‘Come on, girls, do hurry up,’ her mother called, and Adina braced herself. There was no point in delaying and she wanted to get it over and done with.
‘Ariel isn’t in her room,’ she announced, the second she set foot back in the kitchen. ‘And her suitcase and all her clothes have gone.’
Freyde’s face turned white. ‘Perhaps she’s just gone off to visit someone,’ she said desperately to her husband, ever the peacemaker.
‘Yes, and I think we all know who she has gone to visit,’ he said harshly.
Untying her apron, Freyde rose from her seat. ‘I’ll go and see if I can find her,’ she declared, but Ezra’s voice sliced through the air between them.
‘You will do no such thing! She has gone of her own accord, and if she is not back in this house within one week, that will be an end to it. I will not have her name mentioned in my presence again. Is that understood?’
‘B-but Ezra, she’s only—’
‘Enough!’ He held his hand up to silence her and Freyde dropped back into her chair, her shoulders sagging with despair.
‘I’m going to get off to work now.’ Adina shot from the room, glad to escape the atmosphere. As she trudged along the road, tears pricked at the back of her eyes. Everything was going wrong and she knew that she too would soon be causing her parents yet more heartache.
The morning dragged interminably, but at last the bell sounded heralding the lunch-hour. Adina smiled at her pupils. ‘You may close your books now, children, and make your way to the dinner hall,’ she told them.
‘Yes, miss,’ they chorused as they slammed their work into their desks and then there was a mad clamour for the door. Most of the Jewish children could speak English fluently now and Adina was proud of them.
Within seconds the classroom was silent. Adina quickly cleaned the blackboard and went to collect her coat from the staff room. Karl was waiting for her at the gates to the churchyard and the instant she saw him, she began to feel better. She had been battling with her conscience all morning, but now once again she knew that any sacrifice was worth making if it meant they could be together.
‘Is everything all right?’ He gazed into her troubled eyes. ‘You look a little pale.’
‘Ariel has left home,’ she told him bluntly.
‘Oh, and how have your parents taken that?’
‘About as you would expect.’ She glanced towards the church. The roof was more than half-tiled now, and it looked like a church once more.
‘You are worried about how they will react when you leave also? Is this so?’
‘Naturally I am,’ she said, ‘but it doesn’t change my mind. We will go somewhere where no one knows us as soon as the war is over – if you still want to.’
‘Of course I want to,’ he assured her, and his voice was so genuine that she could not doubt him. ‘But it is not quite as simple as that. First I must return to Germany and then I will come back for you.’
‘But why can’t I just come with you?’
He averted his eyes. ‘There are things that I have to attend to before we can be together properly,’ he muttered.
Adina wanted to question him but guessed that this was not the time or the place, so instead she turned the conversation towards the progress of the church until it was time for Karl to return to his work.
It had turned bitterly cold and on her way home she shuddered as she pulled the collar of her coat up. The sky was a curious grey colour and she wondered if they were in for some snow. She also wondered what sort of battle zone she would be walking into when she arrived, but having nowhere else to go she resolutely strode on.
Thankfully, everything was quiet. Her mother was kneading dough on the scrubbed table in the kitchen, her father was serving in the shop – and apart from Freyde’s red-rimmed eyes, it might have been any ordinary day.
Adina asked casually, ‘When were you and Papa thinking of going to see Dovi again?’ It felt strange without Ariel but she did not dare even mention her name for fear of her mother bursting into tears again.
‘We have to phone the hospital tomorrow,’ Freyde said dully, and then placing a damp cloth over the dough and leaving it to rise, she lapsed into silence again. Adina tried to think of a way to start a conversation but eventually gave up and went to her own room. It was very cold up there, and she would much rather have been in the cosy warmth of the kitchen, but even so, the cold was preferable to the frosty atmosphere down there. Putting another cardigan over the one she was already wearing, she approached her sewing machine. Her wedding gown was draped across it, and as she fingered the silk a sad smile twitched at the corners of her lips. She had always dreamed of standing beneath the chuppah, the bridal arch, in a synagogue, with her family looking on, but the chances of that happening were non-existent now if she was to marry the man she loved. Her thoughts turned to Ariel. Her sister had confided in her that she was seeing Brian Rowley some time ago, but Adina had not realised how serious their relationship had become. Brian was just eighteen years old, a likeable, happy-go-lucky sort of lad, but that would gain no points with her father.
Adina stared unseeingly out of the window. She had a vague idea what area Brian lived in, so tonight after the evening meal she decided she would go for a walk round there and see if she could catch sight of Ariel. It would be nice to know that she was all right. Meantime she turned her attention back to the dress she was sewing and soon, as she treadled away, she was humming softly to herself.
It was bitterly cold that evening, and as Adina traipsed along Fife Street for the fifth time, she was forced to admit that she was on a fruitless errand. All the curtains were firmly drawn together and the streets were all but deserted. She was just about to turn and head for home when the front door of one of the terraced houses further along the street opened and a young woman appeared, hastily closing the door behind her. Adina began to hurry towards the figure.
‘Ariel, is that you?’
The figure turned and then crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. ‘If you’ve come to try and persuade me to come home, you can forget it,’ she told her sister ungraciously.
‘I haven’t,’ Adina said. ‘I just needed to know that you were all right.’
‘Well, I am, so you can stop worrying about me now.’ Ariel was standing as if she was about to do battle but as Adina drew to a halt in front of her, her tone softened. ‘I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused,’ she sighed, ‘but I won’t go back. We don’t live in Cologne any more. Things are different here and I’m sick of Papa being so strict.’
‘He only wants what’s best for you. I suppose he thinks that by being strict he is keeping us safe.’
‘I know that, Adina, but I’m a grown-up now. Loads of girls my age are getting married. They’re having to, because they don’t know if their boyfriends will come back once they’re called up.’
‘But you’re not old enough to get married without Papa’s permission,’ Adina pointed out.
Ariel nodded. ‘I know that too, but I’m going to stay here with Brian’s parents until I am old enough. They’ve made me really welcome, and then when I am of age we’ll get married on one of his leaves – if the war doesn’t end before that. It doesn’t matter to them, you see, what religion I am so long as Brian and I are happy together – and we are happy. Try and understand, please. I’m sick of all the readings from the Torah and not being able to wear modern clothes; of having to be in for nine o’clock at night. They treat me as if I’m still at school and I’m a young woman now. Surely you feel the same?’
‘It’s different for me,’ Adina said. ‘You’re the youngest and I suppose to them you will always be the baby.’
Ariel snorted and tossed her head, but then her shoulders sagged and she spread her hands in a helpless gesture. ‘As I said, I’m so sorry for all the hurt I’ve caused, but I hope you won’t turn your back on me too.’
‘Never.’ Adina stepped forward and then before they knew it, the sisters
were hugging each other.
‘I know I’ve gone off the rails a bit since I left school,’ Ariel admitted tearfully. ‘I suppose it was a bit of rebellion. But then I met Brian and everything was different. Right from the start I knew he was the one for me and I’m not going to change my mind on that. One day you’ll understand, when you meet the right person.’
Adina could have told her that she already had, but wisely held her tongue. Things were complicated enough as it was.
‘Just promise me that if you need me, you won’t be too proud to come and ask for help?’ she said.
‘I promise,’ Ariel told her, and the two sisters stepped apart.
‘Take care of yourself,’ Adina whispered.
‘And you.’
Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks as Adina watched Ariel walk away. When she got home, she decided, she’d transfer all her things back into the room she and Ariel had once shared, and then at least Dovi would have his own room back when he eventually returned home.
By early November 1944, renewed German assaults on London led to a fresh exodus of the capital’s children that was even greater than in the early years of the war. Some of the children arrived in Nuneaton pale-faced and fearful of what was going to happen to them – and this time, the townsfolk welcomed them with open arms.
Mrs Haynes agreed to take in a six-year-old girl, and in no time at all she was a firm favourite with the neighbours. Her name was Sarah and she was a skinny little thing with ginger hair that she wore in two pigtails, and a scattering of freckles across her nose. Within days of arriving she had settled in and was attending the school that Ariel had once gone to, where her cockney accent delighted the other children. Sarah and young Freddie Haynes hit it off instantly, and for the first time since the death of her beloved son Anthony, the sound of Mrs Haynes’s laughter could be heard ringing across the garden fence and she seemed to have a purpose in life again.
‘She’s lookin’ good, ain’t she?’ she said proudly one day in the shop as Sarah gazed wide-eyed from one of the enormous glass jars of sweets to another.
‘She certainly is,’ Freyde told her sincerely. It was nice to see her neighbour so happy again. She just wished there could be a little more happiness in her own home.
‘O’ course, as you know, she didn’t look like that when she arrived,’ Mrs Haynes whispered across the counter. ‘Poor little mite were crawlin’ wi’ nits – an’ some o’ the buggers were nearly as long as me fingernail. I tell you, I reckon I’ve nearly wore that nit comb out, but I reckon we’ve shifted ’em all now. An’ eat! As God is me witness I ain’t never seen a child put away what she can. I sometimes think she must have hollow legs. But then I’ve got a funny feelin’ she didn’t get regular meals where she came from – not like my Freddie.’
‘Well, she is certainly a credit to you now,’ Freyde said and meant it.
‘A lot o’ that is down to your Adina,’ Mrs Haynes went on. ‘Those little dresses she run up for her on her sewin’ machine fit her a treat. They’re far nicer than the clothes she brought with her. Not that she brought that many, mind.’ She sniffed disapprovingly as she leaned even further across the counter. ‘From what the poor little sod has told me, her mam is a bit of a one. You know . . . for the men, like. She ain’t got a dad and her mam often went out at night to the pub an’ left her in, all on her own. It’s a disgrace, if you were to ask me. I mean, what sort of a woman would do that, wi’ all them air raids goin’ on? Anythin’ could have happened to the lass. I sent her mam a postcard wi’ my address on when young Sarah first arrived, so that she’d know where she was, but she ain’t even bothered to write to her yet. Too busy off out wi’ her fancy men, I dare say.’
Mrs Haynes was well into her stride now and would have said a lot more, but at that moment the shop-door bell tinkled and another customer came in.
‘Right, well, this ain’t buyin’ the baby a new bonnet, is it?’ she said, as she took Sarah hand. ‘Come on, luvvie, I’m gonna make you some stew an’ dumplin’s for your tea. You like that, don’t you?’
Sarah nodded vigorously and broke into a wide gappy grin as Freyde pressed a big gobstopper into her hand.
‘For after your dinner,’ she said kindly. ‘And here’s one for Freddie.’
‘Cor, ta, missus,’ Sarah gasped, and she left the shop clutching the paper bag as if it contained the Crown Jewels.
At that precise moment, the loud ringing of the phone reached them from the back room, and with an apologetic glance towards her husband, Freyde hurried away to answer it.
When Adina arrived home from work early in the afternoon, she stared at her mother cautiously. She was actually smiling – something she hadn’t done since Ariel left home.
‘You look happy, Mama,’ Adina said. ‘What’s happened to put you in such a good mood?’
Freyde patted the side of her nose conspiratorially.
‘You’ll see soon enough,’ she promised, as she bustled about the kitchen preparing the evening meal, and with that her daughter had to be content.
Chapter Nineteen
It was almost a week later when Adina discovered the reason for her mother’s lift in spirits. There had been a sharp frost the night before, and after spending her customary precious few minutes talking to Karl at the churchyard gates, she headed for home blowing into her hands, which were blue with cold despite her woollen gloves.
As she passed the shop she saw the Closed sign on the door. Her father usually kept the shop open from dawn till dusk nowadays, so she wondered what could have happened to make him close it. Hurrying up the entry, she let herself into the yard and pushed the back door open. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw her mother leaning over someone who was swaddled in a warm blanket in the fireside chair.
‘Come in, my darling – see, we have a wonderful surprise for you,’ her father boomed in a rare good humour.
At that moment her mother straightened and Adina’s face broke into a rapturous smile. ‘Dovi!’ she shouted as she stepped towards him with her arms outstretched, but then she halted in mid-stride.
The young man sitting in the chair was undoubtedly her brother, but a mere shell of his old self. His eyes were sunk deep into their sockets, and his shirt still seemed to be hanging off his emaciated frame. Of course, having already seen him once in the hospital she had realised then how ill he was. But to see him like this in his own surroundings was somehow ten times worse.
Blinking away her tears, she sank to her knees beside him.
‘How are you feeling?’ she asked softly, as she took his two warm hands in her cold ones. ‘It’s so wonderful to have you home.’
He stared back at her with no signs of recognition.
‘He isn’t always like this,’ Freyde told her reassuringly. ‘Sometimes he can be quite lucid. We just have to be patient, that’s all. The doctors have warned us that it could be a long time before he is properly well again. They have done all they can to make his arm and body heal. Now his mind has to heal. But now that we have him home I’m sure he’ll start to improve in no time at all.’
‘Of course.’ Adina nodded, but inside she was crying and had very grave doubts. She stroked his hair, and after a moment stood up and took off her coat as she asked, ‘Why didn’t you tell me he was coming home?’
‘Because I wanted to surprise you. Goodness knows I think it’s time this family had something to be pleased about.’
Guilt, sharp as a knife, stabbed at Adina’s heart. How would her parents react when she too left home? Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that Dovi was back. At least they would have him to focus their attentions on, and they would never be ashamed of him. Dovi was a hero, and even if he never fully recovered he would remain so.
‘Let me help you dish the dinner out,’ she offered now as her mother lifted a chicken from the oven. Freyde had been determined that Dovi should have his favourite meal on his first day home and had gone to endless trouble preparing it. First
off she placed a steaming tureen of lokshen soup in the middle of the table. It contained chicken, noodles, celery, carrots and onion. She then started carving the chicken, which would be served with carrots, potatoes and leeks. For dessert she had made her son’s favourite – apple strudel.
Ezra and Adina helped Dovi to the table and Ezra said a blessing – but within minutes of them all being seated, it was obvious that the sick man wasn’t interested in the meal. He ignored the soup, and just stared blankly at his plate until in the end, Adina began to feed him tiny pieces of chicken. The urge to cry came upon Adina again as he opened and shut his mouth like a bewildered bird. He had taken no more than half a dozen mouthfuls when he pushed the loaded fork away and began to rock backwards and forwards in his chair.
‘He is tired from his long journey here in the ambulance,’ Ezra said, standing up and leaving his own dinner to go cold. ‘Shall I take him upstairs to his room for a lie-down?’
‘No.’ Freyde too rose from the table. ‘It’s cold up there. Settle him back in the chair by the fire. He can doze there and he will not feel all alone. It’s important that we talk to him as much as we can.’
Ezra did as he was told and thankfully, once he was back by the fire, Dovi stopped rocking and fixed his gaze on the flames licking up the sooty chimney.
Suddenly, Adina’s appetite had gone too. Dovi’s first meal back within the walls of his own home clearly hadn’t been much of a success, but then Adina supposed that this was to be expected. She made a solemn vow to herself to be as patient with him as she could in the weeks that lay ahead.
In no time at all Christmas was almost upon them, although for the Schwartz family it made little difference. There would be no Christmas tree or celebrating the Christian festival for them.
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