The Ring

by Steel, Danielle

  Wear warm clothes for the trip. We'll have to walk the last part.

  You, too, Father? Ariana was worried as she searched her father's eyes.

  Me, too. And I'm quite capable of doing it, thank you. Probably a great deal more so than this boy. He stood up then, rumpled his son's hair, and prepared to leave the room. He smiled at them, but there were no answering smiles from his children. Don't worry. It will go safely. And one day we'll be back. But as he closed the door behind him, Ariana wondered if they would.

  Chapter 12

  Frau Gebsen. Walmar von Gotthard looked down imperiously at his secretary, his Homburg in his hand. I will be gone for the rest of the day, in meetings.

  You understand ' where I'm going.

  Of course, Herr von Gotthard.

  Very well. He marched quickly from the room. She had no idea where he was going. But she thought she did. To the Reichstag of course, to see the Minister of Finance again. And if he didn't appear on the morrow, she would understand that the meetings had resumed again. She understood about those things.

  Walmar knew that he had timed his exit perfectly. The Minister of Finance was spending a week in France, consulting over the situation of the Reich's finances in Paris and taking inventory of the vast store of paintings they were sending back to Berlin. Quite a windfall for the Reich.

  He had told his driver not to wait for him that morning, and he walked quickly around the corner to the workers' caf+!. Gerhard had left the house on schedule at five that morning, with a kiss from his sister and a last look over his shoulder at the home he had grown up in, before he walked the twelve miles to the center of Berlin.

  As Walmar entered the caf+!, he saw his son there but offered no sign of recognition. He merely walked toward the men's rest room, his face obscured by his Homburg, his briefcase in his hand. Once behind the locked door of the rest room, he quickly stepped out of his suit, putting on a pair of old work pants he had taken from the garage. Over his shirt he pulled a sweater, on his head a nondescript old cap, then an old warm jacket, and back into the briefcase went his suit. The Homburg he shoved brutally to the bottom of the trash. A moment later he joined Gerhard and with a vague nod and a coarse greeting signaled for him to go.

  They took a cab to the station and were quickly lost in the milling throng. Twenty minutes later they were on the train bound for the border, their travel papers in order, their identification secure, their faces masks. Walmar was increasingly proud of Gerhard, who had played his part to perfection. He was overnight a fugitive, but learning quickly how to be a successful one.

  Fr+nulein Ariana? ' Fr+nulein Ariana? There came a sharp knocking at the door. It was Fr+nulein Hedwig, her face peering into the girl's as Ariana gingerly opened the door. But Ariana was quick to press a finger to her lips to silence Hedwig, and she rapidly joined the older woman in the hall.

  What's going on here?

  Sshh ' you'll wake him. Gerhard isn't feeling well at all.

  Does he have a fever?

  I don't think so. I think mostly just a dreadful cold.

  Let me see him.

  I can't do that. I promised him that we'd let him sleep all day. He's terrified he'll be too sick to go to the army on Thursday. He just wants to sleep it off.

  Of course. I understand. You don't think we should call the doctor?

  Ariana shook her head. Not unless he gets much worse.

  Fr+nulein Hedwig nodded, pleased that her young charge should be so anxious to serve his country. He's a good boy.

  Ariana smiled benevolently in answer and kissed the old woman on the cheek as they stood in the hall. Thanks to you.

  Hedwig blushed at Ariana's compliment. Should I bring him tea?

  No, it's all right. I'll make him some later. Right now he's asleep.

  Well, let me know if he needs me.

  I will, I promise. Thank you.

  Bitte sch+|n? And a moment later Fr+nulein Hedwig went on her way.

  Twice that afternoon and once that evening she pressed her services on Ariana again, but each time Ariana insisted that her brother had awakened earlier, eaten something, and then gone back to sleep. It was by then late Tuesday evening, and she only had to play the game until her father returned on Wednesday night. After that they were home free. Her father could claim that he had taken Gerhard to the army himself at the crack of dawn. All they had to do was make it through Wednesday. It was only a matter of another twenty-four hours. She could do that. And on Thursday evening she and her father would be gone, too.

  Her body felt tired and achy when she went downstairs late Tuesday night. It had been a strain, listening all day for Hedwig or Anna, keeping up the ruse, and standing guard near Gerhard's room. She needed to escape the third floor, if only for a few minutes. So she let herself into her father's study and sat staring at the ashes in the grate. Had he only been in the room that morning? Had this been where he had said his quick good-bye? It seemed like a different room now without him, the papers carefully ordered on the desk, the books so neatly put away in the bookcase. She stood up, looking out at the lake, remembering his words when he had said good-bye ' Don't worry, I'll be back day after tomorrow. And Gerhard will be fine.

  It isn't Gerhard I'm worrying about. It's you.

  Don't be silly. Don't you trust your old father?

  More than anyone alive.

  Good. Because that is precisely how much I trust you. And that is why, my darling Ariana, I am going to show you some things now, which one day may come in very handy. I think they're things you need to know. He had shown her the secret safe in his bedroom, another in the main library, and the last one in her mother's bedroom, where he still kept all her jewels. One day these will be yours.

  Why now? Tears had sprung to her eyes. She didn't want him showing her all this now. Not the day he was leaving to spirit Gerhard away.

  Because I love you, and I want you to know how to take care of yourself if you must. If something happens, you must tell them that you knew nothing about it. Tell them you thought Gerhard was sick upstairs and you had no idea he was gone. Tell them anything you have to. Lie. But protect yourself, with your fine mind and with this. He showed her a small pistol and a dozen stacks of freshly minted bills. If Germany falls, these will be worth nothing, but your mother's jewelry will always take care of your needs. He then showed her the false volume of Shakespeare, in which were the large emerald, which had been her engagement ring, and the diamond signet ring she had worn on her right hand. As Ariana saw it, she unthinkingly reached out to touch it. Its glimmer was familiar. She could remember seeing it on her mother's hand so many years before. She always wore that. Her father's voice had been dreamlike as together they looked at the diamond signet ring.

  I remember.

  Do you? He seemed surprised. Remember it is here if you need it. Use it well, my darling, and her memory will be well served.

  As she thought back on the morning, she realized that standing in her father's study wouldn't bring him back to her any faster than if she went to bed upstairs. And she had to be up early in the morning to resume her vigil, lest Fr+nulein Hedwig grow zealous and insist on seeing Gerhard for herself.

  Silently, Ariana turned off the lights in her father's study, closed the door, and went back upstairs.

  At the M++llheim station Walmar gently nudged Gerhard, sleeping peacefully in his seat. They had been on the train for almost twelve hours, and the boy had been asleep for four. He looked so young and innocent as he lay there, his head tucked away in the corner, pressed against the wall of the coach. Soldiers had come aboard at several stations, and their papers had been checked twice. Walmar had only referred to Gerhard as his young friend; the papers appeared in order, and when he spoke to the officers, his tone had been deferential and his accent coarse. Gerhard had said little, only widening his eyes in awe of the soldiers, and one of them had ruffled his hair and teasingly promised him a commission soon. Gerhard had smiled winningly, and the two men in uni
form had moved on.

  At M++llheim no one boarded and the stop was brief, but Walmar wanted him awake before they reached L+|rrach, their last stop. He would come awake quickly then in any case, in the cool night air. They had a nine-mile walk then, and their greatest challenge to cross the border and reach Basel as early as they could. From there they would take a train to Zurich. Walmar had decided to leave him there he would be safe in Switzerland. He would return two days later with Ariana, and they could go on together to Lausanne after that.

  He was anxious to return to Ariana as soon as he could. She would not be able to keep up the charade forever, and the main thing was to get Gerhard safely to Zurich. But first, L+|rrach, and their long walk. It was eighteen miles from M++llheim to L+nrrach, and half an hour after Gerhard had stirred sleepily in his seat and gazed absently around him, the train came to a full halt. It was the end of the line for them.

  At one thirty in the morning, with a handful of others, they stepped down, and for an instant Walmar felt his legs tremble beneath him at the unfamiliar sensation of solid ground. But he said nothing to Gerhard, he simply pulled his cap down, pulled up his collar, gestured toward the station, and they moved on. An old man and a boy going home. In their rough clothes they did not look strange in L+|rrach, only Walmar's carefully manicured hands and well-barbered hair would have given them away, but he had worn the cap during the entire journey and had seen to it that he got his hands good and dirty in the dusty station before they left Berlin.

  Hungry? He glanced at Gerhard, who yawned and shrugged.

  I'm all right. You?

  His father smiled at him. Here. He handed him an apple he had pocketed from the lunch they'd bought on the train. Gerhard munched it as they walked along the road. There was no one in sight.

  It took them five hours to cover the nine miles. Gerhard would have done it faster, but Walmar couldn't walk quite as quickly as he had as a young man. Still, for a man of almost seventy, he had done remarkably well. And then they knew that they had reached the border. Miles of fence and barbed wire. In the distance they could hear border patrols rumbling past them. Two hours earlier they had left the road. But in the dark before the first light of daybreak, they looked like two farmers getting an early start. No bags to attract suspicion, only Walmar's briefcase, which he would have thrown into the bushes had he heard someone approach. From his pocket he quickly pulled wire cutters as Gerhard watched, and as he snipped, the boy held back the wires. In a few minutes there was a hole big enough to crawl through.

  Walmar felt his heart pounding' . If they caught them, they would be shot. ' He didn't care for himself now, but the boy. ' Quickly, quickly, they climbed through and he could hear his jacket tearing, but a moment later they both stood in Switzerland, near a clump of trees in a field. Silently Walmar gestured, and they both began to run, darting through the trees for what seemed like hours until at last they stopped. But no one had followed, no one had heard. Walmar knew that a year or two earlier it would have been much harder to get across, but in the past months, the army had been in such desperate need of soldiers, there were ever fewer on the Swiss border patrols.

  They walked for another half hour, reaching Basel by the first bright light of day. There was a splendid sunrise on the mountains, and for an instant Walmar put an arm around Gerhard's shoulders and stopped to watch the mauves and pinks streak across the sunlit sky. He thought in that brief moment that he had never felt so free. It would be a good life for them there until the war was over, and perhaps for even longer than that.

  With aching feet they reached the train station and were just in time to catch the first train. Walmar bought two tickets to Zurich and settled back in his seat to rest. He closed his eyes and felt sleep begin to pull him deeper. It seemed only moments later when Gerhard was tugging at his arm. For the four-and-a-half-hour journey, glancing at the pleasant views of the Frick Valley, Gerhard had not wanted to wake him.

  Papa ' I think we're here.

  Walmar looked sleepily around him, glancing out at the familiar Bahnhof Platz and the Grossm++nster cathedral in the distance, and farther away he could just glimpse the mountains of the Uetliberg. For that moment it felt like home. We are. As they stepped down safely from the train in Zurich, despite his tired back and aching legs, Walmar wanted to take his son's arm and dance. Instead a long, slow grin lit his face and he put an arm around his son's shoulders. They had done it. They were free. Gerhard's life was assured now. He would never serve in Hitler's army. They would never kill his son.

  They walked quickly to a small pension that Walmar remembered vaguely. He had had lunch there once while waiting for a train. And it was still where he remembered, small, unimportant, quiet, friendly. It was a place where he felt comfortable leaving Gerhard while he went back for his last hours in Berlin.

  They ate a mammoth breakfast and then Walmar took him up to his room. He looked around, satisfied, and then turned to face the boy who had grown to manhood in so few days. It was a precious moment between father and son. It was Gerhard who spoke first, looking with damp-eyed admiration at the father who had led him to safety, cut the wires, walked across the border, and brought him here. Thank you, Papa ' thank you. He flung his arms around his father's neck. This was the father his friends had sometimes teasingly called old. But this wasn't an old man who held him, it was a man who would have walked barefoot and bleeding across the mountains to save his son. For a long moment Walmar held him, and then slowly he pulled away.

  It's all right You're safe now. You'll be all right here. He walked swiftly to the simple desk then, pulled out a piece of paper and his carefully concealed gold pen. I'm going to give you the address and number of Herr M++ller ' in case Ariana and I get delayed. The boy's face clouded over, but Walmar ignored his fears. Just a precaution. He never thought to give him Max's number. It was too dangerous. The other man was a banker whom Walmar knew well. And I'm going to leave you my briefcase; there are papers, some money. I don't think you'll need much of that in the next two days. All he was taking back with him was a slim purse filled with money, cash, nothing with which he could have been identified should they stop him this time on the road. This time it would be harder. It would be broad daylight, but he didn't want to take a chance delaying his return to Ariana. He wanted to get back to her by that night. He turned then to face Gerhard and saw that the boy was crying. They embraced again and said good-bye. Don't look so worried. Get some sleep now. When you wake up, have a good dinner, walk around, and see the sights. This is a free country, Gerhard, no Nazis, armbands. Enjoy it. And Ariana and I should be back here by tomorrow night.

  Do you think Ariana can make that walk from L+|rrach? Even for them it had been rough.

  She'll manage. I'll tell her not to wear her fancy high-heeled shoes.

  Gerhard smiled through his tears then and held tightly to his father for one last time. Can I see you to the station?

  No, young man, what you can do now is go to bed.

  What about you? He looked exhausted, but Walmar only shook his head.

  I'll sleep on the way back to Basel, and probably all the way back to Berlin.

  They looked at each other long and hard then. There was nothing left to be said.

  Wiedersehen, Papa. . He said it softly as his father waved at him and hurried down the stairs to the pension's main hall. He had ten minutes to catch the train back to Basel, and he ran the few blocks to the station, just in time to buy his ticket and board the train. At the pension, Gerhard was stretched out on the bed and already fast asleep.

  Chapter 13

  Well, how is he? Fr+nulein Hedwig looked worriedly at Ariana as she stepped out into the hall to pick up their trays for breakfast. With an air of reassurance, Ariana smiled at their old nurse.

  He's much better, but he's still coughing a little. I think after another day in bed he'll be just fine.

  That and a visit from the doctor, Fr+nulein Ariana. We don't want him reporting to the army with pn
eumonia. That would be a fine thing for the Reich.

  Hardly pneumonia, Fr+nulein Hedwig. Ariana looked at her kindly but with hauteur. And if his bad humor is any sign that he's improving, then he ought to be in fine shape for the Reich. She made to reenter their apartment with her brother's tray. She would come back in a moment for her own tray, but Fr+nulein Hedwig had already picked it up. That's all right, fr+nulein, I'll get it in a minute.

  Don't be so independent, Ariana. If you've been taking care of that boy since yesterday, trust me, you need help. She clucked and muttered, and in their little sitting room set down Ariana's tray.

  Thank you, fr+nulein. She stood expectantly, clearly waiting for the old nurse to leave.

  Bitte. And then she reached out for the tray Ariana was still holding. I'll take him his.

  He won't like that. Really, you'd better not. Her grip wasfirm."You know how he hates being treated like a baby.

  Not a baby, Fr+nulein Ariana, a soldier. It's the least I can do. Sternly, she was reaching for the tray.

  No, thank you, Fr+nulein Hedwig. I have my orders. He made me promise that I wouldn't let anyone else in.

  I am hardly anyone,' fr+nulein. She drew herself up to her full height. On any other occasion Ariana would have been intimidated. In this case she had no intention of being outmaneuvered by their old nurse.

  Of course you're not anyone.' but you know how he is.

  Even more difficult than he used to be apparently. I think the army will do him good.

  I'll be sure to tell him you said so. She smiled gaily, whisked the tray into Gerhard's room, and closed the door. She set the tray down instantly, leaning her full weight against the door lest Fr+nulein Hedwig persist, but a moment later Ariana heard the door to the sitting room close firmly and she let out a long sigh of relief. She hoped her father returned on schedule that night. It would be impossible to keep Hedwig at bay for much longer.

  She sat nervously in the sitting room that morning and eventually put out both trays, with evidence that there had been damage done to both. She thanked Anna for a stack of fresh towels, and thanked God that Hedwig did not come up again until late that afternoon.