“Yes, Ida has been a godsend. She is my angel.” Eidel smiled. “You’re surprising me, Dovi. I never thought you paid much attention to how I feel.”
“Oh, my love, you are so wrong. I pay attention to everything. Yes, I have been busy working, building our future. But all of it has been for you and for our children. I don’t want to lose you. Give me the chance and I promise you I will bring the man you fell in love with back to you. And, with God’s help, you will fall for me again.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The Blackstone Hotel, with its marble floors, crystal chandeliers, and plush guestrooms was the perfect backdrop for romance. Dovid and Eidel took a taxi to State Street to look at the decorations in the window of Marshall Field’s. A light snow brushed the ground as they watched the tiny electric train follow it’s track through the little Christmas village in the store window. They went inside the store and upstairs to its restaurant where they had hot cocoa and pastries for breakfast. Then they walked hand in hand as they passed the line of children waiting to sit on Santa’s lap.
Dovid made reservations for dinner that night at the Blackhawk restaurant.
“I don’t have a dress that is fancy enough for such a place,” Eidel said.
“Well, then, let’s go shopping,” Dovid winked at her. “I can’t wait to see my beautiful wife try on all the latest styles.”
They spent the rest of the day going to all of the big department stores downtown. By the time four o’clock rolled around, Eidel was laughing and having fun trying on all of the lovely clothes for Dovid who waited outside each dressing room.
Finally, they both decided on a black cashmere fitted dress with silk stockings and matching leather pumps.
They arrived at the Blackhawk at eight and were seated at a candlelit table with a white tablecloth. Dovid ordered prime rib and stuffed baked potatoes for two.
That night when they returned to their room Dovid suggested that Eidel take a hot shower. “It’s so cold outside, it will help you to shake the chill,” he said.
After the water was running for a few minutes, Dovid did something bold that he’d never done before. He removed his clothes and got in the shower with Eidel. At first when he saw the shock on her face, he thought about apologizing and leaving the bathroom. But then she laughed. Once he heard that sweet laughter, he knew he was on the right track. He just needed to show Eidel how much he still loved her and soon enough he would break down that wall of depression that Eidel had buried herself under. Dovid kissed his wife slowly but passionately. Then he took her in his arms and pulled her close to him. She sighed.
“It’s been a long time since I felt this way when we touched, Dovi.”
“I know. It’s been too long. I am never going to neglect you again. We have plenty of money now. I’ll go in to check on things at the bar twice a week, but most of my time will be spent with you. We can travel, maybe go to California or Canada in the spring. Whatever you want.”
“We can decide in the spring. Right now, kiss me Dovi, kiss me and keep kissing me all through the night.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
1965
Dovid had never celebrated Valentine’s Day. It was, of course, not a Jewish holiday. But since it was a special day for lovers in America, he was planning surprises that he knew Eidel would enjoy. He asked Ida to take the children. While Eidel took the children to drop them off at Ida’s home, he had a fancy dinner catered by a local restaurant delivered to the Levi house. He filled the bedroom he shared with Eidel with rose petals. When Eidel returned from Ida’s house, the table was set for two with candles and wine glasses. Dovid took Eidel’s hand and led her to her chair. Then they ate a decadent dinner, after which Dovid presented Eidel a box of expensive chocolates. He opened the box and took a round piece of dark chocolate and fed her a bite, then he tasted the candy himself.
“You’ve changed so much Dovi,” Eidel said.
“I don’t want to lose you. I got caught up in other things and I forgot how important it was for me to show you how much you mean to me.”
“I have never been as happy as I’ve been since we have been working on our marriage.”
“I’m glad, my love. This is what I have been hoping for.”
They made love through the night. Dovid could see Eidel reverting back to the girl he’d married. She was laughing more, but she still had moments when he would catch her looking out the window with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. Dovid had never shied away from a challenge and he wasn’t about to give up on his wife.
Ida had not only been a good friend, but she’d saved their marriage by helping with the children during Eidel’s emotional recovery. So, for her birthday, Dovid and Eidel gave Ida and Harry a trip to Florida for a week. Dovid agreed to go in every day and work Harry’s restaurant inside the tavern. Eidel said she understood and she agreed that it was a good idea for Harry and Ida to get away for a while. Dovid and Eidel had been spending all of their time together.
“It’s only a week. But are you sure you’ll be all right without me at home or Ida around?”
“I will, Dovi,” Eidel said, taking his hand. “I’m glad we can do this for Harry and Ida.”
“But can you handle the children on your own?” He was worried that she was still unstable. But she smiled and nodded and something in her smile reassured him that she was going to be fine. The Rosens left on a Sunday morning. Dovid and Eidel took them to the airport. It felt strange to Dovid to be working so many hours again during that week but the separation from his wife made the passion between Dovid and Eidel even greater when Dovid got home. He was tired, but he found that he’d missed his wife. Their time together that week was limited and so it became even more precious. And Dovid, who had once loved to work, found that he was glad when Harry returned from his trip.
Eidel was like a flower and Dovid was like the sun. Every day she opened up a little more to him. They began to really talk to each other, to really communicate. She talked about how much she missed her mother and her past and even admitted that she’d gone and sat in a church one afternoon because it brought back so many memories. Dovid listened to her without judgment. He held her as she wept for her mother. He comforted her when she told him of how insecure she was about fitting into American culture. And she admitted that she couldn’t seem to feel close to Abby. This worried Dovid. “I want to love her, Dovi. Maybe as she gets older …”
Many times Dovid got up with Abby in the middle of the night. He warmed her bottle and gently rocked her back to sleep. Dovid didn’t mind. He loved his spirited little girl with the curly black mane and he wanted Eidel to get her rest. He hoped that if Abby was not a burden to Eidel then perhaps she would start to feel warmly towards the child. Dovid felt that things were getting better between Eidel and himself. They made love more these days than they had in the beginning of their marriage. Now it was just a matter of Eidel and Abby growing close like a normal mother and daughter. Dovid had confidence that over time it would happen.
By November, Eidel was pregnant again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Spring 1965
It was early spring. The frigid winter cold was giving way. The freezing temperatures were growing milder. It was still cool, but not nearly as frigid as it had been. The snow of winter was beginning to melt, leaving the ground a mess of brown slush.
Since Dovid had stopped working he was on a more normal schedule. He got up in the morning and slept at night. He and Eidel had breakfast together. Sometimes, Ida came over and spent a few hours but she didn’t come as much as she used to. Dovid and Eidel spent most of their days together, either reading, watching TV, or playing cards or checkers. Eidel no longer did the food shopping. Dovid went to the stores in his car while Eidel watched the babies at home. Every Sunday they still had dinner with Ida and Harry. Sometimes they went out, other times one of the women cooked.
Cool Breeze was still living with them. However, because of his hours, Dovid only saw him when he
was leaving for work. One afternoon, Cool Breeze came upstairs an hour early to see Dovid before he left for work. Harry had recently gotten a driver’s license and drove Cool Breeze and himself to work.
“Mister Dovi, have you been watching the news?”
Dovi shook his head.
“You remember that black fella who was good friends with President Kennedy?”
“Dr. King?”
“Yeah, he the one. He’s got a whole big group of colored folks and they is marching for equality.”
“I like him. I heard his speech,” Dovid said.
“He gonna change the world for the colored man. You wait and see.”
“I hope so, Cool Breeze. If I learned anything from living through the war, it’s that nothing good comes from prejudice. Hatred destroys not only the victims, but it also destroys the persecutors.”
“You mean the folks who do bad things to others because they be black or Jewish?”
“Yes, I do. People who hurt other people cannot ever really be happy, Cool Breeze. Love and compassion is the only route to true happiness.”
“Now you sounds like Jesus Christ.”
Dovid laughed. “I’ve never read anything about Jesus. Never read the words he spoke or his philosophy. In fact, the last time I read a religious text was when I was studying for my bar mitzvah. I was thirteen. I have to tell you the truth. I don’t follow any religion. My religion is to be good to other people, to be kind. That’s all I believe. Treat people right. And… I tell you what. I am not sure, but I think there just might be a God.”
“I do think so,” Cool Breeze said. “He brung me to Arnie and then to you. Hell, I was stayin’ in a flophouse. Never knew where my next meal was coming from. Drinkin,’ shootin’ smack, just waitin’ for the end. Then one day, I was standing outside trying to beg some change to get me some booze when Arnie drives by in his big ol’ cadi. He opens the window and says, ‘Hey you, you want to make a few extra bucks? I need help at my bar today.’ So, I says sure.”
“That’s how you met Arnie?”
“Yeah. But that wasn’t all. I come to work for him. After I been with him for less than a week he paid money to put me in a hospital where I got clean for a while. Then I be sad to tell you, but I slipped back. Shit … he be so disappointed in me. I be so disappointed in me too. But even though I done that Arnie still didn’t fire me.”
“He put you in a hospital? I once asked him to do that and he refused. He never told me that he did it in the past.”
“He didn’t want to tell you cause he knew I was ashamed cause I failed. Fell off the wagon and failed.”
“Cool Breeze, are you straight now? Are you off the heroin?” And I aint drinkin’ neither.”
“Yes, Mister Dovi. I been straight for almost a year. Being around the alcohol at the tavern sure is hard for me. But I loves that job. When I goes to work I feels like I am somebody now. I got a feeling of pride. I be a manager.”
“You sure are. I hope that Dr. King can help more colored people to find better jobs. I believe that the Negro race needs a leg up. They need a little help.”
“There be so many white folks that don’t feel like you does, Mister Dovi. They think the black man ought to still be a slave.”
“They’re just ignorant, Breeze. There was a time in history that Jews were slaves too. Did you know that?”
“In Egypt, right?”
“Yes, right.”
“My mother be a God fearin’ woman. She be a good woman. We goed to church every Sunday. She learned my brothers and sisters and me the bible. That’s how I knowed that Jews was slaves in them Egyptian times. You see, I weren’t raised bad. I just got in with the wrong crowd when I be a teenager. That’s how I started drinkin’. Drugs comed later. But it sure weren’t my Mama’s fault. It’s hard to be a colored man comin’ up in the south. I was borned in a small town in Mississippi. White folks in the south treat colored folks real bad. My brothers and sisters bowed their heads when they seed a white man. But, not me. I got mean. Then I got in trouble. I got into a fight and hurt a white boy. Spent some years in jail. When I got out, I headed for Chicago where didn’t nobody know me. I figured because it was in the north it would be better for a colored man. But, I didn’t have no money, got involved with running numbers. Then drugs. Like I said, Mister Arnie helped me a lot.”
“I’m glad, Cool Breeze. You’re a smart man. You have a lot to offer the world.”
“You know I hear that lots of white folks is scared of Dr. King. They be afraid that he gonna cause trouble and try to take over the President’s house. They know that colored folks be angry. The folks what done us wrong, know they done us wrong. So they be afraid of Dr. King and they be afraid of us colored gathering in a group. They think we gonna get violent.”
“I’m not afraid of the colored or of Dr. King. But I am a little afraid for him. That President Kennedy tried to change things and he was assassinated. I just hope Dr. King is careful and that he has plenty of security. People try to destroy that which they fear, my friend.”
“Yes, I do knows that. And, Mister Dovi, you has no reason to be afraid. You always been fair with me and every other colored person I ever seed you talk to. Sometimes I think you don’t even see the difference in races.”
“I don’t, Cool Breeze. I have seen too much death because of differences that are only imaginary. Under our skin, we are all the same, whether we are Christian, Jewish, Colored, White, Communist or anything else. We all bleed red blood. I know. I saw plenty of blood on the battlefield. And the sad thing is the Nazis who died bled just the same as the Jews they tortured and the Allies they fought. We are all humans, all part of one family. Once people learn this it will be a better world.”
“You think they ever gonna learn it?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Throughout history, there have always been wars and death for silly reasons. It’s hate and fear. I can’t honestly say whether mankind will ever conquer this, but I sure hope so.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
July 1965
At seven-thirty in the morning on July tenth, Haley Lynn Levi was born. Dovid and Eidel named her for Helen and Lars. Haley was smaller than her brother and sister and, unlike them, she was bald. Dovid thought she looked like a baby bird. Unlike Abby, who screamed, demanding what she wanted or Mark, who was always getting into things, Haley was quiet and not very active. She gave the appearance of being helpless and frightened like she somehow landed on earth by accident.
Eidel was different towards Haley than she’d been toward the other two, especially Abby. Haley brought out Eidel’s protective instinct. Dovid didn’t know if this was because he and Eidel had improved their relationship, or if it was because Haley was a different type of child. They brought her home from the hospital to find that she was completely undemanding to the point where Dovid was worried that something might be wrong with her. She slept through the night immediately, and wouldn’t even cry if her diaper was wet or dirty. Eidel doted on Haley. Dovid had never seen her behave that way with either of the others. The more Haley lay quietly in her crib or on a blanket on the floor, the more Eidel picked the child up and held her close to her bosom.
As Haley got older, to Dovid’s relief, he began to realize that there was nothing wrong with Haley; she just had a very agreeable personality. In fact, she was a delight. She rarely cried. And after the first time she smiled, she began to laugh. Both Eidel and Dovid found her laughter to be so adorable that they were enchanted.
With three children, Eidel was overwhelmed. Ida still came over often, but she refused to take money for taking care of the children.
“If you won’t take any money, I am going to have to hire someone to help me. I don’t feel right about asking you to come here every day,” Eidel said.
“I don’t mind coming.”
“I know. And I am always glad to see you. But I can’t have you taking care of three small children.”
“But we are do
ing it together,” Ida said.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I am sure.”
“Please, let me give you something?”
“Friends don’t pay each other for things like this. Maybe you forget, Eidel. I can’t have children of my own. The Nazis made sure of that. So Mark, Abby, and Haley are like my nieces and nephews. They satisfy my need to mother. I can shower them with love and gifts and it fulfills me. Does that make sense to you?”
“Yes, Ida. Of course it does.”
“I have been trying not to come over every day so that you and Dovid could have your time alone together. But now with three little children, perhaps you need me?”
“Oh, yes, I do.”
“Then I will be here. Don’t you worry about that,” Ida smiled and winked.
But Eidel was right. With Dovid home so much things between Eidel and Ida were different. As time passed, Eidel began to feel that she wasn’t able to give Ida enough attention. It seemed like Ida was becoming more of a babysitter than a friend, and Eidel didn’t want Ida to ever feel taken advantage of. Finally, the two women discussed the situation again and Ida reluctantly agreed that she would like it if Eidel hired a nanny to help her with the children. Ida had several things she wanted to do with her time, but as long as Eidel needed her, she would be there. However, now she would have more free time to fulfill some of her own dreams. The two women decided that Ida would only come by the Levi’s house on the days when Dovid went in to work. That way, she and Eidel would have time together as lady friends without the presence of a man getting in the way.
Dovid and Eidel ran an ad in the job section of the newspaper, but Eidel could never find anyone she was comfortable with until Cool Breeze suggested a friend of his. Dovid and Eidel were sitting in the living room with the television on when Cool Breeze came in from downstairs. He was ready to leave for work.
New Life, New Land Page 10