The Lives Of The Romanovs

The Hockey Game

Tatiana

"Why do you dislike your brother so much?" I asked Dmitri. After dinner, him and I decided to take a walk around the palace together. I had noticed he seemed irritated, most likely with Vladimir. But I needed to make sure he was alright.
"Who says I hate my brother?"
"I did not say hate, I said dislike. It's very clear you hold some sort of resentment against him." I stated. Dmitri exhaled and shrugged it off.
"To be quite honest, I'm not sure. I don't know if it's because of his liberal views or the fact that my father chose him over me."
"Dmitri-"
Dmitri stopped walking and took my hand my surprise.
"Do not worry about me, dear cousin. I will be alright, I always am." He leaned in and kissed my cheek. "I can find my way to my room. Goodnight Tatiana." He walked away from me. I would never say it out loud, but in that moment when he kissed my cheek...I felt as if the wind had knocked me off my feet. Why did I feel this way? I was not in love with him or anything of that sort...at least I didn't think so.

The next morning at breakfast, I noticed Dmitri kept looking at me particularly. I did not know what kind of looks they were. Most of the soldiers at the hospital during the Great War gave me the same look...but it meant more coming from Dmitri.
"You know, the lake might be frozen over by now. You all could go ice skating or play hockey." Papa smiled. Alexei gasped and jumped out of his seat.
"Oh Papa, I want to play hockey!"
Mama intervened. "Do not be ridiculous, Baby. You know you cannot play hockey. But maybe we can have Nagorny pull you around on the sled."
Alexei sighed and plopped down back into his seat.
Maria beamed. "Oh, that would be such fun! Who would like to join me?"
"I shall." Vladimir raised his hand. Maria and him both turned pink and went back to looking at their plates.
"I'll join you, Mashka." Anastasia grinned. "I would have such a pleasure to absolutely kill you at hockey."
"Anastasia, don't say such things." I refuted. Anastasia rolled her eyes.
"It's only a metaphor, Governess."
Olga, Igor, and Vladimir snorted and quietly laughed. Papa and Mama stayed quiet and continued to eat their breakfast. Dmitri cleared his throat and looked at Anastasia.
"Nastya, have some respect for your sister. She's only trying to correct you." Dmitri stated. He looked over at me and I couldn't help but give him a small smile. Dmitri gave a small smile back at me and looked away.
"Mama, will you join us?" I asked her.
"No, I'm afraid I cannot. The cold does not do well for my joints and I have a terrible headache coming on."
"Oh dear, should I stay back and help you heal?" I asked her. Mama shook her head and slowly stood.
"No Tatya, go and have fun today. I will simply rest here. Perhaps I should call for Father Grigori." Mama moaned.
Papa took Mama's hand to pull her back just a bit. She looked at him with sad eyes. Papa showed full remorse.
"Sunny, you should use the telephone in my office and call for him if you'd like. Or, you could call for Botkin or Derevenko."
Mama shook her head. "No Nicky, I will call Father Grigori instead. I hope I am better by lunch."
Mama left the room and Papa gave a deep sigh. Olga took his hand and gave a slight smile at him.
"Oh, do not worry. Mama will be just fine, she always is." Olga took her attention off Papa and to us instead." Now, we all just need to focus on changing and putting on our ice skates."

I have never ran so fast in my life. We were all wrapped in our winter coats, hats, and gloves. Anastasia and Vladimir hustled and each carried four hockey sticks. Papa was carrying a net and Igor carried the other. Sailor Nagorny always already pulling Alexei around in the sled to the pond. Even Papa had come along with us.
"Come on, Tatiana!" Maria laughed as she ran down the hill.
I laughed too and grabbed Olga's hand to make sure we both don't slip. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" I replied to her. We got to the edge of the lake and sat down in the snow. We all sat in a line to tie our ice skates as tight as we could. I managed to stand on the ice, but had such a fear that I would slip.
"Tatiana, help! I cannot stand!" Olga laughed loudly. I grabbed her hand pulled her up the best I could. We were both laughing and tried to make our way to the center. The nets were in place and Anastasia and Vladimir were dividing the hockey sticks.
"Alright, we all have one." Anastasia said to herself. "I want Maria, Dmitri, and Papa on my team."
I scoffed. "No, that's not fair! Maria is the strongest girl and Papa is the strongest man. We have to divide it out evenly."
Anastasia groaned. "Then you divide our teams, Tatiana."
I raised my chin. "Fine, I will. Olga, Papa, and Dmitri will be on my team. The others can be on your team." I nodded. I couldn't help but look over at Alexei who was being pulled on his sled and laughing. But he would never be able to play, nor would he ever be able to take such a risk.

We stood guarded as we were getting ready to play.
Papa yelled. "Ready...set...go!" He yelled. Just like that, we took off and leaped at each other. We were skating and hitting the puck in every direction. It did not take long for Dmitri to hit the puck into the other goal. We cheered and laughed with each other.
"Ready...set...go!" Papa shouted again. We leaped off again. We were shoving into each other and practically hitting each other. It was a fun sport, but one that was painful at the end of it. But this time, Maria hit one into our goal. My team booed at them while they just laughed.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." We heard a deep and husky voice yell. It was Rasputin. I smiled at him and skated over to him.
"Not at all, Father Grigori. We are just playing a game of hockey! Would you like to play?"
Father Grigori laughed.
"Unfortunately, I cannot. I was just getting ready to leave. Rebecca is waiting in the carriage with my children. We were getting ready to head to Moscow."
"Oh, what for?"
"I have a few appointments in Moscow. Don't worry, Tatiana Nikolaevna. I shall be back in a couple weeks."
Papa skated over to us. Him and Rasputin didn't need to say any words to each other. They simply nodded at each other and shook hands. Rasputin looked at the lake, to which I turned my head to see who he was staring at him. Him and Dmitri were glaring at each other with such a hateful look...I simply couldn't believe it. Dmitri would never say it out loud, but something told me he hated Rasputin more than he was letting on.