The Hesitant Hero

by Gilbert, Morris

  “I’ve been doing that already,” Tyler said. “What about you?”

  “Yes, me too.”

  Even as Jean spoke, Arnaud shouted, “Jean, look out!”

  At first Tyler could not believe what he was seeing. The darkness was intense outside, but there before them rose an immense gray wall. For a split second he could not imagine what it was, and then he knew—a ship. “We’re running into a ship!”

  Jean let out a cry and pounced on the wheel. Tyler stood there petrified, unable to move. There was nothing to do but watch. They were headed straight for it. He felt the churning of the engine and saw that the bow of Leota was making headway in turning, but the ship still loomed like a mountain. Tyler found himself holding his breath, and finally the wall of steel passed to the side of the fishing boat.

  “It’s a destroyer!” Jean yelled.

  “They’ll blow us out of the water!” one of the men cried. “We don’t have a chance!”

  But the encounter was over almost before it had begun. Leota must have been at the stern of the vessel, or almost so, for suddenly the ship was gone and they were in darkness again.

  “Did she see us, Jean?” Tyler asked. He felt his pulse racing and forced his panic down.

  “I doubt it, but we’ll know soon enough. If they did, we don’t have to worry about navigating to England. She’ll just ram us.”

  The four men held their breath and stared out of the glass. Tyler found, to his surprise, that he was thinking of those below instead of himself. The children were so vulnerable, and he could not bear the thought that Jolie might perish after all they’d been through. He found himself praying constantly, God, take care of us!

  “It’s all right now,” Jean yelled, and the men began to shout and dance around even though the boat was still lurching from side to side. “We’ve got to be pretty close to the line,” Jean said. Relief softened the lines of his face, and he was able to smile.

  “What line?” Tyler demanded.

  “Oh, it’s not a line you can see, but British ships patrol the Channel. The Germans are careful not to get too close. They know they’ll be sunk if they do. We may have even crossed it already.”

  Tyler released his breath. “So you think we made it, then?”

  “If she holds together, I think so. And if this storm doesn’t sink her, nothing will!”

  “I’ll go down and tell the others,” Tyler said. “They’ll be glad to hear it.”

  “What about the major? Has he come to yet?”

  “Yeah. He’s going to sue us,” Tyler said with a grin. “Doesn’t that scare you a lot, Jean?”

  The men all laughed, and Arnaud said, “I’d like to throw him overboard as shark food.”

  “I’d rather keep him,” Tyler said. “He’ll be pretty valuable to some folks in England.”

  He went down to the lower deck. As soon as he stepped inside, he shut the door and grinned. “Jean says we’re probably close enough to England that no German ship can get at us now.”

  The youngsters all began to cheer.

  “That’s wonderful,” Jolie exclaimed. “We’re going to be all right.”

  Damien got to his feet and walked over to where Major Dietrich was lying flat on his back. He stared down at him, and the German struggled to sit up again.

  “What do you want?” the major muttered. “Go away from here.”

  “Why do you hate Jews?”

  The cabin suddenly was quiet. The wind outside still blew, and the chugging of the engine was audible, but no one spoke or even moved.

  Dietrich’s eyes opened wide and his lips moved as he tried to answer. Finally he shook his head. “I don’t hate Jews.” His voice was a mumble, and he cleared his throat and looked down.

  “Yes you do,” Damien said. “If you didn’t, you would have let us go. You were going to do something bad to us. Why would you do that? We never did anything to you.”

  Dietrich was silent, and it was Jolie who said, “I’d like to hear your answer, Major. I think we all would.”

  The man struggled with his bonds, but he was well tied. He glared at Jolie and then at Tyler before sitting back against the bulkhead and closing his eyes.

  “I don’t think you need to worry about your profession anymore, Dietrich,” Tyler said. “You’ll sit in a prison camp until the war is over. When you get out, Germany will be smashed. The Third Reich and all you believe in will be dead.”

  Dietrich began to scream in German.

  When he finally stopped, Rochelle said, “You are a bad man, and God will be your judge.”

  Little Yolande walked over to stand beside Damien. Looking Dietrich in the eye, she asked, “Why don’t you be a good man?”

  As they waited for an answer, everyone noticed that the boat was not rocking so violently. Arnaud Heuse burst through the door. “We’re almost there,” he declared. “Come up and see England.”

  Instantly everyone rushed to the door. Tyler and Jolie let the children go first, and then they followed them up.

  “You see,” Rochelle told Antoine as they went up, “I told you we would be all right.”

  “You were right,” he muttered. He turned to her and then found a smile. “I will never be afraid of water again.”

  Before the small boat was able to get too close to land, a naval cutter came out and challenged them. An officer came aboard, and Tyler answered all the man’s queries in English. The officer listened without saying much as Tyler explained the whole story.

  “You have a German major as a prisoner?” he asked, incredulous.

  “Yes we do. He’s tied up down below.”

  “That will be good news.” He turned to Jean and said, “Take her in, Captain. You’ll get a warm welcome, I assure you.”

  The man returned to his own vessel and Jean navigated the fishing boat slowly toward the dock.

  “Are you going to leave us now, Jolie?” Damien asked.

  “Not until I find you a good home.”

  “Do you promise?” Yolande asked solemnly.

  “I promise.”

  Tyler scooped Yolande up and gave her a kiss. She tasted salty, for they had all been sprayed with sea water. She held him tightly, and he could feel her trembling. “We’ll be eating a good English breakfast in no time,” he told her.

  When she did not answer, he whispered, “Are you all right, Yolande?”

  “I don’t want to lose my friends and you and Jolie.”

  Tyler pulled her closer. “We’ll just have to ask God to take care of that.”

  ****

  Colonel Lionel Simons listened while John Hastings of the State Department did most of the talking. Tyler and Jolie had been brought to Whitehall, and these two officials had heard their story several times. Jolie was disturbed. “Do you think we’re spies?” she demanded.

  “No, indeed, mademoiselle,” Mr. Hastings said. “But we’re very interested in how you managed to get here.”

  “Yes,” Colonel Simons agreed, “and how you managed to take Major Dietrich prisoner.”

  “But we’ve explained all that to you.”

  Hastings laughed. “This is all like a Gilbert and Sullivan musical or a very bad movie.”

  “No,” Jolie said with a smile, “like a very good movie.”

  “I think you’re right,” Simons agreed. “We’ve got an excellent captive, a Nazi major. He’ll be very valuable to our people. You may be sure we’ll take good care of him.”

  Hastings carefully put the top on his pen and slipped it into his briefcase. “What is your plan from here?”

  Jolie looked at Tyler, and he knew that she wanted him to speak. “First, we need to find the older boy’s parents. They came to London from France to find housing before they brought Antoine over with them. His mother’s parents live here.”

  “It shouldn’t be too difficult to find them if you have the grandparents’ full names,” Hastings said. “I’ll take care of it personally.”

  “Oh, thank you, Mr
. Hastings,” Jolie said. “Antoine will be so happy to hear that. As for the other children, we want to take them to America and find good homes for them.”

  “Not in England?” Simons asked. “We might be able to help you if you wanted to do that.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be too safe in England,” Tyler said. “Not for a while, at least.”

  “I’m afraid you’re right about that,” Hastings said ruefully. “It’s going to be very hard.”

  “Well,” Hastings said with a smile, “we owe you a favor for bringing Major Dietrich to us. I’m sure the American embassy will be very glad to help with temporary passports for the children. I’ll hurry them up a bit.” He got to his feet and said, “As a matter of fact, I’m sure we can find room for all of you on a ship that is taking some of our people to Washington tomorrow. Can you be ready by then?”

  “I don’t see why not. That would be wonderful, Mr. Hastings,” Tyler said.

  “But what about you, mademoiselle?” Simons asked as an afterthought. “Do you want to go back to your home in France?”

  “I promised the children I wouldn’t leave them until I found a proper home for them.”

  “That may take some time,” Simons said, lifting his eyebrows.

  “I will take as much time as I need.”

  * * *

  When Tyler and Jolie explained to the children that they were going to America, they were all ecstatic—except Antoine. He had grown attached to his new friends. He said little, but Tyler went over and put his hand on his shoulder.

  “We’re going to miss you, Antoine. You’ve been a good friend to the children and a great help to Mademoiselle Vernay and me.”

  The boy just looked at his shoes.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to go to America with us?” Tyler asked teasingly.

  The boy finally grinned. “I would like to see America . . . someday. But right now I just want to find my parents.”

  Jolie joined the conversation. “Mr. Hastings is working on finding them as we speak, Antoine. You should be with them and your grandparents before the day is over.”

  “Really?” His face glowed. “I can’t believe it!”

  The other children had started chatting about the adventures that awaited them on the ship when the door burst open.

  “Good news,” Mr. Hastings exclaimed as he entered the room. He scanned the children and then walked straight up to Antoine. “You must be Antoine.”

  The boy nodded his head.

  “We’ve already reached your parents, and they will be here within the hour!”

  The boy’s mouth dropped open as his eyes grew big. “You’re not kidding me, are you?”

  “Oh no. I wouldn’t do that. Why don’t you go ahead and say your good-byes, and then you can come with me and get cleaned up a little before they get here.”

  Antoine was smothered with hugs and good wishes as the others congratulated him and said good-bye.

  “I’ll write to you,” Rochelle told him, “and you must write back to me.”

  “My writing isn’t very good, but I promise I’ll write back.”

  “Are you ready?” Mr. Hastings asked.

  “Let’s go!” Antoine exclaimed.

  The others followed the pair to the door, shouting more good-byes and promises to write.

  ****

  The ship was full of officials on their way to America. Tyler had learned that the officials were going over to try to persuade President Roosevelt to give arms to England. The plan was that America would donate used naval vessels and munitions. “England’s going to have a hard time,” the man had told Tyler, “but with America’s help we can pull through.”

  Jolie and the children were lined up along the ship’s rail, fascinated with being high above the water as it rushed by. The children had charmed some of the statesmen, who were talking with them, and Tyler took the opportunity to talk to Jolie.

  He pulled her aside and asked if she would sit with him for a few minutes.

  “Sure, Tyler,” she said as she sat down in a chair next to him. “I wanted to tell you about my idea.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ve been trying to figure out where we can go once we get to the U.S., since neither you nor I have family there.”

  Tyler had been so consumed with his need to tell Jolie about Caroline that he hadn’t considered that they would have no place to go when they arrived. “Did you come up with something?”

  “I think I told you about my friends Jack and Irene Henderson?”

  “Yeah, I guess you mentioned them.”

  “Well, they live in a big house in New York, and I’m sure they would let all of us stay with them until we can get the children into a foster home.”

  “Really? Do you think they have room for all of us?”

  “I know they have at least two or maybe even three empty bedrooms. When I was working at the hospital, Jack was always offering his place to families who needed a place to stay while their loved ones were in the hospital.”

  “That sounds like the perfect solution, Jolie. I just hope they don’t have any visitors staying with them right now.”

  “It’s certainly a possibility, but we’ll just have to find out when we get there.”

  “Okay. That sounds like a good plan.” He took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out. “I’ve got to tell you something, and it’s not going to be easy.”

  A tremendous seriousness came across her face. “I think I know what it is.”

  “Why, you can’t!”

  “You’re married, aren’t you?”

  “Married!” Tyler was shocked. “No, of course not! What makes you say such a thing?”

  Her face suddenly relaxed. “I knew that you’d been trying to tell me something for a long time, and that was the most obvious thing. You looked so worried.”

  “No, it’s nothing that complicated, but it is a difficulty, and it’s something I should have told you about long before.”

  “Just tell me what it is, Tyler.”

  “All right. I’m not proud of myself, but this is what happened.” He spoke slowly, not sparing himself. He told Jolie about his partying and drinking too much and about flunking out of school. He told her he had disappointed his family and everybody else, for that matter. When he got to the part about Caroline, he spoke even more slowly. “While I was in New York, I met this young woman, whose name is Caroline.” He could not face Jolie but looked down at his hands, which he clasped together. “She’s a very wealthy woman and attractive, and we had lots of fun together.”

  Jolie listened as he continued his story. Finally, when he got to the end of it, she was silent for a moment. He still had not looked at her.

  “So she thinks you’re coming back to marry her.”

  “I’m afraid so.” Tyler straightened up and looked at Jolie. “Pretty sorry, isn’t it?”

  “Do you love this woman?” she asked quietly.

  “No, I don’t—and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t love me either.”

  “How could you know that?”

  “I think she likes the idea of being in love more than she feels all that affectionate toward me.”

  “You were right,” Jolie said. “You should have told me long ago. Why didn’t you?”

  “Well, at first it didn’t really matter. I had no idea that I’d ever feel anything for you. Then when I began to fall in love with you it became harder, and the more I loved you the harder it got. Then when we started on this journey with these children, there was a chance we wouldn’t make it and I wouldn’t have to tell you. Maybe I’d be dead.”

  “You should have told me, Tyler. People should trust each other.”

  “But how did I know that I’d fall in love with you?”

  Jolie was staring at him in an odd way. He noticed that her features were still, but her back had grown stiff. She said quietly, “You will have to go to her.”

  “And do what?�
�

  “And be an honorable man, Tyler. I could never love a man who didn’t honor his commitments to women.”

  Jolie got up and took her place at the rail next to Damien again. As she looked down at the water, Tyler leaned back in his seat, feeling about as miserable as he ever had. As the ship moved across the ocean, Tyler Winslow knew he was not going to talk his way out of this problem, as he had in times past.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  On American Soil

  Tyler woke up to a combination of scents he hadn’t smelled in a long time. Coffee, bacon, eggs, and toast. He inhaled deeply, wondering how he had survived his time in France without a good, hearty American breakfast. He quickly got dressed and made his way down to the kitchen.

  He was the last one to get up, he quickly realized as the children ran to him, calling out his name. He smiled at Jolie and the Hendersons as he scooped up Yolande and put his arm around Rochelle. Damien threw his arms around Tyler’s neck and hugged him with all of his might.

  “Good morning to you too,” he told the children. “And to you, Jolie and Jack and Irene.”

  “Good morning, Tyler,” Jolie said. She was sitting at the kitchen table sipping her coffee.

  “How did you sleep?” Mrs. Henderson asked as she turned the bacon in the frying pan.

  “Like a rock.”

  As soon as the group had arrived on American soil the day before, Jolie had contacted her friends and explained their predicament. Without any hesitation, the Hendersons had told Jolie that the whole group was welcome to stay with them for as long as necessary. Jolie had assured Irene they wouldn’t stay long—just long enough to find a foster family that would take all three of the children.

  Just as quickly as they had attacked him, the children returned to their places at the table, where they had started breakfast. Rochelle was sitting next to little Barbara, who was in her high chair. Barbara opened her mouth wide as Rochelle fed her a tiny spoonful of oatmeal.

  “Well, everybody,” Jolie said, “how do you like your first taste of an American breakfast?”

  “It’s very good,” Rochelle said.

  “But I want to have a hot dog,” Damien piped up. “All Americans eat hot dogs, don’t they?”