Dmitri had to push hard on the enormous door, and when it creaked open, I followed him inside to a darkness so complete I couldn’t make out anything. I could feel Dmitri’s presence more than see him, even though he stood right next to me.
“I’ll get a candle,” he said. “You should stay here until we can see better.”
I heard him move to my right, and a few seconds later a candle flickered and then caught.
He came back to me and held the candle up. I saw him frown. “You don’t look like yourself. We need to get you warm. This way.”
We walked down a hall past a few rooms. From what little light the candle gave off, I saw large, dark shapes that I thought were probably furniture covered in dust sheets.
“In here.”
I followed him into a small room and waited while he set the candle down and lit another. The room was furnished like a combination of a study and a sitting room. Bookshelves lined one wall. A sofa and a couple of comfortable-looking chairs sat in front of the stove, and a small desk in the corner was crowded with pictures and other items.
“It will warm up soon,” Dmitri said as he lit the fire.
I was shivering so much I had trouble unbuttoning my coat. Dmitri helped me get it off and then took my hands between his. His hands were so warm, I started to get some feeling back in mine.
“Let’s sit,” he said, and led me over to the sofa. Once we sat down, he continued to rub my hands. I felt a little dizzy; I didn’t know whether it was from tiredness or from being so close to him. He was concentrating on my hands, and I felt awkward, like I should say something.
“This is a nice room,” I said, realizing that wasn’t much in the way of scintillating conversation. It actually was a nice room, though. It had the feeling of a place where a person would go after a long day, to sit in front of the fire and forget.
Dmitri looked up at me and smiled. My heart did a little skip. “My great-uncle let me have this space to do what I wanted with it, so I put some of the belongings from my parents’ house here. I would have shut up the house completely after he went to Paris, but the housekeeper wanted to stay. I stop in every day to make sure she’s all right, but I wish I could find someplace else for her.”
He stood up and I felt some of the chill come back inside me. “Are you all right if I leave you for a moment?” he asked. “I need to let Tatiana know we’re here so she won’t think someone is breaking in. It will just take me a minute.”
I nodded, and after he left, I sat for a moment and then got back up. I was too curious not to explore, so I took one of the candles and made my way around the room. I went over to the desk and picked up a picture in a silver frame. I knew right away which of the two boys in the family portrait was Dmitri. The other brother had a much wider face and lighter hair. I could see how Dmitri resembled his father, though the man appeared to be taller and broader than Dmitri was now.
Dmitri’s mother wasn’t what people would consider conventionally pretty. Her face was too long and her nose was big, but she looked interesting. When I studied Dmitri’s sister, I saw she was a younger version of Dmitri’s mother. I wondered how often Dmitri looked at the picture.
I heard footsteps in the hall, so I set the picture back down. I didn’t want Dmitri to think I’d been snooping.
He came back carrying a tray and a blanket draped over one arm. “Tatiana insisted I bring food when I said I had a friend with me. You’re probably hungry.”
I was and my mouth began to water as I caught the scent of what I thought might be pirozhki. I caught myself before I reached for one. “Does the housekeeper have enough for herself?” I asked. “I don’t want her to go hungry because of us.”
He chuckled. “Food is the one thing Tatiana does have. She’s been here so long she knows all the servants on the block, and they bring her food because she treats their ailments. She’s always been good at diagnosing what’s wrong with someone, and she won’t take payment, so they leave food for her by the kitchen door.”
He set the tray down on a table next to the sofa and then gave me the blanket.
“I can share the blanket if you’re cold too,” I said, though I felt my face flushing at the thought of him that close to me.
“No,” he said, a bit too abruptly, like there had been something wrong with my offer.
I felt embarrassed, so I didn’t speak as we ate the pirozhki. The little filled pies were delicious, and somehow Tatiana had made the potato filling taste amazing. They might have even been better than Zarja’s, though I’d never tell Zarja that. We ate them all, and when we were finished, we watched the fire in silence for a few minutes.
“I’m afraid everyone will be worried that I’m not home yet,” I said.
“I told Hap and Miles I was going to meet you. They know not to worry. Hap wanted to come too, but I wouldn’t let him.”
“Thank you.” I meant not only for coming to find me, but also for not bringing Hap. Three would definitely have been a crowd here at this moment.
“How did you know where to look?”
“Osip said you had gone to the train station, but when you weren’t there, I thought you’d probably gone to the hospital since it was so close. When you weren’t at the hospital either, I started back to your house.”
“But I was going the wrong way. I was a long way from the hospital.”
He looked at me strangely. “No you weren’t. You were only a few blocks from it.”
I’d been walking in circles. I couldn’t understand how I’d gotten so confused.
The silence grew awkward again. I didn’t know why it felt so different between us just because we were alone and in a different house. Dmitri got up and stirred the fire until it flared. He put the poker back on the stand and sat back down, looking at the fire as if trying to see something in it.
I wanted to think of something to say. I spotted a large instrument case in the corner next to a music stand. “Is that a cello? Do you play?” I remembered thinking when I’d first seen him that his hands were those of a pianist, with his long, elegant fingers.
“I used to. I haven’t practiced for a long time. My family played together, like yours, though we were a little more serious and there wasn’t so much talking and laughing.” He smiled.
I realized I was warm enough to take off the blanket. My hair was wet, so I took it down and tried to run my fingers through the tangles. I heard a sound from Dmitri, and when he spoke, his voice was strange. “I can get you a towel to dry it.”
“No, I don’t need one. It will dry quickly enough. Why didn’t you tell us you could play? The boys would love to have you join in.”
“I didn’t want to intrude. I like watching you all play and I’m not at your level. I kept up with lessons for a few years after, but…” He looked away from me.
I hadn’t thought through where this conversation would lead. I reached out and put my hand on his arm. “Papa told me what happened to your family. I’m sorry.”
He took my hand between his again. The gold ring he wore flashed in the light from the fire. “You’ve warmed up.” He hesitated before he spoke again. “It was years ago. I don’t want to think about the past. I was lonely for a long time. Now I’m not lonely anymore.” He let go of my hands and raised one of his own as if he was going to touch my face, and then, like the times before, he took it away.