Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn

Author:Jennifer Coburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

19

Hilde

August

Hilde woke with a wide smile already spread across her face. Despite Gundi’s obvious snub at the screening, Hilde was in good spirits. After the film, she had overheard Sister Marianne telling one of the cooks to prepare a special menu because Reichsführer Himmler and Propaganda Minister Goebbels would be visiting Heim Hochland later that week. Sister Marianne also told the cook that Werner and several other officers would be joining them.

Scanning the walls of her room, sun pouring in through the window, Hilde congratulated herself on creating such a homey setting. Everyone who saw it commented on the magazine clipping of the führer bending down to kiss the head of a young girl. Hilde could understand why people were drawn to it. The two were standing in a field of flowers at the Berghof, the snowcapped mountains of the Bavarian Alps a placid backdrop. It appeared as if nothing—not even the Jews—could threaten this world the führer and the girl inhabited. Another picture featured a crowd of young people watching in awe as rows of soldiers marched through the wide boulevard. Each spectator’s fresh face sparked with elation, their arms lifted and stiff before them. They were a hundred weather vanes showing which way the wind was blowing.

Walking toward the WC, Hilde began thinking about what she would wear when Werner visited, how she would style her hair. By the time she reached the toilet, she had decided on the perfect dress. It was green with red and white summer flowers and a square neckline with a slender rim of white ruffles. This same trim finished the short, puffy sleeves. At first glance, the frock appeared modest, even patriotic. It was cleverly, stealthily sexy and worth every reichsmark Hilde had paid for it during her first shopping outing with Lotte in Berlin.

As she imagined her life with Werner after the baby was born, Hilde realized she would have to replace the hideous flannel nightdresses, like the one she had on, with more alluring negligees. On his visits to their secret cottage, Werner and Hilde would sit in front of the fireplace and share a drink after supper as their baby slept peacefully. She would read him comedy sketches that she had written for radio programs. He’d laugh so heartily that he’d have to steady himself from toppling over. “Hilde,” Werner would say, “I’ve never met a woman who was both beautiful and funny, but you continue to amaze me.”

Werner’s visit later that week would bring her one step closer to that perfect future. As Hilde lifted herself from the toilet, though, she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her lower belly. She had missed two monthly periods, and now it felt as though the cramps from both of them were coming at once. Sister Marianne had told her that discomfort was normal as a woman’s body expanded to make room for growing life. But this didn’t feel like the pain she’d felt earlier in her pregnancy.

Pressing her hands onto

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