by Suzanne Weyn
“I don’t hate you,” she said passionately. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I can’t be without you. I can never give you what the empress could have, but I swear you won’t be sorry I revealed what I know to be true. I’ll make up for it in love.”
Nadya pulled Ivan to her and they kissed. Even though there were others in the room, while they kissed they existed in a world only they inhabited.
After another moment, the empress coughed, intending to break their embrace. “My dear girl, this might be a good time to show Mr. Navgorny what we found.”
“The police gave me your jacket, and I found this in the pocket,” Nadya recalled as she took her rag doll out of a pocket of her dress.
“It’s your doll!” Ivan said. “Sergei picked it up mistakenly. I meant to return it to you, but obviously I forgot.”
“Back in 1917, in the early hours of the morning when we were dressing to go to the basement, I was clowning with my sisters about how much better they looked in their petticoats than I did,” Nadya recounted.
“I’m sure you looked just as lovely,” Ivan said loyally.
“No, they were older and better endowed,” she went on, blushing slightly, “so I equaled the score by stuffing a roll of socks and this rag doll into the bosom of my petticoat. The socks and doll were still there when my father demanded that we hurry. Everything happened so fast afterwards that I forgot all about it.
“The doll’s head protected me from the bullet,” Nadya continued. “It was sitting directly over my heart when I was shot.”
Ivan examined the doll. No, this story couldn’t be true. “The doll’s head should be shattered, then,” he said. “And besides, how can a rag doll protect from a bullet?”
Nadya looked to Empress Marie. “He’s right. A plain doll couldn’t have.”
The empress reached out. “Hand me the doll.”
She sees I’m right, Ivan thought. It’s a nice story, but that doll’s head wouldn’t have survived or protected her in any way.
Sergei took the doll from Ivan and handed it to Empress Marie. The empress wiggled her finger up under the seam where the doll’s head had been sewn on, and she ripped upward. “I recognized this doll as soon as I saw it, because I was the one who gave it to my Anastasia. I knew immediately that it had been altered,” the empress explained as she worked. “Now that Ivan has told his story, I understand why.”
Empress Marie pulled a hoodlike cover off the doll’s head. Beneath it was a bullet-blasted cloth circle—the doll’s original head.
Nadya went to Empress Marie’s side and touched the doll. “The nurse at the asylum must have repaired it,” she realized. “But now I remember the night you gave it to me. You told me to always remember how much you loved me whenever I played with it.”
Empress Marie patted her hand fondly. “That’s right.”
“Wait a minute,” Ivan insisted. “How could that soft doll have protected her from a bullet?”
Empress Marie worked her fingers into the center of the doll’s head and pulled out a rectangular yellow diamond.
“This is what saved her life.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Diamond Secret
The doctor arrived to examine Ivan, so they had to leave the bedroom. Nadya accompanied Empress Marie back down to the library. The butler followed them in with the necklace, and then left after setting it down on a table.
Nadya absently turned the yellow diamond in her fingers, and then popped it back inside the rag doll before putting its replacement head back on. “There, just as it was,” she said, showing the empress.
Propping the doll on the table beside the box, Nadya sat beside her grandmother on the couch. “This diamond belongs to the Marie Antoinette necklace, doesn’t it? It came loose,” she said as she recalled the fight over the necklace involving Count Dubinsky, Prince Yuperov, Rasputin, and her mother. “I found it later and gave it to you.”
“That’s correct.”
“But there’s no missing diamond in the necklace?” she questioned.
“A much less expensive replacement.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the diamond was in the doll?” Nadya asked. “If I’d known I wouldn’t have played around with it so foolishly.”
“And you wouldn’t be sitting here beside me right now,” the empress reminded her. “You have always been a loving girl. I knew if I told you it was a token of our love for each other, you would always keep it close.”
“Your idea worked. Maybe, somehow, I remembered what you’d said, even though I couldn’t remember anything else. I never could stand to let that doll go. Why did you do it?”
“For the same reason I had the petticoats made. I saw the political signs and suspected that, at some point, we’d have to flee. I didn’t want you girls to be left penniless. I hoped to spare you some of what you’ve been through,” the empress explained. “Maybe I should have told you.”
“No. You’re right. I’d never have had it stuffed in my petticoat if I’d known,” Nadya said. “You saved my life, Grandmother.” Her eyes misted up, and she laid her head on the old woman’s shoulder, as she now remembered doing as a child. Every memory was back: the happy childhood, the loving parents, the terrifying events that could have ended everything. She steered her mind away from thinking too much about her lost parents and siblings. One by one, a little at a time, she would feel her grief and say her good-byes to each of them. Nadya didn’t want to be emotionally swamped by taking it on all at once.
“That young man also saved your life,” Empress Marie said. “In the end, he was hoping you would turn out not to be Anastasia so that you could marry him.”
Nadya lifted her head and gazed at the empress. “Can’t we still have that? Why should it matter?”
“It might not matter to you, but it will matter to him,” Empress Marie replied. “You can see that he’s proud and independent and much more sensitive than he pretends to be. He would never want to live idly off your wealth.”
“Then let him work,” Nadya suggested.
The empress shook her head. “He could never earn as much as you will have inherited. He would always feel like a kept man, a parasite.”
They heard the front door open and close. “The doctor usually stops in to say good-bye,” Empress Marie commented. “He must be in a hurry today.”
Nadya put her head back on Empress Marie’s shoulder. “What do you think will happen next, Grandmother?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” the empress admitted. “It’s possible that some loyalist White Russians will want to put you back on the throne.”
“I wouldn’t like that,” Nadya said with certainty. “I’ve seen a different side of life. Regular life has become part of me. It’s fun.”
“You always loved fun. That’s why your father called you shvizbik.”
“Shvizbik. It means a clown, a joker. I remember! In my dreams he called me that,” Nadya said. She sat forward once more. “Grandmother, did you enjoy being a royal?”
The empress’s eyes darted as she thought about the question. “No, I did not. I was born a princess in Denmark, but I had to change my name from Dagmar to Marie Feodorovna and leave my family and learn Russian, all because I had been promised in marriage to a Russian czar I barely knew. Your grandfather Alexander was a surly man, no fun at all. I always secretly believed that you inherited your fun-loving nature from me.”
Nadya squeezed her grandmother’s hand and the two of them silently sat together, contented to feel their closeness. After a few moments Sergei came in. “I have come to say good-bye,” he announced.
“You’re going back to your hotel?” Nadya asked.
He nodded. “We depart for Russia tomorrow. Elana and I have decided we want to return and start a new life.”
“Won’t you take your share of the reward?” the empress entreated him. “If not for yourself, then for your family?”
Sergei bowed deeply to her. “I
did no more than my duty.”
“You’re sure?” Empress Marie pressed.
“Quite sure. Besides, I still have much of the money Count Dubinsky repaid me. We’ll be fine. Nadya, I must tell you something else. Maybe we should talk privately.”
Before she could reply, the doctor entered, carrying his doctor bag and wiping his chin with a napkin. “Your maid makes a fine borscht,” he told the empress.
Nadya jumped to her feet. “If the two of you are here, who went out?”
“That’s what I was going to tell you. Ivan wanted me to say that—”
“Ivan left?” Nadya cried.
“Doctor, how could you let him?” Empress Marie scolded.
“He was astoundingly recovered,” the doctor said, defending himself.
Nadya ran to the door of the library, but then she ran back. “Where, Sergei? Where did he go?”
“He called a taxi to take him to the docks,” Sergei revealed. “He said something about going to America.”
“America? He has no money!” Nadya said.
“I gave him some,” Sergei admitted. “It was what he wanted.”
Nadya did a jig of agitation. “Grandmother, what do I do?”
Nadya saw her grandmother’s face cloud over. “Let him go. He’s made his decision.”
“No, he hasn’t,” Nadya cried, a terrible pain forming in her stomach. “He’s being noble. He thinks he’s doing the right thing, but it’s not the right thing—not for me!”
“He’ll be fine,” Empress Marie insisted.
“But I won’t be fine,” Nadya told her passionately. She hung her head and began to cry. “I’ll never be fine again.”
The empress went to her side and gently wiped away Nadya’s tears with her soft, gnarled hand. “Then I suppose you have to go find him,” she murmured reluctantly.
Nadya clutched her grandmother’s hands. “But I’ve only just found you again.”
“I am the past. Ivan is your future,” Empress Marie replied. “Do you know what ‘Anastasia’ means?”
“No. Tell me,” Nadya replied.
“It means ‘breaker of chains’.” Empress Marie squeezed her lips together. Her expression told Nadya how much what she was about to say was costing her heart. “Go break these chains of royal duty and misery. Go be happy.”
Nadya kept hold of her grandmother’s hands. “Do you understand how much I love him? I wouldn’t leave you if I wasn’t sure that he’s the one.”
The empress rapped her cane on the floor so hard it made Nadya pull back in surprise. “I’m fine! Go! Write to me.”
Nadya kissed the empress’s cheek. “I love you, Grandmother.”
Standing, the empress wrapped Nadya in a tight hug. Her eyes were wet with tears. “Be happy, Nadya,” she said.
“I will, Grandmother. Finding you has made it possible for me to be happy again.”
Nadya encircled Sergei in a hug. “Good luck, my dear friend,” she said.
He kissed her forehead. “Hurry,” he whispered tenderly.
Nadya was almost out the door when the empress called to her from the library. Nadya hurried back to where Empress Marie stood with the rag doll in her hand. “You forgot your doll,” she said, tossing it to her.
Nadya snapped it out of the air and blew the empress a last kiss before turning to leave once more.
Shielding her eyes with a flattened hand to her brow, Nadya frantically scanned the dock. Her heart skipped when she spied Ivan unsteadily climbing the gangplank of a freighter. “Ivan,” she shouted, but the ocean winds carried off her voice, and she knew he hadn’t heard her.
The freighter’s horn blasted, signaling that its departure was imminent. “Ivan,” she shouted, her curls blowing in her eyes as she raced for the freighter.
Finally, when she was at the bottom of the gangplank, Ivan heard her and turned.
His face exploded with joy.
He started to come back down the ramp, but she hurried up and met him halfway. “I’m sorry for leaving without saying good-bye,” he explained. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to leave you if I didn’t just go.”
“Don’t leave me, then,” she said with her hands on his arms.
“I have to. You’re the grand duchess Anastasia. There’s no place for me in your life.”
“Not in Anastasia’s life, but in Nadya’s life there’s all the room in the world. Don’t you see? I don’t want a life without you.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” Ivan asked.
“Completely sure,” she insisted.
The freighter sounded its horn once more.
Ivan pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. Nadya held him tight. “You’re giving up so much,” he reminded her when they pulled out of the embrace.
Nadya smiled up at him. “I’m getting so much more than I’m losing,” she assured him.
The freighter’s horn blared a third time. “You’re sure?” Ivan checked.
“Positive,” Nadya said.
Ivan took Nadya’s hand, and they hurried up to the top of the gangplank and onto the deck. As the vessel pulled away from the dock, they watched the land recede into the distance.
“We might never see home again,” Ivan remarked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“That’s all right,” Nadya replied, knowing in her heart that, from this moment on, wherever Ivan was would be home to her.
About the Author
SUZANNE WEYN has written more than a hundred novels for children and young adults and has had her work featured on the New York Times bestseller list. Her other novels for the Once upon a Time series include The Crimson Thread, Water Song, and The Night Dance. Suzanne lives in upstate New York. Visit her online at SuzanneWeynBooks.com.
Table of Contents
“ONCE UPON A TIME” IS TIMELESS WITH THESE RETOLD TALES
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE Grim Memories in a Gray City
CHAPTER TWO Headline News
CHAPTER THREE A Girl Dressed in Goose Feathers
CHAPTER FOUR An Insane Offer
CHAPTER FIVE A Spy at the Station
CHAPTER SIX An Imperial Dream
CHAPTER SEVEN Fast Thinking
CHAPTER EIGHT Moving Closer, Stepping Back
CHAPTER NINE Changes
CHAPTER TEN In the Night Forest
CHAPTER ELEVEN Lessons in Royalty
CHAPTER TWELVE Unexpected Developments
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Controversy
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Struggles
CHAPTER FIFTEEN An Explosion of Diamonds
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Anastasia Is Presented
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Face at the Window
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Summoned to Paris
CHAPTER NINETEEN The Dowager Empress Marie
CHAPTER TWENTY Betrayed!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE A Showdown
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The Story Unfolds
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The Scarred Man’s Attack
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Revelations in the Night
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Elana Kremnikov
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Blood Memory
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Awake
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT The Diamond Secret
About the Author