....and when Tatiana lifted her glistening eyes to him, Alexander was looking down at her with his I’ll-get-on-the-bus-for-you-anytime face.

Tatiana and the soldier were having a silence

He is just protective over me-” “Not protective, Tania. Consumed.

He sent you to redeem me, to comfort me, and to heal me—and that’s just so far,” he added with a smile.

The days of idealism had gone. Only life was left.

I don't want this life to end," said Alexander. "The good, the bad, the everything, the very old, to ever end.

Here, take this, she would say, take this, and tell me where he is. Tell me whether he's dead or alive, so I can walk as his widow or his wife. No one would, or could, tell her, and so she continued to cook, and to learn new things all the while searching for an answer among the outcasts. The way he carried his body, the way he walked in my life, Tatiana thought, declared that he was the only man I had ever loved, and he knew it. And until I was alone without him, I thought it was all worth it.