Twenty Years Later
George and I lived a peaceful, happy life in Paris with our growing family. Vova grew to be a quiet, serious young man, much like his biological father, although he was occasionally inclined toward pranks and various other forms of mischief, like his adoptive one. Ekaterina, known as Katya, grew to be a tall, willowy young woman with dark hair and clear blue eyes. Two years after her birth, our second daughter, Elizaveta, was born. Known as Liza, she was slightly shorter than her sister and had lighter brown curls and freckles but the same blue eyes.
On July 28, 1914, the world was plunged into the greatest war it had ever known. The Austro-Hungarians invaded Serbia, Germany threatened France, Britain declared war on Germany, and soon most of the entire world, including the United States, was involved. If France was forced to defend itself against German invasion, I knew that Vova would be required to join the fight, and that fact struck fear deep into my soul.
One day we received a surprise visitor. "Greek George!" George exclaimed fondly as he threw the door open in welcome.
"This is my wife, Marie Bonaparte," Greek George announced. The woman made a bad impression on me from the very beginning. Something about her reminded me of Mathilde, and not in a good way. The manner in which she looked at my George made me feel very uneasy.
"You remember Bonnie Blue Butler," my George said to his cousin. "She accompanied us to Japan."
"But of course! How do you do?" Greek George smiled and kissed my hand.
"Bonnie and I are husband and wife," my George continued. "We've been married for over twenty years now, and we have three lovely children, a son and two daughters."
"That's wonderful!" said Greek George. "Our Peter and Eugenie are still quite small. We just returned from Greece. King Constantine is faring quite poorly."
Greek George and his wife stayed with us for several days and met all three of our children. The first night of their visit, my George and I had a rare disagreement.
"I don't like Marie," I told him.
"Why ever not? She seems perfectly nice to me," George said.
"You didn't notice the way she looked at you, the way she batted her eyelashes at you? It was like she was undressing you with her eyes!"
"You're being ridiculous!" George snapped.
"I don't think your cousin knows her nearly as well as he thinks he does," I replied.
"What you're saying is utter nonsense!" George retorted. "I refuse to discuss this matter with you anymore!" He rolled over and went to sleep, leaving me feeling very depressed.
Later in the visit, Greek George mentioned a desire to see his cousin the Tsar again.
"I've always wanted to see Russia," Vova told him. "Unfortunately, my family is permanently banned from there due to the fact that my mother is a commoner."
"That is a shame," Greek George commented.
Suddenly Vova's face lit up. "Perhaps I could accompany you disguised as a member of royalty," he suggested. "I'd love to meet Uncle Nicky and my cousins."
"I think that perhaps that would be successful," Greek George replied. "Although I feel a bit guilty about the prospect of not being totally honest with my cousin, I don't see that any major harm would be done, and with your family's situation being what it is, it is the only way you could ever see Russia or meet their Imperial Highnesses. You may accompany me as my cousin, Prince Christian of Denmark."
"Prince Christian of Denmark," Vova repeated. "I like it!"
Vova had scarcely left when the entire family began to feel his absence very keenly. Katya and Liza especially missed the company of their brother, and were also longing to get out of France for a time. "If Vova can go to Russia in disguise, why can't we all?" Katya asked one day. "The Tsar's my uncle, and I've never even met him!"
"I'd love to see Father's homeland as well," Liza chimed in.
"So we shall go," George told his daughters. "Disguised as commoners, we'll never be recognized."
And so, after an absence of more than twenty years, we returned to the land of George's birth. Posing as peasants, we observed the lives of Nicky and his family from afar. He and Alexandra now had five children, four daughters and a son. Their names were Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei. Katya and Liza watched wistfully as the four grand duchesses appeared in all their finery at royal functions, barely able to imagine what their lives must be like behind closed doors, I'm sure. I realized that, if not for a simple quirk of fate, my daughter's lives would be filled with splendor and opulence as well. I broached the subject to George one day.
"You've been as good a wife as I ever could have hoped for, and a marvelous mother to the children," he told me. "Despite the hardships, I'll never regret falling in love with and marrying you. I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say that I'd much rather be with you than with any of the princesses in all of Europe."
Warmed by his love, I found peace and contentment living a simple life in Russia. Then came the day we heard the news that totally rocked our world.
It was the announcement of the engagement of the oldest grand duchess, Olga, to her grandmother's distant cousin, Prince Christian of Denmark.