Page 56 of Nineteen Seventy-Six

All his siblings had benefitted from his protection, even if they were unaware.

* * *

WINTER 1976

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

VACHERIE, LOUISIANA

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

CHAPTER 16

???m

The letter came just before Thanksgiving.

Elizabeth and Connor—when he wasn’t nose-in-a-book studying, or attending classes at Tulane—ran around with an unsettling sense of urgency, getting Magnolia Grace ready for the holiday. Mama had been unwell for a couple weeks, and Augustus knew it was bad when she said she wouldn’t be able to host the feast this year. He told Elizabeth to monitor it closely. They could have Evangeline or Colleen home within a day to lay hands on her, if need be. But while she eventually lost the chill and cough, she didn’t insist on taking back the holiday, either.

It was times like this Augustus realized that while his mother wasn’t old, she was getting older.

Augustus was home alone when it came. The name at the return address chilled him to the bone. But this letter came not from Russia, but New York. The first thing he noticed, when he turned over the fine paper in his hands, examining the handwriting, the flow of words, was that you wouldn’t know this letter was written by a non-native speaker.

He dropped into his chair at the long dining table, sighed, and began.

Dear Augustus,

This letter will come as a surprise to you. I’d like to begin by offering my family’s gratitude for the nice letter we received after Ekatherina’s passing. I regret to inform you that the money you sent with it was seized at the border, but you knew that would happen. We appreciate that you tried anyway.

I have accepted an assignment as a clerk at the Russian embassy, in New York City, New York. It’s an esteemed role. My parents are proud for me to serve my country, and I look forward to the day I can do what my sister could not and bring them here. I believe the world is changing faster than we think.

The conditions of my visa do not allow me to travel beyond the city. My sister was fortunate enough to secure sponsorship from an American, but that is not how it works for a Russian employed by a foreign embassy. When on embassy soil, we are on Russian soil.

That being true, it is my greatest wish to meet you before my tenure is up. A typical assignment is two years, but they have been recalling comrades back after one. I have been here three months. I do not know how long I have.

Anasofiya Aleksandrovna is my blood, and, on behalf of my family, it would be a great gift if you could bring her to meet her ????. Her mother’s ????.

Yet if you do not come, I will also understand.

???? ????,

Aleksei Aleksandrovich

Augustus set the letter on the table. Next to him, Anasofiya banged her hands into the banana mush she’d made on the tray of her highchair, giggling with inexplicable delight.

Evangeline poured the whiskey unevenly in the two red plastic cups. She never understood the art of a good pour; why it was important. Movies confused her on the subject. Take wine, for example. If you know you’re coming back for more, why the pretense of a glass you only fill a third of the way? What was the point of that?

Cassie accepted hers with two fingers on the rim and washed it back, angling the cup toward the bottle for more. Evangeline obliged, this time giving her the amount she should’ve to begin with.

“To Danica,” Cassie said.

Evangeline pressed her plastic cup to her friend’s. “To Danica.”

She winced after a sip but drank more anyway. “Don’t take offense to this question, but why the hell are the police so ineffective against this guy?”

“No offense taken,” Cassie said. She leaned back in the chair, elbows propped on the arms, whiskey dangling from one hand. “My father was a good cop, but he was a small-town cop. Petty offenses. Family fights. Dumb shit.”

---