The Dutch

by Richard E. Schultz

  Yet, some of the wealthiest Jewish refugees had found asylum in Holland. They were allowed to immigrate to a few enlightened and tolerant Dutch cities whose nobles appreciated their talent for building wealth. Soon their contributions were obviously helping the economic growth of those cities. Relatively small groups of Jews assimilated, prospered and became accepted over time. Reylana’s beauty, apparent Visigoth ancestry, and the ability to speak French would now allow her entrance into any of the growing Protestant communities in the Netherlands. Being so far removed from her Moorish roots, she too would also have that opportunity to settle in safety.

  That morning, Mrs. Rudderman, as promised, accompanied by Reylana, brought Henri a hearty breakfast and fresh dressings for his battered feet. Reylana was now attired in new and well fitting clothes similar to those worn by the daughter of any prosperous noble family in Rotterdam, and only her beauty distinguished her from any other wealthy Dutch girl. Once Henri had eaten and his bandages changed, the girl told a remarkable story. While occasionally pausing, searching for an appropriate French word, she softly told of the events which led to her arrival in Rotterdam. She started by telling Johanna and Henri that her father was a successful jewelry merchant from Valencia and a man gifted in the arts. Her ancestors had voluntarily converted to Catholicism in the early thirteenth century, when the area was conquered by the Christian King Jaime I of Aragon. For over two hundred years they owned a large hacienda outside the city of Valencia and were active members of the Catholic Church. Their farming hacienda was adjacent to a Franciscan convent, where Reylana and her mother regularly attended mass. Her father contributed generously to the convent and supported the good sister’s work on behalf of the area’s poor. Reylana said one of her childhood joys was to bring sweet water to the appreciative nuns as they tilled the dry soil around the convent, growing food for themselves and the needy.

  She went on to explain that fifty years earlier, when the king and queen were shamefully expelling the Jews from Spain, Valencia and the Inquisition was at the center of those activities. The port city became an embarkation point for Spanish Jews who refused to renounce their beliefs and were ordered to leave Spain. After the last of Spain’s Jews converted or departed, she said the Inquisition became less active. The area became more prosperous for the local people had acquired Jewish property and land at ridiculously low prices. Fearing a similar fate, most of the conquered Moors in the area voluntarily converted to Christianity. As a result, Reylana’s home town was equally divided between long-term Catholics families like her own, and the Moriscos whose conversions were much more recent. She said that after the Moors converted; Valencia became peaceful and tranquil, lacking any social strife or disorder.

  She related how those peaceful times changed when the Pope appointed a Jesuit as the new Bishop of Valencia. With the support of the King and royal officials, the new bishop re-instituted the Inquisition and targeted Morisco landowners and other wealthy Moriscos merchant families for not being true believers. If a family were accurately or falsely charged with being secret followers of Islam, their home would be ransacked and the targeted Morisco family killed. All property found would be confiscated and divided among the church and the crown. These confiscations became an important source of new wealth for each group. Since few of the accused families actually survived these attacks, victims seldom had a chance to profess their innocence, which made the Inquisitors and their collaborators even bolder. Soon the older Catholic families with unblemished reputations for piety were also being attacked. With tears in her eyes, she vividly described how a single day, nearly two years earlier had changed her life forever. She was returning home with her chaperone and found her parents and grandparents murdered and learned a mob was searching for her. The chaperone took Reylana to the convent where she found sanctuary with the nuns. For over a year, the Jesuit Bishop, who wanted her for trial, negotiated with the Mother Superior of the Franciscan nuns, who was truly attempting to save her life and soul. In the end, an agreement was reached where Reylana would renounce her inheritance and enter the Franciscan novitiate. The authorities would allow her safe passage to a convent in Brussels, with a provision that if she ever returned to Spain she would be put to death. Reylana said she was on the final leg of that journey, when a winter storm forced the French Carrack that was transporting her to seek safe anchorage in Rotterdam. She impulsively decided to escape by jumping onto the packed ice and sprinting to an unknown fate, while the ship’s crew was preoccupied with the storm. A patch of weak ice interrupted her near perfect getaway and sent her plunging into the estuary. The fight for survival in the ultra cold water stripped away her clothes and possessions, except for the simple wooden crucifix she received from her late father.

  Mrs. Rudderman listened intently to the girl and accepted her story for she wanted to believe what she had heard. The newer Calvinist beliefs, which Johanna was beginning to explore, taught her that all things were preordained by God. The Lord had taken her husband but had given her Henri, the type of young man any mother would want for a son, and now the same God was giving her the beautiful Reylana, who would make a wonderful daughter.

  Henri realistically recognized that certain parts of Reylana’s story did not make sense, but the fire that burned within him for the girl made the discrepancies meaningless. He did know from his sea captain friends that Valencia was anything but a quiet and peaceful place. They city had the reputation of being the most rancorous port in the world. He also knew that a decade earlier, open warfare had erupted between nobles and guild members, and even the King’s Viceroy with a garrison of Spain’s best soldiers, had a hard time restoring order in the region. It was also well known that the merchants, such as the girl’s father, were strong supporters of the guilds that produced the merchandise they sold. They had also been accused of financing the conflict because the traditional nobility opposed every attempt the wealthy merchants made to purchase noble status. No, Valencia was not the peaceful place she described, but it was a good story. Henri was more than willing to set aside his doubts and accept a few harmless lies. Since the first time he saw her miraculous appearance at the slip, he knew he wanted her forever.

  In the next few months, Reylana proved enthusiastic about everything new she encountered. Her gift for language soon enabled her to add understandable Dutch to the French, Spanish, and Arabic languages she spoke fluently. She spent time in the kitchen with the housekeeper or Mrs. Rudderman, learning to cook the traditional Dutch meals. Reylana in a very short time absorbed everything she could about the Netherlands, its culture and people. When the French ship eventually departed without her, Mrs. Rudderman felt safe enough to take Reylana with her to Rotterdam. She introduced Reylana as her niece and everywhere they went pretty Reylana drew a crowd of eligible young men, including the sons of wealthy merchants and bachelors of noble birth. Johanna told Henri the girl seemed almost oblivious to their attention. Reylana was more attentive at the weekly religious services at the main house, which became Calvinist meetings. Her vibrant personality also shined when she accompanied Johanna to the women-only social and cultural events in the city. After the ice receded in March, the two women began bundling up and sailing together on the estuary. By April, they were sailing all the way to the sea, where they would beach the Kaag and collect shells, which Reylana used to make jewelry and decorative items. She gave some of the items to Mrs. Rudderman and her friends as gifts and occasionally sold some to street vendors in Rotterdam. The girl had an extraordinary knack for crafting pretty and practical things of value from the simplest materials.

  Reylana never hid her interest in Henri. She took a pair of traditional Dutch wooden shoes, cut out the front parts and skillfully covered the openings in silk and wool. The shoes allowed Henri to hobble back to his shipbuilding duties. More important to Henri, Reylana she set aside the evening hours to be with him. After dinner they played cards or chess or practiced the Dutch language. Henri oft
en sketched for her as he had done at his childhood dinner table and sometimes she allowed him to draw her image. Henri looked upon those initial evenings as a wonderful gift. When it became late, she would help him back to his cabin and sometimes permitted him to kiss her good night. A few times she entered the cabin and allowed a long warm embrace before making a hasty withdrawal. On one occasion, when she had an adventurous look in her eyes, they cuddled, until she caught herself and fled. These moments of intimacy always ended in frustration for Henri, who began to think of them as being almost painful. The monastic teenage years as an apprentice had done little to prepare the young man for a budding relationship of this sort. Henri had always been proud that his mind could control and discipline his body. He had good hand-eye coordination which allowed him to complete the most difficult tasks in his occupation. His strong wrists and hands could slide his saw through the toughest oak beam with less effort than many more experienced peers. Since finding Reylana he lost control of another part of his body. He was in an almost constant state of arousal whenever darkness fell. He went to bed partly aroused and awoke many times during the night with similar symptoms. Reylana’s arrival into his life had awakened physical urges he knew little about and over which he had little control. His days were filled with frivolous thoughts about her. It became difficult for him to concentrate on the simplest shipbuilding task; Henri was hopelessly and absolutely in love.

  During the same period, Reylana was beginning to question Henri’s intentions. The only time he seemed to warm to her was following dinner where it seemed that everyone in the Netherlands liked to drink a great deal during the evening meal. She herself was developing a taste for Dutch beer and appreciated the mellow feeling that followed a few glasses; sometimes too mellow a feeling for her own good. In Spain, her family had used but a small amount of wine to sweeten water for their meals. Wine at full strength was a beverage reserved only for very special occasions. It bother her that Johanna and Henri, after dinner, always shared an additional glass of brandy as they discussed the day’s events at the shipyard. The brandy made both Johanna and Henri extremely talkative and at times their behavior seemed almost silly to Reylana. Despite her feelings of annoyance, Reylana had from the time she arrived, made the pragmatic decision that the opportunity for a happy and secure life rested with these two people. Johanna had already demonstrated that type of commitment; it was only Henri who procrastinated.

  The day began atypically, for it was Henri who left to spend the day in Rotterdam. He planned to meet with timber brokers and Reylana knew Johanna was nervous about the meetings. It was the first time Henri would be purchasing materials for the shipyard. After the morning sail, Reylana planned to show off her cooking skills to him and spent the rest of the day in the kitchen making a special hutspot using Spanish spices and fresh meat. The usual time for dinner came and went and Henri had still not returned from the city. It was dark when he finally arrived and he had spent a frustrating afternoon bantering with the timber merchants in Rotterdam. He immediately sensed Reylana and Johanna were unhappy with his late arrival, particularly Reylana. To make matters worse, his discussions had taken place in a tavern where he had allowed himself to become a bit inebriated. Both women tried to ignore his condition for they recognized Henri’s obsession in obtaining the weathered white oak beams for his first Jachtschip. They both understood that without the beams, the keel could not be laid and the boat could not be framed, yet they also understood that it would be some time before Henri could begin the prototype. His still ailing feet would delay any new construction. Johanna also knew from experience that timber brokers, as a group, were notorious for manipulating prices. Henri would learn the hard way that these brokers were really talking price, not availability. Johanna felt the brokers were taking advantage of his lack of experience and Henri should not really be that concerned about obtaining white oak beams at this moment.

  For the six months, since Reylana had arrived, Henri was pushing the perimeters of his physical and mental capacity, letting fatigue, frustration, and discomfort cloud his usual sound judgment. He was converting two Kaag hulls to the new design which doubled the demands placed on his mind and feet. His impatience was causing him to make changes to his already well-thought-out design for the Jachtschip prototype. If the construction had been underway, he would have given little thought to such frivolous alterations and have had more faith in his own competence. While he was happy spending his evenings with Reylana, he was steadily growing frustrated from the lack of fulfillment. The overall platonic nature of their relationship made it hard for him to get any rest. The heavy workload also placed new demands on his time and he was receiving less attention from Reylana and Mrs. Rudderman who were often away. The two had bonded into something of a unit and Henri found himself growing ever more envious of the close relationship between the women. So, under the influence of alcohol, the weary and unhappy soul lost control of his emotions at the dinner table and began “The War of the Hutspot”.

  The first dish at a main meal in a Dutch household was usually a Hutspot, most often a meat or fish stew spiced to the cook’s version of perfection. As the three sat down to taste Reylana’s special dish, she mentioned that it might be overcooked. Reylana could have been innocently commenting on her cooking ability or indirectly blaming Henri’s late arrival. Either way, Henri’s face reddened as he began a tirade about unidentified foreigners who lacked a true appreciation of properly cooked Dutch food. Reylana’s temper flared and she quickly replied that too much drink inhibited anyone’s ability to appreciate any country’s cuisine. Reylana’s real anger was sparked by Henri’s inability to verbalize his intentions regarding a long term relationship. She felt she had waited patiently to hear something from him about their future life together. She too was physically attracted to him, but Reylana wanted Henri’s embraces to last a lifetime.

  So for the next few minutes, those pent up frustrations within both Henri and Reylana lead to a heated exchange of unpleasant almost non sensible remarks thrown at each other.

  An exasperated Mrs. Rudderman interrupted their argument and posed an unexpected question. “When are you two going to be married?” she asked in a bewildered tone. Reylana responded by springing out of her chair and retreating toward the kitchen doorway. As she left the room, she turned and replied to Johanna in a loud voice, “Ask Henri, he certainly hasn’t asked me,” and she fled the room. Mrs. Rudderman got up to console her, leaving Henri alone and all but speechless. After a few minutes, Henri, whose sobriety was returning with remarkable haste, walked to the kitchen door. He saw the two women standing by the cooking fire. Although Reylana was composed, she had obviously been crying. When he sensed Reylana knew he was there he spoke matter-of–factly: “Today, Tomorrow, even Yesterday.” Without waiting for a reply, he fled to his cabin, knowing this night he had made a fool of himself.

  Upon reaching his cabin, Henri was emotionally spent and full of feelings that defied his logical approach to life. He knew he had avoided communicating his feelings to Reylana. The phrase, “He certainly hasn’t asked me,” repeatedly drowned out every attempt he made to rationalize his behavior at dinner, because what Reylana said had been true. He had never asked her to marry him because the question had scared him as much as the uncertain answer. What if she had said no? It took him a few hours to realize that he had been a fool and he slowly began to understand what a wonderful evening it had been. His fear of rejection had disappeared when he finally appreciated the oblivious meaning of that one little wonderful phrase, “He hasn’t asked me!”

  Henri was really not surprised a few hours later when the latch of the cabin’s door lifted and Reylana entered the room, having waited for Mrs. Rudderman to retire before leaving the house. Her night dress was covered only by a wool cloak, which she immediately let fall to the floor. He would remember her entrance as the most exciting moment of his life. The light of the fire in the background made her look almos
t angelic. He would not patiently await an arranged marriage, not this evening. No, for the first time since he met Reylana, Henri, finally felt he and not fate was in control.

  Henri knew Reylana would be his that night. Despite his lack of experience, he felt confident they would figure out the complexities of love together. For the first time since he met Reylana, Henri was self-assured enough to issue a command in a gentle voice that made it seem a request. “Take off that nightshirt; this will be the first night of our entire life together.” She hesitated but a moment, then pulled the shirt over her head, almost proudly displaying her body. As the shirt fell to the floor, she showed none of the fear or embarrassment Henri had observed on that frozen day they met on the river. He noticed the normal tone of her skin had added a few patches of reddening skin above her breasts. Reylana entered his bed with a playful enthusiasm that astounded Henri. As they kissed and caressed, she seemed more comfortable than him. She guided his hands and lips to her breasts and later her soft hands explored Henri’s body. Only at the moment of penetration, did he detect a flicker of hesitancy. He would equate that night forever with the memory of her simple softness.