Cheryl Reavis by The Bartered Bride

Author:The Bartered Bride
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-07-04T18:05:26+00:00

Chapter Twelve

When the dream began, the baby was crying. Frederich had been wrong when she said she didn’t cry—Caroline could hear her so plainly. Her baby daughter was in her cradle there on the other side of the room, and all in the world Caroline had to do was go to her.

But the room changed—doors where there had been none. And people—Johann preparing to read in his book of rituals, and Leah Steigermann dressed in black.

Wrong, some part of her thought. Wrong for Johann to come here with his book. Wrong for Leah to wear mourning. Don’t you hear her crying, Leah?

I’ll get her, she thought. I’ll bring her so you both can see—

She couldn’t move her legs, couldn’t tell where the cradle sat anymore. And the baby cried and cried—

I’m coming! she wanted to say, but she had no voice. Please, little one, I’m coming—

She could still hear her, but now Beata stood in her way and wouldn’t move aside no matter how hard Caroline tried to get past.

Get away, Beata!

Oh, I’m sorry, Beata said quite distinctly. I thought you knew/

And then she smiled—that terrible smile she had—Beata, victorious.

No! I don’t know! I don’t! Caroline tried to say, but Lise came bursting into the room, her hands clasped over her heart, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Aunt Caroline! Papa is going to play again!” she cried, jarring Caroline awake.

“What?” Caroline said, disoriented and still in the clutches of the dream. She tried to sit up, looking wildly around the room, her heart pounding.

Where is my baby?

But she knew instantly. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. And her baby lay at Ann’s side in the German cemetery.

“He’s playing the fiddle again, Aunt Caroline! It’s my birthday present. Any song I want! ‘Old Blue,’ ‘Aura Lee’— anything!”

“What?” Caroline said again, but Lise didn’t hear her. She whirled away, dancing out the door and into the upstairs hallway.

Caroline lay back and closed her eyes.

Lise’s birthday.

She took a deep breath and willed the dream to fade, letting the harshness of reality take its place.

There is no baby. There is nothing.

She had to force herself to get out of bed. She had to force herself to do everything these days. She stood for a long time staring at her face in the mirror. She had to try harder. She was not going to spoil Lise’s special day, and she took unusual pains with her toilette before she put on the stark mourning dress. Three months. One wore black for three months after an infant died. Who decided such things? she wondered, and how could that be enough time when more than a month had already passed and she didn’t even remember it?

Beata was already at work in the kitchen when Caroline came downstairs. She immediately sniffed and turned away. Certainly Beata had cause for complaint. Caroline hadn’t been doing “her job” these past few weeks, and it was clear that—Lise’s birthday or not—Beata was not in a forgiving mood.

She dismissed Beata with

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