by Ellin Carsta
Johannes pushed off the wall and went downstairs. The cheerful voices of his children filtered out from the dining room; upon entering, he immediately noticed the beseeching look on his mother’s face. “Well?”
He held up the empty bottle. “He wants more schnapps.”
“All right.” Elsbeth sprang up.
“Sit down, Mother. He can drink water or watered-down spiced wine.”
“He’ll be beside himself!”
Johannes smiled, but he was anything but happy. “Then I’ll go back upstairs and calm him down.” His eyes fell upon Veit and Cecilia, who had evidently noted the cheerful mood was shifting. “What are you two playing with there?” Johannes asked, warmth returning to his voice.
“Grandmother gave us these figurines to play with. We get to keep them.”
“You don’t say!” Johannes teased, putting his hands on his hips.
“Why not? You liked to play with them when you were a child. That’s what Grandmother told us.”
“Exactly right. Those are mine. And I’m not sharing.”
Madlen suppressed a grin.
“Oh, please, Father. Please, please!” Cecilia went over to her father, who bent down on one knee so he could look directly into her eyes.
“You wouldn’t even play with them anyway,” Veit said.
“But what if we gave you a great big hug?” Cecilia suggested. “One so tight that you couldn’t even breathe? Then could we keep the figurines?”
Johannes shrugged. “Who knows? I would think it over, at the very least.”
Before he’d even finished the sentence, Cecilia had put her arms around her father and hugged him as tightly as she could. Veit marched over and did the same. Johannes embraced them both, then released them and stood up. “You win. I accept my defeat and declare you both the new owners of the figurines.”
The children raised their arms in triumph. Madlen smiled, and Johannes looked at her and winked. Every day with him was a good one. She knew there was nothing and no one who could come between them and their happiness, no matter what trials and tribulations life presented.
“It’s so wonderful to have you here,” Elsbeth said. “This house felt so dreary, but now, because of you all, it is coming back to life.”
“I will take care of everything, Mother. First thing I need to do is go to the office and take a look at the books.”
“Helene will be serving our evening meal soon,” Elsbeth said.
“Let me know when it’s ready. I’m famished.”
“We will.”
“Good.” Johannes started to walk in the direction of the office. He could hear his father hollering for more schnapps from upstairs. “I’ll go tell Father that he’ll be getting diluted spiced wine from now on.”
“He won’t like that, believe me,” Elsbeth warned.
“I don’t like everything that’s going on here, either,” Johannes responded. “He wants me to take on all of this responsibility, to become the man of this house. This is what I’m trying to do—whether he likes how I do it is of little concern to me.”
With that, he climbed the stairs, taking his own sweet time despite Peter’s increasingly loud screaming and swearing. Madlen and Elsbeth followed him, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and looking anxiously after him. He’d hardly entered the bedchamber when Peter’s furious bellowing ceased. The women waited expectantly until Johannes appeared at the top of the stairway.
“What did you do?” Elsbeth asked, her voice trembling.
Johannes came down with a spring in his step. “I told him I expected him to behave in a manner befitting his honorable status.”
Elsbeth raised her eyebrows. “That’s it? That’s what calmed him down so quickly?”
Johannes jumped off the last step and strolled over to the two women. “Exactly. I told him that if he didn’t pull himself together immediately, then he wouldn’t get one more sip of anything except water. That seemed to motivate him.” Johannes pointed upstairs. “Do you hear? He’s waiting patiently—and quietly—for his watered-down spiced wine. Would you ask Helene to bring it up to him?”
Elsbeth didn’t know whether to be relieved or dismayed. She knew her son; he could be quite persuasive and often sharp-tongued. She wasn’t sure she liked how he put his own father in his place. On the other hand, she hoped that he could get Peter to listen to reason.
Johannes seemed to read her mind. “I wasn’t rude, Mother, just adamant. He’s not himself at the moment, and I had to make him see that. We just have to wait a couple of days until his head clears. By that time, I’ll have a better idea of how to proceed.”
Madlen patted Elsbeth’s arm. “We know this isn’t easy for you, but you must trust your son. He’ll set things right.”
“You two are a gift from heaven!” Elsbeth exclaimed. “I’ll tell Helene to bring Peter some diluted wine.” She paused. “Actually, on second thought, it would be better if I go myself. It’s time for the two of us to confront the reality of this situation.”
Johannes laughed. “I expected nothing less from you, Mother.” He kissed her on the forehead, then headed down the hall to the office and closed the door behind him.
After Helene set the meal on the dining room table, Elsbeth got up to fetch her son. She knocked on the office door, then stepped in. She found Johannes bent over the books, a serious expression on his face. “Dinner is served.”
He lifted his head with a start, as if he hadn’t heard her coming in. “What did you say?” He shook his head. “Dinner, yes. Please, forgive me. Would it be too much to ask to be excused? I have quite a bit of work here, and I won’t be finished for a while.”
“Is it that bad?”
Johannes rubbed his eyes. “I’m not going to lie to you, Mother. Father’s business wasn’t in good shape, even before his illness.”
“It wasn’t?” Elsbeth stepped closer and took a seat on one of the two chairs placed in front of the desk. “But before your father became ill, he was traveling constantly on business, more than he’d ever done. And he told me he was making substantial profits.”
Johannes could see from the books that Peter had actually closed a lot of business deals. It also seemed that he’d been spending money hand over fist. Johannes couldn’t prove it, but he surmised that much of the money had been spent at taverns or brothels.
“It looks as though some of his business contracts didn’t pan out as well as he’d wished. He didn’t tell you, so as not to upset you,” Johannes said, purposely being vague. “The fact is that we hardly have enough money to get through the next few weeks if we don’t stir up some business and quickly.”
Elsbeth covered her mouth with her hand. “My Lord, that’s terrible. Then let’s stir up some business immediately.”
“I’ll do my best, but it’s not going to be so easy.”
“Why not?”
“The counting house and the warehouse are both as good as empty. We have no money, no spices, no cloth, and no other goods to sell.”
“What?” she shrieked.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I wish I had better news.”
“What are we going to do now?”
Johannes leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. “I don’t know.” He immediately regretted his words when he saw the look of desperation on his mother’s face. “Not yet anyway,” he added, then stood up. “You know, I changed my mind. I will join you and the others for dinner. It will be a nice distraction, which almost always brings me closer to a viable solution; I also think better on a full stomach.”
He walked around the desk, took his mother’s arm, and gently helped her up. They left the office to join the others.
Johannes told Madlen everything that evening once they were in their bedchamber. They’d plopped down on the bed, Madlen cuddling up close to her husband and laying her head on his chest.
“What are you going to do now?” she said.
“At first I thought of riding back to Cologne and cas
hing in our savings so that we can buy some merchandise and get my father’s trade going again. But when I reexamined the numbers, I realized even that would not suffice, even if we invested every penny we ever saved over the years.” He sighed. “I think we’re going to have to take out a loan.”
“And from whom would we borrow these funds?”
“As you know, my father has a seat on the city council. I’ll make his friends there aware of the situation.”
“You would be in debt to the city?”
“I don’t think we have any other choice.”
“And you believe that you’ll be able to do all that? I mean, it’s been a long time since you’ve worked in the merchant trade.”
“A lawyer understands enough about business to run a merchant trade.”
“You sound so cavalier.” Madlen gave him a friendly poke on the shoulder.
“Unfortunately, I don’t feel so cavalier. I’m just trying to keep my chin up.”
“And if things don’t work out, will you close the office and take your parents with us to Cologne instead? You can go back to your real job rather than managing this failing business that you never wanted in the first place. We would all be able to live off what you earn from the archbishop.”
“Good idea. I’ve thought about that, too. But that would kill my father and break my mother’s heart.” Johannes sighed.
“So, you would give up your own life so that your parents could continue theirs and save their reputation?”
“Yes, I probably would.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Madlen paused for a moment. “Would you mind if I asked for Agathe’s help? She has good contacts in Worms and knows a lot about the merchant trade.”
“Thank you. That’s just the kind of help I need right now.” Johannes pulled his wife closer and kissed her, soft and tenderly at first and then with growing passion. Soon he began to untie the ribbons at the neck of her nightgown.
“Hold on a minute! I thought your head was filled with worry.”
“All the more reason to . . .”
Madlen smiled at him seductively. “In that case, I will do my part, whatever the cost.” She laughed.
“A truly courageous wife,” Johannes said, pulling her closer and putting his lips to her neck.
Chapter Three
First thing the next morning, Johannes went to the courthouse to ask for an emergency meeting with the city councilmen. After the message was relayed by the mayor’s messengers, sixteen councilmen agreed to meet him.
Johannes was stunned by the reaction of the councilmen when he introduced himself and made his request. It appeared that the high lords and his father’s supposed friends were not, in fact, sympathetic to him at all. Johannes soon learned that Peter had accumulated a considerable amount of debt. Most of the councilmen had lost patience with him long ago, after they’d repeatedly insisted on repayment to no avail.
Johannes’s revelation that his father was going blind did not evoke the least bit of empathy from the high lords. Even worse, several of them did not mince words as they launched into a tirade, calling Peter Goldmann an infamous womanizer who had ruined his reputation long ago with his propensity for alcohol. Johannes was horrified. This scandalous version of his father was so completely different from what he had believed about him all these years.
When he walked out of the meeting room, Johannes felt more miserable than ever. Nobody in the city would lend Peter Goldmann one red cent, there was no doubt about that. And more alarming still, Johannes’s own honor had been tarnished. As he left the town hall, he overheard some of the lords talking about him, saying that the archbishop of Cologne had somehow developed a deft hand with money, which clearly explained why he’d chosen Peter Goldmann’s son as his lawyer and confidant.
Johannes stumbled through the streets of Worms in a daze. Since he was his father’s son, they took him for a swindler, a liar, and a witless windbag. What humiliation! He had no desire to spend another second in this city.
Johannes angrily slammed the door to his parents’ home when he entered. He felt like a beaten-down dog.
“What happened?” Madlen had been chatting with Helene in the dining room; she hurried over to her husband when she heard the door slam.
“Where is my mother?”
“She’s taken the children to Agathe’s. Oh, my heavens, Johannes, you’re scaring me. What happened? Please tell me!”
“We’re going back to Cologne today. Inform the servants.”
“What? But we can’t just simply—”
“We can and we will,” Johannes interrupted. “I will not stay one more day in a city where it’s a disgrace to be Peter Goldmann’s son!”
Madlen stepped closer and took her husband’s hands. “Johannes, I’m begging you to tell me what happened,” she said, despair in her voice.
Willing himself to slow his breathing, Johannes let his shoulders drop. “It was an absolute nightmare, Madlen.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s go into the office. I have to sit down.”
The couple walked into the office, then plopped down on the chairs in front of the desk. Madlen held Johannes’s hands as he told her what had played out at the courthouse. She nodded time and again, trying to maintain control over her own mounting fear.
“If the archbishop of Cologne ever gets wind of this, our family will be ruined. And all because my father has gone from being a successful businessman to a whore-mongering drunkard,” he said finally.
Madlen took a moment to sort out her thoughts. “How can we stop Friedrich from finding out? If we return to Cologne and you take up your duties again, it will only be a matter of time before somebody tells him what your father’s done.”
“I’m sure I’ll figure it out somehow.”
Madlen shook her head. “The Wormsers most certainly have a record of your father’s debts. And one of his creditors will tell Friedrich that you stood before the council to ask for help. Then he will ask you why you didn’t tell him yourself.”
Johannes was silent, at a loss for words.
“There’s only one solution: ride back to Cologne and speak with the archbishop. Ask for his help. He’s rich and he trusts you. If he hears about the situation from your own lips, he will take it as a sign of good faith and stand by you. He won’t blame you—your appearance in front of the Worms city council proves that you knew nothing about your father’s debts or disgraceful behavior.”
Johannes thought it over for a moment. “You’re right,” he said. “I must go back to Cologne to speak with Friedrich.”
Madlen nodded. “There’s no other way, if you don’t want the family to be destroyed.”
“Whose family would be destroyed?” Elsbeth stepped into the doorway.
Johannes stood up and went over to her. “Mother, please sit down for a moment. We must speak with you.”
Elsbeth nervously pressed her lips together and followed her son to the chair he’d just gotten up from.
“Listen to me carefully, Mother. We have no time to lose,” Johannes said, leaning against the desk.
Johannes explained what had occurred, and he told her that he had to leave for Cologne as soon as possible to prevent something even worse from happening. Elsbeth seemed unusually calm, nodding pensively several times. She finally reached for Madlen’s hand. “What about you and the children?”
“We’ll stay here and await Johannes’s return. He’ll be able to cut his travel time in half by not dragging us along.”
“What can we expect from the creditors when you’re gone?” Elsbeth asked her son.
“Frankly, I don’t know. My appearance before the council confirmed what they already knew anyway: that they might never get their money back. It’s possible, even probable, that they will pay you a visit here in the next few days.”
“I’ll speak with the servants. Henceforth, Gerald will keep watch at the door,” Madlen said. “We’ll let the children stay with Ag
athe for the time being.” She looked at her mother-in-law. “It would probably be prudent for you to stay at Agathe’s house, too. You’ll be safer there.”
Elsbeth patted Madlen’s hand. She looked between her daughter-in-law and her son and back again. “Please believe me. I had no idea about any of this.”
“We believe you,” Madlen said.
“We have no time to lose.” Johannes stood and left the office. “Ansgar, saddle up my horse!” he yelled.
“Yes, my lord!” the servant’s voice called back from the other end of the house.
Madlen stood and followed after her husband to the foyer. “At least take Ansgar with you so you won’t be completely unprotected.”
Johannes pulled her into his arms. “He’ll only slow me down. I’ll be much faster if I go it alone.”
“But—”
Johannes silenced her with a kiss.
“You’ll have to manage my parents’ house until I get back. Promise me that if the creditors come to the door, you’ll tell them that I am getting their money and will be back in a few days. That should calm them down.”
“Yes, I promise.”
“I’ll just throw on a coat and go. If Helene could prepare me some food, I won’t have to stop.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Elsbeth said. She’d been following their conversation; now she stepped past them and rushed over to the kitchen.
“I’m worried, Johannes.”
“I know.” He kissed his wife again, tenderly. “I’ll be back as quickly as possible.”
Madlen held him close; a minute longer, and she wouldn’t have been able to hold back her tears. Johannes gently eased out of the embrace. “I’ll get my coat now.” He looked upstairs. “But maybe first I’ll go up to that drunkard’s bedchamber and punch him in the face.”
Madlen wasn’t sure whether this was a real threat. She watched her husband nervously as he tromped upstairs. She was quite relieved when, moments later, he hurried back downstairs, his coat slung over his arm.