Opposite Sides (41 page)

Hans was stunned. Why
should she take such an interest in his child? Why the willingness
to help him when he had said such dreadful things to her in the
past? What did Miss Turner really think of him? What was the
connection between this middle-aged, spinster and his little
daughter?

“
Why, Miss
Turner?” he finally managed to ask.

“
Why not?”
was her immediate response.

“
Andrea is
still a young child. Wouldn’t you find that a burden for you? Then,
there’s her schooling and . . . Sending money from Germany is
becoming more difficult every day.”

“
I am aware
of all that. If you cannot send money, you cannot. And that is an
end to it. I am not without means. Besides, as for looking after
the child, Janine still stays here for some days in the week and
she comes home most weekends.” Hans thought the answer came out so
quickly as if it had been a rehearsed line. “You see, I will not
have to deal with the child by myself every day. Anyway, what other
option is there if she is not to become a ward of the
state?”

Hans thought about it a
while. He could see no other way around the problem yet Miss Turner
was getting on in years and he was not sure it would be in Andrea’s
best interest to be brought up by an elderly spinster. He thought
of Jan. And still he could not fathom out why Miss Turner had made
such a generous offer.

“
Jan isn’t
married, then?” he asked remembering what Miss turner had said
before.

“
No. She has
not found anyone she is interested in. I do not think she is the
marrying type.” Miss Turner smoothed down her dress, running her
hands down over her knees and as far down her legs as she could
manage. “Janine has thrown all her energies into nursing. But that
is of little consequence. Jan likes Andrea. Anne used to bring the
children over to see us. Little Andrew and Andrea. Sometimes Andrea
would stay with us.” She noticed the look of surprise that came
over Hans’ face. “You didn’t realise? Oh well, never mind. As you
know, Janine has always been a bit of a loner and so having little
Andrea around has given her a new outlook on life. The child has
given a great deal of pleasure. For both of us.”

Hans remembered Anne had
told him about Jan doing nursing training but as she had not
elaborated, the news had not made much of an impression on
him.

“
Jan likes
her job?”

“
Yes. Very
much. Now that she has finished her training, she is working in a
large hospital ten miles away. That is not so far, these days. Now
young man, back to Andrea. Do you think that what I have suggested
is a good idea?”

“
For the
moment, yes. My grandmother would have been pleased to know she had
a little English great-grandaughter. My grandmother was English.
Did you know that? She was a Crawford."

“
I know.”
There was not a hint of surprise in Miss Turner’s voice. “The
Crawford’s were known to my family long before Julia married.” Her
eyes clouded over and Hans noted the way she pushed her glasses
back up her nose; just like Jan. “None of you knew of my
connection. Julia’s youngest brother and myself were
married.”

“
M, married?”
His voice shot up an octave. “M, married as in . . . married? The
last word stuck in his throat.

“
Yes,
married, young man.” Miss Turner pushed herself upright and stood
up. “Before I tell you about that, I think we will have some tea.
She reached over to her left and pulled the tasselled cord. “Tea
please, Lizzy,” she said as soon as her maid entered the
room.

While they waited for
Lizzy to prepare the tea, Miss Turner sat down again and continued
on with the conversation. “Not long after the Queen died in 1901,
poor Lester went out to the South African war. He was only there a
short time and then he was killed. We had only been married a few
weeks before he went.”

“
So, your
real surname is Crawford? You’re not Miss Turner after
all!”

“
I went back
to my maiden name after Lester was killed.”

Hans could hardly get the
words out clearly as he tried to assimilate the news. His hands
trembled and he felt as if the inside of his mouth had been wiped
out with a dry alcohol.

“
But Oma
never mentioned . . . ”

“
That’s
understandable. Julia had already gone on holiday to Austria. When
she did not return we all wondered what had happened. Then, she
wrote and said that she had fallen in love with a young man out
there. That was your grandfather. They were married and had a
family. We used to exchange letters but somehow we lost contact
with her.”

“
You didn’t
remarry?” Hans wondered whether Miss Turner, or rather Mrs
Crawford, would consider his question a bit pertinent.

“
No. Then
there were so many widows and single girls left without anyone to
marry after the war, I was not alone. Besides, there did not seem
to be much point: nobody could replace Lester.”

“
I didn’t
even know I had an Uncle Lester!” Hans shook his head in disbelief.
It was like discovering some lost treasure in some far off place
you could only read about.

Lizzy entered the room.
She placed the tray on the occasional table and poured out two
cups, two cube sugar lumps for Hans and a dash of rich creamed
milk. Hans took a sip. He found he had not totally lost the taste
for a good cup of English tea. He swilled the refreshing liquid
round his mouth before swallowing.

Miss Turner took several
sips before replacing her cup and saucer back on the table,which
she did with care and precision.

“
Lester was
killed just before your elder brother was born. Someone in the
family told us that Julia’s daughter had had another baby. That was
you. And as I said we lost touch for a while. Then that dreadful
war came and Julia was on the opposite side. That made things very
difficult.” She picked up her cup and saucer again and drank. Hans
noticed the way she held out her right little finger like some
pointer to the ceiling. “Your uncle must have been given my
address, for he wrote to me asking if I would have a place for you
at the school. I knew Julia had quite a bit of money left to her
after her parents had gone and I knew she always wanted one of you
to receive an English education. It was a dream of hers. I hope you
have appreciated what she has done for you.”

Hans felt humbled.
Earlier he had been puzzled as to why Miss Turner had taken such an
interest in his welfare.

“
Lester was
my great uncle,” He tried to piece the relationships together. “So,
that means . . . ” He suddenly felt shaky at the knees.

“
Yes. I am
your great aunt; by marriage.”

The mention of the
connection between his grandmother and Miss Turner had astounded
him. He was beginning to see some of the reasons behind what had
happened: the dismissal of the Brymers with whom he had stayed when
he first arrived in England, his time spent in the Turner
household, Heidi being offered a position so that he had someone
from his homeland to talk with, and now Miss Turner’s offer of help
for little Andrea. It was all beginning to make sense.

Finally, he decided to
question her about that photograph. The one with his father in
it.

“
That
photograph . . . the one with my father. Why?”

“
Just luck.
Tim and your father met that first Christmas. Two uniforms. Two
opposing armies. It was luck them finding each other like that. In
no-man’s land. For a few days they could forget the war and be
family again. They could be men who could exchange greetings rather
than bullets. When we finally heard about it, everyone was shocked.
Not because of what the men did that day but because of what their
governments made them do after that. Those men did not want to kill
each other but their hands were forced for there was nothing the
front-line soldier could do to stop it. That terrible war. All that
suffering and, for what?”

“
Papi never
came home,” said Hans.

He tried to sound
matter-of-fact but the emotion in his words betrayed the hurt and
emptiness he felt. He had admired his father and had missed him
each time he had to go away. When the children had been told that
Papi was never coming home again, Hans had run into the garden shed
where no one could see him. He had sat among the tools Papi had
once used and he cried and cried until there were no more tears
left in his reddened and swollen eyes. Even though Renard was
older, he did not appear to be as upset over his father’s death as
Hans and Axel was far too young to remember. And after the war, no
one wanted to remember.

“
I was angry
with Janine that day you saw the photograph,” explained Miss
Turner. “I lost my youngest brother during the last months of
’eighteen. He’d been Janine’s hero when she was a child. It was
hard for her to realise that her favourite uncle was never coming
home again.”

She lowered her head and
appeared to push her glasses back but Hans noticed that Miss Turner
descretely wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye with her
finger.

So, she does
have emotions like anyone else,
Hans
thought.

Miss Tuner smoothed down
the skirt of her dress and straightened her back. She looked up
again and shook her head so slightly Hans almost missed noticing
it.

“
It was a
wicked, terrible war. How can we ever forget?”

Hans had never heard Miss
Turner talk like that before. Nor had he ever seen such deep-felt
emotion. It was not the Miss Turner he knew.

Hans felt sad to learn
that Jan had suffered the same pain and anguish he had experienced.
Perhaps the incident over the photograph had been her way of
expressing her distaste for what the adult world had done to
her.

Miss Turner stopped
talking when Jan came into the room. She was wearing her nurse’s
uniform although she had removed the shoulder cloak. It had only
been a few years since he last saw her but she had changed. The
awkward teenager was gone and a self-assured young woman had taken
her place. She walked into the room full of confidence as someone
who knew where she was going and knowing what path she was taking.
As Jan moved across the room, Hans noticed how well she held
herself. He thought she seemed taller than her aunt. Obviously, her
nursing training was bringing out the better qualities in her. Jan
nodded politely in acknowledgement and sat on the settee beside her
aunt. Hans stood. He bowed slightly in her direction and klicked
his heels together. Then, he sat again.

“
Hello Jan. I
hope everything’s well with you?” He smiled as best he could but
still found it difficult to be polite and friendly towards
her.

“
Thank you.
Yes.” Hans could tell she was also finding the meeting difficult,
for she had begun to touch the frame of her glasses even though
they did not need adjusting just yet. “Did you come to see
Andrea?”

“
I
did.”

Before Jan could say
another word, her aunt spoke.

“
I have told
Resmel about our idea.”

She reverted to calling
him by his surname. He thought that strange after the intimate
conversation they had had only a few minutes earlier.

Old habit
from the school days.
He found the
formality rather amusing.

“
Do you
agree?” Jan leant forward, resting her hands on her lap. Her
question had thrown him off his equilibrium.

This is not
normal
, he was thinking.
He sensed a hint of uncertainty in her voice as
though she were afraid to hear his reply.

“
Er . .
.”

“
It’s only a
suggestion,” she professed. He noticed her upper body stiffen and
draw away from his presence. “Or, maybe, maybe you’ll want to take
her away with you.”

“
No. I would
like her to stay.” He forced a reassuring smile. “I think it sounds
a very good idea.”

“
We didn’t
like the thought of her going into an orphanage.” Jan sounded
genuinely concerned. She looked at her aunt as she continued. “That
was what we had decided,” and Miss Turner nodded in agreement. Hans
was surprised again, for Jan had not sought permission but had
reminded her aunt that that was the case. “All her friends are here
and she loves her school.” Jan and Hans laughed at the same time
but Hans felt he was more nervous than Jan. “She has made new
friends. She will need them as Andrew was her best
friend.

“
Gerald has
found himself a new job. Had you heard?”

“
No,
what?”

“
Flying. They
are moving very soon.”

“
Not to the
other end of the country I hope?” Miss Turner asked.

“
No,”
answered Hans. “Just north of London Anne said.”

“
Then the
children will be able to see each other from time to time when Anne
drives down to visit her mother.” Jan sounded pleased.

“
And Andrea
can go and spend some of her holidays with the Brookfield-Smiths,”
added Miss Turner with an air of authority.