I saw movement at the second floor window and jumped to my feet. Luba came to the window and shook her head, hands palms up. I waved to her to come out, but she disappeared into the darkness of the room.
I sat again, the lining of my fur coat soaked with sweat.
Minutes passed and Luba came to the third floor window with a box in her hands. She opened it and shook it upside down with a scowl.
Again, Luba disappeared into the depths of the house. How much could I take before I just knocked on the front door?
Behind me the café door opened spilling golden light and warmth and laughter onto the cobblestones. A man emerged and walked by me. I turned and we met eyes.
Taras. I barely breathed. He wore a puzzled expression and a look I knew intimately from the brothel. The sleepy eyes of the opium smoker. Surely he recognized me? I turned away as he passed and he walked across the street to the townhouse, climbed the steps to the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside.
My heart hammered against the lining of my coat as Luba came again to the second floor window. I stood and gave the signal, sliding one café chair over the other. I jabbed my hand in the direction of the front door.
“He’s in the house,” I mouthed.
Luba turned from the window and I clutched one hand to my chest. Should I go around to the back door and enter as she had? Run for the police?
Instead, I hurried across the street, straight for the front door.
CHAPTER
48
Sofya
1919
I knocked on the townhouse door, knuckles burning against the cold wood, more options buzzing in my head. Should I go to the neighbors for help?
I knocked again and stood there listening to the children’s voices on the nearby playground, my heart battering my chest. What had I done to my sister?
The door swung open and a slight, dark-haired woman wearing a pink scarf tied about her head stood there. At her side stood Luba, wearing her maid’s cap, mop in hand, the cotton head wet and gray. I knew the woman from somewhere.
“Be here next week,” she said to Luba.
That voice. It was Varinka’s mother. What a kind face she had.
“I will, madame,” Luba said, bowing low. She stepped out the door and walked by me onto the street.
Varinka’s mother gazed into my eyes. “You take care, now. Mind the steps.”
We hurried away from the townhouse, Luba’s mop head already freezing stiff at her side.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I told you it would be fine.”
“Fine? Taras came home. He was at the café all along. He may have recognized me. Did he see you?”
“I searched everywhere for school papers. Desks, cabinets. But then Varinka’s mother came upon me—found me going through drawers in the kitchen. She asked what I wanted and then stepped to the library and brought them to me. She’s on our side, Sofya. Wants you to have Max back.”
“Any sign of Max? Varinka?”
“Just his old blanket on the floor of a bedroom.”
“Did Taras see you?”
“I started to leave and he came into the kitchen. ‘What are you doing here?’ he said. He had been drinking, I think, or into the opium, for he swayed a bit standing there.”
“Luba, I can’t believe you did this.”
“And then Varinka’s mother said, ‘She’s the maid. Let her work.’ She handed me this mop and said, ‘She was just leaving to get us a new mop head.’ ”
“An angel.”
“I did have a scare when Taras said, ‘Wait. I’ve seen her before,’ but Varinka’s mother was quick and said, ‘She’s a French girl and cleans very well, now leave her be.’ She handed me ten francs and said, ‘Be on your way now and hurry. That floor won’t clean itself.’ ”
From her coat pocket Luba pulled folded papers and we stepped into an alley to read them. It was an enrollment letter from L’Ecole Cygne Royal, the letterhead a crest with a swan.
“Dear Varinka Pushkinsky, Your son Maxwell—” I didn’t stop to read the rest, but folded the letter, slipped it in my pocket as tears filled my eyes. I was going to see my son.
Luba put one arm about my shoulders. “There is no time for crying, sister. We have work to do.” She smiled. “And ten extra francs to spend.”
She reached into her pocket. “And look what I found.” She pulled out Mother’s emerald necklace and held it in the