France, 24 December 1926
Chapitre 2
Anya trudged through the snow in her boots and wished she had Pooka here. The little dog proved to be very fond of Vlad and Sophie and thus stayed behind with them after throwing such a fuss before the couple departed the train for Burgundy. She hummed a song to herself happily and entered the local bakery, where she bought and ate a few chocolate croissants and drank a cup of tea.
Once she had finished, she walked along the main street home, admiring the shop windows. She remembered all the baking she wanted to do that day and hurried home, throwing on a dress she usually wore for housework and an apron and set to work.
Meanwhile, close to four o'clock, Dimitri was happy to be able to go home. As it was Christmas Eve, the vineyard workers had been able to get off early. He bid good evening and happy holidays to his fellow workers, who had accepted him as one of their own, and began to meander down the streets home. He paused in front of a bookshop and decided on a whim to browse inside. He looked through a shelf of foreign titles: there were some in English, in Italian, in German--and some in Russian. He flipped through the pages and recognised some of the words--he had never exactly learned how to read and Anya could, strangely enough, still remember how to do so quite well from her childhood--but knew enough to know they were children's stories. A slip of writing at the back of the book caught his eye and he grinned. Surely, 15 Francs for the lot of three was more than enough for their sentimental value.
Anya was covered in flour and couldn't help but recall her wedding day. They were at their hotel room in Toulon getting ready to walk down to church. She was prepared to wear a simple white silk satin dress that cost her 50 Francs at a Paris market when Dimitri surprised her with a small, elegantly wrapped box with the gold Fabergé seal gleaming underneath. "It's from your grandmother," he said quietly. There was a note tucked underneath the white satin ribbon. Anya silently read the note to herself: "To my Anastasia, with love. Always, Grandmama." She opened the box and gasped when she saw what was nestled beneath the silk wrapping. She pulled out two solid gold rings, thin bands entwined with white silk ribbon. Anya delicately pulled them apart and stared at them in her open palm. One was clearly sized for her finger and the other for Dimitri. "Well, I guess that solves the ring problem then," he quipped. There was a second box, a twin of the other but with the Romanov seal. Dimitri opened the box and the pair looked down on matching wedding crowns, gleaming silver, worn in a traditional Orthodox ceremony. "That solves the crown problem," she said slyly. The couple each grabbed a box and made their way down to the church.
Dimitri entered the front door. "What smells so--have you been cooking?" he asked, dumbfounded. Anya shot him a look and arched an eyebrow. "Baking. I've been baking, Dimitri," she said. "And if you're nice to me, I might even share some with you," she said coyly. Dimitri sauntered over to his wife and deftly licked the chocolate off the spoon Anya had been using to mix the batter. An array of sweet buns, chocolate ganache, and all kinds of delicious treats were laid out on the table and the duo spent the rest of the afternoon and evening eating, laughing and reminiscing. Close to midnight, the couple made their way upstairs, readied for bed and fell into a blissful sleep.