I would have wanted to burst into tears right there, but I didn’t want the children to hear me like that.
We ended the conversation after promising them that I would spend Christmas with them in Moscow, and after many kisses and hugs sent through the air, I gave the phone back. Alexander said a couple more things to them in Russian, and finally spoke in that same language with a woman—I assumed it was his mother. He turned off the speaker function when he started talking to her, and he didn’t take long.
By the time he hung up, I had already gone upstairs and was in the bathroom, washing my face again. I truly didn’t want to cry; I didn’t know what was happening to me. I didn’t realize when he arrived and stood at a prudent distance, just watching me, but when I closed the medicine cabine
