The Tulip Eaters

by Antoinette van Heugten

  Nora started to run to Rose, but Nico held her back. “Wait!” he whispered. “He’s got to be the one who tried to kill you before!”

  “No! Rose!” wailed Nora. The only thing she could see was her angel grasped in the crabbed fingers of that evil woman. Nico kept holding her back.

  “For God’s sake, don’t shoot!” cried Ariel.

  Dirk’s flat eyes didn’t even glance behind him. “I shot you once. This time I’ll fucking kill you.”

  “Dirk, get us out of here!” cried the old woman.

  Nora saw her inch along the long wall with Rose until she came to a corner near the front door.

  “Shut up, Amarisa,” Dirk said softly. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “Move over there.” Dirk waved the pistol at Nora and Nico in the direction of a doorway to what seemed to be the nursery. Then he stepped toward them.

  Suddenly, Nora saw Ariel grab a large crystal ashtray from the coffee table, lurch the few steps to Dirk, raise both arms and smash it over Dirk’s head.

  Dirk howled and fell. His pistol skittered across the wooden floor. Nico pushed Nora behind him and rushed forward, his eyes fixed on the pistol, but Dirk had struggled to his feet. As Nico bore down on him, Dirk stood solid, balled his fist, yanked it back and slammed Nico in the face. He crumpled.

  “Nico!” screamed Nora. She ran to him, cradling his head as he lay on his back, unconscious.

  But then Ariel tackled Dirk from behind. They both landed with a crash on the coffee table. The shattering of glass had the old woman screaming. Dirk hit the floor first, bloody and unconscious.

  Nora let go of Nico and grabbed the pistol. She ran across to where Amarisa huddled in a corner, Rose still clutched in her arms. Nora stood back and trained the pistol at the old woman’s forehead. She’d never fired a gun but, with shaking hands, she managed to cock it. “Give me my baby, you bitch. Or I’ll kill you.” An image flashed in her mind. Anneke. The gun. Pointed at the monster who held her daughter.

  Amarisa held a red-faced, wailing Rose in front of her. “You daughter of a whore! You don’t deserve this child. You owe her to me—to my family!”

  “Put her down!” Nora waved the gun a bit, her hands gripping the pistol even tighter. God, could she kill this person?

  Amarisa didn’t budge. Then she slowly lifted a kicking, squawking Rose so that the baby shielded her from neck to stomach. Then she raised and lowered her, up and down. “Are you a good shot?” she hissed. “Are you willing to risk killing your own baby?”

  “Stop!” cried Nora. “How can you do this? I’m Abram’s daughter! Give her to me!”

  Amarisa still held Rose in front of her, raising and lowering her little body. “You aren’t Abram’s daughter,” she spit. “He would never have let his child be raised by his own murderer— by a Nazi! But with this child, we survive—without her, we perish!”

  Nora took a breath, aimed and shot. Amarisa’s leg crumpled and she screamed. Before she could drop Rose, Nora leaped forward and wrested her away.

  “No, no, you can’t!” cried Amarisa, now curled in a black ball on the floor, her hands pressing on the bloody wound on her leg. “You can’t take her. She’s mine! She’s everything!”

  Nora raced to the other side of the room, out of breath as relief flooded her, and all but threw herself on a bench at the bay window. Rose was still howling. Nora tucked the soft blanket tighter around her. “It’s all right, sweet girl. It’s Mommy, I’m here.” Rose fixed her blue eyes on Nora’s and stopped crying.

  Nora clutched Rose to her breast, thrusting her face into her neck, inhaling her delicious scent. She then frantically felt Rose all over. Fingers, toes, all there! Tears flooded down her face and onto Rose’s. “Oh, Rose, my darling, my baby...”

  She held her tight. She would never, ever, let her go again.

  69

  Now Nico rushed to her and put his arms around both of them. Nora saw Dirk lay near the couch on his stomach, sprawled on the floor, still unconscious, blood pouring from his side where it appeared that shards of glass had pierced his body. His hands were now behind his back. Ariel had somehow managed to bind them with his belt.

  Clutching Rose, Nora strode over to the couch, where Ariel and Leah sat, their arms around each other, Leah sobbing. Nora stood directly in front of Ariel, glaring angrily. He tried to rise, but Nico shoved him down and stood over him.

  “Please, don’t hurt him!” Nora looked at the woman, now sheltered in her husband’s arms. “We didn’t harm the baby, we love her!”

  Ariel stood, but Nico inserted himself between Nora and Ariel and shoved him back down. Nico pointed at him. “Sit—now.” His voice sounded deadly.

  Before Ariel could sit, Nora stepped forward. “You bastard!” she cried. “Your aunt and father murdered my mother and kidnapped my child! Why didn’t you do something? Answer me!”

  Ariel sank into the couch. His eyes seemed to beg her. “No!” he cried. “Amarisa wasn’t there. I took Rose, but I didn’t kill your mother! I’m not a murderer!” Leah pressed her face into Ariel’s neck as he drew her again into his arms.

  Nora shifted Rose to one hip. “How dare you! You’re going to rot in jail!”

  “Please, please, let me explain! It was my father!” he pleaded. “He killed her—not me!”

  “I don’t believe you!”

  “My father was obsessed,” he said. “He believed Hans killed my uncle.”

  Nora stepped back, holding Rose close to her chest, still shocked that she actually held her in her arms. A thought came. I still can’t prove that Hans didn’t kill his uncle. “But that doesn’t explain why he killed my mother!”

  “Because he believed that Anneke was an NSB-er who betrayed my uncle and the rest of our family. That because of her they were killed in the camps. That Hans was jealous of Abram and that was why he killed him, shot him down like a dog in the street.”

  He stared at the floor. “All his life my father searched to find them. A vendetta. He couldn’t think or talk about anything else. It ruined his life.”

  Ariel raised tortured eyes to hers. “We did everything to convince him and Amarisa that it didn’t matter what happened back then. That they had to put it behind him and go on. But my father never could. When he finally found your mother—and I have no idea how he did—he carried out his insane plan. And now he’s dead.”

  Nora shifted Rose to one hip, leaned down and slapped him viciously across the face. It sounded like the crack of a whip.

  She put her face close to his. She wanted to rip his throat out. “You stole Rose! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Are you out of your mind?”

  Rose burst into tears. Nora shushed her and then turned to Nico. “Call the police—now. I want this murderer, this kidnapper, arrested.” She pointed at Dirk, who now seemed semiconscious, but unable to speak. “And the same goes for that bastard.”

  Nora heard a clumping behind her and turned. The old woman was dragging her bloody leg as she moved toward Nora, her hands grasping at Rose. “Give her to me!”

  “Get the hell away from us! I don’t know what your role was in all this, but you’ll never touch my child again.”

  Amarisa fell to her knees. “You have to give her back!” she pleaded. “She is my life. She is everything!”

  “She was never yours,” said Nora coldly. “And you’ll have a different life—in jail.”

  Amarisa crumpled, wailing. Nora heard her muttering, as if she was already saying the prayer for the dead.

  “Look at me.” Ariel raised his tortured eyes. “Here is what is going to happen to you,” she said icily. “They’ll deport you and try you in the States. And if I have anything to do with it, you’ll get the death penalty. Texas is famous for it.”

  Ariel lifted his hands in a pleading
gesture. Leah started to speak, but Ariel shook his head at her. He fixed on Nora. “Wait, wait, I’ll explain everything! Just listen, please!”

  Nico stood by the phone stand, receiver in hand. He gave her a questioning look. She held up a finger. Not yet. She shot out her next words—each a bullet. “You have two minutes. Start talking.”

  In a rush, Ariel began. “I went to see my father a few weeks ago, but he didn’t answer the door. He never went anywhere and had been in poor health. I was worried so I used my key and went inside.” He drew a breath. “On my way out, I saw his travel itinerary on his desk. Your address was scrawled on it.”

  Nora didn’t believe this bastard, but she would hear him out. And then she would see him punished. As if anyone could ever be punished enough for what he and his father had done.

  Now terrified, Ariel spoke even faster. “I got on the first plane to Houston. I wasn’t sure what he would do, but I knew that whatever it was, I had to stop him. When I got there, I went straight to your home. I could see he had already beaten your mother and was pointing a gun in her face.”

  Nora couldn’t bear it. “And what did you do while your father—that monster!—killed my mother?”

  “I couldn’t do anything! I ran toward him, but I tripped on the carpet. By the time I got up, he had already pulled the trigger! It was awful—all that blood, your mother’s face—”

  “Stop it!” cried Nora. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “But you have to! I ran to him and he had a heart attack. He fell to the floor.”

  “You let him die!” cried Amarisa. “You took my brother from me, and now Jacoba. I wish you’d never been born!”

  Ariel went on. “Just before he died, your mother told him that you were Abram’s daughter and that your baby was Jewish. His dying wish was that I take Rose back to Holland and raise her as a Jew.”

  Nora felt no pity at all. “So you did what he said. You stole my child after your father murdered my mother. Can you imagine the hell I’ve been through these last weeks or didn’t you give a damn? How could you do such a thing!”

  Ariel opened his mouth to speak. Nora held Rose closer to her. “You coward! Why did you do what he said? Why didn’t you just leave her there?” She throttled a sob.

  “I heard a car in the driveway. I panicked! So I just took the baby and ran. I knew that if I stayed, I would be arrested, that the police would say I killed your mother.”

  “Then why didn’t you give her back?” asked Nico. “You could have left her at a hospital, a police station—somewhere she would be found. You are disgusting.”

  “I know, I know,” he said, putting his head in his hands. “I was terrified. And then I thought about what my father said. That the baby was our family. That she belonged in Holland with us.” He turned and glanced at Leah, tears in his eyes. “And we couldn’t have children,” he whispered. “I thought it was fate, a gift from God out of a horrible nightmare. I didn’t think about her grandmother, about you. I didn’t think about anything except not getting caught and of putting the child into my wife’s arms.” He looked at Leah, but she only had eyes for Rose. Nora saw the love in them.

  “God forgive me,” he whispered.

  Nora stared at him, still feeling cold fury. “God may forgive you, but I won’t.” She walked back to the bench, sat and kissed Rose’s soft forehead. She felt as if her heart rate was returning to normal. She turned. “You attacked me, stalked me.”

  “I was terrified you would find me. That I would be arrested. That you would find the baby and take her away from us.”

  “We didn’t harm her!” cried Leah. “We took perfect care of her!”

  Nora pointed at Amarisa, still crouched and moaning in the corner. She looked at Leah. “You go to hell.”

  Ariel and Leah turned to one another. Nora could hear their muted sobs from across the room.

  Nico walked over to Nora and touched Rose’s silky hair and round cheeks. His eyes locked upon Nora’s. She saw the love there.

  “Meet your daughter,” she said softly.

  Nico took the baby as if he were holding a precious but foreign work of art. As he held her close, he looked at Nora with delight. His eyes told her everything. That he had just fallen in love with his child. Nora smiled. She had dreamed of the two of them together.

  Nico leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I’m going to call the police. You and the baby go outside and wait at the restaurant on the corner. I’ll stay here until they arrive.” He paused to touch the soft curls on Rose’s head.

  Nora started to nod and then hesitated. “Wait.”

  “For what?”

  Nora kept her voice low. “I’m not sure. I have to think this through.” She put a hand to her forehead for a moment. “I believe him when he says it was his father who was insane and killed my mother. Yes, he was there and he took Rose, but now I have her back and she’s safe and unharmed.” She took the baby from Nico’s arms and felt the warm, heavenly weight of her.

  “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I don’t know, either, but what if Hans really did kill Abram?” she asked. “What do I gain from having this man arrested if the man I thought was my father got away with murder?” She paused. “And if what he says is true, then Hans was not only responsible for Abram’s murder, but he also may have been responsible for betraying and condemning almost everyone in his family to death in the camps. Everything points to him. And we have no evidence to refute it.”

  “That still doesn’t excuse him! He should go to jail for a long time.”

  “Nico,” she said slowly. “If I am Abram’s daughter, then that man sitting over there is my cousin. If I send him to jail because of events my own parents set in motion, how do I live with that?”

  “But Anneke was not an NSB-er, Abram’s sister told you that. That must prove that she didn’t betray anyone.”

  “But she pretended to be one. Even if Hans was a murderer, I think she is also partially accountable. She never intended it, but without her, Hans would never have killed Abram.”

  “I still don’t get this.”

  Nora kissed Rose’s soft cheek and then looked up at him. “I want to take Rose home. She’s all that matters. Don’t you agree?”

  Nico looked at both of them tenderly. “Of course that’s the most important thing. But are you sure you don’t want to prosecute?”

  Nora looked at the ruined couple on the couch, the old woman crumpled on the carpet. “They’ve already been convicted. They don’t need me for that.”

  70

  Nora and Nico walked to where Leah and Ariel now stood. They were no longer sobbing, but both faces showed tracks of their tears.

  “I’m going to take Rose home now,” she said softly.

  Ariel nodded. “You can call the police. I won’t resist.”

  “I am not going to press charges.”

  Shock filled his eyes. “How can you do that! I took your daughter and caused you immeasurable pain. My father killed your mother.”

  Nora studied him. His black eyes were so like her own. “Because I didn’t choose to be Abram’s daughter and you didn’t choose to have a father who was a murderer. Because I don’t know what role my parents played in all of this long ago.”

  Ariel tried to speak, but couldn’t. Leah collapsed onto the couch.

  Nora pointed at Amarisa, still wailing on the floor, and at Dirk, just now able to sit up. “They’re your problem.” With Rose in her arms, she motioned to Nico that it was time to go.

  Ariel walked to Nora. “What can I say? I don’t know how you can do this, but I thank you with all my heart.”

  Nora now looked into the face so similar to her own. “Because you are my cousin. And because enough harm has been done. It ends here. Putting you in j
ail won’t bring my mother back.” She looked down at her sleeping baby. “And because everything I have ever wanted is right here.”

  Ariel nodded and gently touched one of Rose’s plump fingers. “Goodbye, my darling,” he whispered.

  Nora followed Nico to the front door. She and Nico left the house. They didn’t look back.

  71

  Nora walked through the empty rooms of her mother’s house, remembering Anneke’s smile and the quiet, warm look her father always gave her. Rose lay in the bassinet Anneke had given her, sleeping peacefully. It was almost as if she felt her grandmother’s presence and love, so deep was her sleep.

  It had now been almost a year and a half since she had gotten Rose back. The house had finally sold. Reluctantly, Nora had come back to make sure the movers had cleaned out the place. Everything had been boxed up and put into storage months ago. Nora would return sometime later to sift through the remains.

  Nico’s divorce was final and they had begun their new life together by buying a house near the Vondelpark. For now, Nora just wanted to leave Houston behind forever and go back to Nico. She and Rose would be returning to Amsterdam tomorrow. She had an interview with a hospital for a position—recommended by her old boss. She felt excited at the prospect.

  She took a slow turn through her childhood bedroom, the tiny bathroom and her parents’ room—all empty. Her footsteps echoed on the wooden floors, already dusty. There was nothing so sad as a house abandoned. She walked into the kitchen and noticed a note on the counter. From the movers. They didn’t know what to do with the items in the recessed cabinet in the master closet.

  What did that mean? She walked to her parents’ closet and flicked on the lights. It was bare. Only a few hangers hung on the wooden bars. She went to her mother’s side, where she had kept her evening wear, seldom used. A discrepancy in the wall caught her eye. A crack, a thin black line, seemed to take on an odd depth as she surveyed it. She looked closer. A knob protruded from the woodwork. She gripped it and pulled. A panel swung open.