The next morning, as she finally got near to the top of the line, she saw a harassed officer in his fifties. He’d been walking intermittently down the line handing out pieces of paper, asking people to fill out their name, address and next of kin. Seeing the confusion caused because people didn’t know what he wanted, she began to translate. Once the news that she could speak both English and German came out among her fellow refugees, she was inundated with requests for help. She offered her services willingly, and this seemed to endear her to the authorities. By the time she reached the top of the queue, she’d filled out so many forms she’d lost count.
Eventually it was their turn. The weary officer beckoned her forward. ‘Thanks for your help. It’s so difficult with all the different languages, and everyone is so…’ He ran a hand over his thinning grey hair. ‘I’m Lieutenant Jeff Golden.’ He stuck out his hand and she shook it.
‘I can imagine. Have you been here long?’ she asked.
He seemed surprised that anyone would ask about him; he was clearly used to people wrapped up in their own problems.
‘Well, yes. In the Battle of Leipzig, I commanded a platoon of machine gunners. We set up covering fire to protect the infantry crossing the bridge. The last battle of the war, I believe. Anyway, what can I do for you?’ His kind blue eyes showed he wanted to help but doubted that he could.
‘I need to get to Ireland. My children went to Ireland in 1940. A relative is caring for them there, and I need to get there as soon as I can.’
She knew everyone’s need was as urgent as hers, but she hoped because hers was a simple request really, it could be done. The rumour mill among the gathered crowds suggested that the Allies were using military vehicles and vessels to move the millions of displaced people around Europe.
She saw the doubt on his face. ‘I’m happy to stay here and translate until then if that would help? I speak German, Russian, Italian, French and a bit of Dutch as well as English.’
‘Well, I won’t refuse your offer of help, and I can organise some food for you and whoever is with you and find you a safe place to sleep, but I honestly don’t know when I could get you out. They are sending transports, but the volume of people and the number of vehicles, well, it’s going to take months at least to get people where they want to be, and that’s the people that have somewhere to go.’
‘Well, I’ll stay and help, and if any transport becomes available to anywhere west, then I can get on it?’ she asked quietly. There were lots of people before her, but she had to get back to Erich and Liesl.
He shrugged and sighed, and she saw the lines of weariness on his face. ‘I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not promising anything,’ he said, and pulled up a chair beside him. ‘Have a seat. It’s going to be a long shift.’
All that day and into the night, she worked, hearing stories of such horror and heartbreak she wondered if they were real. Willi helped hand out food and water, and he checked regularly on his mother. He spoke reasonable English – she’d taught him during the long nights they’d spent at Walther’s, knowing it would be useful after the war – so he also helped people fill out their forms.
As midnight approached, Lieutenant Golden said they would have to close the line for a few hours and sleep. He showed them where they could get mattresses and blankets, and they found a corner in the local town hall to lie down.
She lay her mattress beside Willi’s, Frau Braun on his other side, and used her hessian sack as a pillow. She felt like she would be able to sleep on a bed of nails.
She must have drifted off immediately, and when she woke to someone shaking her shoulder and whispering her name, it took her a few seconds to realise where she was.
She blinked as her eyes acclimatised to the darkness. It was still pitch-black so it must have been the middle of the night, but Lieutenant Golden was urgently insisting she wake up.
‘Ariella, quietly please, come with me.’
He stood, and she saw a few people stir. Every spare inch of floor was occupied. She got up, took her bag and followed him, trying not to step on anyone.
Once outside, he turned to her. ‘It would help me enormously if you stayed, of course.’ He gave her a small smile. ‘But this vehicle is taking these officers back to France. I’ve asked them to take you, but there’s not much space. It will be a squeeze.’
Ariella saw the military truck, covered in khaki tarpaulin. The engine was idling, and a man in uniform was crossing the street opposite and heading to the driver’s door.
‘I need to get going – is she in?’ he called to the lieutenant, and Ariella stood, torn.
Willi appeared. ‘You’re getting out? That’s wonderful.’ He smiled and something crossed his face. Regret? She couldn’t tell.
‘But I can’t just leave you and –’
‘Of course you can. Go, Ariella, find Liesl and Erich.’
‘But what about you and your mother? You both did so much for me. I can’t just abandon you… I don’t want to…’ She was so torn.
‘We’ll be fine,’ he said. He was about to speak again when the driver called.
‘Look, ma’am…’ He checked his watch. ‘I shoulda been gone forty minutes ago. I got delayed and Lieutenant Golden here asked me if I could squeeze in one more. I’ve got casualties and servicemen and everything back there.’ He jerked his thumb at the back of the lorry.
‘Please, just one minute.’ Her eyes filled with tears and she clung to Willi.
‘Goodbye, Ariella. Take care.’ His voice was choked with emotion.
‘Willi, I…’ She had no words.
‘Just go and find your children. You did it. Against all the odds, you made it. Well done! I’m so proud of you, Ariella.’ He smiled sadly.
The driver opened the door and called again. ‘OK, ma’am, let’s get you outta here.’
She climbed up into the truck. There was a metal box beside the driver’s seat, so she sat there.
‘Write to me,’ she called to Willi, but amid the roar of engines, she didn’t know if he heard. As the truck pulled away, she gazed out the window, tears blurring her eyes. Willi was standing there, his arm raised in a wave.
She waved back, her heart breaking.
Chapter 30
Elizabeth waited at the school gate. It was coming close to the holiday break, and the children were in high spirits. School these days was an endless hive of activity – plays, sports days, art exhibitions – and everyone was counting down to the holidays.
In a hail of chatter and laughter, the children piled out of the school bus, driven by Daniel as it always had been. He waved at Elizabeth and she returned the wave, though she’d seen him only an hour earlier.
Erich and Liesl had received a letter that morning from Bud, which put them both in high spirits. He explained how he was in Italy and had met a girl called Gabriella who he was determined to marry and bring back to Biloxi with him. When he’d been stationed at Ballyhalbert, the RAF base just out on the coast, he’d fallen badly for the duplicitous Talia Zimmerman, so Elizabeth was glad to hear he was in love again. He deserved someone decent.
The children had expressed hope they’d get to see him before he went back to the United States. Elizabeth explained that the army didn’t take friendships into consideration when dealing with their enlisted men, but she hoped the same. Bud had joined the British army before the Americans entered the war and would be repatriated to Britain rather than America, so there was a chance they would see him again. Elizabeth was just relieved their young American friend had made it through unscathed; they would have been devasted to lose him.
Elizabeth saw Liesl chatting animatedly with Viola as the children from the farm poured out of the bus. The girls spoke in Polish as they got their books ready for the first lesson. In reality, there was little else Elizabeth could teach them, but they were a huge help with the little ones. Liesl wanted to matriculate and go to the university to read languages, so she was studying hard. She wanted to be a translator, and Elizabeth thou
ght she would have great aptitude for it. Though neither of the children spoke German regularly any more, she knew Liesl hadn’t forgotten it, and the young woman was also fluent in French and Italian. Elizabeth often heard her practising to herself as she walked past the girl’s bedroom. Liesl had asked Viola to speak to her in Polish, so she was getting a handle on that very difficult language as well. In a post-war world, when the huge undertaking of reconstructing Europe began, there would be much need for linguists, and Elizabeth saw a bright future for her girl.
The war was horrific beyond measure, and no advances in society could ever make up for the pain and grief, but Elizabeth was glad that Liesl was coming of age in a world where women were going to be taken seriously in the workplace. The expediency of the last six years saw women doing things unheard of before, and there was no way that the fairer sex were going to be happy to trot back to the kitchen and the nursery and let the men dominate industry, engineering and commerce as they did before. Women had proven they were as good as – and often better than – the men they replaced, and she hoped her gender would fight to keep their position.
That can of worms had been well and truly opened, and already she heard grumblings about women taking men’s jobs, jobs that would be needed for the returning soldiers to support their families. Mr Bell, the local butcher, was one of the proponents of that view, but Elizabeth had pointed out to him as he was airing his opinions in the packed butcher shop that in fact wives were not being supported by their husbands. Quite the opposite! Women were supporting their husband’s careers by caring for their children and running their households, and there was no reason whatsoever that the situation could not be reversed. Why couldn’t the returning men stay at home and care for the little ones, and allow their wives to continue in the roles they were filling so adeptly? After all, they were bound to be exhausted after all that fighting. Wouldn’t staying at home with children and cooking and cleaning be so much easier? She’d smiled sweetly at him.
He had blustered and silently fumed at being challenged but had no answer, and Elizabeth had given a smirking Bridget Rafferty, who was working as a forewoman in a munitions factory, a conspiratorial wink as she left with her pork chops.
Liesl was growing into a modern woman and didn’t see her gender as a limitation. The romance with Ben was ongoing. He was a perfect gentleman, but already Elizabeth could see her darling girl would need something more. She was a complex and extremely intelligent young woman now, and Ben was a nice lad, but she would be surprised if it lasted long term.
Kitty Livingstone from the village was casting admiring glances at Erich as she and a few others watched the pre-lesson football match, but she might as well be howling at the moon for all the interest he had in girls yet. She was sure it would happen, and when it did, he would be a boy the girls would like, but for now he was only interested in airplanes and playing football. He was saying these days that he wanted to be a pilot, and while she didn’t discourage his dreams, she thought of all the pilots lost in this last war and vowed silently that she would steer him in another direction when the time came. Unlike his sister, the books held no lure for Erich, but he was good with his hands and always helped Daniel with projects. The chances were he would follow in his adopted father’s footsteps, which would suit Elizabeth just fine. She’d love both of the children to stay in Ballycreggan, but in the case of Liesl at least, that wasn’t likely. The young woman had an adventurous spirit, and much as she’d love to, Elizabeth could not clip her wings. Erich, on the other hand, was a home bird.
Daniel parked the bus and jogged across the school yard. For so long, he’d done that each morning while neither of them was able to make their feelings known to the other. Though his trial for treason was horrific, in many ways, it was what forced her to admit to herself her feelings for him, and him for her. She could never have imagined being happy again, but the Bannon children and Daniel had rejuvenated her cold broken heart in ways she would never have thought possible.
He gave her a surreptitious wink as she gave her charges the warning of the first bell. It put them on notice that in ten minutes, lessons would begin and they would be expected to be at their desks ready to start the school day.
The square in Ballycreggan was busy: deliveries for the butcher, people on their way out of first Mass, Bridie from the sweetshop passing the time of day with Mrs Bell as she swept the pavement outside in anticipation of the children appearing after school with that week’s sweet ration coupons. They’d heard she got a big jar of bullseyes, clove rock and toffees delivered, and excitement was high.
Nobody took any notice as the bus from Belfast rounded the corner into the square as it did every morning at that time, and nobody saw the tiny woman who alighted. She was only about four foot ten and weighed no more than a hundred pounds, with flaming red hair and wearing a cornflower-blue dress. She had no luggage except a small hessian bag.
She stood on the street as the bus pulled away from the kerb. Elizabeth rang the school bell once more, and Daniel went to get his toolbox – there was a leak in the girls’ toilets that he needed to see to. The mothers who were delivering the little ones into the junior infants class moved away, going about their business knowing that their precious children were safely at school. Within moments, the schoolyard was empty, the ball kicked into the goal in a last-minute score for the locals, waiting for it all to begin again at small break at eleven o’clock.
Father O’Toole crossed from the parochial house to the chapel in preparation for the next Mass, and the mothers of the village popped in to the butcher’s and the greengrocer’s to get supplies for the evening meal. Johnny O’Hara, of O’Hara’s Inn, purveyors of fine wines and spirits, rolled the empty beer barrels consumed over the weekend out onto the pavement; the brewery lorry would be by that morning.
The woman just stood and observed the peaceful, industrious little village. Ballycreggan seemed to her like a village from a storybook. No craters, no uniforms, no ‘Keep Out’ signs, none of the things that she’d seen on the long journey from Germany, through France and eventually to England, where she’d had to cross the country to get to a ferry port from whence she could get to Ireland. The journey had been long and exhausting, but people were kind and each weary mile brought her closer to Ballycreggan. War was a strange thing, she noted. Undoubtedly it brought out the worst in people, but it also brought out the best. When people saw her alone, they’d given her food and put her up in their houses, and she’d contemplated how such kindnesses, the great and the small, restored her faith in humanity.
She walked in the direction of the school. She knew Elizabeth was a teacher, so that was the best place to look. She’d sent a telegram from England, but the man in the post office said some telegrams were getting through and others weren’t, and that she’d just have to take a chance.
Daniel was taking his stepladder out of the bus when he saw her marching up the hill towards the school. He froze and stared. It couldn’t be?
She stopped when she saw him staring at her. For a long moment they stood, and then he approached her.
‘Ariella?’ Daniel asked, and she smiled.
Chapter 31
Daniel introduced himself, explaining who he was and as he extended his hand to Ariella, she walked into his arms as if she’d known him all of her life. He felt her relax against him, and a deep shuddering sigh emanated from inside her. He held her as she cried tears of relief and joy, and he simply murmured over and over, ‘It is all right, you’re safe now. It’s all right, your children are here, they’re fine, you’re home.’
Eventually she pulled away from him and looked up into his face. ‘Did you get my telegram?’ she asked.
‘No.’ He looked dismayed. ‘We didn’t.’
She sighed. ‘I sent a telegram from England saying I hoped to arrive today, but the man said the wires were not working properly so perhaps it would not go. I suppose it didn’t.’
‘No, we got nothing, but they w
ill be… Well, I can’t tell you how happy and relieved they’ll be to see you.’ Daniel was struggling to find the right words.
‘They’re in there?’ She pointed at the school.
‘They are, just starting lessons.’ He had a thought. ‘Look, would you mind coming to our house? There are lots of children in there in the same position as our two… I mean your two…’ He coloured. He was so used to thinking of Liesl and Erich as his and Elizabeth’s.
‘Our two.’ Ariella smiled and put her hand on his arm. ‘They are ours, not just mine now.’
He smiled, realising she was not there to whisk them away instantly at least.
‘Thank you.’ He exhaled. ‘I don’t think they’d want the reunion in front of everyone, and, well, for the others too…’ He didn’t want to say it outright, but witnessing a happy reunion would be hard for the other children.
‘Of course. Is it far?’ She smiled. She’d waited this long.
‘No, just up the street there. You see that big house with the yellow door?’ He pointed to their home. ‘It’s open, just turn the handle and go on in, and I’ll bring Elizabeth and the children in a few minutes.’
‘Thank you, Daniel,’ Ariella said calmly.
The schoolyard was deserted, all of the children at their desks. He went in to Elizabeth, interrupting her class, and as he told her the news, he watched as the colour drained from her face. She recovered quickly and sent him to get Mrs Morris to take over her classroom. She called Liesl and Erich out, and told them they needed to go home right away.
‘What? Why?’ Erich asked. ‘School’s only just started.’
‘I know, sweetheart, but there is something at home you need to see.’ She caught Daniel’s eye over their heads, and he nodded. It was better for them just to see their mother.
Erich had been angling all summer to get a dog, and Elizabeth heard him whisper to Liesl, ‘Do you think it’s a dog?’
The Emerald Horizon (The Star and the Shamrock Book 2) Page 21
