The new year had come and Anatolii was out of bed. His sisters were overjoyed to see him playing along with the rest of the household.

January 12th, 1929

It was a cloudy January afternoon. Maria had just recovered from a case of the measles she had gotten over Christmas. Her hair has been shaved and it was now short enough to fashion into pin curls. It was near evening and she sat in her window seat in her room, about to sew a hole in one of Elena's coats.

She was interrupted when Anastasia sprinted through the door. She tried to jump onto Maria's bed but missed, hitting the floor with a thud.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Anastasia roared. Maria knew she wasn't hurt because she was laughing.

"Are you alright, Nastasia?" Maria laughed as she set down the coat.

"Yes. I have a surprise for you!" Anastasia squealed as she flopped onto the bed, not missing this time.

"Oh no..." Maria became worried. She wondered if the surprise was good or bad. Coming from Anastasia you could never tell.

"It's a good surprise, Mashka." Anastasia reassured. "We're going to London tomorrow night!"

Maria's mouth hung open. Anastasia didn't know if she was happy or mad.

"London!?" Maria questioned. "Why?"

"To go see Anna Pavlova perform in Swan Lake! Do you want to go? I thought it would be a fun night for both of us. We haven't been able to spend time together." Anastasia asked, her voice small.

"Yes, Nastasia! Of course I'll go!"

-

The next day at five, the sisters were off. Maria was hesitant about leaving her children, but she knew they would be in good care with Liesel. At least this time she hoped she was more careful. The sisters wore their best silk dresses for the ballet. Maria laid her head onto Anastasia's shoulder as the car drove to London.

"Thank you, Shvibzik," Maria sighed. "It's so nice being outside of the house's gates. I haven't gone anywhere in forever."

"Your welcome, Mashka. It does feel good to be going somewhere fancy. Although I don't like most fancy things, I do like dressing up for the ballet."Anastasia grinned.

After two hours of driving, the car finally descended into London.

"Wow!" Anastasia gasped as she looked out at the old city.

It was much older and populated than St. Petersburg. The girls had never seen so many people in one city.

Around seven-thirty, the car arrived at the opera house. The girls were eager to get inside.

After handing their opera tickets to a worker, the girls traveled to their box on the second floor. They were closer to the stage than they were in Paris but it was still hard to see everything. The theatre was almost the same design as the Paris Garnier. The only difference is that this opera house was painted with dark, airy colors while Paris was painted with bold bright colors.

Maria and Anastasia settled in their box, eating chocolates left for them when they were unaware that a group of people was watching them. A group of attendants, mostly young boys and men, stood in an empty box across from their side of the theatre.

"Aren't they pretty!" one boy named Daniel around the age of twenty-five remarked.

"They sure are!" a boy named Wilbur said as he spotted Anastasia.

"What do you think?" Daniel asked as a man named Marcell stepped into the box.

"Well, what is it that I'm looking at?" Marcell laughed, his voice coated with a French accent. He was raised in France but knew English fluently.

"The Romanov girls!"

"Ah, I see," Marcell eyed the two girls laughing. "They'll never like us!"

"What do you mean?" a man named James asked.

"Well, they are too old for us. I'm sure they both have husbands." Marcell answered.

"Maria doesn't." James pointed to the girl with the short hair.

"She divorced a man after he took all her money. Left her with three kids."

"How awful!" Daniel frowned.

"You're about the same age as them." Wilbur stated.

Marcell was thirty. Maria was twenty-nine and Anastasia was twenty-eight.

"Tonight is the night I'm going to do something outrageous!" Marcell proclaimed.

Daniel, Wilbur, and James looked at him with confused looks. Marcell never liked to break the rules or do foolish things.

"I'm going to talk to Maria."

-

Marcell made his way to the other side of the theater, standing feet away from the box. He tried to think of what to say.

'This is such a bad idea, Marcell! What do I even talk about? Just introduce myself? Talk about the history of the opera house? Oh, what do I say! What do I say!'

He could still see the faces of his buddies minutes ago when he made his special announcement. They were all so excited for him so Marcell knew he couldn't let them down.

Marcell looked down the hall at their box door to see a man about to walk in, holding a tray of sweets. This was his chance! It was now or never! Marcell sprinted to the man, avoiding people as he did.

"I'll take this to them," Marcell took the tray. The man simply shrugged it off and continued down the hall. Marcell took a deep breath before entering. He couldn't screw this up. The girls were looking down at the audience when they heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Anastasia called.

Marcell opened the door. She saw both girls sitting in velvet seats looking back at him, their warm smiles greeting him. Marcell was starstruck. His buddies had admired the beauty of the Romanov girls but he had never truly noticed until now.

Anastasia sat upward with perfect posture, her long strawberry blonde hair falling off of her shoulders like waterfalls. She was five' two in height, much shorter than Marcell had thought. She had pale blue eyes, thin lips, and a delicate nose. She had a heart-shaped face and wore no makeup. He also spotted a ring on Anastasia's finger.

''Definitely married.' Marcell made a mental note.

Anastasia was beautiful but it was Maria that Marcell thought was the prettiest of the two. Her short light auburn hair was pin-curled. She had a heart-shaped face just like her sister. She was five' six, much taller than Anastasia. She also sat with perfect posture, as taught to her by her mother. She had fair skin, plump lips, rosy cheeks, and dark blue eyes which Marcell felt he could drown in. He didn't eye any rings on Maria's fingers so he figured James was right.

It had been a minute and Marcell finally realized that he had been staring at her. He came to and saw Maria was staring back at him, blushing brightly.

"Sweets?" Marcell blurted as he held out the tray of chocolate bars. Anastasia leaned over her chair to snatch a bar while Maria delicately picked one off. Although, her hand was on the tray, her eyes were looking directly at Marcell.

"Comment vous appelez-vous? Vous parlez avec un accent français, alors je pense que vous êtes peut-être de France. Est-ce vrai?" Maria asked.

"Oui. Je m'appelle Marcell Taylor. Je suis né et j'ai grandi en France mais Londres est ma maison maintenant." Marcell answered.

'Wow! I didn't know she could speak perfect French!' Marcell thought to himself.

"Ah, je vois. Ma famille et moi sommes allés à Paris il y a trois ans."

"Comme c'est gentil! Quels sont vos noms? J'ai peur de ne pas les connaître." Marcell lied.

He already knew the sister's names but he still felt the need to ask.

"Maria Romanov. Et voici ma petite sœur, Anastasia." Maria pointed to Anastasia who was eating her chocolate bar.

"Elle connaît également le français couramment." Maria added.

"Well, I better go now," Marcell walked towards the door. Maria rushed to stop him.

"Stay." she said softly, playing with her hair. Anastasia put her palm to her face. Maria was flirting, again.

Although Anastasia always laughed when she did, it was nice to see her sister doing something normal. Ever since the incident with Valentin three years ago, Maria had never laid eyes on anyone.

She was too scared to re-open her heart to someone, but now it seemed she had fallen in love with a man.

A certain French man to be exact.