Diamond Snow, Part Two

“What do you think of our snow hill?” asked Nicholas’s voice, right behind me. I practically jumped, I was so startled.
“I…I suppose it is…very nice,” I stammered.
“Go with me the next time?” he asked lightly.
I felt like my face was on fire. “I…I…well…”
“Look out!” cried Ella as she and little Olga set off. It looked so much fun from a spectator’s point of view. Ella was laughing, and Olga was screaming in joy. Ella’s skirts were spread out and Olga sat on top of them. Well, that might work.
When they ended the ride, Ella came over to me and whispered into my ear,
“Come on, Alicky! Have fun! Aunt Minnie even went down once.”
I suppressed a giggle. The elegantly poised Tsaritsa, sliding down the hill!
“Alix, let’s go again!” said Xenia, tugging on my arm. I gratefully followed her.
This time, I sat down first in back, and Xenia sat down on top of my skirts. A little of my boot top was exposed, but this time I let it go. Ella’s had been too, and she was twenty-four and a grand duchess besides!
Just as Xenia pushed us off, I heard a loud, masculine whoop, and felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. Turning red again, I glanced back at Nicholas standing on the back of the sled, grinning. In spite of myself, I smiled, (once I’d turned my head back, of course,) and even let out a little squeal as we sped down the ice, ending all too soon in a heap where Nicholas practically flipped over, and Xenia rolled in the snow. I was left laughing on the sled, which I was glad of.
Slowly, as the rides down the hill - with Xenia, Ella, Kitty, Olga, Ernie…but never with Nicholas alone…I began to enjoy myself more. The nervous fluttering in my stomach subsided to nearly nothing, and I stopped blushing so deeply whenever I tumbled off the sled. I even began to look forward to each upcoming slide when I was climbing up the hill: eager for the breathless excitement and the thrill of going so fast in the biting cold. I thought it felt the closest to flying I’d ever come.
After what seemed my tenth slide, I took a pause, feeling breathless and chilly. I stood by a frosted tree, my breath coming out in white clouds, which reflected the puffy white whipped-cream clouds in the piercingly blue sky.
“Cold?” asked Nicholas, dashing up to my side.
“Yes! I’m used to it, though,” I rushed to say. “Hessian winters are very cold too.”
“Well, we can remedy that,” said Nicholas. He raced over to a footman standing stiffly by a giant, white-crusted bush.
“You there - what’s your name?”
“Vasily,” said the footman, expressionless still.
“Well, Vasily, fetch us…eleven cups of hot chocolate.”
“Eleven, Your Highness? There are only ten of you.”
“One for you,” said Nicholas.
Vasily remained stone-faced. “Very well.”
As Vasily walked away rigidly, Nicholas burst out laughing.
“I’ve never seen him smile, not once!”
I suppressed a giggle. My mind frantically searched for something to say. I tried to breathe deeply of the cold, crisp air. Catching sight of Mikhail and Olga packing snowballs, I wondered how the hill itself had been made.
“You…you don’t make the hill yourselves, do you?” I asked. The question sounded incredibly silly.
“Oh, no, the servants do it. The footmen! And they pour water on it, but you know that.”
Nicholas suddenly let out a strange “Aack!” and I, too, was tempted to say the same, for Mikhail and Olga began pelting us with snowballs.
And…I could barely believe it: formal Sergei was bending down and picking up a handful of snow. And my own sister, Ella, was daintily finishing a perfectly round snowball in her cerulean-gloved hands.
As Nicholas and I dodged the snowballs, I saw Vasily returning with a large silver tray with steaming glasses of hot chocolate. Then, seemingly out of nowhere - but I recognized that round, perfectly formed ball - a snowball hit his hat and knocked it off his head.
I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t resist laughing this time.
As the hot chocolate warmed us, Nicholas said to Ella,
“Mother wants me to invite all of you, including your father, for cards, music and zakuskas tomorrow evening at six, here at Anichkov. She would be pleased if you could come.”
“Of course,” said Ella, smiling. Her dark blond hair was wispy about her happily flushed face, and her hat was a bit askew. I’m sure mine was too. “I must return the favor, sometime, though. How would two days after tomorrow be to come to Beloselsky-Belozersky for tea at four?”
To my surprise, I was not nervous, thinking of these plans, only filled with delighted excitement.
When we finished our chocolate, Ella, Xenia and I went down the hill together. As we slid and shrieked, I felt like I was soaring. And the first time that day, I completely forgot about my ankles showing.
When we tumbled off, I lay breathless in the snow for a moment. I still felt like I was soaring, even when Nicholas held out his hand to help me up.