Beginning, Section II, Next Section
Posted on Sunday, 14 October 2007
The next morning, Luise and Henriette drove into town and parked outside their brother's shop. Maria and Anna were alerted to their presence by the squealing of tires as Luise pulled up to the curb and little Walther running to the window, crying "Tante Luise! Tante Henriette!"
"Of all the foolish... Walther! Come away from the window!" Maria sighed. "What are they after so early in the morning?"
Anna glanced at a clock. It was eleven. They waited for the Waldung girls to make an appearance upstairs, but there was no sign of them. Maria rolled her eyes.
"Now I suppose I must go down and speak to them, else I will never hear the end of it." She went to the door and paused. "Well, come on, Anna! They will want to see you, too."
Anna bid the children behave, admonished Walther to stay away from the window and hurried to join her sister. The Waldung girls were in the shop, giving their brother an order from their mother.
"And what are you two up to today?" Maria wanted to know, not even bothering to say hello to either her husband or her sisters-in-law.
"We are shopping," Henriette said and then yelped when Luise stomped on her foot.
"A long shopping trip," Luise added.
"I want to go, too," Maria said.
"It's all on foot," Henriette quickly replied. "You wouldn't like it. All that walking..."
"I like a good long walk!" Maria insisted.
Luise gave Anna a significant look that she interpreted to mean that they didn't want Maria along. But no one reckoned on Maria being so stubborn.
"Your feet will hurt," Anna said, trying to sound sympathetic and earning grateful smiles from the girls. "You hate it when your feet hurt."
"Nonsense! I shall wear sensible shoes!" Maria would not be talked out of anything and in the end it was reluctantly agreed that Maria and Anna would accompany them. That way, if Maria wished to return home at any time, Anna would be there to go home with her.
"Why do they think I don't like a long walk?" Maria complained as they went upstairs to arrange for a neighbor to watch the boys. "Everyone thinks I am not a good walker! And they would have been upset if we had refused to go with them! Damned if I do, damned if I don't," she muttered as she went to her room to find a pair of lower-heeled shoes.
Just as they returned to the shop, however, Fritz Wingendorff came in, saying he had an order for Karl from his sister.
"We're going on a shopping trip," Luise told him coyly, attaching herself to his arm the moment he entered. "Want to come along?"
Fritz declined. He said he did not wish to be a pack mule for a group of ladies. Luise pouted prettily and turned to her brother.
"Let Otto take over for the afternoon, Karl, and come, too. You may keep Fritz company. Besides, you work too hard and need to get out of here once in awhile."
"Some rest I will get following my wife and sisters about like a sheep," Karl replied, winking at Anna. "But I will come. Ännchen will be leaving soon, and we must buy her some trifling memento of her visit to Mannheim."
Anna blushed and murmured that it was not necessary, but Karl was already shouting for his assistant to take over, that he was going out.
Had Anna known ahead of time that the men would be accompanying them, she would have stayed home, claiming the boys needed her, but the neighbor woman was already upstairs, settling down in Maria's kitchen with a movie magazine and a ham sandwich.
The six of them set out together in a direction chosen by Luise and Henriette, considered the leaders of the expedition. Anna was careful to stay in the rear of the party, and when they had to part due to the oncoming foot traffic on the sidewalk, she was careful to stay with Karl and Maria. Her pleasure in the outing was derived from the exercise, but she also looked into the paltry window displays that barely urged people to come in and spend their precious money. She liked to imagine what it would be like to spend as much as she wished in them, and used that to block out the lively chatter ahead of her between Fritz and the Waldung girls.
Actually, he was more engaged with Luise than Henriette, but then, she was always more forward than her sister. Luise praised his parcel-carrying skills, his recognition of a good bargain and told him how happy she was he had agreed to come along. "The weather is perfect!"
"I'm glad it is," he agreed. "The admiral and my sister went out for a drive today, and they will not be prohibited from putting the top down. They talked of heading out this side of town."
They had walked far enough to be close to the river and the Luisenpark. "I wonder what ditch they will end up in today? My sister almost got thrown out of the car the other day when Reinhard drove them into a gully, but she doesn't let that stop her from driving out with him again."
"If I loved a man the way she does her husband," Luise exclaimed, "I would let myself be tossed out of anything he wished. We'd be so inseparable, I'd rather be overturned by him than driven carefully by anyone else."
"Really?" he asked in the same tone. There was a sudden silence between them.
Anna didn't even have a shop window to distract her at that point; there were just a few bombed-out warehouses that had never been rebuilt. They truly were getting to the river, the girls so distracted by Fritz that they no longer seemed to know where they were headed.
It was Henriette, a moment later, who noticed Heinrich Hayter and his mother, Gerda, who were peering into a shop window on the other side of the street.
"Oh, God!" Maria exclaimed. "We need to turn back. I'm tired and my feet hurt."
Henriette, despite pointing out the Hayters, immediately agreed.
"No," said Karl, and Luise nodded, pulling her sister aside for a moment. The two quickly engaged in a whispered argument.
Karl, in the meantime, said they would go over and say hello to his cousins. "You will come, too, Maria."
"Oh, no, really, I don't think I will."
"You can rest your feet afterwards at the park," he said, not having much sympathy for those two appendages.
"I won't!" she insisted, casting about for something, anything to do rather than meet the Hayters. "Look. There is a café. I will sit there." The dingy little place looked like nothing she would ever patronize, but any port in a storm, Anna supposed. Maria began to walk in that direction, and everyone followed suit.
After some discussion, it was decided that Karl and Henriette would approach their cousins, Luise smiling with some satisfaction, as if she had arranged matters.
"It is so tedious having connections with mere farmers," Maria said to Fritz as he lay the Waldung packages on the table. "I've never said more than two words to them in my life." Her words only earned her an artificial smile and then a contemptuous glance from Fritz before he turned away.
Anna wanted to point out to her sister that their father had never been much more than a farmer either when all was said and done, but suppressed the impulse. She knew Maria well enough to know that there was no use starting an argument with her if she was in that mood; it would only spoil the outing for everyone, and Anna would never hear the end of it.
Luise saw Henriette and Karl off while Maria pulled a handkerchief from her purse and. put it on a café chair before settling herself down.
"I would much prefer to sit inside. What if someone I knew actually saw me sitting here! But one can only imagine what it is like in there..." A waiter with greasy hair came out and took an order for a glass of wine, and then Maria made Anna pile all the parcels up in front of her on the table, forming a blind between herself and where her husband was now chatting with the Hayters.
Luise, having spoken briefly with them before her return, now drew Fritz away, saying she wished to show him the Luisenpark, and that he must see the ships on the river. They were, by degrees, out of sight and sound, which irritated Maria.
"I do not like this wine," she complained. "It is too sour. Go complain to the proprietor, Anna, and insist he pour me some white, instead."
Anna merely shook her head as Maria told her to wait a moment, drained the glass and then insisting a white would be better.
"We need to trade places, as well. I shall take your seat while you go inside, because I am sure fewer people will see me from over there." Including Gerda Hayter.
Anna finally picked up the wine glass and went into the café. She was some time in there, pretending to be discussing the merits of white over red wine with the owner, when she was really having a cup of coffee and then buying her sister another glass. She didn't know Luise and Fritz had returned and were seated off to one side outside of the café until she caught snatches of Luise's voice in the middle of an eager dissertation.
"I made her go, really. I mean, there is no reason for her not to speak to him! What? Would I be prevented from doing something I know to be right? Not by another's influence, that is for sure! I am not so easily persuaded! When I make up my mind, it stays made up. Henriette decided to speak to the Hayters, didn't she? And yet she was more than willing, at first, to run away and hide."
"She would have, if not for what you said to her?"
"Oh, yes! I'm ashamed though, that I even had to speak to her about it."
"You are a good sister," Fritz complimented her. "It seems that your prodding has done some good, too."
Anna looked over to where Henriette was speaking earnestly and easily with Heinrich.
"Your sister is a sweet girl, but you are the one who knows her own mind. I admire you for trying to infuse her own spirit with some of yours. It is a crime to be too indecisive: Everyone tries to have a hand in making up your mind for you. Those who are firm are happy. I wish everyone was as firm and as happy as you are, Luise."
Luise was quiet, and Anna held her breath, lest she be discovered eavesdropping, either by Fritz and Luise, or Maria. But no, Maria was too intent on hiding from the Hayters. Anna took over the wine and then excused herself, wanting to hear more from the others.
"Maria is not too bad," Luise was saying when Anna returned to her spot by the door. "But she has so much pride! The von Eltow pride, we call it. We all wish Karl had married Anna instead. You know he wanted to marry Anna, don't you?"
There was a pause. "She refused him?"
"Oh, yes, she did."
"When was this?"
"I don't know exactly. Henriette and I were away at school during the war, you see, but it was about a year before he married Maria. Karl was in an anti aircraft squad stationed in Königsberg. I wish Anna was our sister instead. We all like her so much better. Mama thinks it's all her friend Freya von Raetter's doing that Anna turned Karl down. She thinks Karl isn't smart enough to please Frau von Raetter and that she was the one who persuaded Anna to refuse him."
Anna saw Karl beckon to Luise and Fritz and they moved off to join the Hayters, but she was rooted to the spot. It was painful to hear herself spoken of so lightly, even though Luise had said nothing bad about her. She could almost hear the gears in Fritz's head turning, and it agitated her now, wondering what he might be thinking.
She sat down quietly at Maria's table and they were soon joined by their original party and Heinrich, who was holding hands with Henriette. Henriette seemed a bit sheepish, but pleased by this turn of events, and Heinrich was beaming. Of Frau Hayter there was no sign.
As they headed homeward, it was clear that Luise was now marked for Fritz, and they walked side by side, no matter how many people they were up against on the sidewalk.
Anna joined Karl and Maria, and was so tired, she was glad for Karl's other arm for support. Karl kindly joked with her as they walked, but he was out of charity with his wife. Maria had overruled his wishes earlier, and now she must pay. He was carrying a portion of the packages, and he constantly shifted them to that side, forcing Maria to walk on her own. He never once moved the parcels to the other arm.
Posted on Monday, 22 October 2007
A horn blared as it pulled abreast of the tired shoppers heading home. Anna jumped a mile at the sound, already on edge because of Fritz and Luise, and Karl and Maria. The Kraffts pulled up to the curb in their new MG TC. Once it was explained why everyone was walking, they were amazed at how long they had been outdoors.
"We have room for a tired young lady," Sophie Krafft offered, indicating a spare bit of space in their sporty little two-seater. "We're planning on stopping at your shop anyway, Herr Waldung, to pick up the order Fritz placed for us earlier."
Henriette and Luise both declined, saying they were not tired. Anna was certain it was because they did not want to be separated from their men. Maria was frowning, as if she were put out at not automatically being asked first. Or perhaps the Eltow pride, as Luise called it, prevented her from squeezing in with the Kraffts. Being a third in such a small auto would draw unwanted attention to her even more than sitting outside a dingy café, and would be beneath her, Anna thought. No matter that the small car was a very smart one, and probably way beyond Karl's means.
"Very well, then," the admiral was saying, even as Fritz bent down to whisper something in his sister's ear.
"Fräulein von Eltow, surely you are tired," Sophie Krafft said. "Let us take you home. I know it looks tight, but you are slim and I don't think we will be uncomfortable."
Anna was about to decline when the admiral kindly added his own entreaties to his wife's. They would not be swayed, and Frau Krafft even slid over to show just how much space was available. Fritz quietly went to the left side of the car, opened the door and held out a hand to settle her inside.
Now she was in the auto and felt that he had placed her there, that his desire and hands had done that, because he had noticed her fatigue. That he had even registered her current disposition gave her pause, and she knew what it meant. He wasn't unfeeling, but he wasn't going to forgive her for the past. He didn't want to see her suffer, even though part of him probably wanted her to, just as she had made him suffer all those years ago. It was proof of a warm heart and that he couldn't go through with any sort of belated retaliation.
The car roared off down the street, but at first Anna gave only vague answers to her companions, still lost in thought. They were halfway back to the flat before she realized they were now discussing Fritz.
"He certainly has his sights on one of those two girls, but I don't know which," the admiral was saying. "He has been around them long enough to make up his mind, don't you think? If this was back during the war, he would not have taken so long deciding. We sailors, Fräulein Anna, do not have long wartime courtships. How long was it, Sophie, between the time we met and when we decided to marry?"
"We should change the subject, darling," Sophie said with a smile. "We might shock Anna at how quickly it all happened. How could a couple be happy together in such little time, she will wonder. But I knew of you long before I met you."
"And I already knew you were a pretty girl, and saw no reason to wait." He swerved suddenly to avoid a stray cat, and cursed under his breath, drawing a girlish giggle from his wife.
"My apologies, Fräulein Anna. I don't know what induced me to buy a British car."
"Because you liked the look of it," Sophie reminded him. "And stay in your lane."
"How can I? The steering wheel is on the wrong side!"
"For someone who used to steer a whole ship, Reinhard, that is a weak excuse," his wife said.
"I did well enough in Sweden," he reminded her. "But here... No wonder I keep tossing us into ditches."
Anna saw Sophie Krafft give her husband a warning glance, and he quickly turned the subject back to Fritz. Anna would have much preferred the pursuit of why the admiral was familiar with Swedish driving practices, but she supposed he must have gone there after the war to collect his wife, and stayed for awhile.
"I wish Fritz would hurry up already and bring one of those young ladies home to us. Even though I hardly know one from the other," he admitted.
"Very good-natured girls," Sophie agreed, but in a non-committal voice, as if she did not think either of them quite good enough for her brother. "And such a nice family! Not that connections are all that -- Reinhard! The light post!" she exclaimed, and he swerved once more to avoid it, muttering something about driving on the right side of the road with a left-sided steering wheel as he did.
Anna was much amused by the Kraffts and the way they maneuvered their little auto through town, and supposed that was much the way they ran their marriage, too. That thought kept her entertained all the way to Karl and Maria's flat.
The time was fast approaching when Anna was to return to Heidelberg, but in the meantime, an interesting event occurred.
Fritz was gone from Mannheim for two days without word to any of the Waldungs, which Luise admitted to Anna was extremely frustrating. Maria found it hilarious.
"Serves her right!" she crowed to Anna. "After all, she stole Fritz Wingendorff from her sister and now she must pay the price."
Never mind, thought Anna, that he would have walked out on Henriette just the same, had it been her.
But what he had been doing soon became clear when Karl came bounding up the stairs on the third day, a wide smile on his face.
"That Wingendorff is the most fantastic fellow!"
"What? For leaving your sister high and dry?" Maria asked sarcastically.
"Oh, he's back, didn't I tell you that? Came home late last night, according to Luise, who was just on the telephone."
Anna felt a bit relieved to hear that, even if the girl Fritz was returning to was Luise.
"So he's back," Maria said with a fake yawn. "Big deal."
"It is! He has been to Lake Constance these past two days to see a friend of his, a Capt. Hartwig, and plans to return there in two days' time."
"Good for him," Maria drawled, causing Anna to look at her sharply. Either her sister had managed to slip a bottle of alcohol into the house, hence her slurred words, or she was deliberately baiting her husband. It must have been the latter, because Karl was turning red.
"Really, Maria, will you hush and listen? Luise has had the most brilliant idea of all of us going to Lake Constance with him, to meet his friend, and Fritz has agreed. Lake Constance, Maria!"
Maria sat up straighter at that, all pretense at boredom gone. "Lake Constance!" she breathed. "To be sure, a holiday would do me good, and I've heard the climate down there is salubrious!"
Karl grinned. "I knew you'd like to go, too," he said. "What about you, Anna?"
Frantically, Anna tried to think of an excuse. "What about the children?" she asked. "We can't all go and leave the children behind!"
Karl dismissed her objection with a wave of his hand. "My mother will be happy to look after them while we're gone," he said. "Do come, Anna! If I know one person in need of a holiday, it's you."
Maria shot her husband an annoyed glance.
"I need to be back to Heidelberg by Monday," Anna argued. "If I don't show up at the base in time for work there'll be trouble."
"We'll be back by Sunday night, and either Fritz or I can drive you over to Heidelberg. It's not as if you had to go to Berlin," Karl said. "I see no reason why you shouldn't have some fun for a change."
"If you don't go I won't be able to go either," Maria whined. "What if anything happened? What if I fell ill? Who'd take care of me then?"
Karl rolled his eyes in exasperation, and Anna wanted to inform her sister that, to her knowledge, there were doctors and hospitals enough all around Lake Constance. For the sake of peace and quiet she decided against it though and promised she would come along.
"You have got a passport, haven't you?" Karl asked. "We'll need one, you know."
Anna realized that there would have been a good reason for her to stay behind, but unfortunately she always carried her passport in her purse, and that was a well-known fact. So she reassured Karl on that score, and offered Maria to help her search the flat for her passport.
That evening, they all met at the Kraffts' house to discuss their journey. Fritz was to go in his car, taking Luise and Henriette with him, while Karl and Maria would take Anna with them in the Waldungs' car. Luise had talked her father into lending the vehicle to his son for two days, but refused to travel in such an old and unfashionable car when another, smarter means of conveyance was to be had.
Fritz had arranged some accommodation for them all -- although his friend Hartwig had offered to house the entire party in his place, there had never been a question of them actually accepting the offer.
"His house is full of people as it is," Fritz told them while they were having cocktails in Frau Krafft's tastefully furnished living-room. "There's Hartwig himself, and his wife, and four children, and Bentinck who's living with them too. Bentinck is a friend of ours -- he was engaged to Hartwig's sister Franziska, but she died during the war."
"How dreadful," Luise exclaimed. "Was she very ill?"
"No, she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Fritz said grimly. "She was visiting Bentinck's parents in Hamburg in the summer of '43, and they were all killed during an air raid*. Bentinck never got over that -- he's never been the same ever since."
"I can imagine," Frau Krafft cried. "The poor young man!"
"So why is he living with your friend Hartwig now?" Karl asked. "It seems a bit of an odd arrangement to me."
"Not to me," Fritz said. "Where else would he go, with no one and nowhere left to turn to? He has no brothers or sisters he could stay with, and his parents' home is gone too. Hartwig just didn't want to let him down and told him he could stay with his family as long as he liked."
Karl agreed that under these circumstances it seemed like a sensible solution, while Luise loudly expressed her admiration of a man so devoted to his friends.
She soon forgot about poor Herrn Bentinck, though, and proceeded with making plans for their stay in Constance, which was where Hartwig lived.
"Do you think we will be able to go swimming?" she asked. "Will the water be warm enough?"
"I saw some people going for a swim when I was there the day before yesterday," Fritz replied, "so if the weather stays as fine as it is now I suppose we will be able to swim."
"Do remember to bring your bathing-suits, then," Luise said to Anna and Henriette.
"I haven't got one," Anna said.
"You haven't got a bathing-suit? Whyever not?" Luise asked.
"Because the very last thing you remember to take with you when you leave your home in January is your bathing-suit," Anna said dryly. "And ever since then I had no time to go swimming, so buying one would have been a waste of money."
She felt Fritz' eyes on her; he pitied her, she was sure.
"Never mind. I'll give you one of mine," Luise suggested good-naturedly. "You could come over tomorrow, and we'll have a look at my stuff -- what do you say? I have lots of clothes I don't wear any more, and I'm sure you could alter them quickly."
Anna was certain Luise hadn't wanted to offend her when making that offer, and she also knew that she couldn't afford to be offended -- someone offered to provide her with decent clothes for practically no cost at all, and she ought to jump at the chance. But she did feel a trifle piqued nevertheless -- perhaps even she had inherited her share of the von Eltow pride. No one would ever have caught her or any of her sisters wearing hand-me-down clothes in the old days. But now things were different, and Anna agreed, making an appointment with Luise for the next morning.
* "Operation Gomorrha" was carried out in July / August 1943 -- a series of air raids on the city of Hamburg that lasted 10 days. The worst air raids took place during the night of July 27 / 28 -- the bombings caused a firestorm that wiped out several districts of Hamburg and killed tens of thousands of people.
Posted on Thursday, 22 November 2007
By the time Anna came to the Waldungs' house the next morning, Luise had already prepared a collection of clothes she wanted to get rid of. Dresses, skirts, blouses, trousers and bathing suits were piled on top of Luise's bed, and she had moved a large mirror into her bedroom and fashioned a screen using a washing line and a blanket, not sure whether Anna would feel comfortable undressing in front of her. Luise obviously thought of this as a treat for herself -- Anna had been turned into a life-sized doll Luise could clothe in whatever she liked.
In those days when Anna had been the privileged daughter of a well-to-do country gentleman, she had been fond of shopping for clothes, and when fabric had been rationed like everything else she had even developed some skill with the sewing-machine, turning whatever material was available to good account, changing her mother's old gowns into something to wear for herself and -- sometimes -- Maria, or making winter coats out of old blankets. So changing Luise's clothes into something that fit her would not be much of a challenge for Anna, provided she could get her hands on a sewing machine.
Anna was amazed at the quantity of clothes Luise was prepared to give away -- when Luise had made the suggestion, Anna had thought of one or two garments, not more. How, in times like these, anyone could have such a vast number of clothes was a mystery to her -- the mystery was quickly explained, though, when Luise told her that some of the things lying in wait for Anna belonged to Henriette, who also wanted to take part in the scheme.
"We both think it's a pity that you should have nothing better to wear," Luise said. "A pretty woman like you! I know you have an entire family to feed with your wages, but we did think you'd be able to buy a frock or two from time to time. It's such a waste!" She giggled. "You could have all those American officers at your feet if you wanted to!"
Anna smiled. "Believe me, I don't want to," she merely said. "My job is hard enough as it is."
With surprising restraint -- she made no further comment on officers or other Americans -- Luise went to the bed and took the first garment from the pile. It was a beautiful, striped bathing-suit.
"Here, try this one," she said. "I bought it last year, but I've got a new one for Lake Constance -- I'll show it to you in a minute, it's a gorgeous two-piece suit. My mother says it's indecent to expose one's midriff, but if things were left to her we'd all go swimming in those ‘Twenties oddities! Or not go swimming at all."
Anna took the bathing-suit from Luise and disappeared behind the screen, to emerge some minutes later wearing it. It fit surprisingly well -- though Luise was the more buxom of the two, she was almost as tall as Anna. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Anna had to admit to herself that she almost liked what she saw.
She was not the only one. With a whistle, Luise said, "This one suits you better than it ever suited me! You look almost like Rita Hayworth, Anna!"
"No, I don't," Anna replied, chuckling at the image that entered her mind. There'd be murder and mayhem at the officers' club if Rita Hayworth -- or anyone looking remotely like her- ever entered the place. "Rita Hayworth has better legs. And an excellent hairdresser, no doubt."
"You could do with a haircut, I suppose," Luise said, eyeing her critically. "Maybe we can get Henriette to cut your hair. She's pretty good at it -- she cuts mine whenever I need a trim and can't afford to go to the hairdresser."
Anna protested, saying that she didn't want to be any trouble, but at that moment Henriette came into the room and put an end to Anna's objections. Naturally, she said, she would do Anna's hair; she was looking forward to doing so, and refused to listen to Anna's assertion that she liked her hair the way it was. Between them, the two sisters made Anna undergo a complete make-over.
By the time she left the Waldung house, Anna had had a haircut and had put on some lipstick, and carried several parcels containing the bathing-suit, a pair of white trousers ("I envy you your long legs", Henriette had said. "Those trousers look fantastic on you!"), a skirt, two blouses, and two smart dresses -- one burgundy-coloured, the other one black.
Anna spent the entire evening altering the clothes Luise had given her -- in spite of Maria's objections, she meant to wear some of them on their trip to Lake Constance. Since Maria did not possess a sewing-machine, Anna had asked Maria's neighbour if she could use hers, and had a cosy chat with Frau Heinke.
"I don't know why you are going to so much trouble," Maria had said before Anna went to use the machine. "It's not as if there will be anyone you need to impress. All the men in our party are spoken for."
It had been midnight by the time Anna had been able to go to bed, and it was therefore a decidedly heavy-eyed Anna who got into the car at six o'clock the next morning. Fritz and Karl had decided to set out early, so they would arrive in Constance towards lunchtime at the latest. Otherwise, Fritz had said, it would not be worth going -- they would have to be back in Mannheim by Sunday evening, and he would like to have two full days with his friend in Constance.
The journey took them longer than planned -- although Anna had filled a basket with enough food and drink to sustain them during the long drive to Constance, Maria insisted they stop at an inn and, once Karl had complied with her wish, refused to go on before she had had some coffee, cake and, Anna suspected, some schnapps as well.
Still, they reached Constance in time for lunch, and Frau Hartwig received them jovially at her table, having cooked enough to feed an entire army.
"I almost hate to take food from their mouths," Maria whispered to her sister as they were ushered into a small flat with a large, central dining table. Anna, surprised at Maria's uncharacteristic compassion, could only agree. The Hartwigs lived in worse conditions than she did in Heidelberg, and yet they all seemed happy. Even the children had grins on their faces at the prospect of company. She could not help but return their greetings with genuine smiles of her own. It was when she caught Fritz frowning at her that she stopped.
The one in the Hartwig household with a dour expression was Captain Bentinck, but Anna recalled that he had lost his fiancée and parents in an air raid. That had to be depressing, and she found herself sitting next to him at the table out of sympathy.
"I fear you will find this area dull after your stay in Mannheim, Fräulein," he said without humor as other, more lively, conversations ensued around them.
"I am equally certain I shall not," Anna said with a gentle smile. "How did you come to settle here?"
"I sail charters on the lake for the few tourists fortunate enough to afford more than a walk in the sand or a dip in the shallows."
"And Captain Hartwig?"
Bentinck waved toward a corner of the room where shelves of books competed with pieces of wood for space. "He makes furniture and carvings. He made the shelves for me, but the rest of that is used for toys for the children."
Hartwig caught Anna looking in that direction, and smiled. "I am no reader, Fräulein Anna. It takes too much thought, and Bentinck thinks enough for all of us. Come see," he urged, getting up slowly from the table to escort her to the bookshelves. "He thinks too much, actually."
Anna joined him, not a little impressed at Bentinck's collection. It was obvious that his money went towards his library. There was Remarque's "All's Quiet on the Western Front," which must have surely influenced someone who had lost so many loved ones in the war. It shared space with books by Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Arthur Schnitzler and the Mann brothers, Thomas and Heinrich. Heavy reading for such a young man, she thought. And no doubt contributing to his depressed attitude. Hartwig seemed to agree.
"He dwells on things too much," he repeated, and led her back to the table, where Fritz was telling a story about when Bentinck had been a Leutnant on his ship. Hartwig joined in with a tale of his own, and the two kept everyone laughing, egged on by Luise, as Frau Hartwig kept everyone's plates filled. Even Bentinck was coaxed out of a smile or two.
Anna's only wish that evening, amid the merriment, was that these could have been old friends, instead of new ones.
While Fritz and Karl drove their cars the short distance, the rest of the Waldung party walked to the inn after lunch so they might look in shop windows and see some of the town. Luise, in step with Henriette, was in raptures over the camaraderie of the captains. "I love the Navy!" she said grandly, spreading her arms wide. "They are like brothers, these men. Imagine having Captain Bentinck live with them, because of Captain Hartwig's late sister! That is what it means to be a family! They are so open, so friendly. And Frau Hartwig! What hospitality!"
Maria snorted, her earlier comment about the Hartwig situation all but forgotten. "If you call pea cake the height of hospitality..."
"Maria!" Anna exclaimed, having had just about enough of her sister's attitude toward other people. What Karl had seen in her, Anna would never know. She fingered the silk scarf tied under her chin, to keep the wind from blowing her hair about, and smiled. It had been her brother-in-law's gift to her the day of the shopping expedition, a solid cobalt blue that he said matched her eyes. She doubted that -- her blue eyes were looking rather washed out lately -- but it had been sweet of him to say so. "You will be nice to the gentlemen when they dine with us this evening!"
"I will!" Maria insisted. "But I get so tired of hearing Luise go on and on about the Navy. It's as bad as when Henriette went on and on about clergymen several years ago. Boring! And don't give me a lecture about my manners!" she added tartly. "You were the one having a private conversation with first Captain Bentinck and then Captain Hartwig today! Was it something you could not share with the rest of us?"
Anna sighed. "I was just being friendly." Which was more than Maria had been, especially where Frau Hartwig had been concerned. There had not been an offer to assist her in the kitchen, which would have been nicely declined, of course, but still should have been made. Or even compliments about the children, who had been much more behaved at the table than either Karl or Walther would have been, given the level of excitement in the room. "I do not want to argue, Maria," she softly added. "We are here on holiday."
Luise was still waxing rhapsodic about the Navy, and Maria rolled her eyes. "That one is going to find one of my stockings tied around her pretty neck if she doesn't shut up. I'll thank her to remember we are here on holiday and not part of a naval propaganda tour!"
Posted on Monday, 10 December 2007
Anna and Henriette were early risers and took a walk along the lake before breakfast the next morning, the sun warming their faces as they strolled the shoreline near the inn. That was when Anna realized Maria had not been exaggerating too much when she said Henriette could go overboard on her opinions of the clergy. She was forced to listen politely during their walk as to why the Waldungs' current minister should retire from the pulpit and allow other, younger men a chance.
Anna just smiled and said all that was proper and polite, agreed that the man should have an assistant, if nothing else, and yes, that young man would have an advantage if he were married.
"Too bad Frau von Raetter does not live in Mannheim. I have heard from Maria that she is a woman of good sense and reasonable influence. She could convince our Dr. Schiffer to take on an associate pastor if anyone could!"
Anna was amused. She was certain Henriette had not met Freya on more than a handful of occasions, but seemed so certain of her cleverness. Freya was a clever woman, no doubt, but Anna wondered how Henriette had come to that conclusion.
Any further conversation was brought up short by the appearance of Fritz and Luise. They were out for a walk by the water, but Luise had no sooner set foot on the beach when she recalled something she needed from one of the nearby shops. As they retraced their steps, a man came by in the opposite direction and immediately moved out of their way.
As they passed, Anna caught his eye and, thinking she looked rather well that day in Luise's castoff clothes, decided the man was admiring her. Even Fritz seemed to notice that she had come to the stranger's attention. He glanced at her first, then the man, and then back at Anna once more.
After Luise's errands were completed, they returned to the inn. Anna, having gone to her room to tidy her hair, was heading to the dining room when she was nearly run over by the stranger from the beach. He nodded in greeting, and gave her another admiring glance. It was enough to put her in good spirits as she continued down to breakfast. After all, he did not seem the Captain Johnson type, and she was sure he was not American.
Everyone was almost done eating when a car door slammed and an engine was loudly fired up out front. The noise drew Karl, Maria and Luise to the window.
"Do you see that?" Karl exclaimed. "A Jaguar 3.5 Litre! What a beauty!"
"That is the man we met on the beach," Fritz noted, rising to join them. Henriette and Luise could only agree. Once the car was out of sight, they sat down once more, but the stranger was still the main topic of conversation.
"Do you know the name of the gentleman who just left?" Fritz asked the waiter when he brought them fresh coffee.
"A Herr von Eltow," they were told, and everyone exclaimed in amazement. Maria was so flabbergasted, she would not speak of anything else.
"He must be our cousin Wilhelm!" she insisted over and over. "At the same inn! It must be Wilhelm, Anna. Don't you think?"
Anna said she was sure she could not recall what their cousin looked like, but Maria was like a dog with a bone.
"I wish we had been introduced, so we could know for sure! I can't remember the last time I saw him, either. But he had the von Eltow look to him!"
When she could finally calm Maria down, Anna tried to convince her that their father and cousin had not spoken to one another since the beginning of the war. She thought is best to refrain from telling Maria that she had not only met him on the beach but also a second time, upstairs in the hall. Maria would be put out that her sister had seen him again, and Anna would never hear the end of it. She was, however, secretly pleased to have seen her cousin.
"You must tell Father and Elsa that we saw him when you return home. They will want to know."
Anna was not so sure of that -- what if their cousin wanted to be added to the family once more? Who was going to support one more mouth to feed? She only had two hands, and was not prepared to work them off for a distant cousin she had never met, and she knew no one else in the family would get a job either. She didn't give her sister a direct answer, but even someone who drove a Jaguar did not necessarily have money to live on, Anna thought.
After breakfast, Fritz announced that he had chartered Bentinck's boat for the day and they were all going for a sail. Luise whooped with excitement and ran upstairs to change into her swimsuit. The other ladies followed at a more sedate pace, but even Maria was smiling and not a word was said about her possibly becoming seasick.
It was obvious when they boarded the sailboat an hour later that Maria had no intention of swimming, and Luise was going to jump in the water at the first opportunity. As soon as she stepped on deck she stripped off her red and white knit top and white cropped pants to reveal a fitted one-piece with a halter top.
"You look like Esther Williams!" Henriette exclaimed, admiring her sister's suit. Maria made a face, adjusted the skirt on her short yellow playsuit and wanted to know where to find a drink.
"Makes up for the fact that Mother would not let me come to Lake Constance in a two-piece, doesn't it?" Luise asked.
Anna, in the suit she had been given by Luise, was invited to sit at the wheel with Captain Bentinck. They continued their discussion of certain authors, and when they decided to disagree over the merits of Bertolt Brecht, and society's rules, Anna went to see how Maria was faring.
Her sister was in the shade of the mainsail, sipping something that reeked of gin, but Karl was watching over her, so Anna found a quiet spot next to Captain Hartwig.
"You have done a kind deed, Fräulein Anna, in getting Bentinck to talk. The poor man doesn't often discover people willing to discuss his favorite books. There is no one in our household, more's the pity, who understands one in three words of what he reads. I wish I could find someone with the same tastes. It hasn't been easy for him."
"I don't suppose it has," Anna agreed. "Perhaps in time he will find someone." Either to talk about the books or to bring happiness into his life some other way, she thought. "Were you the one who had to give him the sad news about your sister and his parents?"
"Not me," Hartwig said. "I was on maneuvers at the time, and didn't hear of it until later. It was our friend Wingendorff who took it upon himself to not only give the news in person, but he was with him so he didn't have to be alone."
Anna was beginning to see that Luise's gushing over naval men was not too far off the mark. Few people she knew would have taken so much trouble to look after a friend in need -- not that she had ever doubted Fritz' willingness to do so.
Once away from shore, they all sat out on the bow, the wind in their hair, the sun warm on their faces.
"Let's pull in near shore and go swimming!" Luise insisted.
"I don't advise it," Fritz warned. "We don't know the water depth."
"Oh, pooh! What can it hurt if we jump in and paddle about a bit?" She insisted on taking a swim, and Anna could see that Fritz was putty in the younger girl's hands. He had Bentinck steer them toward an area that appeared suitable for swimming.
Once they dropped anchor, Fritz went in and carefully checked the water levels around the boat, finally declaring the space at the stern deep enough for diving.
Needless to say, Luise was the first one in, showing off with a perfect swan dive. Maria refused to get wet, but Karl and Henriette did not hesitate to jump in. Fritz and Captain Hartwig were next, and then Anna. Her own dive rivaled Luise's for perfection and she felt just a bit smug that her school education had included swimming and diving, making it equal, if not superior, to Luise's and Henriette's. Even Maria applauded once Anna surfaced.
"Anna has always been the family fish," she called to the others. Anna thought it was a compliment, even if her sister had not likened her to a mermaid or a swan.
"Come on Henriette, Anna!" Karl called. "Let's see how far we can swim!"
They entertained themselves taking turns racing each other while Luise continued to show off her dives to an appreciative audience of Fritz and Capt. Hartwig. Even Captain Bentinck had joined Maria on deck to watch them all play in the lake.
When Anna finally declared herself tired, they headed slowly back to the boat.
Luise had gone from diving off the stern to moving along the starboard deck, even though Fritz could be heard across the water asking her not to immerse herself until he had checked the bottom.
"Pooh!" she said once more. "I don't see why you need to check out the water. You sound like a father more than a sweetheart!" And without waiting, she dove headfirst into the lake.
Fritz sighed and held onto the side of the boat, waiting for Luise to emerge. When a reasonable time had passed and she still did not come up for air, Anna and Fritz had the same idea and both dove underwater to see what had happened to her.
Maria let out a sharp cry and ran to the deck rail, and Karl instructed Henriette to get on board. She followed her brother's instructions without hesitation, even as he dove after Fritz and Anna under the surface.
When they emerged, Fritz and Karl had Luise between them, and Anna swam ahead to ensure a place on deck to lay the unconscious girl.
Henriette was white with fear as Anna climbed on board and Maria, for once, kept her mouth shut.
The Captains Hartwig and Bentinck hurried to the ladder to take Luise from Fritz and Karl -- strong though they both were, they would not be able to lift Luise into the boat without help.
"Careful!" Captain Bentinck said sharply, as they completed the transfer and carried Luise to where Anna had spread a blanket on the floor. "We shouldn't move her any more than necessary." Gently, they laid Luise on the floor.
"There's a first-aid kit right next to the wheel, Fräulein Anna," Bentinck said over his shoulder. "Could you get it for me? And Hartwig, get hold of the radio and see if you can get an ambulance to the jetty for when we come back." He noticed Henriette going pale, and Maria, close to hysterics. "It's probably not as bad as it looks," he said in their direction in a blank voice, even while he checked on Luise's vital functions and frowned.
"Keep them away from me for a while," he muttered to Anna as she set down the first-aid kit at his side. "She's not breathing."
While Bentinck started resuscitating Luise, Anna hurried over to where Henriette and Maria were. She got another blanket from the cabin and wrapped it around Henriette's shoulders -- Henriette was shivering from cold as well as anxiety. Anna wondered for a moment whether she should offer Henriette some Schnapps to warm her (provided Maria hadn't drunk the bar dry yet), but decided against it in the end. She wasn't sure whether it would do her any good.
Karl and Fritz had come aboard in the meantime, both equally unable to watch the proceedings -- Karl, with the excuse of looking after Maria, held on to his wife, though in Anna's opinion he was seeking support rather than offering it. He looked pale, and though he was making an effort to stay calm Anna suspected he was close to tears. She did not blame him.
Fritz, also in shock, had found another method of calming himself down -- he went off to his friend Hartwig and assisted him in steering the boat, obviously seeking comfort in doing something he was familiar with.
"She's breathing again," Captain Bentinck announced. All in all, no more than ten minutes could have passed between Luise jumping into the water and now, but to Anna it felt as if it had been an eternity.
"Thank God," Anna heard Karl and Fritz say, almost in unison. She hurried to Bentinck, who instructed her to wrap Luise up warm and check on her breathing occasionally.
"We ought to take off her wet bathing suit to prevent hypothermia," he advised her, "but I'm not going to be the one to do that. She wouldn't like it. I suppose."
"How long is it going to take until we reach the jetty?"
"Ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, not longer."
"Then I'll leave the suit on," Anna decided. "She wouldn't like being carried ashore stark naked either. There are bound to be people around to see what's going on."
Anna knelt down next to Luise, who was looking deadly pale but breathing, and began to wrap a bandage around the girl's head. It was not until she had finished that task that she realized Fritz and Karl were discussing her -- partly at least; they were arguing who would be the best person to go to the hospital in the ambulance along with Luise.
"Let Anna do it," Fritz pleaded. "The two of us will be needed to drive the cars, and Anna can be depended on to keep a cool head and to give a coherent account of what has happened."
Karl agreed, and turned to Anna, who was blushing furiously at Fritz' praise. She had not expected him to commend anything she did -- in her presence, too.
"Would you do that?" he asked Anna. "Would you go to the hospital with Luise and wait for us there?"
"Certainly," Anna managed to say, and was rewarded with a smile from Fritz.
Posted on Thursday, 3 January 2008
Thankfully, Bentinck turned out to be right and their trip to the nearest jetty was a short one. Anna sat next to the still unconscious Luise, to make sure she kept breathing, while Karl and Fritz attended to Henriette and Maria. Captain Hartwig came over to Anna, once Bentinck had taken the wheel again, and said, "You had better get dressed, Fräulein Anna. You won't want to go to the hospital in your bathing suit."
"No," Anna agreed. "That would hardly be appropriate, either. Can I leave Luise to your care for a moment?"
"Certainly," Captain Hartwig replied, and Anna got up, picked up her clothes, and went to the cabin to change. By the time she had done so and returned onto deck, a scene was in full swing. Maria had taken exception to Anna, and not her, being the one to stay with Luise and go to the hospital with her.
"And who," Maria demanded in the whiny tone that informed Anna she'd had at least one drink too many, "is Anna to her? No one! Nothing more than a mere connection! Whereas I ... a member of her family, her sister! I am to stay behind; I suppose I cannot be trusted to look after her properly!"
"You know it isn't that, Maria," Karl protested, but Maria, having worked herself into a towering rage, was deaf to everything he said.
"Am I not just as capable as Anna? Do I need to remind you that I have borne you two children, that I am slaving day and night to bring them up properly? And still I am not good enough to look after your sister when she is ill. Thank you, Karl, for showing me just how much you appreciate me."
"Fine," Karl said, giving in. "Fine. You want to go with Luise, you will go with Luise." He turned to Anna. "Sorry," he said, "but you heard Maria. She wants to go with her. You do not mind, do you?"
"Not at all," Anna said tonelessly, embarrassed at the exhibition Maria had made of herself. She noticed Fritz was about to say something, and tried to catch his eye to stop him. She knew that what he would say could be hardly complimentary, but that would only serve to enrage Maria even more, and the last thing they needed right now was a row. What they needed to do was get Luise safely to the hospital without delay, and the doctors there would know what to do without anyone assisting them. The medics would take care the doctors got all the information they needed to deal with the patient, so it really did not matter who went with Luise.
She did manage to convey to Fritz the message that any discussion would be fruitless, or so Anna thought, for he simply turned away from her sister and brother-in-law and walked over to Bentinck, talking to him in a low voice, no doubt saying to him what he could not say to Maria. Anna returned to Captain Hartwig and Luise, and together she and Hartwig tended to the girl in silence.
It was a very quiet party that arrived at the jetty some ten minutes later. A pair of medics was already waiting there with a stretcher to pick up the patient, and after they had received the information as to how the accident had happened, and what had been done for the patient so far, they gently lifted Luise on the stretcher and carried her off to the ambulance car that was parked nearby, with Maria bringing up the rear.
"Lord, what a ...." Fritz began, glaring at Maria's back, but stopped himself in time before the intended epithet escaped him. Instead, he suggested that he would try and organise a taxi to take the family to the hospital, since it would take them too long to go back to Constance by boat.
Karl gratefully accepted the offer, and so, some quarter of an hour later, they were able to climb into a taxi and return to Constance rather earlier than they had planned, while the Captains Hartwig and Bentinck proceeded to take the boat back into port.
They spent two very anxious hours in the hospital waiting room before one of the surgeons on duty was at leisure to speak to Karl about Luise. His news was encouraging, even though he was unable to allay all their fears just yet.
While they had been obliged to stitch up Luise's head wound, it seemed that no damage had been done to her skull, and as far as the doctor could tell her spine was not injured either. Her condition was stable so far and not bad for someone who had nearly drowned. Still, no one would be able to determine whether she had suffered any permanent damage in consequence of her accident until she had regained consciousness.
At the moment things did not look too bad, though Fräulein Waldung had probably suffered a severe concussion -- nothing they were not able to deal with, the doctor assured Karl. However, one had to take into account that Fräulein Waldung had been under water for several minutes, and the lack of oxygen might have some unpleasant consequences. Luckily, the doctor added, the first aid Luise had received had been excellent, and the water temperature was rather cold still, so it was quite probable Fräulein Waldung would feel no lasting effects of her accident. But it was early days yet; one had to wait for Fräulein Waldung to wake up to see whether she would ever make a perfect recovery.
"How am I going to break the news to my father and mother?" Karl asked gloomily when he had related the doctor's opinion to the rest of the party. "I will have to let them know as soon as possible. Perhaps it will be best if I phone them and ask them to come here."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Fritz said. "It's not the kind of news I'd like to receive on the phone, certainly."
Anna was suddenly reminded of how he had broken certain news to Bentinck, and she had to agree. There was some news that one should not relate on the telephone.
"Then what shall we do?" Karl demanded. "They must know as soon as possible."
"I have been thinking about this for a while," Fritz suggested, "and I have come up with this plan -- Anna needs to be back at work by Monday morning, so we will need to arrange some kind of transportation for her anyway..."
"I can go by train," Anna said hastily. "No problem."
"No you won't," Fritz said. "I will take you and Henriette and Maria home, break the news to the Waldungs, and come back with them tomorrow. What do you say, Karl?"
"That sounds like a good idea. I'd be much obliged to you," Karl said. "Would you really do that?"
"Certainly I would. I ... I feel responsible for what happened. So the least thing I can do now is do what I can for Luise and her family."
"Thank you. Even though I don't agree with you about feeling responsible -- you had no means of stopping her, you know, and if anyone ought to have stopped her I was the one. Anyway, I'm very grateful that you are going to assist us; we are sure going to need your help." He turned to his wife, saying, "We will go back to the inn, love, so you will be able to pack your things. The children will need you when my mother comes here."
"Over my dead body," Maria snapped. "I don't see why I should be going back; to stay in Mannheim all by myself while everyone's down here fussing over Luise."
"You won't be all by yourself. Henriette will go back home, too," Karl argued.
"My place is with my husband," Maria insisted. "I will not go back until you do."
"What about the children? The ones you slave day and night over to raise so properly?" Karl's voice was laden with sarcasm.
"They can come here, for all I care. I shall pay Frau Hartwig to watch them, if I have to, but I am not leaving!"
"Oh, suit yourself," Karl said angrily and turned to Fritz. "Will you be so kind and take Henriette and Anna back, then?"
Fritz nodded. "But we had better start soon," he said. "Or we won't get back to Mannheim till morning."
Exhausted with crying, Henriette soon fell asleep on the back seat, while Anna was sitting in the front with Fritz. They did not talk much; Fritz was concentrating on the road but had switched on the radio to provide Anna with some entertainment during the long journey.
Anna, feeling uncomfortable with the silence between them, tried to go to sleep too, but was not successful. She had never been able to sleep on a journey, whether by car or by train did not matter, and so she merely closed her eyes and listened to the music on the radio. It did not help that that particular radio station seemed to favour older songs, and that some of the music awakened fond but nonetheless painful memories in her.
"Anna?" Fritz spoke suddenly over the music.
"Yes?"
"If only..."
"Yes?" She tried not to put too much hope into his words. Perhaps he was merely regretting the current situation.
"I regret... Oh, I am so damned foolish! I never should have let her have her way! But she was so eager, so full of energy! Who was I to gainsay her?" he wondered aloud.
Anna tried not to snort. One could take determination and firmness of character too far, and then consequences must be paid. A more biddable girl might have listened to him, and remained whole and hearty. She was not going to say that now, however, not when he blamed himself for the entire situation. She had too much compassion for both him and Luise.
"Poor girl," she murmured.
While they had their passports checked, Fritz said to Anna, "I have been thinking how to break the news to the Waldungs, and I believe it will be best if you stay in the car with Henriette while I go in to talk to them. What do you say?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Anna agreed.
"I don't think I will go back to Constance tonight, though," Fritz continued. "To say the truth, I'm fit to drop and will need to get some sleep before driving another six hours back to Constance. And Frau Waldung will need some time to pack and arrange for someone to look after the boys." He frowned, probably still annoyed with Maria for not going back to relieve her mother-in-law from her babysitting duty. So was Anna. She did not understand how anyone could be so selfish.
"I can take them to Heidelberg with me," she suggested.
"You are a martyr to your family, aren't you?" Fritz asked. It was the same thing he had said about her when they had first met in Heidelberg, and Anna blushed as she recalled that encounter -- it seemed so long ago now.
Fritz remembered it too. "It's what I said in Heidelberg, that night when we saw you with that American, isn't it? I must apologise for my behaviour that evening -- it was an unkind thing to say then. But you do take everyone's load on your shoulders, Anna."
"I cannot help it," Anna said quietly. "This is the way I am."
"Yes," he agreed. "This is the way you are. And they... - Sorry. This is none of my business. You should do what you think is right. Actually, I think it is a good idea to take the boys with you -- though, coming to think of it, do you have room for them? Luise mentioned your flat was not very big."
"There is plenty of room," Anna laughed. "They will love to sleep in their Grandpapa's bed." Though more likely it would be hers, she supposed, but she did not mind giving it up to her two nephews for a couple of days.
"I will ask Sophie to look after them for a while," Fritz announced. "She has enough room in her house to accommodate them, and both she and Reinhard love children. They'd enjoy having them around."
"But I cannot possibly foist the boys on the Kraffts," Anna protested. "No, I'll take them to Heidelberg with me."
Fritz did not argue the matter with her. He did not say anything to her until they stopped the car in front of the Waldungs' house -- long past midnight.
"I'll go and ring the doorbell," he said. "Stay in the car with Henriette until I have told them."
Anna watched him walk up the stairs to the Waldungs' front door, and woke Henriette, who had slept through almost the entire journey.
As the lights were switched on in the house, and the front door opened, Anna and Henriette got out of the car and walked slowly towards the house too. By the time they had reached it, Fritz had already told Luise's parents what had happened to their daughter, and they were negotiating their further proceedings. It was soon decided that they would start to Lake Constance early the next morning, but that they would take Anna and the boys to Heidelberg before that.
Posted on Thursday, 21 February 2008
Fritz drove Anna back to Heidelberg and escorted her and her nephews up to the flat. He held one small child and Anna had the other by the hand when Freya met them at the door. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of Fritz, and the boys, and her lips thinned to a line, but she did not say a word.
Anna was past the point in her life where her godmother's opinion held a lot of weight, and she breezed into the small kitchen of the flat with Walther in tow.
"I appreciate the ride, Herr Wingendorff," she said before her father, who was reading a newspaper in the best chair in the house, could even open his mouth. She indicated with a sideways movement of her head that this would be a good time for Fritz to leave, but he stood his ground. Anna gave Walther a push forward.
"Say hello to your grandfather," she said to the boys.
Karl stared, unblinking, at his elder, whose eyebrows were knit together in a scowl. Little Walther had a thumb in his mouth. No one said a word until Elsa came into the room. The sight of the children brought her up short.
"My god, what are they doing here?" she exclaimed.
"Someone has to watch them," Anna said defensively, stepping up to put her hands on her nephews' shoulders.
"It's not going to be me!" Elsa insisted.
"Somehow I knew you would say that," Anna said acidly. "I do wonder what gave me the idea."
"Goodness knows when you are going to be here to tend to them." Freya said to Anna. "Between work and cleaning and marketing..."
"I am certain you and Fräulein von Eltow will be more than happy to help with the work," Fritz said smoothly. Anna's lips quirked into a tiny smile. As if. Elsa's notion of helping with the housework was putting her feet out of the way when Anna was scrubbing the kitchen floor. And even that was done unwillingly.
"I do not understand why they are here at all," Anna's father remarked, still frowning at his grandsons over the edge of his newspaper. "Where is Maria?"
What a warm welcome, Anna thought. A model grandfather -- the kind one came across in the most disturbing of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
"Luise Waldung has injured herself and Maria and Karl are in Constance with her and the family. Including Henriette," Anna added, knowing that would be mentioned next. "That is no place for two small boys."
"Neither is here!" Elsa snapped. "Pauline and I have better things to do with our time."
"So you've found yourselves jobs at last? Congratulations," Anna retorted in a deceptively sweet tone of voice, and derived some satisfaction from seeing her sister's mouth drop open.
Fritz raised an eyebrow at that exchange and seemed about to say something, but Anna took him by the arm and led him to the door. He had seen more than enough of her family, she decided; enough things had happened to embarrass her for a fortnight at least.
"Thank you again, Herr Wingendorff, for bringing us home. We appreciate the ride." Her words had a final ring about them this time. "I hope you will get to Constance all right, and please be so kind as to give my best wishes to Luise and the Waldungs."
"Wingendorff?" she heard her father ask behind her, but she kept propelling Fritz out. She was not about to give her father or Fritz a chance to speak to each other, or for Freya to say anything, either.
"Well, let me get these two little ones into bed...they'll need a nap; they've been up nearly all night," Anna said conversationally once Fritz was gone. "How would you like to sleep with your grandpapa?" she asked with a wicked twinkle in her eye. She was sorry, but the days when she'd heeded anyone's advice but her own were long gone. A look at Freya seemed to convey that message and anything she was about to say was left unsaid. Anna's father was, unfortunately, more vocal.
"I think not! I am not sharing my bed with anyone!"
Anna caught a quick exchange between her father and Frau Lehm, however, and wondered what was going on there. Better not think too much about it, though. That something of that sort might develop at one point had been inevitable, but Anna was not going to waste a thought on her father's love life. Or Frau Lehm's, for that matter.
"Never mind. The boys will sleep with me," Anna said. Despite the fact that their closet of a room had no space for barely anything but two beds (hers and Freya's, for Frau Lehm and Elsa preferred to sleep on a truckle-bed and the sofa in the kitchen, the kitchen being the only room in their flat with a stove), the boys would keep her warm, and vice versa. She would welcome the heat.
"Come along," she said kindly to her nephews. "I will give you some milk before bed."
"We are out of milk," Elsa said.
"Oh. Perhaps a half slice of bread each, then?"
"No bread, either," Freya noted.
"Been too busy to go shopping, have you? What have you all been eating?" Anna wondered.
"Cousin Wilhelm brought us a basket of food the other day," Elsa said vaguely. "You recall our cousin?"
"The one no one speaks of anymore?" Anna asked.
"Oh, that is all behind us now," Walther said happily. "He came to see us yesterday and brought us a great hamper of things we have not seen the likes of in several years."
"I believe there are some crackers," Frau Lehm said helpfully.
"But the caviar and pate are all gone. We must have Wilhelm bring us some more this week," Elsa noted.
Anna sighed, took the boys to the table, and made them sit down on a bench. The table was a mess, but she would save cleaning up until later. She had no doubt that Freya, Elsa and Frau Lehm had left it for her to deal with, knowing she would come back today. Never waste any energy on work you didn't want to bother with was their motto, she knew.
Looking into the tiny refrigerator, she found a half bottle of expensive champagne that would no doubt disappear before morning, an empty tin of pate that no one had thought to toss in the garbage bin, and a wizened old apple that Anna had probably bought before she went to Mannheim. Either no one had thought to buy provisions for the weekend, Anna thought, or her oh-so-proud father had preferred to depend on Cousin Wilhelm's generosity. The von Eltow pride was not what it had used to be, apparently.
There were the crackers, at least, and Anna gave the boys small glasses of water to wash them down with. Once they had their light snack, she ushered them into the miniscule bathroom and returned to the kitchen, where the other adults were arguing over who would have responsibility for the boys when Anna was at work. She ignored them for the moment while she retrieved the children's bags, and went to dress Walther and Karl for bed. They needed a nap or they would become cranky and hard to manage towards the end of the day, and Anna was not prepared to endure that.
After she had them settled, she prepared herself for sleep and crawled into bed with them. Recent events had taken their toll -- Anna was exhausted, and had hardly got any sleep during the night. Having to get up early in the morning so Fritz could take them to Heidelberg before setting out to Constance had not helped either, but it had been worth it -- it had spared her going on a crowded train with two young children and lots of baggage, which had been a daunting prospect.
The others could discuss the situation until they were blue in the face, but they were going to help her with the children, or one of the other daily chores she often undertook. Anna was tired of supporting everyone and getting nothing but grief in return. Things would change from now on; she would see to that.
And what was the deal with Cousin Wilhelm? Why his appearance now, and why the expensive food? How did he even have access to luxury goods, considering that basic foodstuffs were rationed and hard to come by? There was something fishy about that, she feared. Anna was surprised the flat hadn't been robbed, because someone like Elsa could not resist letting others know that they dined on caviar and champagne, and she wondered if she should warn her sister to keep quiet on the matter. She decided against it, though, knowing that her warning would in all likelihood fall on deaf ears.
When she and her nephews awoke an hour later, Anna put on some of her oldest clothes, sent Freya off to take the boys for a walk (surprisingly, she did so without demur), and started tidying the kitchen, in spite of it being a Sunday. She was not particularly keen on the work, but she would have died of shame if anyone had come calling on them and found the place in such a state.
While she was working, her father, Elsa, and Frau Lehm sat at the kitchen table discussing the merits of Wilhelm Walther von Eltow. Not only had they forgiven him for his past conduct, but also were they delighted to have him with them again. He had only just arrived in Heidelberg, they said, but had made it his business to see his relatives immediately following his arrival. He was putting up at the town's most expensive hotel, and had every appearance of being a man of fortune as well as consequence. He drove a smart car, was dressed in exquisitely tailored suits, and had the air of a man of the world. It was quite flattering, Elsa observed, that he had sought them out so quickly, though, Frau Lehm was quick to add, it was no more than they had a right to expect -- even though the family had lost some of their former importance, Walther von Eltow was still the head of his family and deserved his heir's respect. Anna had trouble suppressing a snort upon hearing that.
They found no fault with Cousin Wilhelm; yes, there had been some estrangement, which had been due to his unfortunate marriage to a woman of "doubtful ancestry" --according to rumors, one of her great-grandmothers had been of Jewish descent - but she had been a remarkably beautiful woman, and wealthy, Anna's father remarked, and that was enough of an excuse, as far as he was concerned. Cousin Wilhelm had committed his acts of youthful folly, as all young men did at one point in their lives, but all this must be forgiven and forgotten now that Wilhelm had shown his willingness to return to the bosom of his family. Anyway, since Wilhelm's wife was dead they need not worry about her anymore.
While scrubbing the stove, Anna listened, but without quite understanding the conversation. She knew large allowances must be made for the ideas of those who spoke, but it all sounded rather irrational to her ears. She felt there was more to the whole situation than met the eye -- why should Cousin Wilhelm, after so many years of estrangement, wish for reconciliation, especially considering that there no longer was anything for him to inherit? Gut Kaehlau was, in all likelihood, burned down and in ruins, and there was no realistic hope for any of them of ever returning there. Wilhelm must be aware of that as well as the rest of them. So what did he have to gain? Anna could not quite make it out.
From a materialistic point of view, Wilhelm von Eltow had nothing to gain by being on terms with her father. Judging by what she had heard and seen of him, even the war had not managed to rid him of the fortune he'd married, while Anna's father had lost everything. The title had lost its significance the moment Germany had turned into a republic, too, and even if it had not, Wilhelm would have inherited it anyway. There was only one probable reason Anna could think of, and that was that he had come to see them for Elsa's sake. She remembered that, at one point, there had been talk about Wilhelm marrying her -- their relationship was remote enough to allow a marriage between them -- and now that his first wife had been dead for two years, he might well be looking for someone to replace her; someone with Elsa's qualities. For all she knew, he might have been really fond of Elsa right from the start; she was a very handsome woman, and had been bred for presiding over the kind of home Wilhelm would be able to give her. For Elsa's sake Anna hoped that this was so -- that he had come to find her, and would not be put off by the way Elsa was behaving at present. Upon reflection, Anna had to admit that her wish was not entirely unselfish -- if Wilhelm married Elsa, that would take her off Anna's hands, and very likely her father would go and live with them too, which would leave Anna with only Freya and herself to please. She would like that; Freya was easy to get along with, and while her family took her for granted Freya did not. They would have a comfortable life together, Anna hoped, once her father and Elsa were gone.
She mentioned the glimpse she had had of Wilhelm von Eltow in Constance, but no one attended to her much. Her father even went so far as to admonish her for putting herself forward, which was the final straw.
"Who do you take me for? A servant?" Anna asked, quietly, but in a dangerous tone. "I'll have you know that I will allow neither you, nor anyone else in this flat, to tell me to shut up. I am a grown woman, I am the one who pays most of the bills around here, and I will have my say whenever I feel like it."
"You would not have dared to speak to me in such a manner before we came here," her father complained. "You owe me respect!"
"If you want respect, you had better earn it," Anna retorted.
"It's talk like that that will put men off," her father cried. "You'll never find yourself a husband!"
"And how good it will be for you if I don't! Where would you be if I left you to be married?" Anna asked. "Who'd pay for the roof over your head, who'd feed you, and who'd make sure you don't choke on your own dirt? Elsa, perhaps? Or Frau Lehm? Or would you expect me to take you along with me, and to allow you to take advantage of my husband in the same way you take advantage of me? If you think so, you've got another thing coming."
She emptied her bucket into the sink, took off her apron, put on her coat and the scarf Karl had given her and left the flat. She'd only been back for a couple of hours, but she already wished she could go away and never return.
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
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