Mrs. Tuesday's Departure: A Historical Novel of World War Two (18 page)

We turned down a street and I looked up. “Deszo, the lights in the café are still on. We saw Germans there.”

The chairs were piled on the tables and Deszo had to knock at the locked doors. A woman came to the door and Deszo asked for a waitress named Mary. The woman left us and then returned. I recognized the waitress who’d waited on us earlier, standing near the door to the kitchen.

“Mary?” I asked.

He nodded. The door was unlocked and we stepped into the café. The woman looked at Mary and then taking a payment of bills returned to the kitchen.

“You shouldn’t have come here now,” Mary replied looking over her shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have unless it was important.”

Mary looked at my face and then down the length of my body. I knew then that Anna had been here.

“I have a twin,” I said. “When was she here?”

Mary didn’t answer but looked at Deszo. He nodded and replied. “It’s true. They are twins. Was her sister in here tonight?”

She looked at me again and then took Deszo’s hand, leading him away from me. They talked in hushed voices; she looked back at me from time to time to see if I could hear them. She was young, perhaps twenty, probably a student at the university working to support her studies, pretty, and from her body movements and the looks of approval, smitten with Deszo.

At the end of their conversation, Deszo took her hand, kissed the back of it, and then pressed some money into her palm. She turned and headed back to the kitchen, stopping once to look at me before disappearing behind the swinging doors. Deszo came to my side and led me out the door of the café. He led me in the direction of my apartment.

“She was in there tonight wasn’t she?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Did Mary tell you who she was with, did they leave together?”

Deszo was silent and then answered. “She came in with a group of young soldiers. They took her to a table where their senior officer was sitting. After a brief conversation, the young men left and Anna stayed with the officer.”

“With no protest?”

“According to Mary she looked quite pleased to be there.”

I shuddered. What state of mind was Anna in? What delusion could have made her stay?

“According to Mary, Anna and the German drank together until closing and then left together. They seemed very…cozy. Mary’s word, not mine.”

“Whom did she leave with? Has he been in there before? Did she recognize him?”

Deszo nodded. “He’s a frequent customer. Apparently his young men bring him girls quite regularly, or the women find him themselves.”

“Why?”

Deszo laughed. “Protection. Any number of reasons to trade one favor for another.”

“And he has power to grant them.”

“Yes,” he said. “He has the power of life and death in this situation.”

“Who is he,” I asked. “You seem to know him.”

“I know of him,” Deszo said. “Do you remember the German sitting at the table next to ours? The one who asked you to join him?”

I shivered, recalling my reluctant physical attraction to him. His eyes drew you in, the way he looked at you as if he already knew what you were feeling. “Yes.”

“That’s the one Anna was with.”

No. No, I thought, could Anna have discovered that this man thought she was me? With that knowledge, what had she done?

“Where did they go?” I asked. “Did Mary tell you?”

Deszo lead me up the front steps of my building. “She doesn’t know where they went. She said that Anna went willingly, happily.”

“Is there anyway we can find out?”

“Not tonight,” Deszo held the door for me.

The stairwell was dark and silent. Deszo allowed me to take his arm but his body was stiff, his thoughts far away. I imagined this must be uncomfortable for him, even though he’d broken up with Anna a year ago.

“I’ll make more inquiries in the morning and find out where she’s been taken.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

As we passed the door to Miss Szep’s apartment, I stopped.

“Mila’s there. I should bring her upstairs. Shouldn’t I?”

I rapped lightl
y
on the front door. There was no answer. I knocked again, harder this time.

“Who is it?”

“Miss Szep, it’s Natalie.”

The bolts were drawn back, the door unlocked and opened. Miss Szep stood peering out into the hall, squinting. “Is something wrong? Did you find Anna?” She looked from me to Deszo.

“No,” I said. “We know who Anna left with but we don’t know where she is. Can I get Mila?”

Miss Szep hesitated, “She’s sleeping.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but I’d really like her to come upstairs with me.”

“I will still take her to my friend’s house tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I think that’s best. Until things are settled with Anna, it will be safer for Mila if she’s not here.”

“I’ll come upstairs in the morning,” Miss Szep said, clearly reciting plans she’d determined not to change. “Mila and I will go to Miss Gödel’s house. I will stay there with Mila until you can come to join her.”

“That’s too much for you!” I said. “Who will take care of your cat?”

Miss Szep chuckled. “Nero will come with us. Miss Gödel’s cat, Horatio, will enjoy the company. We’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

Then she closed the door and I heard her footsteps retreating down the hall. A few minutes later Mila appeared at the door clutching her belongings, yawning under the lingering spell of sleep. “Nana! Did you find Anna?” She looked from me to Deszo and then her smile faded.

I put my arm around her shoulders and nodded to Miss Szep. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

I lead Mila up the stairs, Deszo followed us, taking the key from my hand at the top of the stairs, and unlocking the door and holding it open for us. “Mila we are very close to finding Anna,” he said as she passed. “Don’t worry, we believe she is safe for the night.”

Our eyes met and I smiled in gratitude for his encouraging words.

I guided Mila down the hall to her room. At the entrance, she stopped and turned to me. “Can I sleep in your bed tonight, Nana?”

I hugged her and turned back toward my bedroom. “Of course, I would like that very much.”

She turned down the duvet on my bed and then looked back at me. “You don’t think I’m being childish.”

“I will be very lonely for the few days that we are separated.” I smiled and walked to the bed and pulled the covers over her as she slid over to the far side of the bed I once shared with Max. “I’m glad you thought of it. It’s like a slumber party.”

Mila snuggled beneath the cover and made a nest of the down-filled pillow. I stood for a moment just admiring the way her dark hair arrayed against the white pillow casing, caught the light. She was so young and so beautiful. I wish she’d grown up in my time, in the loving, peaceful home I’d known. My heart ached with the knowledge of what she’d seen in her young life.

“
Nana?” Mila calle
d
to me from beneath the duvet. “Anna said that you’ve begun writing again. Are you working on a new story?”

I managed a weak smile and then sat on the edge of the bed and began gently rubbing Mila’s back. “Yes, I’ve started a new project, it’s a story just for you.”

“What’s it about?” Mila asked excitedly. “Am I in it?”

“Yes, my sweet, you are.” I tilted my head and looked into Mila’s eyes. “But you appear as you will be many years from now, a little old lady safely tucked away in America.”

Mila’s eyes widened. “America? Oh that sounds wonderful. But how do I get there?”

I thought for a moment. “Hmmm, I imagine something slow and peaceful would be nice. How about a boat?”

Mila shook her head and grimaced. “I’m afraid I would get seasick!”

“That’s true,” I said as if mentally crossing off that idea and searching for another. “How about a beautifully decorated hot air balloon with a basket big enough to hold a bed and a chair and a little table so your journey would be comfortable?”

“I like that. It would be so quiet and lovely to float among the clouds. And I would need a telescope so that I could watch for whales as I cross the ocean and then look for land. Would you come with me?”

“I’ll be sure that we have a second balloon, so that there’s one for me and one for you.”

“Oh Nana, I wish it were true.”

“I’ll make it true, somehow,” I whispered as I rose from the bed and walked to the door. I shut off the light and paused before closing the door, “Good night, my sweet Mila.”

“Good night, Nana.”

Deszo was waitin
g
for me in my study. He’d made coffee and was standing at the window looking out onto the street when I came in.

“She should be asleep soon, I hope.” I poured a cup of coffee and went to join him by the window.

“It looks peaceful out there at this hour,” he said as I moved to his side.

“I used to love the hours after midnight, the quiet, the solitude, being inside, safe to watch but not be harmed.”

“Now it’s not safe to be inside,” he said.

What I’d learned about him tonight had changed the history of which I was certain. He had become another man. Still the same, but a door had opened onto a new corridor, I wasn’t sure I wanted to travel. Should I trust him?

“I think Anna will be fine tonight.”

I looked up at his profile. “Tonight, but not tomorrow?”

He shrugged. “In the morning everyone looks different. We wake up and remember who we are, not who we imagined we were the night before.”

“Do you think she will come home in the morning?”

“If she can,” he said and took a sip from his coffee. “I should go home now. I’ll come tomorrow after I’ve made some inquiries.”

I followed him to the front door. So many unanswered questions were left. The lines of exhaustion that drew dark circles under his eyes stopped me. His mind already far away, working on the problem that faced him and many others I knew nothing about.

He opened the front door and stepped out onto the landing. He took me in his arms and looked into my eyes. “Natalie,” he paused and kissed my forehead, lingering for a moment. “Do you remember how easy it was for us?”

I bowed my head. “Yes.”

His fingers ran from my scalp to the edges of my hair where they stopped and grasped the ends at the nape of my neck. I leaned against his coat and inhaled his scent, my arms went around him and I wanted to stay there, feeling the same security I once felt at my post by the window, safe inside. I listened to the rhythm of his breathing until it matched my own.

“There will be an end to this madness. There are people working to make that happen.” He pulled away from me and descended the stairs without looking back.

I closed the door and walked down the hall. My footsteps echoed in the stillness. I hoped he was right, though I felt that for Budapest, the end would not come before a torrent was unleashed.

After hanging my clothes in the closet and putting my robe on over my nightgown, I went to the bathroom, but there was no hot water for a bath. I turned and looked at my face in the mirror over the sink. I leaned over, turned on the tap, washed the remnants of makeup off my face, and then brushed my teeth.

I walked pas
t
my room pausing to check on Mila; the gentle breath of Mila’s sleep was a comfort. It would be lovely to hold her in my arms, the daughter I’d always wished for. I closed my eyes and prayed that this would not be good-bye but only a safe passage to the other side of the nightmare. I wanted to feel her solidity next to me the way she curled in a ball against my back when she was a child and had climbed in my bed in the middle of the night when her mother had not come home.

I stopped at the threshold of Anna’s room, its emptiness rebuked me with the truth of her accusations earlier in the evening.

“We’ve grown so far apart haven’t we?” I whispered.

“But it wasn’t always that way was it, Natalie?” Her voice came someplace near her vanity. I smiled. Of course it would.

“You’ve always been vain, Anna.”

“Do you remember when we were six and Momma entered us in that beauty pageant?” Anna’s apparition was sitting on the bench in front of the vanity. She leaned back, looking at me as she brushed her hair.

I thought about it, trying to recall the memory, and then shook my head.

“Well I do.”

“Why? What was so special about that day?”

“You were scared to walk up on the stage!” Anna put down her brush and got
up
, walked over to me and took my hand. “But I wasn’t. So I told you I would be brave for both of us.”

Her hand had the substance of a warm breath, but it was enough on this lonely night. I sighed, finally remembering the event from our childhood. “Yes. You held my hand and just before we walked on the stage you kissed me on the cheek and told me that I was the most beautiful girl there.”