The School for German Brides by Aimie K. Runyan

Author:Aimie K. Runyan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Hanna

January 1939

Aunt Charlotte, to her credit, didn’t gloat when she picked me up from the train station. She looked as though my return was just on schedule and nothing was amiss. I wondered if Papa told her what I’d been up to with the Romani family in Teisendorf, but decided he would have probably kept the information to himself. He wouldn’t want to further jeopardize my chances with Friedrich. He wouldn’t risk Uncle Otto and Aunt Charlotte refusing any further hospitality because of what he considered to be my foolish devotion to my mother’s calling.

I had no idea how Vano was faring, nor if I would ever find out. I could only hope that he would pull through with the help of Pieter’s medicine and the loving attentions of his mother and sister. I couldn’t ask Papa or anyone else in town to check on them. It was becoming clearer to me that no one could be trusted. Aunt Charlotte embraced me like the prodigal, but as the driver sped through town and she chatted to me merrily in the backseat, I had never felt more alone in my life.

“I’ll let you lie down, dear. We have company coming later this evening,” Aunt Charlotte said as we walked into the cavernous entryway.

“Would you mind too much if I just took a tray in my room?” I asked. “I really don’t feel equal to company.”

“Friedrich is coming especially to see you. I’ll send Mila to you at seven. Dinner is promptly at eight.”

There was no gentle suggestion in her tone. No sugarcoated coercion. It was a command.

“I trust you got your wanderlust out of your system, dear. We’re all going through hard times, but we mustn’t make things worse for ourselves. And don’t wear that dress again unless you’re called on to scrub some floors.”

She left me no time to respond to her orders. She spun on the ball of her foot and walked off toward her quadrant of the house with her heels making a businesslike click-clack click-clack across the marble floor of the foyer as she went off to her private rooms.

Going to see Papa had been a mistake. I gained nothing apart from the knowledge that I was well and truly without allies. Mila and Klara were wonderful girls, but would they truly protect my confidences if the need ever arose? Mila’s loyalty, ultimately, had to lie with Uncle Otto and Aunt Charlotte. They paid her wages and gave her lodging. She couldn’t afford to cross them. Klara would never cross her parents—who would never cross my aunt and uncle.

I wanted to hurl myself on the bed and cry as I’d done upon my arrival and so many times since. But that time had passed. I had to come up with a plan to evade Friedrich long enough to strike out on my own. If I had to serve in a beer hall or make beds in a hotel, so be it. It didn’t seem too far-fetched to think I could find work as a secretary in some humble office somewhere.

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