discuss anything other than hospital business. Besides, it’s a personal matter that only involves his family – and Alexei.’

  ‘And Praskovia,’ Glyn added.

  ‘Poor girl.’

  ‘Why “poor girl”?’

  ‘If she was in love with Alexei …’

  ‘According to Mrs Ignatova, she never was. It was a ruse to divert attention away from Alexei and Ruth. You know what Alexei’s father is like.’

  ‘Unfortunately,’ she concurred. ‘How unselfish of Praskovia to risk her reputation to help Alexei.’

  ‘As her brother’s called in, perhaps we should invite her and her family to have a drink with us. They could join us in the dining room before the servants clear the table. I’ll ask them.’

  Before Sarah could remind Glyn that Praskovia was determined to keep a distance between the residents and servants in the house, he’d left the room.

  ‘No, sir,’ Praskovia refused. ‘Servants do not mix with their masters and my brother has left. Should you require more food I would be happy to serve you.’

  ‘We won’t need more food. You’ve laid out enough for a regiment.’

  She continued to block the doorway. Behind her, he caught a glimpse of the footman playing a violin and Pyotr whistling down a pipe. The table that dominated the room had been moved to make space and two of the housemaids were dancing. They appeared to be having so much fun he had to stifle the urge to sweep Praskovia off her feet, carry her back in to the kitchen, and set her on his knee so they could both enjoy the spectacle.

  ‘Will that be all, sir?’

  ‘Yes, thank you, Praskovia.’

  ‘Let me know when you want the table cleared, sir.’

  ‘I will, thank you.’ He retraced his steps, wondering if it was the loss of Peter that had made him so conscious of his lack of family.

  ‘Thank you for a lovely evening, Mr Edwards.’ Sonya stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

  ‘I’m glad you enjoyed it, Sonya, and thank you for forgiving me for leaving you young people to your own devices. Are you sure you don’t want me to ask Pyotr to harness the sleigh?’

 

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