Luther and Katharina
Page 35
“I won’t wait much longer,” Brother Gabriel said through the door. “I know you’ll try to stall until you have amassed more men.”
“We’re doing everything you asked.” Luther’s voice was faint, but the urgency inside him was growing stronger with every passing moment Katharina was in the room with the monk.
He slumped against the door and slid down the length of the smooth planks. God, help me! He dragged in a breath and fought to scramble back into the world of the living. He couldn’t lose consciousness now. He couldn’t leave Katharina at the mercy of his enemies.
“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll have to give you more incentive.” Brother Gabriel’s words registered in Luther’s head from a distance. He tried to answer, to yell out that he would do anything, but he could manage nothing more than a hoarse breath.
“I don’t want to hurt your wife, Doctor Luther. But you might force me to start cutting her up.”
“No!” A new rush of panic chased the blackness of oblivion to the back of his mind.
“Maybe I’ll start with her tongue.”
He heard Katharina cry out, “Please, Brother Gabriel, please let me go.” The terror in her voice shredded his last reserve.
“She has a sharp tongue,” Brother Gabriel continued. “Perhaps you’ll think I’m doing you a favor by cutting it out.”
“No!” The word tore from his throat. Luther’s mind flashed to the slice Brother Gabriel had made in Katharina’s throat. “Justus, I’m breaking down the door.” He banged his fist against the plank. The thud echoed with pathetic feebleness.
“And since you’re not cooperating,” Brother Gabriel said with a low, deadly tone, “I’ll start cutting now. Except I’ll save her tongue for last so that you can hear her scream while I cut off one finger at a time.”
Who was this madman? How could he have lived with the old monk all this time and never known the devil lived inside him? Had Katharina been right? Was he too trusting of his guests?
Katharina’s frightened whimper sent chills over his skin. His helplessness, his weakness, the thought of Brother Gabriel sawing off one of her delicate fingers, the torturous pain she would endure…He began to tremble at the horror of the situation.
“Don’t just stand there watching me,” he said to Jonas and the others nearby. “Everyone help me.”
He raised his hand and pounded the door again. As though finally understanding the desperateness of their situation, Jonas lowered his shoulder and rammed it into the door. It didn’t budge. His friend tried again, this time harder.
“Take me now, Brother Gabriel!” Luther yelled at the door. “Take me now. Tie me up! Cut off my fingers! Do whatever you want with me! Just let Kate go!”
A scream pierced the air. The long, high pitch spoke of agonizing pain. The strength of it slashed through Luther’s heart with such swiftness that his pulse slammed to a halt.
“Kate!” he shouted.
Pain radiated through his hand; he could almost feel the knife blade severing his finger. A sob swelled in his chest. “O God, have mercy.”
Katharina shrank back into the chair as far as she could go.
What was happening?
Brother Gabriel’s wide eyes were fixed straight ahead, and his mouth hung open with the remnants of his scream that turned into a long, hoarse gasp. The knife slipped from his grip and clattered to the floor. He tried to take a breath but stopped short and gasped again.
Surprise lit up his eyes. He moved his lips, but all he emitted was a gurgle. He took another step toward her, but then his body jerked. His face contorted into a tight mask. He gurgled another breath, then fell forward.
She sucked in a gasp and braced herself.
His head bounced against her knees, and she was helpless to do anything but watch with revulsion as he slid to the floor in a crumpled heap at her feet. A wet stain formed a widening circle on the back of his habit. And standing in the place where Brother Gabriel had loomed only an instant before was a thin, frail figure.
“Aunt Lena?” Katharina stared at her in surprise.
At the sound of her name, the old woman faltered. For a long moment she looked at Katharina with blank eyes. Then the woman’s gaze shifted to her own outstretched hand and the knife she clutched tightly. Blood trickled down the glinting blade, made a bright trail over her pale skin, then dripped to the floor. It was the small dagger she’d brought with her to Wittenberg, the dagger she never let leave her side.
“Aunt Lena, you saved my life.”
The woman didn’t say anything. She only stared at the knife with unseeing eyes.
Fear shivered through Katharina. What if Aunt Lena turned the knife on herself?
Katharina strained against the ropes binding her hands behind the chair. If only she was free. “Aunt Lena, look at me.”
The woman didn’t move.
“Aunt Lena, it’s me, Katharina. Put down the knife.”
The trembling in her aunt’s hand was the only sign she’d heard.
“Put down the knife and free me from my restraints.”
The woman’s arm shook harder with a force that made her entire body quaver.
“Oh, Aunt Lena.” Longing swelled through Katharina. She wanted this dear woman to come back to her, to come back to the world of the living. “I love you, Aunt Lena. And I need you in my life.”
The older woman let go of the knife. It fell from her hands and hit the floor with a clank. Slowly she shifted to look at Katharina, and this time a pool of tears had settled in her eyes. For the first time in two years—since the night Katharina had climbed out of the abbey window—she found herself gazing into the clear eyes of the woman who had risked everything for her.
“I love you,” Katharina said again through a throat that ached with all the loss and pain they’d experienced. “Thank you for protecting me,” Katharina said, “again.”
Tears spilled onto the woman’s gaunt cheeks. She shuffled with stilted steps until she finally stood next to Katharina. She cast a glance at Brother Gabriel’s lifeless body before she reached for Katharina’s face. Her cold fingers pressed against Katharina’s cheeks.
“Oh, Katharina.” The words were only a breathy whisper, but they echoed through Katharina’s head as if Aunt Lena had shouted them.
The older woman pulled Katharina’s head against her bosom and pressed a kiss there.
A sob swelled from the depths of Katharina’s heart. The strain of the past week, nearly losing Doctor Luther, the terror of being with Brother Gabriel, and now the joy of seeing Aunt Lena return from the land of the dead—the emotions spiraled through her and overwhelmed her. She wished she could wrap her arms around her aunt and hug her in return, but her hands were still bound behind the chair, and she couldn’t even wipe the tears from her cheeks.
A pounding on the door ricocheted through the room.
Aunt Lena jumped back and began trembling again.
“Katharina?” Doctor Luther’s weak voice wavered with desperation. “Katharina, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s only Doctor Luther,” Katharina quickly said.
A glazed veil fell over the woman’s eyes.
“Don’t leave me now, Aunt Lena. Not now that I have you back.” She tugged against the ropes again.
Aunt Lena blinked.
“Open the door for Doctor Luther,” she said. “Please, Aunt Lena.”
Her aunt took a step, then stopped. The dark wells of the woman’s eyes reflected a pain so intense that it twisted through Katharina, making her want to cry out at the unfairness of all that had happened to her.
“All I’ve ever wanted was to keep you safe.” Aunt Lena spoke so softly Katharina could hardly hear her.
Katharina thought of Abbot Baltazar and then of Greta and the countless others who had suffered abuses at the hands of those meant to oversee their souls. Why had God allowed such hurt and heartache to so many others but spared her? “I owe you my life and much, much more. I shall spend the rest of
my life repaying you for the kindness you have shown me.”
Katharina suddenly became aware of the noise in the hallway. Another slam against the door caused Aunt Lena to jump. The strength of the pounding splintered the door. It was followed by another slam. In the next instant the planks cracked and crashed into fragments on the floor.
Within seconds the door was unlatched. Men armed with knives and halberds poured into the room. She searched the faces of the students and men of Wittenberg who had come to her aid. Finally, through the crowd she found the face she wanted most to see.
He stumbled into the room, sagging against Jonas, hardly able to stand even with Jonas’s full support. His pale face was lined with tension. In the same instant she saw him, his dark eyes locked on hers. The force of his love reached across the room and wrapped around her with a fierceness that left her breathless.
As he hobbled toward her with the help of Jonas, one of the students cut loose her binding and helped her to her feet. She stood with trembling legs and sucked in a lungful of air.
His eyes begged her to forgive him, to come to him, to love him in return.
Her heart swelled with a new joy, the kind that made her chest tighten and her throat ache with the need to cry again. He pushed away from Jonas and stumbled forward a step. But the weakness of his legs didn’t hold him, and he crumpled to the ground. Katharina rushed across the room, and when she reached him, she fell to her knees. She didn’t care that men milled about them or that a dead body was sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood.
“Kate.” His voice wavered. He grabbed her hands and looked at each of her fingers.
“He didn’t have the chance to hurt me. Aunt Lena came to my rescue first.” Katharina cocked her head at Aunt Lena, who hovered nearby.
Luther looked at her. “Thank you.”
Aunt Lena nodded but lowered her head.
“I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough.” Luther’s gaze then turned back to Katharina. “Because next to the Lord, Katharina is my greatest treasure.”
Gladness flooded her heart, and even amid the tumult, she wanted to throw her arms around Doctor Luther.
He glanced at her neck then and scowled. Tentatively he lifted his fingers to the spot that still stung from Brother Gabriel’s slice.
“I don’t think it will need sewing.” She touched the line in her neck. “It’s not too deep.”
His hand captured hers. He lifted the edge of his robe and gently rubbed the blood off the tips of her fingers. Then he bent his head and pressed his lips into the palm of her hand.
The warmth of his breath and the tenderness of his touch caused the joy in her heart to unfurl.
His kiss lingered in her palm before he finally pulled away and closed her fingers into a fist. He wrapped his hand around hers. “Katharina, I give you now what I should have given you long ago.”
Her breath caught in her chest.
“I solemnly give you all my heart and all my love, from this day forward and forevermore.”
His gaze held hers for an endless moment, radiating a passion she’d seen only when he stood in the pulpit and preached.
“Although I covet your love and hope that one day you can come to care for a poor, old man like me, I don’t need your love in return.” His gaze searched her face. “I’ll love you regardless—”
She lifted a finger to his lips to stop him. “I think I have cared for you since the day we met.”
His eyes flickered with surprise.
She smiled. “I was a fool to let my pride stand in the way of truly loving you.”
His lips curved into a slow smile. “So what exactly is my dear lord Katharina saying? Is she admitting she was wrong?”
“Maybe she is.” Katharina lifted her chin in mock offense, but her smile widened.
“Then let me hear you say it.”
“Say what?”
“Tell me you were wrong.” His expression danced with all the fullness of life he possessed.
A sudden and overpowering love welled up from deep within. This is what she had wanted; this is what she had risked everything for. This man…Martin Luther.
“Is her royal highness, the empress Katharina, still too proud to admit anything?” His voice was filled with playfulness.
She reached for his hand and opened it up. “I was wrong.” She bent her head toward his palm and kept her attention focused on him.
His eyes widened, and the playfulness within them faded.
Her lips found the soft center of his hand, and without breaking her gaze, she pressed her mouth against his skin. She tasted the salty dampness of him.
His nostrils flared with desire.
Slowly she raised her head. Then she closed his fingers over the kiss she’d given him. “I solemnly give you all my heart and all my love. From this day forward and forevermore.”
June 7, 1526
Katharina brushed her lips against the downy softness of the baby’s head. The newborn scent was sweeter than any flower or herb she’d ever known.
“What shall we name him?” She smiled up at Doctor Luther.
Perched on the edge of their bed, he gingerly peeled back the corner of the linen blanket until a tiny, wrinkled, red forehead appeared. Reverence and wonder widened his eyes. “So we’ve not birthed the two-headed, antichrist monster that the pope predicted?”
“You have a beautiful son, Doctor Luther,” Aunt Lena said. She combed through Katharina’s long hair with her fingers and pushed it away from her face.
Katharina squeezed Aunt Lena’s hand, grateful the woman had been the one to deliver her baby into the world and the first to hold him.
Aunt Lena had become such an integral part of daily life at the Black Cloister, Katharina didn’t know how she’d managed without her, especially with the continual trickle of guests coming and going. And Aunt Lena had a special way of relating to the runaway nuns, a gentleness and understanding that the women needed.
Aunt Lena’s cool fingers grazed her cheek. “I’m proud of you.”
“During all those many years in the convent, did you ever think I’d be a wife and a mother?”
“It suits you perfectly.” Aunt Lena began plaiting the long strands of her hair. “Doctor Luther suits you perfectly.”
Aunt Lena was right. Even though she didn’t always agree with him, especially over how to handle their money, God had indeed brought her exactly the man she needed.
In fact, God had brought her more than she had ever dreamed possible: a husband, a family, now a child. But first she’d had to let go of her own stubborn expectations. She’d had to shed not only her habit and cowl but everything else that had been comfortable and familiar until finally God had her in a place where He could use her.
It hadn’t been easy to let go of the traditions. But she was reading through Luther’s German Bible, and slowly the words were unlocking a wealth of treasure she’d never imagined.
As though sensing her thoughts, he slipped his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his lips. “I’m a fortunate husband. The best and dearest wife has presented me with a son, and I’ve become a husband and father by the wonderful grace of God.” He leaned forward. His gaze shifted to her lips.
Her insides melted at the thought of one of his kisses. Even after a year of marriage, he could still command her heart with the slightest look or the merest touch.
She lifted her face gladly to his and breathed a small sigh of pleasure as the warmth of his lips melded over hers, gently at first, then harder, with all the passion that resided in the fibers of his being.
Pastor Bugenhagen cleared his throat next to them and fingered through the pages of his Bible.
Jonas chuckled. “I think we better leave these two alone and come back later for the baptism.”
Doctor Luther released her and grinned at his friend. “Can’t I ever have any peace, even to congratulate my wife on the birth of our son?”
“You weren’t born to bring pea
ce,” Jonas retorted.
“You were born to change the world,” Katharina added. Every day she feared for his life and lived with the knowledge that any one of their guests could be the next assassin. But she had accepted his calling and loved him for his commitment to it.
He bent forward and pressed a kiss against the fuzzy head of their son.
“You haven’t answered my question,” she said. “What shall we name him?”
He sat back and cocked his head. “My hissing Katzen is asking me for input? I find that difficult to believe.”
“Of course I am. You’re the father.”
“I’m sure you already have him named.”
“I wouldn’t ask for your input if I already had—”
“What is it?” His eyes danced with mirth.
“Herr Doctor, you must decide.”
“My Katharina, my lord, tell me his name.”
She smiled. “Very well. His name is Johannes, but we shall call him Hans, after your father.”
He was silent for a long moment, his eyes upon the tiny bundle in her arms. When he didn’t say anything, her heart slowed to an unsteady patter. Had she been wrong to assume he was learning to forgive and love his father?
Finally he met her gaze. And this time she could see a new kind of love burning within the depths of his eyes, the kind of love only a parent can have for a child.
“And so, if I agree to the name you have picked out, what will you do for me?” His tone was serious, but the corners of his mouth fought a smile.
Katharina’s heart started again. “Dear husband, I shall do whatever you wish.”
He guffawed. “Whatever I wish? Then I’ll have to think of something very special.” He paused for a moment, and the dark desire of his eyes collided with hers. “I would like another kiss from my beautiful wife.”
“It will be very difficult to obey you in this matter,” she teased. “But I shall endeavor to try.”
He bent his head toward hers once again. “I love you, Katharina Luther.”