The Gypsy Moon (11 page)

Gabby spent two days at the Raeder mansion just outside of Berlin, and she was glad when the visit was over. Erik’s parents had not said anything specifically that made her feel uncomfortable, but the very correctness with which they treated her spoke of their disapproval louder than words. She said her good-byes, and Baron Raeder said stiffly, “You must come again.” His words were polite, but they were spoken with such formality that she felt as if he were shutting a door. His wife simply said good-bye and didn’t even pretend to extend another invitation.

As Erik drove her home, they avoided the subject of his parents. They talked instead of the fun they’d had skiing and of other mountains where he had skied. When he pulled up in front of her aunt and uncle’s house, he shut the engine off and turned to face her. “So now you go back to work.”

“Yes, I have to make a living.”

Erik reached over and took her hand. He held it for a time quietly, then looked up and said, “What is that necklace you wear all the time?”

“I got it many years ago from an old gypsy woman.”

“She sold it to you?” He was surprised. The German Party considered gypsies “undesirables.” He frowned as he asked, “Who was she?”

“Just an old woman. She didn’t sell it to me—she gave it to me.” Gabby hesitated. “She was very strange, Erik. She told me I was going to have a difficult time, and she was right, because my parents died almost immediately after that.”

“She told your fortune?” he asked, disbelief in his voice.

“No, I don’t believe in that. She was actually very close to God, and I believe she was telling me the truth. She gave me this necklace and told me she would be praying for me.”

“So she was a Christian?”

“Yes, she was.” She hesitated and then added, “I met her again after I came to Holland. Just a chance encounter. I
went out to visit her, and she said she had been praying for me for years. She died shortly after that.”

He released her hand and picked up the coin that hung from the golden chain around her neck. “It’s a beautiful old piece. Do you know what it means?”

“I have no idea.” She suddenly looked up and saw the moon high in the sky. “That’s a gypsy moon.”

He turned to look. “It’s very beautiful. Why do you call it a gypsy moon?”

“The leader of the gypsies told me that a full moon is a gypsy moon. He said gypsy men and women always fall in love when there’s a full moon.”

“Well, that’s foolish! What if they’re in love and the moon isn’t full?” He laughed and reached over to pull her close, then kissed her cheek. “There’s something about you I don’t understand. There’s a resistance. I feel it when I kiss you. You give yourself to me for a moment, and then you hold back. Why is that?”

“I don’t know, Erik.”

“I think you do. Have you had an unfortunate love affair? Are you afraid of men?”

Suddenly, Gabby realized there was some truth in his question. “I . . . never had a love affair. Not a real one, but I came very close to being in love with a man once. We were engaged, actually. I thought I loved him, but I was wrong. He wasn’t the man for me. I suppose I’m afraid of making a mistake, and no one can afford that.”

Erik shook his head. “We make mistakes all the time, Gabby. The only people who make no mistakes are those who live in a cave and won’t come out—people who are afraid to take a risk for something they truly want.” He used his finger to tilt her chin toward him and kissed her with passion.

As she responded to his affection, she knew that the heart of this man had a wildness in it, which almost seemed to consume her at times.

He pulled back and said, “One day I’ll ask you to marry me.”

She had wondered, of course, what it would be like to marry him, but she thought it was much too soon to get serious. They had only known each other for a few months. Now that the word
marry
had been spoken aloud, she felt a shock run along her nerves. “But we’re too different.”

“Of course we’re different. I’m a man and you’re a woman.”

“Oh, it’s more than that, and you know it! Your family would never accept me.”

Erik did not argue, but he said firmly, “They can change.”

“But, Erik, there are . . . things in Germany—political things—I don’t understand, and I’m afraid of them.”

Erik stroked her hand, and for a moment he did not answer. Finally, he lifted his eyes and said, “There are some things in this new order that I do not accept myself. My father blindly accepts whatever the führer proposes, but Hitler is only a man and subject to error.”

“That’s what bothers me. The men and women on the street, the working people, everyone seems to think he’s . . . almost like a god. That whatever he does is right.”

“Strong men always elicit that sort of feeling from people. You don’t know what it was like in Germany after the war. It was terrible. Money became worthless. People were starving in the streets. We didn’t know which way to turn, and then Hitler came along. And he made things work. He’s a man of destiny, Gabby. He will make Germany the strong nation she once was.”

“But he’s breaking treaties, invading other countries. There’s something wrong with that, isn’t there, Erik?”

“Yes, I think there is, but he’s a relatively young man and new to all this power. He’ll gather some wise men to advise him. It’ll be all right.”

“I should go in.”

He turned so he could look straight into her eyes. “Don’t be afraid of me, and don’t be afraid of Germany. If you and
I love each other, we’ll find a way. I love you—I’m sure of it—but I sense your fear, Gabby. It won’t stay. My love for you will send it away. You’ll see.”

Gabrielle got out of the car, and they were silent as he walked her to the door. She turned to him and smiled. “Thank you for the wonderful time.”

He leaned over and kissed her lightly. “We will have many times like this. Things will work out for us. You will see, my dear.”

Gabrielle watched as he turned and went back to the car. Their conversation had excited her and frightened her at the same time, but she knew that somehow the future was rushing toward her at a furious speed, and there was nothing she could do to control it.

****

“You look tired, dear. Didn’t you sleep well?” Liza asked.

Gabby’s aunt was right. It had taken her a long time to drop off to sleep, and even then she had not slept soundly. Erik’s mention of marriage had filled her mind with many thoughts. Fitfully, she had tossed on her bed, waking several times, and had risen the next morning with swollen eyes and feeling groggy.

“Not very well, I’m afraid.”

“Perhaps after breakfast you can lie down and take a nap.”

Gabby laughed. “I need to get to the hospital.”

The two women looked up as Dalton entered the room and greeted them cheerfully. He sat down at the table and told them excitedly about the research he was doing at the university. He was working on developing a new kind of power that involved splitting the atom. It would be so much more powerful than any of the known energy sources that Gabby could hardly comprehend the scope of the project.

Gabby said little but listened as her uncle spoke of the progress that was being made and how Germany would become the envy of the world when this discovery was made
public. She was puzzled about her uncle, for he was a genius in his field, but he appeared to have little sensitivity to some things. She knew he read the newspaper and was familiar with the excesses of the Nazi machine that was growing stronger every day. A man of his intellect should have been able to see some of the troubling developments, but he seemed blind to them. She could not understand why he would not be more concerned about the use of such power in the hands of the Nazis.

After her aunt left to go to the store, Gabby said, “Uncle Dalton, doesn’t it worry you that Hitler doesn’t seem to have any morals?”

“Morals, my dear? Why, whatever do you mean?”

“I mean he’s not a man of honor. You must know that. He’s ignored every treaty that Germany has made. Why, the whole world knows that his ambition is leading Germany straight into difficulty.”

“Oh, my dear, that’s the way it is with politics and new movements.” He picked up the newspaper. He had little confidence in women as far as political affairs were concerned. He admired and was tremendously proud of Gabrielle’s skill in medicine, but he was quite sure she didn’t understand the way Germany operated.

“I wish we’d never left Holland,” she blurted out.

“What’s that? Why, Gabby, I can’t believe you would say that! You’re doing so well here. You’ve made such progress, and so have I.”

“Progress isn’t everything. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen in this country. Why, Germany has given Hitler absolute power, and that kind of power can be very dangerous. I can’t believe they would let a single man act as both president and chancellor. Germany is being run by a dictator!”

“You’re right about that, but power isn’t always dangerous. Not if it’s used wisely.”

She saw that it was impossible to reason with her uncle,
so she fell silent while he turned his attention back to the newspaper.

“Are you going to the rally at Nuremberg?” he asked as she took her dishes to the sink.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“You should. It sounds like it’s going to be a wonderful spectacle.”

“I’d really rather not, Uncle.”

****

Gabby had no intention of going to the rally at Nuremberg, but Erik had been trying to persuade her to go with him.

The day approached, and finally she gave in, partly out of curiosity but more so out of a desire to be with Erik.

The two of them drove to Nuremberg in his big automobile. The streets of the city were lined with storm troopers, and all the church bells were pealing loudly for the huge rally. They stood in the crowded streets watching as Adolf Hitler and his entourage arrived, and the opening of the National Socialist Congress began.

Gabrielle was stunned by what she saw. A foreboding sea of Nazis turned out in Nuremberg. The size of the congress was staggering. Hitler reviewed a parade of six hundred thousand men who pledged absolute loyalty to the führer. Hundreds of trains transported army and paramilitary units to Nuremberg, and the men were housed in thirteen tent cities. Many European celebrities attended the political festivities, including Benito Mussolini.

Hitler dominated the event, of course, and Gabby noted that Erik’s face nearly glowed as he stood tall and straight beside her. As she looked out over a sea of steel helmets toward where Hitler stood on a white platform, she felt weak. The night before she had dreamed of Madame Jana. The old lady’s face had appeared before her, her eyes filled with compassion and yet with warning. Now as she looked out
over the massive display of armed men, she knew all this was wrong.

There before her hung three towering black banners, each with a large swastika in the middle. Hitler stood behind the microphone, a faint figure from her vantage point far back, and yet the personality of the man filled the air.

Erik turned and smiled at her, but when he saw her pale face, he asked, “Don’t you feel well, Gabby?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him, but she knew in her heart that all was not fine. An overwhelming sense of foreboding at what was happening in Germany closed in upon her, but she did not know what to do or where to flee.

****

Three weeks after the Nuremberg rally, Gabby returned home after a hard day at the hospital. She entered the house and at once was met by her aunt, whose face was tense with strain. “Gabby, something terrible has happened.”

“What is it, Aunt Liza?” Gabby put a supporting arm around her. “You look ill. Is something wrong with Uncle Dalton?”

“No, it’s Otto and Hulda.”

Otto and Hulda Marx were close friends of the Burkes. They were a Jewish couple with three children. Otto was a well-to-do manufacturer, and they had visited often in the Burke home. Gabby liked the couple very much and was especially fond of their children. “What’s the matter? Are they ill?”

“No, they’ve been arrested.”

“Arrested! That’s impossible!”

“I’m afraid it isn’t, Gabby, and even worse, their children have been taken from them.”

“What’s the charge? I can’t believe it!”

“I just got word from Hulda’s sister. The court has arrested them because they refuse to teach their children Nazi ideology, so they took their children away.”

“I can’t believe it,” Gabby said. “What does Uncle Dalton say?”

“He’s gone to see what he can do, but it’s very serious, I’m afraid.”

“Where are the children?”

“They’ve been taken under the charge of the State. Here, this is part of the ruling that will explain it all.”

Gabby took the sheet of paper that her aunt handed her. It was a lengthy statement delivered by the judge, and she read one section aloud, her voice tense with pain and disbelief: “ ‘The law is a racial and national instrument entrusting German parents with the education of their children only under certain conditions, namely, that they educate them in the fashion that the nation and the State expect.’ ”

Gabby looked in disbelief at her aunt, who was visibly shaken by this turn of events. “This is terrible! This means that the State will break families apart if parents don’t agree with Nazi doctrine.”

“Dalton is hoping he can do something.”

Gabby straightened up. “I’ll go see what Erik can do. His family has great influence.”

****

“But, Gabby, I can’t interfere with the policies of the government!” Erik protested. He had gotten a frantic call from Gabby, and now the two were seated in a small café on the outskirts of Berlin not far from the hospital. He had listened as she explained the problem, and then he had read the judge’s ruling. “This is very serious. These Jews, they’re friends of yours?”

“Of course!”

“What do you expect me to do, darling?”

“I expect you to go to your father and see if he can do something. He’s a powerful man. These are good people, Erik.”

“I’m sure they are, but you know my father is very rigid when it comes to politics.”