Diana and the Three Behrs

by Fleeta Cunningham

  She was brought back to the moment by Adler’s hand on hers. “Communion. The bread and wine. Just wait here with Elizabeth.”

  She nodded, remembering she’d heard the Catholic Church rules said only members could participate. She’d be quite happy to sit with Elizabeth while the others did…whatever they did. Listening to small boys singing the peaceful music in sweet, clear voices suited her. Elizabeth squirmed and moved closer.

  “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

  Not certain if the child meant the church service or the music or something else, Diana nodded. “Very nice,” she whispered.

  Adler and his father and Frau Hepple weren’t gone very long, considering the number of people in the church. She expected to see people stirring, ready to leave, as the last group started back to the pews, but no one seemed to be moving.

  The elderly priest came down the steps before the altar, his book open, looking as if he were about to make a speech. The church was still, and the music faded to silence. He turned pages, paused, and looked over the congregation. He drew a long breath, and in solemn tones read, “I publish the banns of marriage between Lotte Hepple of this Parish and Erlich Behr also of this Parish. If any of you know cause or just impediment why these persons should not be joined together in Holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is for the first time of asking.”

  A ripple, a cumulative intake of breath, then a wave of applause filled the church. Adler turned to Diana and under the cover of the general response, whispered, “See, I told you coming today was a good idea.”

  She looked over his shoulder where Lotte Hepple was glowing, as pink as the flowers tucked into her dress. Papa Behr had a satisfied, slightly superior smile as well.

  “What happened? What moved the mountains, Adler?”

  He bent down, so even Elizabeth’s quick ears didn’t catch the words. “I’ll tell you later. Just don’t ever think the Behrs actually hibernate.”

  Waves of congratulations and best wishes were heaped on the couple as the congregation flowed out of the church. They stood together, Erlich’s arm around the plump shoulders of his bride-to-be, shaking hands, chatting, the center of well-wishers. Elizabeth waited with Adler and Diana for the crowd to thin.

  “Unkler, what do I call her, after?”

  “After? After she and Papa are married?” Adler rested his hand on Elizabeth’s flaxen head. “I don’t know, little one. What do you think you should call her? Grandmothers are special people. They should have special names, don’t you think?”

  Elizabeth looked up at Diana. “I think they’re special, but I never had one before. I don’t know what they’re called. Did you have a grandmother, Miss Diana? What did you call her?”

  It had been a long time since Diana thought about the wispy, white-haired lady in the rolling chair who had lived with her and her sister and her mother for a little while after her father was killed.

  “I did have a grandmother, but it was a long time ago, Elizabeth. She was a very formal lady, and we always called her Grandmother Higgins. That was all.”

  “Oma is what we called our grandmother, Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth was quiet for a moment, her pert nose wrinkled in thought. “Papa calls her Lotte. I could call her Oma Lotte, couldn’t I?”

  “You certainly could, sweet girl.” Lotte Hepple came away from the dwindling crowd, Erlich following as best he could with people stopping him every step. She put her arms around the child and bent down. “I would be very honored to be your Oma Lotte.”

  When the group could withdraw and leave the church grounds, Erlich waved them to the big Packard parked near the edge of the churchyard. “I thought we’d take a short drive and have lunch at a place with not so many people who want to visit. Have a small family celebration. Diana, you will come and keep my bride from changing her mind…again.”

  Lotte laughed. “I can’t change it again. I already started making the wedding dress.”

  “It wouldn’t do to waste a new dress, would it?” Diana hugged her. “I’m happy for all of you—Papa Behr, you, and especially Elizabeth. But what made you decide to do it? I know you’ve been friends for ages, but you seemed to enjoy your small squabbles too much to change things.”

  “Hmmph. I guess we did entertain each other with our spats. It was fine for just the two of us, but when I realized the old fool was trying to raise that precious little girl on his own, no help except Adler, who knows even less than his papa, I knew I’d better step in and do something. No proper meals at home, no routine or regular hours—that’s no good for a child. Erlich is going to ruin his own health if he keeps on eating all his meals at Bindler’s. A man his age needs a sensible meal, and dinner at his own table. I best marry the man before he ruins that child and wrecks his own digestion.”

  “Well, he’s in good hands, at that. I know your meals are works of art.” Diana touched the pretty embroidery on Frau Hepple’s tunic. “This is another work of art. I’ve never seen such beautiful stitches or such delicate work.”

  “An old thing. I made it years ago. Didn’t have much of anywhere to wear it. Thought it would be good to dress up a little for today. How nice you could come, Diana.”

  “You’ve been very sly this week, not telling me your news.”

  “Just needed to settle things in my own mind.” She looked down the path where Erlich and Adler were opening car doors and helping Elizabeth into the jump seat behind the driver’s side. “To think about taking on the raising of a child at my age. Never had one of my own, but maybe I won’t make too many mistakes with the girl. Pray not. Couldn’t bear to lose this one the way we did her mother, our Greta.”

  “You’ll be wonderful with her. And with Papa Behr, too. I swear he looks ten years younger.”

  “Ladies, the carriage awaits.” Adler held out a hand to help the women into the car. “Papa says we are going to Castroville for lunch.”

  The group lingered over lunch, enjoying the quiet retreat and a leisurely meal. The men had taken Elizabeth down to a pond to toss bread crumbs to a flock of ducks, leaving Lotte and Diana with their lemonade and cookies.

  “What I heard in church was the reading of the banns? What does that mean, exactly?”

  The older woman put her glass aside. “It means we’ve formally asked the parish for permission to marry, and if anyone knows a reason we shouldn’t, that person should say so in church to the parish. The priest will read the banns two more times, and if no one speaks, we will plan the wedding for next month.”

  “Does anyone ever get up and say, ‘These people can’t get married’ and stop things?”

  “I suppose it’s happened, but not that I’ve known about. I don’t think it’s going to happen this time, either.”

  “No, it looks like everyone is as excited about you two as Elizabeth and I are. The wedding will be next month? An August wedding, the perfect way to end the summer. I know you and Papa Behr will be happy and good for each other. He needs you, and so does Elizabeth.”

  “He does, and I need him. It’s a long time I’ve been alone. Married too young and widowed too young as well. Be good to have a man and a child to see to.” She gave Diana a long, level look. “With his papa settled and not all alone, that boy of his can look to his own future. As if he weren’t already thinking in that direction, with the pretty flowers, long walks in the evening. I see the way the two of you look at each other. I said I thought Adler had courting on his mind, and he does. What do you plan to do about it, hübsches Mädchen? It’s clear to anyone with eyes in his head your hearts belong to each other.”

  Diana watched the little group down at the duck pond for a moment, focusing more on Adler holding out a handful of bread to the greedy fowl than on the other two. How handsome he is in his pin-striped blazer and white pants. As she watched, he unbuttoned the jacket and slipped it off, rolled up his sleeve, and reached down into the pond. A moment later he held a tiny, wriggling bundle of yellow fluff in his hands. He held the duckl
ing up so Elizabeth could touch it with two tiny fingers, then released it back in the water.

  “It can’t work that way, Frau Hepple. We might have feelings for each other, at least enjoy being together for a little time, but we wouldn’t be compatible for long. We don’t see things the same way. You told me about Adler and Ursula, how she made a career for herself. He told me that the way things worked out was better. She wanted a bigger world, and he likes his life here. It would be the same for me. I’ve been making my own way for a long time, since I was nineteen. I love what I do, teaching young women to be capable of earning their living instead of having to accept marriage or the charity of family, their only other options. Adler, I guess because of Ursula, doesn’t like the idea of a woman working. He wants a woman who stays at home, bakes perfect bread, and has a new baby every other year. I couldn’t be that woman. I wouldn’t even want to think about that life.” She sighed, a hint of regret in her heart. “Not that it isn’t a good life. Just not mine.”

  Lotte Hepple patted her hand. “Erlich and I wasted good years, years we could have had together, because we were both too stubborn to meet each other halfway. I don’t know what halfway would be for you and Adler. He’s as stubborn as his papa, and not nearly as smart, but he’s a good boy. You keep talking to each other. Look for places where you see things alike. I think you’ll find more of them than you realize. You have to start with the one thing you can agree you both want, then go from there.” She pointed to the path where the two men and Elizabeth were making their way back to the restaurant. “I don’t want to see that young man lose the girl he loves twice.” She smothered a small chuckle. “Doesn’t it say something about the boy when you realize both times the girl he loved was the same kind? Smart, pretty, with ideas and dreams of her own? The same kind of dreams—independence, using her talent, going her own way. You and Ursula, two peas in a pod, except she was tall and dark haired with snapping black eyes, not small and blonde. Inside, though, just alike. Funny how Adler talks about one kind of girl but falls in love with another altogether.”

  “Not really funny. Just sad and unfortunate.” Diana sat up, observing the pleasure registering in Adler’s face as he escorted Elizabeth and his father back into the restaurant. Ursula and I, the same kind, smart and ambitious, but not wife material. Adler, why don’t you go out and look for that wife-and-mother model that you know you want? She’d make you happier than someone, as you described it, with her arms around her typewriting machine.

  ****

  The wedding was held four weeks after the third reading of the banns. Diana was amazed that so much preparation could be squeezed into so little time, but Lotte Hepple had a host of help. At five in the afternoon, on the third Tuesday of August, the churchyard of St. Hildegard was filled with the festive crowd. Long tables had been set up under the trees for what Trinka called “the sumptuous wedding dinner” that would follow the ceremony. Diana, sitting with Elizabeth at one side, watched in fascination as one lady after another placed bowls and tureens and Dutch ovens on the long tables.

  “Everybody in the whole town must be coming to see Papa and Oma Lotte get married.” Elizabeth watched one more plump lady squeeze one more long baking dish into the array on the table. “I guess everybody brought dinner.”

  The rich scent of baked apples rose on the breeze as the lid of the latest offering was lifted by a curious youngster, only to have his hand firmly pushed down to replace it.

  “There’s enough here to feed the county,” Diana agreed.

  “Are they going to get started pretty soon, Miss Diana? I’m awful anxious to see Oma Lotte. She said her dress is real pretty.”

  “Pretty soon, I think.” Diana saw Adler coming toward them, elegant in his dinner jacket and white waistcoat. “Adler will be able to tell us.”

  “We’re about to see Papa and Lotte make their appearance, ladies. May I escort you to the wedding?” He held out an arm to each of them.

  “You’re playing attendant to your father, Adler. Shouldn’t you be with him?”

  “Father Kuelpe is having a word with the bride and groom. I’ll dash back in just a minute.” He led them to the flower-covered archway with the long temporary altar in front of it. “I think it was a good decision to have the wedding in the church garden. We never would have managed to get this crowd into the church, and the heat would have been miserable on everybody.”

  “It’s beautiful out here.” Diana admired the sprays of flowers that banked the open square beside the church. “It looks just like Frau Hepple, all the flowers and greenery.”

  Adler laughed. “That better be the last time you call her Frau Hepple. She’s informed me that she’s very much looking forward to being Mama Behr to me and everyone else she regards as family. Everyone except Elizabeth, of course, who has special dispensation to call her Oma Lotte.”

  “I think I see your priest waving to you.” Diana drew his attention to the rotund man in robes at the far side of the grounds. “It must be time.”

  “I’ll tell three or four of the fellows to start shooing folks this way.” He put his hand over hers. “After the service I’ll join the two of you. Just wait here. Papa wants both of you to sit at the family table.”

  Diana would have declined; she was certain people would make assumptions, or at least speculate, about her presence at the family table, but Adler was gone before she could form the words. People began to fill the area, gathering in groups but leaving a wide swath of green open as a natural aisle. They became quiet, waiting, anticipation mounting, until two small boys bearing an elaborate cross came solemnly across the green, the hems of their white robes brushing the grass. The priest followed and took his place at the temporary altar. He nodded toward the far end of the garden, and the crowd turned in unison to see the bridal couple.

  Diana had to admit Lotte Hepple had outdone herself in the matter of a wedding dress. The clear sky blue of the silk messaline was exactly the color of her eyes. Its lavish embroidery must have cost her many hours of intense work, but the result was worth the effort. Though she hadn’t succumbed to fashion to the extent of raising her skirt higher than her ankles, she had adopted the current dropped waist, with a pleated band finishing the fichu-draped bodice. Her lace hat framed a face glowing with happiness.

  Hand in hand, the bride and groom approached the altar. Adler stood behind his father, their family resemblance made stronger by the similarity of their dinner jackets and white pique vests. Trinka, in a simple white dress with blue smocking at the neck and dropped waistline, made a pretty bridesmaid for her aunt. The four stood before the altar as the priest, his smile as broad as the rest of the wedding party, performed the age-old ceremony.

  As soon as the couple had been pronounced man and wife, Adler withdrew from the group and came to join Diana and Elizabeth. The little girl, her eyes wide with excitement, clutched his hand.

  “Now she really is my Oma Lotte, isn’t she? It’s o-fish-all.”

  “She is. It is official.” Adler took Diana’s hand in his free one. “Shall we go and congratulate them? If we can get through the crowd.”

  The newlyweds were in a fair way to be mobbed by their friends. Diana could barely see the edge of a blue lace hat that indicated the location of the bride.

  “Should we wait, let things settle down a little?”

  Adler picked Elizabeth up and guided Diana toward the knot of people. “If we wait, we’re likely to lose them completely. Come along. We want to ease them out of the pack and get them to their table. Otherwise we may be here till morning, waiting for everyone to make a toast.” He added ruefully, “They can’t start until we get Papa and Mama Behr in place. Since I have to make the first one, I’d better move the event along.”

  His prediction proved to be no exaggeration. Though she didn’t understand some of the speeches, since several from the older guests were in German, Diana was amazed at the number of them. Food was served in what seemed an unending feast, each course pu
nctuated by another round of toasts to the bride and groom. Then everyone waited as an ornate cake—gift of Cousin Bindler, Adler whispered to Diana—was brought to the side of the family table. Erlich and Lotte took their places beside it and, with a flourish, cut and shared the first piece. The buxom waitress from Bindler’s brought a stack of small plates, and the newlyweds retreated to let her serve the guests.

  The sun had dropped to the rim of the horizon, the evening had cooled, and the wedding party seemed content to sit back, chat, and fill their mugs from the kegs sitting behind a discreet wall of ferns. Lotte and Erlich went from group to group, table to table, visiting with their guests. Laughter filled the evening as oil lamps were lit along the length of the tables. Diana drew a long sigh and pushed away the cake plate.

  “I never saw so much food. Every bite of it was delicious. I don’t think I can even move after all this.”

  Adler pulled his chair closer. “One of the things I love about living here is the way everyone shares the events of life, the good and the bad. As if we’re all somehow part of each other’s family.”

  Diana didn’t want to let the conversation drift in that direction. She looked up at the early stars beginning to appear, the evening star especially bright in the late summer dusk.