It was a cold morning in December, about a week after Thanksgiving. Alexei was getting ready to go to work, and Alison was getting Daisy ready for school, when the telephone rang.
Alison picked the receiver up. "Hello?"
She heard a woman sobbing in Russian and automatically handed the receiver to her husband. She watched as all the blood drained from his face.
"Who is it, Daddy?" asked Daisy.
"Sh!" said Alison.
Alexei listened, responding in Russian, for about twenty minutes, then gently returned the receiver to its cradle.
"That was Masha," he told Alison. "Our mother is dying. I must go to her."
Alison reached for him, and they embraced, holding each other for a long time.
"I'll start packing," Alison said at last.
"I will call the airport," said Alexei.
Alison took the two large suitcases from the hall closet and went into the master bedroom.
"Where are we going, Mommy?" asked Daisy.
"Russia," her mother told her. "Your Babushka is very sick."
"I hope she gets better," said Daisy.
"I hope so too, sweetie," Alison replied. She felt guilty about misleading the child but didn't want to upset her.
After packing both large suitcases, Alison took the smaller suitcase to Daisy's room and began packing her daughter's things. Daisy took her teddy bear off the bed and held it tight.
When everything was ready, the family bundled up and left the house. Alexei carried the two large suitcases, which he put in the trunk, and Alison carried the small one and held Daisy by the hand.
"Am I not gonna go to school anymore?" the little girl asked as they walked outside to the car.
"You'll go back to school when we come home from Russia," Alison told her.
"How long are we gonna be gone?"
"I don't know."
When they arrived at Boston Logan International Airport, Alexei parked, and they all got out and went inside. Daisy looked around, her eyes huge.
"This sure is a big building!" she said.
"It's where airplanes take off and land," Alison told her.
Daisy gasped. "You mean we're gonna take an airplane to Russia?"
Alexei had to chuckle. "It is too far to go in a car, Dayushka, and besides, it is on the other side of the ocean."
Daisy whooped with joy. "We're going on a real plane, Teddy!" she told her teddy bear.
They checked in their suitcases, went through security, and then found their gate, checked in, and boarded the airplane when it was time. Daisy sat between her parents.
Despite her heaviness of heart over her mother-in-law's prognosis, Alison couldn't help feeling just a little excited. Except for the stopover in Canada when they'd flown to Alaska for their honeymoon, she'd never been outside the United States before.
"I hope we get there on time," Alexei said as the airplane took off.
"I hope so, too." Alison reached over and squeezed his hand.
"Ever since I was born, my Mama was there for me." Tears were in Alexei's eyes, and Alison could tell he was struggling not to break down. "When I was a baby, she fed me from her own body, and when I got older, she made all my clothes. When there was not much food, she went hungry so that my brother and sisters and I could have enough to eat. Now Masha tells me her heart is failing. Her kidneys do not work anymore, and there is fluid in her lungs."
"I'm so sorry." Alison couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I am glad you are with me, Alisonka," Alexei continued. "My mother, she likes you a lot. She said to me, over and over again, how happy she was for me, that after my loss, I had found such a woman to share my life."
Alison smiled. "I've always liked her, too."
The airplane soared high above the Atlantic ocean. Daisy soon fell asleep, still holding her teddy bear. The movie 'Enemy of the State' was showing on the screen, and Alexei quickly became absorbed in it. Alison tried to watch it but quickly lost interest. She was glad the movie would temporarily take Alexei's mind off his mother, and that she'd brought along a romance novel to read on the airplane. Most of all, she was glad they'd kept their own and Daisy's passports and Visas current for such an eventuality.
Several hours later, lunch was served. Alison gently shook Daisy awake. After she'd eaten, Alison grew drowsy and fell asleep while reading her novel.
She awoke as the airplane was touching down at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow. She was surprised to see it was already dark outside.
"Here, it is already past nine o'clock at night," Alexei explained. "We must set our watches to the correct time."
After going through customs, they saw Stepan and Lia, standing with a little boy who had to be Petya. Lia stepped toward Alexei, and he reached for her and pulled her into a bear hug.
Stepan grinned at Alison. "It has been a long time, yes?"
"It has." Alison hugged him, then looked down at the child. "And you must be Petya."
"Yes, ma'am." He blinked without smiling.
"The last time I saw you, you were a baby!" Alison told him. "This is your cousin, Daisy. Daisy, this is Petya."
"Hi!" Daisy grinned. "This is Teddy. Want to hold him?"
Petya frowned. "What is that thing in your ear?"
"It's my hearing aid," Daisy told him. "I can't hear very good without it."
"Are we ready to go?" asked Stepan.
"As soon as we collect our luggage," Alexei replied. "Are you sure you will have enough room for all of us?"
"We will make room," said Stepan.
They walked to the luggage area and collected their suitcases, and then stepped outside, where Alison's feet touched Russian soil for the very first time.
