A week after the war, the family said their farewells to Buckingham Palace.

Luckily while they were gone for five years, Sandringham hadn't been bombed. Everything inside was just how they had left it.

The family opened up their home to a few select citizens whose homes had been bombed during the war. They would stay at the house until they would find new places to live. The house was opened to five families.

The first three came to the house, grateful that this was their new refuge.

Around lunch, a couple arrived. The woman had brown curls and green eyes. The man had shiny blonde hair and blue eyes.

Everything was normal until Anastasia noticed something on the man's suit. Something about it was so familiar but she couldn't quite remember. She figured it would come to her later. The family welcomed them in.

A few hours later, the last family arrived. When Maria and Anastasia answered the door, it was none other than Hugo's family.

"Hugo!? Paul!?" Maria exclaimed.

"It's us!" Hugo hugged Maria while Paul hugged Anastasia. A much older Rosie and Charlie stood behind them.

"Oh my gosh! You're both so much older than when we last saw you!" Maria led them inside.

"Welcome to our house!" Anastasia carried their suitcases.

"You mean palace?" Hugo flashed a witty grin, referring to their small bicker years ago.

Hugo's family spent the rest of the day talking about what they had done since the girls had seen them last. Paul was thirty-nine. Hugo was thirty-seven. Rosie was sixty-nine and Charlie was seventy-one.

A woman had also arrived with Hugo's family. Her name was Flora Edwards. She was Paul's new wife, a few years younger than him. Paul had met her in the years leading up to the war. They married in nineteen-thirty-eight.

Hugo was courting a girl from town but her home had been destroyed in the war. She had gone to France to live with relatives. Paul had fought in the war while Hugo did not.

The Romanovs and Golovins had prepared dinner for their guests and had gotten to know them as the night went on.

During dinner, Anastasia couldn't take her eyes off of the couple. Something about them was so familiar.

It wasn't until later that night when Anastasia finally received her answers.

The sisters were checking on their families before they went to bed when Anastasia decided to check on the couple. She knocked on the door and heard a reply from inside. Anastasia opened the door to see the woman in bed, wearing a pale blue nightgown. The man was sitting in a chair, reading a book.

"Hello!" the woman said cheerfully. "Thank you so much for opening your home to us!"

"Your welcome." Anastasia smiled at her for a moment. "What are your names again? I'm afraid I wasn't listening the first time you mentioned them."

"I'm Maxim. This is my wife, Svetlana." Maxim repeated.

Anastasia's mind cleared. She had an image of the two from when she had first met them back in Russia in nineteen-eighteen. Svetlana had broken Tatiana's perfume in the motel. Anastasia gasped, so surprised to see them after all this time.

"Is everything alright, Anastasia?" Svetlana asked.

"Do you have an emerald brooch, Maxim?" Anastasia pondered. She had to make sure that it was really them.

"Yes..."

"Svetlana? Years ago in Russia, did you meet a young boy and girl while in the forest? You were going to...Taman when the bus you were riding on was pulled over. Do you remember their names?"

"Why, yes! That's so odd you know about that...the boy's name was...Anatolii? Alexander? Anton?"

"Andrei." Anastasia corrected. "Do you remember the girl's name?"

"Alena? Annika? Anya! Why do you ask?" Svetlana wondered, a bit concerned.

"I'm Anya."

"What?"

"I'm the girl you met on the road years ago. Andrei is my husband now. Anya was a cover name because I couldn't share my identity back then." Anastasia explained.

Svetlana and Maxim were shocked. Maxim even dropped the book he was holding.

"I can't believe that was you! I didn't even recognize you!"

"I looked much younger back then," Anastasia laughed. Svetlana's smile faded as she remembered something.

"I broke your sister's perfume! I didn't realize why you were so upset by a broken perfume but now I know. I'm deeply sorry for that." Svetlana uttered, ashamed.

"Oh, it's alright! I'm quite over that. I forgot all about that. I forgive you."

Anastasia hugged Svetlana. Of course, she was mad in the moment when Svetlana had broken the perfume but it happened so long ago. It didn't mean anything to her now.

Now Anastasia could sleep peacefully knowing their little conflict from twenty-seven years ago was resolved.

A year passed and by Christmas, all of the families were able to return to their new homes.

Hugo's family and the couple were sad to leave but promised to keep in touch.

Now living back at their beloved Sandringham with their husbands and sons, the family could live the rest of their lives in happiness.

But it was someone that appeared on the house's doorstep in nineteen-fifty that disturbed that happiness.

-

July 4th, 1950

It was a foggy July morning. The family had just finished breakfast. Maria's children went outside to walk while the adults helped the servants clean the table. As they were cleaning, a knock on the door was heard.

"I'll answer it." a servant named Tessa rushed to the door. She opened it to see a man standing on the porch.

"May I please speak to Maria Romanov?" the man requested. Tessa left the door and returned with Marcell.

"I'm sorry. Maria is a bit busy right now. What can I do for you?"

"What is your name?" the man asked.

"Marcell Taylor. Yours?"

"Valentin Golovin."

"Alright Valentin," Marcell started. "I'm sure if you come back in a little bit, she will be available to talk."

Marcell started to close the door when Valentin stopped him.

"Please. It's urgent."

"I'm sorry, you'll just have to wait." Marcell closed the door.

Valentin was walking off the porch when he heard laughter coming from the gardens of the house. This was his chance. If that man wouldn't let him see Maria, he would just have to find her himself.

Valentin crept on the side of the house and spotted young adults walking in the courtyard.

"Excuse me!" he shouted to them from behind a bush. The four looked around, curious where the voice was coming from.

"Hello." Valentin smiled as he walked out into the view. The siblings were scared of this stranger walking toward them.

"What are your names?" Valentin asked.

"We won't tell you our names until you tell us yours," Vivianne stood tall, arms creating a sort of barricade around her siblings.

"My name is Valentin. I am a friend of Maria Romanov."

"Our mother has never mentioned you." Elena replied.

Valentin gasped. These were his children!

"You're Vivianne! You're Elena! Anatolii!" Valentin grinned, pointing at each as he said their name.

"How do you know their names? I've never seen you before." Louis remarked.

Valentin grew confused. He had three children - who was this?

"I'll get Papa." Anatolii ran into the house. He shortly returned with Marcell. Valentin gulped.

"I guess your need for Maria really is urgent." Marcell sighed. "Please get your Mama, E."

Elena ran into the house. A few minutes later, Elena came outside with Maria. Maria's smile faded as she saw Valentin.

"What are you doing here?" Maria hissed under her breath.

"To get you back." Valentin whispered.

"You have Clarice!"

"Not anymore!" Valentin answered.

"What's going on!?" Marcell demanded.

Maria knew it was time to answer questions.

"Vivianne, Elena, Anatolii. This is your father, your birth father."

"What!?" Elena gawked, eyes wide as well as her siblings.

"Valentin," Maria turned toward him. "I remarried."

Valentin gasped. He acted shocked but deep down, he wasn't surprised.

"You have no purpose to be here anymore so I advise you to leave." Maria shooed him away.

"Can I at least talk to the children? I haven't seen them in years," Valentin begged.

"They aren't your children anymore." Marcell shot back.

Although Maria hated Valentin, she had developed a hint of sympathy for the man. After all, they were his children.

"You can have a few minutes with them. Then you are to leave."

Valentin and the children sat in the garden. There was an awkward silence between them.

"Why hasn't our Mama told us about you?" Louis asked.

"I did some terrible things to your family," Valentin admitted.

"Very, very bad things," Vivianne prodded, not looking him in the eye. "I found an old newspaper in Mama's room a few weeks ago that was written about it."

"I've missed you all very much. You're all so much older. How old?" Valentin remembered.

"Twenty-nine." Vivianne snapped.

"Twenty-six." Elena muttered.

"Twenty-five." Anatolii sighed.

"Nineteen." Louis whispered.

'How could a man do something so terrible? He clearly wants to be here. He wants to be with us.' Louis thought.

"I must leave now. Your mother clearly doesn't want me here anymore." Valentin concluded their conservation.

"Don't you want to see your family? They still live here." Anatolii asked.

"No, no. They wouldn't want to see me. Goodbye."

With one quick glance back at his children, he fled the gardens, fighting back tears as he did.

The family never saw him never again.