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‘Might he be persuaded to come back and look after you?’ Leila knew the answer but felt she had to ask the question.
‘What do you think?’
‘Well, he’s an honourable man…’ Leila began.
‘But possibly already married to someone else…no, that’s not the answer.’
‘You could keep it. You’ve never been conventional. We’d support you – Viktor and I.’
Minki shook her head. ‘It would be the end of everything – my chance of marriage, my career. And my father would never speak to me again.’
‘Abortion then.’ Leila winced as she uttered the word.
Minki stared into Leila’s kind brown eyes. ‘I can’t bear the thought…not Peter’s baby.’
Throughout their discussions, Viktor brought them cups of tea, and later glasses of wine.
Finally, towards the evening, the pair emerged.
‘Viktor,’ Leila said softly. ‘I have something to ask you. Come with me?’
She led him downstairs and out into the street. Minki watched the couple from her kitchen window, and wondered what they were talking about. Leila was waving her hands around, gesticulating, her expression earnest, but at the same time pleading. Viktor, meanwhile, listened attentively, his face impassive. Finally, he held out his arms to Leila and embraced her, kissing the top of her head.
They returned to Minki’s apartment, Leila smiling broadly. ‘Minki – Viktor and I would like to suggest an idea that might solve a lot of problems. How about if he and I look after you while you wait to have the baby, and when it’s born we’ll take care of it – just until you get yourself sorted out. One day, I’m sure you’ll get married and then you will take the child back. But in the meantime, you can see the baby whenever you want.’
Minki was shocked. ‘Would you really do this for me?’ Her eyes darted between the two of them.
‘Of course,’ replied Leila.
‘I’m stunned, and so grateful – but there are so many possible problems. For example, you might fall in love with it, and then could you really bear to let it go?’
‘Minki, don’t be ridiculous. I will love your child whether I am responsible for it or not. Viktor and I are simply offering to be guardians – an extra set of parents, if you like – to give you a chance to work, to meet someone, to make a proper go of your life.’
Minki, exhausted from her days of emotional turmoil, suddenly burst into tears. She took Leila’s face in her hands and kissed her. ‘You are the best friend any woman has ever had.’
14
MUNICH
August 1924
Leila woke early on the morning of her wedding with the bright summer sun filtering through the thin curtains in her childhood bedroom. She lay, enjoying the brief moment of quiet, aware that the day would be filled with intense activity, and that her life was about to change forever. Tonight she and Viktor would be alone together in a hotel room as a married couple; and tomorrow they would go on their honeymoon. Viktor had booked a hotel in Ascona – a smart town on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Switzerland. Leila’s clothes for the trip had been laid out on a small sofa in her bedroom for a week. She and her mother had debated endlessly about which dress would look most elegant for dinner in the smart hotel restaurant, which suit would be most practical for sightseeing, which trousers could be worn for hiking up the mountains behind the town.
Today, and indeed the rest of her life, would be filled with ‘firsts’ – her first night as a married woman; her first trip out of the country; her first proper holiday – for her father had never seen the point of such indulgences.
‘Leila…’ Her mother knocked on the door.
‘Yes, Mutti – come in.’
Her mother bustled in carrying a tray loaded with a teapot, a pile of toast and eggs.
‘Breakfast in bed?’ Leila sat up and rearranged her pillows. ‘I’ve only ever had that when I was sick.’
Her mother smiled. ‘Enjoy it, but don’t take too long – there’s a lot to do.’
Later that morning, dressed in her lace wedding gown, Leila studied her reflection in the mirror, while her mother kneeled at her feet making final adjustments to the hem. ‘That’s done now, Leila,’ she said, standing up to admire her. ‘You look beautiful.’
Leila smiled. She had to agree that, just for once, she did look beautiful. Beauty was not something she had ever claimed, or desired. She had always been considered attractive enough, and was happy with that. But today, her skin glowed, her eyes sparkled and her newly bobbed hair gleamed. She and her mother had visited a hairdresser a few days before and Leila had asked for a radical new style.
