Rick straightened, his brown eyes wide. “What?”
Melanie nodded, looking down into her drink. “When Mum and I left, I was seven, I think? Maybe eight. Dad was horrible to my mother. Violent. Abusive. The day she gathered the courage to leave him was the day she first told me the story of Esther. We were brave princesses escaping an evil man who sought to harm us. But the Lord stepped in and saved us.”
Sweat beaded on her forehead. Why was it so hot in this room?
“Oh, Mel.” Chaisley appeared miserable as she shook her head. “No wonder your mother was so kind and so brave. Her courage helped me find my own.”
Melanie managed a smile, but felt it slip as she went on. “I think after we escaped my dad, she felt like nothing could ever hurt her again. But it shattered her heart to leave my brothers with him. My older brothers I don’t even remember, they were grown and gone by the time I had any memories. But my other brother, Randall, was only a couple years older than me. And oh, how he adored our father. He followed him around and became just as mean and ugly with his words as him. So I avoided him, and it didn’t bother me one bit when we left him behind.”
Burning clawed up her throat. “I know, it’s awful to say, but I loved having Mum to myself and not dealing with any more yelling... or hitting.”
She turned her face toward the window. What would they think of her now, knowing all this? “I was too young to understand how it all happened—my mother didn’t share the details with me when I was little—and by the time I was grown enough to understand... she was gone.” Melanie leaned back against the stiff plastic of the booth.
The table fell silent again. She used the moment to collect herself, her emotions, and her scattered and disjointed thoughts. “I believed my father was dead, because Mum told me he was. But when we were touring in Germany, I kept thinking I saw him. The same angry, stern face that frightened me as a child and haunted my dreams. He was a horrible monster of a man.” She shredded her soggy napkin into tiny pieces. “It turns out ... the face I kept seeing was my brother’s. The first concert that Hitler attended, there he was, by the Führer’s side. It appears that he is now a high-ranking Nazi official, part of Hitler’s inner circle.”
Chaisley let out a squeaky gasp. “Are you sure? Perhaps it’s just someone who looks like—”
“It’s him. I inquired about his name. And then... and then I sent him a letter.”
Rick leaned forward. “You sent him a letter? That’s awfully dangerous, Mel. Didn’t you just say he’s part of Hitler’s inner circle?” His voice had turned hard, his eyes like steel.
Of course, he had a right to be angry. She’d risked putting them all in terrible danger. Not to mention, she had done exactly what she’d accused Rick of earlier. Mum always warned her not to point out the splinter in someone else’s eye when she had an entire tree trunk in her own. Yes, she’d been hypocritical. Something else to apologize for. “I’m sorry. I didn’t give him any information—not that he couldn’t find me. But that concert on August the fifth? I was horrified because hatred was written all over his face. But then he responded to my letter. He wants to see me.”
“See you?” Chaisley slapped a hand over her mouth. After a moment she spoke again, this time in a hushed tone. “Melanie, you cannotbe thinking of seeing him in person! He could hurt you!”
“She’s right, Mel. This puts you in much greater danger. Especially with the work you want to do. How on earth do you think you can meet him, and risk him discovering you help the very people he is sworn to not only hate but destroy?” Rick’s brown eyes were dark and intense.
She understood their shock and horror. More than they knew. Who wanted to accept that someone in their family was a part of one of the most abhorrent political parties in the world? “I don’t know. But I have to try and share the truth with him while I can.”
Deep within her soul, she knew the Lord was prompting her to watch for His will and an opportunity to at least meet her brother one time. “I know this comes as a shock. And I promise you I will not do anything stupid. I don’t even know if he’ll ever want to see me again after our first meeting. All I know is I have this urging from the Lord about him. I can’t ignore that. Even if right now, I don’t understand what it means. I’ll keep helping withthe group here until you all leave for England. But then I’ll head back to Berlin.”
The waitress appeared with their soups and sandwiches. But the savory aromas that had tantalized her stomach ten minutes ago now made it roil.
No one said anything for a long while. They made a show of eating, and finally Rick threw some bills on the table and they piled back into the car.
Once they were settled in the back seat, Chaisley reached out and tugged Melanie close to her in a hug. Melanie could feel the wetness of her friend’s tears dampening her hair.
“I don’t want to lose you.”
The words were muffled against her winter hat. And they warmed her all the way down to her toes.
“I don’t want to be lost.” She hugged Chaisley hard before drawing back. “But I have to do this, Chais. I need to try to reach my brother.”
Yes, the road before her was dangerous, and could possibly end in her losing her life, but she trusted Jesus above all things. “If I perish, I perish.” The words eased from her on a whisper. “Your will be done, Lord. For such a time as this.”
chapter
Nineteen
Berlin—Monday, December 12, 1938
Smack!
His hand stung from the slap. But these stupid people couldn’t figure out the code. Every one of them deserved the firing squad.
How hard could it be to decipher a blind woman’s message?
He should have followed Melanie after the concert and just grabbed her. If anyone understood what that pianist was up to, it was his long-lost sister who had been by the woman’s side for years.
