‘Well, maybe you shouldn’t judge others by your lecherous standards.’ She’d giggled as he caressed her. ‘Not everyone is as lustful as you are, Mr Lieber.’
He chuckled and kissed her. ‘Oh, we’re all like this, I can assure you. Some of us just hide it better.’
He’d arranged for Ben to call and ask formally if he could court Liesl.
‘And if we allow this dance – and it’s a big if – you give us your word that you will collect her here at the appointed time and return her to this door within fifteen minutes of the dance ending?’ Daniel asked.
‘I will, Daniel, I promise.’ Ben swallowed.
Elizabeth smiled at the boy. He was good-looking and she could see why Liesl was enamoured with him, but there was also a kindness to him that she liked.
‘Ben,’ she said, ‘Liesl, like all of the children on the farm, has been through an awful lot, and as you know, her and her brother’s care was entrusted to me by their mother, and now to Daniel as well, so we are very protective of them both. You seem like a nice lad, and I’m sure Liesl would love to go to the dance with you, so we’ll trust you to behave properly. It’s a wonderful thing that this awful war is over and that the right side won, and of course you young people should celebrate – it’s a time for joy after such sorrow.’ She placed her hand on Daniel’s arm as he was about to speak. ‘We’ll call it a trial run, but let me assure you that the eyes of the village will be on you, and anything untoward will be reported to me and Daniel quicker than you can imagine. The jungle drums work very well in Ballycreggan.’ She smiled to take the severity out of the warning, but it was a warning nonetheless.
‘I understand, Mrs Lieber, but I swear, no matter if I was being watched or not, I would never do anything to hurt or embarrass Liesl. She’s…’ He blushed again. ‘She’s a very special girl.’
‘Indeed she is, Ben. So I think…’ – she looked at her husband, giving him the signal that it was time to put the poor lad out of his misery – ‘we think’ – and Daniel nodded – ‘that it will be all right. The dance starts at seven, so pick her up here at quarter to?’
‘Thank you.’ Relief flooded his face and he seemed to relax before their eyes. ‘That’s great.’ His eyes shone, and even Daniel couldn’t help smiling. The boy left, presumably to inform Liesl how it all went, and Elisabeth kissed Daniel on the cheek.
‘What was that for?’ he asked, unused to her publicly displaying affection.
‘Just for being a wonderful father.’
‘Well, I’m learning as I go along, but I’m doing my best.’
‘You are doing very well. I had no idea when they came to me how to be a mother, but I figured it out some kind of way. I always hope, though, that we are bringing them up the way their parents would have wanted. It is so hard to know having never met them. I mean, this is a good example. Would Ariella and Peter be appalled that their daughter was going to a dance with a boy?’
Daniel followed her out to the kitchen, where she put the kettle on to boil. It was a Saturday morning, so they had no work to go to. The children were usually busy with their friends on Saturdays, so it was their morning to have breakfast together, just the two of them.
They’d fallen so easily into the rhythm of domestic life, and they prepared breakfast together, both knowing what to do. She made tea and toasted some soda bread, while Daniel fried two eggs and put a precious piece of bacon on the pan for her. Neither he nor the children ate pork, but she loved a crispy rasher on the weekends, so Daniel insisted she have it, even cooking it for her. Some Jews would frown on that, but he didn’t worry about it. His faith was deep and meaningful, but he didn’t necessarily follow all the rules. He and Rabbi Frank had many discussions about it, but Daniel was his own man, and though he embraced the faith of his birth wholeheartedly, he could not subscribe to some of what he saw as the more archaic demands.
Just as they sat down, there was a knock on the door.
Erich was up at the farm since dawn – he and Simon were making a go-cart apparently – and Liesl was with Viola, though in reality the two girls were probably waiting to hear the outcome of Ben’s meeting with her and Daniel. Things with Viola had settled down, and the girls were best friends again. Liesl had taken Elizabeth’s advice and explained that she did in fact understand, and while yes, she and Erich had a home with Elizabeth and Daniel, they missed their family and worried about their mother. Viola had apologised and explained she was so distraught at the news of her home city that she’d lashed out and didn’t mean it. The new surroundings at the farm really helped the children feel more secure, and a kind of peace had been restored. Nobody expected to hear from their families, and so it was as if the immediacy of the ending of hostilities on the 7th of May was a day for rejoicing but not necessarily anything else. They all knew that there was going to be a very long wait, and that for them, life would go on as normal.
Daniel wiped his mouth with a napkin and went to answer the door. He went out into the hall and returned moments later with an envelope addressed to Elizabeth. It had a British stamp on it, but when he handed it to her, she didn’t recognise the writing. It was addressed to Elizabeth Klein.
Funnily enough, she didn’t keep in contact with anyone in Liverpool despite living there for almost twenty years. She was so devastated by Rudi’s death and the loss of her baby that she realised now she’d closed herself off, keeping everyone at arm’s length. It was only when she came back to Ballycreggan with Liesl and Erich and met Daniel that she actually began to live again.
Elizabeth turned the envelope over; there was no return address. Brow furrowed, she took a clean knife and slit the thin envelope. Inside, there were two sheets of paper and another envelope, folded in two. That one simply said, ‘To my darling children, Liesl and Erich’.
Elizabeth’s hands trembled, and she found it hard to focus on the words. ‘Read it for me.’ She thrust the sheet of paper at Daniel, her heart pounding. Was Ariella coming for them?
Daniel extracted the two pieces of paper, laying the envelope addressed to Liesl and Erich to one side. The first one was dated the 29th of August, 1944. He read it aloud in a sombre voice.
Dear Elizabeth,
I do not have much time. I just want to thank you. Those words look so tiny, so insignificant written down, and they cannot possibly convey the depth of my and Peter’s gratitude for what you have done for our family. You’re an angel, and I pray that you will be rewarded in this life and the next for your unending kindness. My children love you. I give you now, to keep forever, my precious babies. Thank you, dear Elizabeth.
Ariella
Elizabeth was incapable of speech. A lump lodged in her throat, and hot stinging tears slid down her cheeks.
‘Will I read the other one?’ Daniel asked, and she just nodded.
He unfolded the other sheet. The address was a church on Budapester Straße in Berlin.
Dear Mrs Klein,
My name is Father Dominic Hoffer, and I am a priest in Berlin. I knew Ariella Bannon, and she wrote these letters and asked that if she did not survive this terrible war, that I would see these delivered to you and her children.
The last time I saw her, she was alive and well, and that was in August of last year, 1944. She’d spent most of the war in hiding – a kind person here hid her – but when that became impossible, she and I met and I tried to help her. She had good friends here. I cannot name names for fear of this letter falling into the wrong hands even at this late stage, but rest assured that people made enormous sacrifices to keep her safe. She left the sanctuary of my church because she did not want to endanger anyone, including me. From what I knew of her, she was a brave and strong woman, determined to be reunited with her beloved children. As I said, I have not seen her since, and I pray she survived, but as I do not know what fate awaits any of us in these dark and dangerous days, I felt I should post these letters. I will pray they are superfluous and she gets to tell the children and you in person all sh
e wants to say.
Should her children wish it in the future – I do not know where I will be, but if I survive – I would be happy to meet with them and tell them what I knew of their mother and these years. Perhaps I can be contacted through this church. Please explain to them that she endured tremendous hardships but none of it mattered to her because she so badly wanted to be reunited with Liesl and Erich. She loved them very much and was so grateful to you, Mrs Klein, for all you did.
God bless,
Fr Dominic
Only as Daniel finished did Elizabeth allow the tears to come. He pulled her to her feet, holding her tightly as she wept.
Chapter 23
Elizabeth trembled as she held the letter addressed to the children. Liesl and Erich were in the kitchen eating their lunch, jabbering away happily. The mood since the German surrender had been jubilant; it was all anyone could talk about.
She and Daniel were in the sitting room, and Elizabeth had composed herself after the shock of the letters that morning.
‘Will I bring them in here?’ Daniel asked, and she nodded.
She looked around her mother’s sitting room. The décor had changed since she moved in. The dark browns and greens had been replaced with lighter pastel colours and bright rugs. It was in this room that she had told the children that their father was dead. They were so young then – it was four years ago – and they had been devastated but had suspected it. He’d been missing for months before Ariella put them on the Kindertransport. Elizabeth had encouraged them to continue to write to their mother, to send her their news. She didn’t think for a moment Ariella received the letters. Writing them was for the children’s benefit really, to keep their spirits up and their hopes alive.
‘Do.’ She swallowed.
Before he left the room, he squeezed her hand. ‘You can do this.’ His eyes blazed with intensity and conviction. ‘This is potentially good news.’
‘I know. I just don’t want them to raise their hopes only to have them dashed. I…I don’t know what to think, Daniel.’
‘We’ll tell them the truth like we always do and take it from there, all right?’ He smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
She nodded and returned his smile.
‘Can you two come into the sitting room for a minute? We need to talk to you both.’
She heard the scraping of chairs, and within seconds, their two precious faces appeared. Liesl, just on the cusp of womanhood, and Erich looked just like a bigger version of the adorable little boy she’d collected from Liverpool Street station in 1939. Where he’d been small and stocky when she met him, he was stretching up at a phenomenal rate, his arms and legs gangly now, but his silky brown hair and dark eyes still melted her heart.
They knew something had happened.
‘What is it?’ Liesl asked, her voice betraying her panic.
‘Sit down, darling.’ Elizabeth patted the sofa either side of her, and they sat. She took one of each of their hands in hers and swallowed once more. How could she do this?
‘What’s wrong, Elizabeth?’ Erich asked.
She inhaled and caught Daniel’s eye. He was standing by the fireplace and gave her a small nod of encouragement.
‘My darlings, we got a letter today from a priest in Berlin.’
‘Is it about Mutti?’ The excitement in Erich’s voice tore at her heart. ‘Is she safe?’
‘We don’t know.’ Their faces, a mixture of dread and grief already, almost took her breath away. ‘The letter from the priest said that he knew your mutti and that she was hidden for almost all of the war by somebody kind. But something happened – he didn’t say what – so she couldn’t stay at that hiding place. She met this priest, and he was trying to help her, but she left before he could because she didn’t want to put him in danger.’ Elizabeth wished she didn’t sound so vague, but it was all she had.
‘She might be hiding again, or coming to find us… The war is over now, so she might be on her way. She wouldn’t stay a moment longer than was necessary, I know she wouldn’t…’ Liesl didn’t sound like her usual mature self; she was the little girl Elizabeth first met again.
‘Well, exactly. We just don’t know, so we’ll have to wait and see. But Berlin is in Russian hands now, so…’ Daniel said.
‘The Russians are on our side. Maybe they’ve brought her to somewhere safe.’ Erich’s eyes danced with hope. He had no inkling of the reports of the brutal treatment of the Berliners by the advancing Red Army.
‘Perhaps.’ Elizabeth caught Daniel’s eye. ‘As Daniel says, we just have to wait. But the priest was holding some letters – one to me and another to you – that he was to post if she didn’t survive. He doesn’t know where she is, but he felt he should post them now. He wrote one himself explaining things a little bit.’ Elizabeth was wary of fanning the embers of the little glimmer of hope they had. What if it was a false hope?
‘What did your letter say?’ Liesl asked.
‘Wouldn’t you rather read your own letter?’ Elizabeth asked.
‘Tell me what your letter said first,’ the girl insisted.
So Elizabeth stood and took the note from the mantlepiece, unfolded it and read it aloud. They sat and listened in horrified silence.
‘And what did the priest’s say?’ Liesl managed, her arm around her brother now.
Daniel read it aloud.
‘So Mutti wrote those letters in case she died, but she didn’t and he sent them anyway? Why would he do that?’ Erich’s voice cracked with the strain of trying to understand it all.
Elizabeth looked at Daniel.
‘I think he was worried that maybe if he didn’t survive, the letters would never be sent, and then if your mutti did die, you would never hear from her how much she loved you both and how brave she was,’ Daniel explained calmly.
‘Well, yes. And wasn’t she brave to not put the priest at risk like that? I’ve never met her, but your mother sounds like a very special woman.’
‘She is,’ Liesl said quietly, trying to process it all. ‘But I don’t understand – where is she now? The war is over. Can’t she just make contact with us herself?’
Elizabeth silently begged Rudi, her parents and Peter to help her give them enough information that they understood but not too much.
‘Well, like we’ve been explaining’ – Daniel sat beside Liesl – ‘the entire continent is in total disarray, so many people, millions of people, are all in the wrong place. Telephones and all that will be needed by the military, so if she survived, then it might take her some time to get in touch.’
‘She might be gone to find the Americans. Bud said if he got to Berlin, he was going to try to find her, and when I wrote, I told her about Bud, so maybe she’s gone to find him. I told her his regiment and everything, so maybe she asked someone where he was and is looking for him because she knows he’s our friend and can help her get to us…’ Erich was babbling now, clinging to the hope that his American soldier friend was helping his beloved mother. Liesl pulled him closer to her, and he clung to her as she stared silently into the middle distance.
Finally she spoke. ‘Can we have our letter, please?’
Elizabeth handed it to her, and Liesl released her brother from her embrace to read it.
‘Would you rather we left you alone?’ Elizabeth asked, uncertain what to do.
‘No.’ Liesl looked at her. ‘Please stay.’
Daniel remained beside Liesl and placed his hand on Erich’s shoulder. The girl’s hands were trembling as she opened the envelope, and Elizabeth felt her inhale before she started reading.
My darling children,
I am sitting here in Berlin, and it is the 29th of August, 1944. I have survived so far due to the kindness of Gentiles. Never forget, darlings, that people are good. I know it must seem a dark and frightening world we live in, but there is light and hope too, and I have seen that never so much as in these darkest of days. So do not despair, my lovely little ones, there is good in thi
s beautiful world.
If you are reading this, then I did not make it through. The monstrous beast that has destroyed our people is not finished yet; in fact, he is at his most dangerous now that the end is in sight. But it is only a matter of time until he is gone for good.
Your papa and I love you more than words can ever say. I died a little the day I put you both on that train, but it saved your precious lives, and for that I am eternally grateful. I cannot imagine if you’d stayed, and knowing you were with the wonderful Elizabeth all these years has made my life so much better. I got a letter telling me you had moved to Ireland – thank you, my darlings, that meant so much. I couldn’t reply for safety reasons, but getting it and hearing all about your lives in Ballycreggan… Well, it kept me alive and that’s the truth.
I wish the best of everything for you both. I know you will always love and care for each other, just as you always did. I wish more than anything that I could be there to see you, to hold you in my arms, to hear your joyous voices. I want to see you so beautiful in your wedding dress, Liesl, and I want to see how my handsome little boy has grown to be just like the fine man his father was. I believe I will see those things, either in this world or from heaven.
Elizabeth is a special angel put on earth, and the day she agreed to take you both and care for you was the best day. I hear how you love her in the way you wrote about her, and so I am giving you to her. She is your mutti now, and if it cannot be your darling papa and me looking after you, then I could not have chosen a better person.
Your papa died because he stood up to bullies. Be proud of him, my darlings. He was so proud of both of you. I tried my very best to survive – I pictured your beautiful faces every day and night of my life since I left you – but it wasn’t to be.
I love you both with every fibre of my body, heart and mind. Goodbye, my darlings. I wish you wonderful lives.
Your mutti.
The Emerald Horizon (The Star and the Shamrock Book 2) Page 16
