Page 52 of Library of Forbidden Books

Derek sidestepped. “Yes, she had a very high-risk pregnancy. It was extremely hard on us. She almost lost the baby, and we thought we were going to lose her as well. Thank God they’re both healthy now.”

Joss seized on the last comment. “‘Thank God’? You still hold on to those old-fashioned beliefs? Surely you’ve read Hegel and Nietzsche and figured out by now that God is dead!”

Helene turned to the men and rested her hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Honey, I think we should be leaving. We don’t want to keep your parents waiting.”

“Oh, of course,” he said, glancing at his watch and feigning surprise. “The time has flown by!” He shot up like a spring and kissed Lauralei’s hand, then shook Joss’s.

“It’s been a pleasure to have you. It’s a pity you’ve got other plans,” Lauralei said. Then, in a syrupy, casual tone, she added, “Heinrich Himmler himself will be one of our dinner guests. You know him?”

“Only professionally through work,” Derek answered.

“Well, we won’t keep you. Traffic is sure to be ghastly tonight.”

The maid led them to the door. When they were safely in the elevator, Helene and Derek let out a deep breath. Helene followed it with a nervous little laugh, which turned into both of them snorting with hysteria by the time they reached the bottom floor. Sebastian looked at them with a puzzled expression as they giggled their way to the car.

Turning on the ignition, Derek loosened his tie and said, “Well, when people complain about their neighbors, now I know why. Those people!”

“She’s a National Socialist fiend! Every word out of her mouth sets my teeth on edge. I hope we don’t have to see them again for a loooong time.”

It took an hour to get to the von Sholtzes’ house. They had moved to the city from their house in Königsberg a couple of years before and now spent most of their time in Berlin. Though he was in the reserves, Blaz had accepted a job as instructor at the War Academy at Potsdam.

The elderly maid opened the door. She was so much a part of the family that she had made the move with the von Scholtzes, though she should have retired years before.

“Derek, my love! How delightful to see you together with your beautiful wife. And let me see that baby!” She bent down, pinched Alexander’s cheeks, and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Oh, he looks just like you at that age. Stay here with me, little prince, while your parents go greet your grandparents and uncles. Now, watch this: Patty-cake, patty-cake . . .”

Alexander happily followed her movements and tried to clap along to the rhyme while his parents walked into the living room.

Derek’s brothers were no longer the goofy adolescents they had been three and a half years prior at the wedding. One was at an officer’s academy and the other in college. They each gave Derek a big hug, but Blaz held out a cool hand. He was still displeased to have a half-Jew in the family. It was harder and harder to accept, given the political climate. He had gone so far as to tell Derek to leave his wife and retain custody of the child. Derek had not mentioned that to Helene.

Gisela gave Derek and Helene polite hugs. She was always more agreeable toward Helene, even bordering on maternal.

“You look lovely, dear,” she said.

“Thank you, so do you!” Helene answered truthfully.

“Ah, well, at my age . . .” Gisela sighed. Her dress fit neatly and was tailored to avoid the physical aspects that did not meet her standards of perfection.

Dinner was rather quiet and serious, the only laughter coming from an occasional joke from Dieter and Ebert. When dessert was over, there were still two hours to go until midnight. The men retired to the library to smoke while the women stayed in the dining room with Alexander.

“Derek,” Blaz began, “there’s talk of the Führer annexing Austria, and maybe a war. So you’ll soon get to put all your schooling to use and test your mettle on the battlefield, like your ancestors before you.”

Derek did not answer. He concentrated on the cigar his father had handed him. Dieter and Ebert did not yet smoke but seemed content to watch the rings swirl around the room.

Blaz continued. “That woman is a hindrance to you. She’s a Jew. Things have been calm enough so far, but your marriage might cost you—and us—our status in the new Germany.”

“We’ve gone over this before, Dad,” Derek said, frowning. He sat in the armchair closest to the fire.

“She’s been imprisoned in a concentration camp like a common criminal. Her family are left-wing Jews, enemies of the state and of the army—”

“This is my wife you’re talking about. Please choose your words more carefully.”

Blaz looked his son full in the face and made to speak again, but Derek put out his cigar and walked out of the room. Though it would upset his mother, he was about to tell Helene that they needed to leave.

Just then he heard the distant popping of fireworks. It was the beginning of 1937, Hitler’s fourth year in power. Derek had no idea what the future would hold, but one thing was sure: The world that stretched before his family was nothing like the one they had known before.

Chapter 30

Another Child