29

Daylight had hardly broken when Nico parked his car in the hospital parking lot. After leaving the nightclub with Captain Moumen, he should have gone straight to headquarters, but he knew he would regret it if he didn’t see his mother before she went into the operating room.

He ran all the way to his mother’s unit. The nurses were going from one bed to the next, their faces serious and their smiles practiced. It made Nico think of flight attendants handling passengers during an engine failure.

“Chief Sirsky?” one of them said.

He had asked Caroline to intercede. Visiting a patient so early in the morning was usually forbidden. But nurses always deferred to doctors, even if they practiced at another hospital.

“Nico, how are you?” Anya murmured when she saw him.

Mothers were all the same, protective of their children, even at the oddest moments.

“I’m well, Maman. How are you?”

He sat by the bed and held her hand in his.

“I’m so glad this is going to be over soon, and I will be able to go home. I’ve had enough of this circus.”

“I saw the priest at Saint-Serge,” he said quietly.

She smiled indulgently.

“I know, Nico.”

He stared at her.

“We Russians are everywhere—even in this hospital. A nurse has been bringing me messages from everybody in the community. And the priest has been here to visit. He hopes that you’ll introduce him to Caroline. He’d love to meet her.”

“He doesn’t know Dimitri, does he? He seemed to imply that he did.”

Anya’s smile grew wider, and her eyes shone, despite her pallor.

“That’s a little secret between Dimitri and me. He’s eager to learn our history. You’re aware of that. We’ve been meeting with Father. Oh, I haven’t done anything that you might object to. I know that any religious instruction must be your decision. But I hope that someday you’ll allow him to attend Mass with me.”

She ran out of breath.

“Maybe I’ll make a good Orthodox boy out of him! It wouldn’t hurt you to attend a few Masses yourself, Nico,” she added with a wink. “Considering your job, you could use a little religion.”

“Maybe I will, Maman.” He kissed her on the cheek.

“The procedure will go well. Don’t worry.”

Nico wasn’t quite sure, right then, which of them had said the words.

“I’m sure of it,” he said.