OTMA: I'll Meet You On The Bridge

Chapter 16: Maria POV

Ah, screw it. I just want to get posting this over with so that I stop forgetting. I hope you guys enjoy!

The Alexander Bridge had always been noisy. Maria had never been annoyed by that, until that day. As people bustled around them, she got nervous. She tightened her grip on her sisters hands. She was on the left of Tatiana, and Olga was on Tatiana's other side. This was how they would always walk around when they first got to Paris. Even when they were Grand Duchesses, though Anastasia would be there holding Maria's other hand. At first, not having Anastasia made her hand feel empty. She'd gotten used to it, and eventually, the girls just stopped holding hands altogether. Now, her hand felt empty again. She opened and closed it, as if expecting someone to take it. She almost did. She almost expected Anastasia to walk up beside her, take her hand, and start complaining. It would have been a very Anastasia thing to do. Then Olga would yell at her, and Tatiana would tell them both to be quiet, and Maria would just sit there listening, happy to be with her sisters. But no Anastasia came and grabbed her hand. Because Anastasia was gone. That was what they had just figured out.

The twilight was falling. There was a beautiful sunset, pinks and oranges, though it couldn't compare to the sunsets Maria had seen in Russia. That was something that she'd always thought. Russia was more beautiful in Paris. Paris was beautiful in it's own way, of course, with bright lights and lamps that lit up the night. But it would never beat the beauty of her Russia.

She realized that she was thinking in the past again. She thought she'd finally stopped thinking in the past. She had finally settled into her life in Paris, only to have something set the foundations of that life loose. She took a deep breath, and kept walking. She had to focus, or she would bump into all these people. Most of them were tourists. The Alexander Bridge was a total tourist trap. It was actually kind of annoying, since it was always loud outside of their apartment. Except for night. Very few people would be out on the Alexander Bridge at night. They would go to their fancy hotels or to the Eiffel Tower at night. The view from the Eiffel Tower was beautiful at night, Maria had to admit. But she was only willing to suffer through the line it took to get up their once. Olga, Tatiana, and her had done it once. And she was never going to do it again.

Maria realized that Olga and Tatiana hadn't started talking. Usually, they would be talking within moments of taking hands. But all three girls were silent. It was like their mouths were glued shut. They couldn't speak.

Finally, Tatiana broke the deafening silence. "So, do you think the kids are going to listen to him all the way till the end?"

"No." Olga said. She didn't expand on this idea. Just simply stated that no, they wouldn't listen. Didn't keep speaking like she normally would. The silence came back. Maria was surprised at how silent it felt. She was surrounded by people. The Alexander Bridge was packed. And yet, it felt so quiet, and so lonely. She might have had her sisters, but a piece of them was missing. They had finally began to feel complete again, but a piece of them was missing.

"Do you think they'll even have time to finish it?" Maria asked. She had to break this silence. She usually wasn't the one to start conversations. Olga and Tatiana looked at her, surprised.

"I think they will. I mean, it's a play, after all. It's supposed to be finishable." Tatiana said with a shrug.

"Is finishable even a word?" Olga asked. Maria realized that they were speaking English.

"Sure. Let's pretend it's a word." She said. Things were going back to normal. A playful conversation. Though she noticed that none of them had let go of each others hands.

"I'm so glad that we're raising Garcon to speak three languages, like we do. We'll probably be able to raise Duncan to speak all three too." Maria said. "I wonder how Griggs knows English."

"Oh yeah. I didn't even think about that." Olga said. "Do you think he knows French? He's going to need to speak it if he lives in France."

"Yeah. I guess we'll have to teach him." Maria said. "At least he knows two of the three languages we know."

"He'll have to go to school, won't he?" Tatiana asked. They stepped off the bridge and walked towards the nearby market. "I mean, he'll have to learn French to go to school in Paris. And there is no way that he isn't going to school. I will make him go to school."

"Yeah." Maria said. "I'm sure there's a school for kids who don't speak French. Especially with how many Russians there are in Paris. I'm sure we'll find something."

"Yeah, but it's not like we can just magically search the entire vicinity for schools." Tatiana sighed. "We'll figure it out, though. We'll figure it out."

Just like how they'd figured out living in Paris.

"Hey Maria, remember how you would hand copy all of Mama's letters?" The three girls sat down at a table at an outdoor cafe rather than going to buy clothes like they said they would.

"Yeah. My English was terrible. Now look at me. I decided that 'finishable' could be a word!" The three girls giggled, but as it always seemed when they were talking about their past, their laughter was short lived. Maria noticed that all three girls had placed their hands on the table. She looked at the bracelets they each wore. They were removable, but it took a special tool to remove them. They girls had never bothered to remove them. They didn't want to. Their Mama had given each of the four sisters a bracelet, and she also wore one. The bracelets were symbolic.

"If Anastasia really was alive, do you think she would have her bracelet?" Olga asked. Maria fidgeted nervously.

"I don't know. Do you think she would have taken it off?" She asked.

"No, she wouldn't have. For the same reason we didn't." Tatiana said.

"But if she remembered us, she would have been trying to get to Paris for all these years. She only just surfaced. She might not have remembered us." Olga countered.

"Well, it could have really taken her ten years to get out of Russia. Sorry, the Soviet Union." Maria said.

"And, if she doesn't remember her past, then she probably would be a normal Russian citizen." Tatiana added. "She might not have even found the tool."

"We should go shopping." Maria said. She had to stop talking about this. Olga and Tatiana nodded in agreement. They stood up and headed over to the store to buy Griggs a new wardrobe. They then had lunch at one of the restaurants, and headed home. Felix was still reading a Midsummer Night's Dream to the boys. They had Griggs try on the clothes, which fit him, and then they just lazed around for the rest of the day. Tatiana took a nap. After all, she had worked all of the last night. Maria was relieved that Olga and Felix weren't performing, and Tatiana wasn't working. None of them had any obligations.

"Hey, M. Olga and I are going back out to the bridge. Want to come with us?" Tatiana appeared in the doorway of Maria's room.

"Yeah, sure." Maria glanced at the clock. It was nearly 9 P.M. The bridge would be deserted. The three girls walked out to the bridge and leaned over, looking out at the beautiful water. There was a couple talking next to them. Streetlights and stars and city lights shone around them.

They were safe, in Paris. They had to stop living in the past.

And yet, Maria still felt incomplete.