The Promised Land (All My Love, Detrick Series) (All My Love Detrick Book 3)

by Roberta Kagan

  “That’s good, now sit down, and wait.” He helped her to sit beside the sleeping Katja.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Just wait. I’ll be right back.”

  For about fifteen minutes, Zofia gazed up at the dark, star-filled sky. Finally, Isaac returned carrying a flask.

  “Drink,” he whispered.

  “Isaac? Where did you get this?”

  “Never mind, just drink.”

  “Is this someone else’s water? Did you steal it?”

  “Don’t ask me, just drink. You must drink Zofia. Do as I ask. Please. No questions.”

  She nodded, her head tipped to the side as she studied him.

  “Please, drink . . .” he said again, “please . . .” He put the flask in her hand.

  “But it’s funny; I’m not even thirsty anymore.”

  “Zofia, when you aren’t thirsty any more, that is when you really must drink. Don’t ask me anything else; just please, this once, listen to me and do as I say. Drink.”

  She raised the flask to her lips and drank.

  Zofia felt a little better, but her headache persisted, accompanied by nausea as the boat rolled along the waves.

  When they arrived in the port at Hamburg, Zofia shook her head, tears threatening to fall as she frowned at Isaac.

  “It’s funny how sometimes you just want to believe something so badly that you refuse to accept the facts that are right in front of you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Somehow, I knew that we wouldn’t get to Palestine. We’re Jews. Nobody wants us. I had hoped that they would relent and take us back to Palestine. Of course, I knew it would never happen. We’re Jews. The world doesn’t do nice things for Jews.” She was trembling, her face had fallen, and she was fighting against a flood of tears.

  Zofia could not miss the concern in Isaac’s eyes.

  “How are you feeling?” He asked.

  “Not so well,” she said. “I’m still very nauseated, and my headache comes and goes. Sometimes it’s worse than other times.”

  He nodded. “No matter what happens I will find a way to take care of you.”

  “I know,” she said, but she could not hide the loss of heart from her voice.

  For eighteen days the passengers had baked in the hot sun, and now once again, they were rounded up like animals.

  Isaac helped Zofia to her feet and held her up as they were ushered out of the cage and off the boat. He kept a close eye on Katja as she walked a little ahead, holding hands with Rachel and Mendel.

  Once they were on land, they were loaded onto open trucks at gunpoint, and then transported to a British-controlled DP camp in Germany. The bouncing of the vehicle made Zofia so sick that she vomited over the side.

  Katja turned white as she watched Zofia. Her small fist went into her mouth and she began biting on it. “Is mama going to be all right?” She asked Isaac.

  “She will be all right.” Isaac said. He cuddled Katja’s head against his side.

  “Are you sure?” Katja had begun to cry.

  “I’m sure.”

  “Your mother will be fine,” Rachel assured her.

  Mendel took Katja’s hand and held it tightly. She looked at him, her face scrunched up with fear.

  Chapter 23

  As soon as they arrived at the DP camp, Zofia was taken to the camp hospital. Isaac and Katja went with her. Shana, Rachel, and Mendel followed. They watched as the doctors and nurses began working on her.

  “Can you watch Katja?” Isaac asked Shana. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Of course,” Shana said.

  Isaac went over to the group of busy medical professionals who were rushing about between patients. “Please, I am her husband, can I talk to someone?” He was speaking Yiddish, peppered with the broken English that he’d acquired from the American’s while in the DP camp after his release from the concentration camp.

  At first they ignored him, far too busy to be bothered. Then a young nurse with bright eyes and a soft, ivory complexion saw the desperation on his face. “Excuse me, doctor. I’ll be right back.”

  “I’m Jane.” She spoke with a thick British accent. “How can I help you?”

  “She,” Isaac indicated Zofia, “she is my wife. Please, is she okay?”

  “She is badly dehydrated, and she is quite run-down. However, she is young and strong and I believe she will make it through. She just needs food, water, and rest.”

  “Can I help?”

  “No, just stay out of the way. We are a little overwhelmed here. A lot of the people who came to the camp today are very ill.”

  “Can I come back to check?”

  “Of course you can, just, as I said before, try to stay out of the way.”

  “Thank you,” Isaac said.

  “She will be all right. She needs care,” Isaac said to Shana when he returned. “Would you mind taking Katja and trying to find an open bunk in one of the tents surrounding the medical tent? I know there is not much space, but do what you can. She needs to get some rest. I am going to camp outside the hospital tent so that I can be right here if Zofia needs me.”

  “Please, papa. Let me stay.” Katja said. “I promise I won’t be any trouble.”

  Isaac looked at the child, her blond curls knotted, and her face dirty. He felt sorry for her. She had just turned seven years old and she had to bear so much on her tiny shoulders.

  “Come here, Katja.” He held out his arms for her.

  She went to him. He hugged her.

  “Of course, you can stay with me.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “You are a good papa,” She said.

  He nodded “I will take care of you. And soon mama will be well, and we’ll all be together again.”

  Isaac felt the tears well up in his eyes, but he fought them. “Let’s sit down under the tree. Come.” He took her small hand in his own. He would do his best to take care of her.

  Zofia slept, her eyes opening occasionally, but her limbs were far too weak to move. She would gaze at Isaac and Katja, not comprehending who they were or where she was. Her eyes would focus for a moment, and then she would drift off into restless sleep again. Her dreams were fitful. Sometimes she dreamt of Manfred. She would hear his voice as he roared orders at her. Then, even worse, she would feel his cold, clammy hands upon her body. This recurring dream caused her to awaken bathed in sweat, crying. But she was oblivious to the comfort that Isaac tried to bestow upon her.

  Other times she dreamed of the forest, where she and Isaac had been hiding and how they’d fallen in love. She could see his eyes, as blue as the sky above her, laughing eyes, gentle, loving. She heard his laughter, and in her dream she laughed, too. Oh, the joy and bliss she always knew in his arms. And, she dreamed of Eidel, Fruma, Gitel, Christa, and the baby she’d miscarried in the woods. She spoke to Fruma, told Fruma how sorry she was that what had happened between herself and Koppel had cost Fruma and Gitel their lives, and even though Fruma was dead she answered “I forgive you. You didn’t know, you couldn’t know.”

  It could have been weeks that she slept, even months. Zofia lost track of time. But one morning, just as the sun rose in the late summer sky, she awakened as if God himself had touched her with his hand and sent her back to the land of the living. For the first time, she was able to fill her lungs fully with air and sit up without falling back in exhaustion. Isaac, who had been resting on the ground just outside the hospital tent, he saw movement through the tent opening. Since Zofia had become ill, he hadn’t been able to sleep deeply. Isaac was always aware of Zofia, always checking to see if she needed anything. He left Katja asleep on the ground, with his shirt rolled beneath her head for a pillow and went inside.

  “You’re awake? I sawyou.” He knelt beside Zofia’s bed.

  “You must have been sleeping with one eye open.” She laughed.

  “I’ve been so worried. I guess I have been listening for every sound, watching for
every movement. The nurses and doctors are so busy, and I was afraid they wouldn’t hear you if you called for them. ”

  “I’m so hungry.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Doctors? Nurses? Am I in a hospital?” Zofia asked, puzzled.

  “Yes, in the DP camp under British rule in Germany.”

  “Are we prisoners?”

  “No, we can leave any time; we just need to decide what we want to do. I haven’t given the future much thought. All I could think of was you. Right now, you need to eat so that you can grow stronger. Let me see if I can get you some food.”

  “Will the English give you food?”

  “Yes, they are in no way as bad as the Germans. They just broke their promise to us about Palestine. But let’s not think about all of that just yet. We have plenty of time to figure it all out when you are stronger. I can get you some food. And for right now, that is what you need.”

  She nodded. “Where is Katja?”

  “She is asleep right outside the tent.”

  “Do you think she is safe out there all alone?”

  “The camp appears to be quite safe. But I will wake her up and send her in here to stay with you while I go and get you something to eat.”

  A few minutes later Katja, still sleepy, came in to the hospital tent with uncertainty in her eyes. “Mama, are you feeling better?”

  “Yes, Sunshine, I am doing much better.”

  Katja ran to Zofia and climbed up on the bed. She laid her head on Zofia’s breasts. “I was so afraid you would die. I was so afraid.” Katja was crying.

  “Shhh, Sunshine. I am going to be just fine. Don’t cry. Everything is all right.”

  Zofia ran her fingers through Katja’s tangled hair. “Shhh . . .” she whispered again.

  Katja grew quiet, content to lay with the only mother she could remember. She had not slept well since Zofia had been hospitalized. Now with her head on Zofia’s chest, the gentle rhythm of Zofia’s heartbeat coaxed her to sleep like a lullaby.

  Every day Zofia was getting stronger until finally the doctors felt she could be released. One of the nurses gave her a sponge bath, and she felt clean for the first time since she’d left London.

  That night Zofia sat with her family and friends while some of the other residents of the DP camp put on a play. They sang and danced and told jokes. Zofia smiled as she thought about how much her people had been through, and yet they still found such joy in life. Some of the performers had once been professionals on the European stage, and their talent still had the power to stun the audience. The play brought back memories of all of the artists who had created cultural communities even under the oppression of the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto.

  After the show, Shana offered to watch Katja for the night. She would take Katja back to the tent where she and Rachel were staying, so that Zofia and Isaac could go off away from the others, somewhere under a tree and have some time alone together.

  “Would you like to go and stay with Rachel for the night?” Zofia asked Katja.

  “Are you sure you are better? You promise you won’t get sick like that again?” Katja asked. Zofia saw the fear in Katja’s eyes.

  “I am fine. I will be right here to have breakfast with you in the morning.”

  “Do you promise?”

  “I do, and I have never broken a promise to you, have I?”

  “No Mama, you haven’t.”

  “So, would you like to go then? You and Rachel could have a nice sleepover.”

  “Yes,” Katja giggled.

  “Katja slept over once before when you were in the hospital and we talked all night,” Rachel said.

  “That’s fine, but you will have to whisper. You don’t want to disturb the other people in the tent. And you will have to promise me that you will listen to Shana and do what she tells you.”

  “I promise,” Katja said.

  Once Zofia and Isaac were alone, they went off to a secluded part at the edge of the DP camp. They sat down under a tree and Isaac took Zofia in his arms.

  “I was so worried . . .” He whispered in her ear. “I was so afraid that I had finally found you only to lose you again.”

  “I’m right here, beside you. I will always be beside you, Isaac.”

  “I want to get married. There has to be a Rabbi here.”

  “Yes, there are probably several.”

  “All we need is one,” he said, smiling at her. “I will ask around in the morning. By the way, does that mean that you will marry me?”

  “Of course I will marry you.”

  “I knew you would. I just wanted to hear you say it again.” He smiled. “Zofia, I love you with all my heart. I never thought I could love anyone or anything this much.”

  “I feel the same, Isaac. I feel like no matter what life brings I can face it as long as we are together.”

  He took her in his arms and their lips met, warm and familiar. Then tenderly, with his fingers trembling with emotion, he began to unbutton her blouse.

  Chapter 24

  Zofia awoke at dawn to find Isaac already awake. They lay wrapped in each other’s arms watching the sunrise.

  “Today I am going to ask everyone here in the camp if they know of a Rabbi.”

  Zofia laughed a little.

  “Why do you laugh?”

  “Because you are so persistent. I didn’t think that marriage would still be on your mind this morning. ”

  “You don’t want to marry me?”

  “I do. I want to marry you more than anything.”

  “Marrying you has been on my mind from the day I first saw you. You were just a little girl coming in to buy bread, and I was the little fat boy sitting on the wooden pallet in the back of my mama’s bakery. How could I be anything but a chubby child with lots of dreams, with the way that my mother baked that bread I ate constantly?” he wondered aloud with a laugh. “You are my true love, my best friend, and the person who I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  “And you are mine.

  Chapter 25

  “Nu? Who could imagine such a mitzvah would happen right here in this DP camp?” Shana said, smiling as she helped Zofia dress for the wedding.

  The dress had been loaned to her by one of the British nurses. It was a simple cream-colored dress made of heavy cotton, a little too large for Zofia’s tiny frame. However, when Zofia saw how she looked, she could not contain the smile that came over her pretty features. Shana had taken Zofia’s long black curls and pulled them back from her face with a tortoise shell comb, a gift from one of the prisoners (for whom Isaac had helped build a cot large enough for she and her husband to sleep on). Another of the nurses gave Zofia a nearly empty tube of cherry red lipstick, which Zofia smeared lightly upon her cheeks and full lips.

  “You look beautiful,” Shana gushed.

  Zofia gazed at Shana, tears tickling her eyelids. “Thank you for all of your help getting ready for the wedding.”

  “It was nothing, I enjoyed every minute of it.” Shana assured her. “I think Katja’s dress is dry. I washed it and wrapped her in a sheet until it was done. She and Rachel have been playing cards with Mendel. I’m so glad that the three of them can keep each other entertained. It’s good that they have each other.”

  The wedding began at sundown.

  Several of the men had gathered to build a chuppah out of tree branches and leaves. They held the four posts up high enough so that the bride, the groom, and the rabbi, along with a small table (on which stood a glass of wine), could fit beneath the canopy.

  The Rabbi entered the chuppah and the crowd grew silent.

  One of the men, who had a long gray beard, played guitar. A singing group had been formed; their voices were exquisite and melodious. As the services began, the singers joined in harmony to create a haunting melody of traditional Yiddish music. Shana and Katja walked down an aisle carved into the dirt then lined with wild flowers and dandelions.

  Next, Isaac walked alone. He waited
beside the Rabbi.

  Then there was a moment of silence.

  The singers began again, their voices filling the air as Zofia walked forward carrying a small bouquet of wild flowers that Katja, Mendel, and Rachel had gathered. Some of the crowd gasped, others had tears in their eyes. She came forward to the entrance of the canopy. Isaac’s eyes never left his bride as she circled the chuppah seven times. Then, once she’d finished, Zofia came to stand beside him.

  The Rabbi said the prayers, and then the couple made their vows. Isaac placed the ring he’d taken from Koppel’s pocket on Zofia’s first finger. He knew the ring had once belonged to a woman who died in one of the camps. That bothered him in a way, but in another way, he wanted to honor the previous owner, whoever she was, with the love that he and Zofia shared. Somehow he believed that the woman who had once worn that ring was watching and smiling, knowing that her legacy lived on through the two of them. Each of them took a sip of the wine. Then the glass was placed on the ground. Isaac raised his foot and stomped on the glass. The gathering of people cried out “Mazel Tov” and “L’chaim.”

  And here—on German soil that had once been ruled by the cruelest madman of all time—Zofia and Isaac were joined together under God, in marriage. And, once again, against all odds, the Jews celebrated the joys of life.

  Chapter 26

  “I’m going to find a job. We’ll leave the camp and begin our days together as husband and wife. We can’t live like this forever,” Isaac said the morning after their wedding.

  “Here in Germany?” Zofia asked.

  “For now, until we have plenty of money. Then we can try to go to America.”

  “You don’t think we can ever get into Palestine, do you?”

  “I don’t know. I would hate for us to save all of our money only to have our hopes squashed again.”

  She nodded. “A Jewish homeland; perhaps it’s nothing but a dream.”

  “Besides, I want to earn some money. I had mixed feelings about putting that ring that I took from Koppel on your finger. I want to buy you a ring of your own, not one that was stolen from someone who was murdered. The only thing that made it easier to use that ring was that I felt that the dead woman’s legacy lived on through our love and our marriage”