“Brace yourself.” Eva was engulfed in a bear hug. “Isabella!”
Isabella took a step back and cupped Eva’s face in her chubby hands as she grinned with delight. “My baby girl.” She kissed Eva on both cheeks. “Leila told me you were home, but I didn’t believe it.”
“I’m here.” Eva laughed and kissed Isabella on the cheek. “You’re looking good.”
“I’m happy and fat.” Isabella laughed.
Zoe smiled as they switched from German to Italian. That was a language she knew a little, but not enough to understand what they were saying.
“Isabella, this is my friend Zoe.” Eva switched back to German.
“Hello, friend Zoe.” Isabella smiled and put her arm around Zoe.
“Is Aunty Marlene home?”
Isabella chuckled. “Aunty Marlene has been worrying what time you would arrive and told me to sit outside and wait. Where did you go?”
“Isabella, are they…?” Marlene Becker stepped out to the street.
Zoe stared in surprise as Eva ran towards Marlene. The only second time she had seen Eva run. The look on Marlene’s face was one of pure joy and Zoe couldn’t help but smile.
“Her second daughter has come home,” Isabella explained.
Zoe nodded. Marlene was of average height and had blond hair worn up in a bun. Even from where she was standing, Zoe could see her bright blue eyes and beaming smile. It was obvious to anyone who cared to look that Marlene truly loved Eva, and the feeling was reciprocated.
“And who is this?” Marlene stepped forward, still holding Eva’s hand.
“This is my friend and sister-in-law Zoe Lambros,” Eva said with a bright smile.
“Ah, yes. Leila did mention she had met your sister-in-law with you at the cemetery. Let’s go inside,” Marlene said, and they walked through the gate.
Zoe tried to hide her surprise at the opulent house as they walked up the driveway. She lost the battle as soon as soon as they stepped inside. The floors were white marble, and the cream-colored walls were lined with art. She stood with her mouth open in front of a Renoir.
“Breathe,” Eva sidled up to Zoe and whispered in her ear.
“Huh.” Zoe nodded and continued to gaze in amazement.
“In, out, in, out,” Eva gently teased. “Pretty,” she whispered.
Zoe turned to Eva, outraged. “That is a Renoir.”
“Yes, as I said, pretty.”
“You are terrible.” Zoe giggled. “I had never seen a real Renoir.”
“Now you have.” Eva tapped Zoe on the backside and laughed lightly.
“Hmm.” Zoe turned her attention back to the artwork.
Eva looked at the woman she considered a second mother and smiled shyly. Marlene smiled at them.
“Zoe, I’m going—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Zoe waved her hand as she went to the next piece of art and stared up in wonder. “Not going anywhere.”
Eva shook her head in mirth and followed Marlene into the parlor. Marlene closed the door and led Eva to the sofa, where they sat down. They looked at each other for a long time and then Marlene took Eva in her arms.
“You have been gone for too long, darling.”
“I know.”
“I missed you so much. We all did.”
“I didn’t want to come home.”
“Why? This is your home. No one can take that away from you.” Marlene stroked Eva’s hair. “Your mama may be gone, but I’m here. I will always be here for you.”
Eva took a shuddering breath. “Coming back was…” She paused as she tried not to let the tide of emotions overwhelm her. “She abandoned me.”
“It seems that way, but I never did. You had me, Evy. You had me and Leila.”
“Did Uncle John make it home?”
Marlene took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “No. He died in Africa.”
“I’m sorry, Aunty.” Eva put her arms around Marlene and hugged her. “Leila told me about Willie.”
“Ah, yes, my beautiful boy.” Marlene’s voice broke. “He asked for you.”
“He did?”
“Yes. He gave me something to give you when you came home. I’ll give it to you later.”
Eva nodded, not trusting her voice. They sat in silence for a long time.
“Where did you meet the young girl outside?”
“She’s my husband’s sister.”
“Is that right? My goodness you’re married again. When am I going to meet your new husband?
“Um…”
“You do want me to meet him, don’t you?”
Eva sighed and bowed her head. “Yes but I have to tell you something first.” Eva didn’t want to lie to Marlene. As much as she wanted to hide the truth from her, she also wanted to let Marlene know the whole truth. Eva sighed and braced herself for the shock that would soon register on Marlene’s face. She hoped Marlene wouldn’t be too disgusted by her and throw her out of the house. She cleared her throat. “Aunty, I’m a lesbian.”
Marlene didn’t react as Eva expected. She sat with her hands on her lap gazing at Eva. “I know you are, darling.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Are you disgusted? It would—“
Marlene took Eva’s hands and held them for a long moment. She sighed. “My darling girl, you don’t disgust me. I love you and I have met a few lesbians in my time. Disgust isn’t what I’m feeling right now. I feel gratitude that you are back home.”
Eva bowed her head and took a shuddering breath. Marlene tipped her face up and smiled at her. “Now, is the young lady outside really your sister-in-law?”
“Yes, she is. She’s also my lover.”
“So, where did you meet her?”
“In Greece,” Eva replied, and quickly glanced at the door.
“That crazy father of yours,” Marlene exclaimed. “I just could not believe he took you to a war zone.”
“I couldn’t believe it either.”
“So you met this girl in Larissa? She obviously likes art.” Marlene smiled. “She has good taste.”
“She’s an artist herself. She’s a huge fan of your work. I didn’t know that until she found out who you were.”
“Really? Hmm, is that all you’re going to tell me about her?”
“There is so much more to Zoe than I can say in a few words. You have to experience Zoe to really get a feel of what she’s like,” Eva replied as a smile creased her face.
“Is that so? Well then, I have to experience Zoe.”
“Aunt Marlene, would mutti have been disgusted with me?” Eva looked down at their interlocked hands and she couldn’t hide the sadness at Marlene’s deformed right hand. “Eva.” Marlene tipped Eva’s face up with her fingertips and gazed into her eyes. “The answer is no, she would not have been disgusted. Your mother loved you.” Marlene looked down at their hands. “She was scared for you.”
“Scared for me? What does that mean?”
“A mother wishes for her child to have a life that is full of joy and happiness. Your mother wanted you to be happy. She knew that your feelings for women were going to cause you pain.”
“She knew? So she was disappointed?”
“No, I didn’t say that,” Marlene corrected her. “She knew that once your father found out it was going to be a very bad time for you.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Eva muttered.
“What Daphne wanted in life was to see you happy. If you had married Willie, you would have been happy, but the war had other ideas.” Marlene sat back on the sofa and took Eva’s hand and held it on her lap.
“If the war hadn’t happened, I would have married Willie.”
“I know.” Marlene smiled. “I know how much you loved him. If we hadn’t had that lunatic little Corporal Hitler, we wouldn’t have gone to war, he wouldn’t have killed my son, and you would have been able to be together.”
“I nearly forgot how much you despised Hitler.”
“Hm
m. I’m constantly reminded of that raving lunatic.” Marlene sighed.
“Leila told me not to mention your hand,” Eva said as she took the disfigured hand into her own. “What happened?”
Marlene took a deep breath. “I need a cigarette to tell you that story. I want you to promise me that you will tell me about Zoe after this.”
“I will.” Eva pulled out her cigarette case from her handbag and offered a cigarette to Marlene and took one for herself. She lit both cigarettes with her lighter and she took a drag and exhaled.
“It was on the night the Brownshirts went mad,” Marlene related as she gazed at the unlit fireplace. “Your mother and I were together. I was teaching her how to draw.” She put the cigarette holder to her lips and took a drag. She exhaled and watched the smoke rise. “Your mother was atrocious at it,” she said with a slight smile. “But we had fun. We were drinking some wine and attempting to draw.”
“Were you at the house?”
“No. Here,” Marlene said. “That’s when the Brownshirts arrived and started to break the windows.”
“They broke the windows here? But you weren’t a Jew. Didn’t they know this was Colonel Becker’s residence?”
“They knew that Marlene Becker, the anti-Nazi artist, lived here.”
Eva put her hand over her mouth. “They wanted to kill you?”
“They did. Your mother tried to reason with them and identified herself as Major Muller’s wife, but they were animals.”
“That’s why Mama died?” Eva whispered and felt tightness in her chest.
“No.”
“They were not after your mother. They were after me. One of them took out his gun and shot my hand.” Marlene held up her hand and gazed at it. “He was going to shoot my other hand, but your mother pushed him.”
“My mother pushed him?”
“Yes, quite forcibly, to the point where his fellow lunatics were laughing.” Marlene closed her eyes for a moment. She wiped the tears that streamed down her face. “Your mother was courageous, Evy. She stood up to them for me.”
“He shot her.”
“Yes. That’s when they realized they had gone too far and ran out of here,” Marlene said in disgust.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Eva almost whispered and tried to blink away the tears that fell down her cheeks.
“Darling, how could it be your fault?”
“My stepfather blamed me.”
“Muller was always an idiot. He wasn’t an intelligent man.” Marlene said. “How could he possibly have blamed you when your mother was not even at your house. How could you have prevented anything? The man was a fool.”
“For years I thought it was my fault and no matter how I reasoned it, I still felt that it was.”
Marlene took Eva’s hand and held it. “It wasn’t your fault, darling. You were not to blame.”
“I don’t feel like talking about that now,” Eva said softly. She just didn’t want to think about that night. It was too painful.
“Then we won’t, but it wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that now,” Eva quietly replied and wiped her eyes.
“How about we talk about the ring on your finger?” Marlene asked, and held up Eva’s hand with the wedding band.
“Oh, that. I’m married,” Eva responded with a slight shrug.
“Hm. You don’t seem excited about that.” Marlene scowled. “What man could possibly replace my Wilhelm?”
“No man could replace Willie in my heart.” Eva smiled. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, since you are not going back to your hotel tonight but staying here instead, you can tell me this long story.”
“I’m not at a hotel.”
“Are you staying with your grandmother?”
“No.” Eva shook her head. “No, absolutely not.”
“So where are you staying?”
“That’s a long story as well.” Eva laughed gently as Isabella came into the room with a tea tray and Eva’s favorite cakes.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“What do you mean there is no phone?” Marlene asked as she sipped her cup of tea. Zoe had entered the parlor and was seated on an overstuffed chair after having feasted on the artwork.
“The phone was cut last night.”
“Why?”
Eva glanced at Zoe before she turned to Marlene. “Uncle Dieter decided to pay me a visit.”
“Dieter Muller? What was he doing at the place you are staying and how did he know you were there?”
Eva sighed. “This is such a long story I don’t even know where to start.”
“I know you were sent to Aiden under his care after your mother passed away. Your grandmother told me what happened with your father,” Marlene carefully said, as if gauging Eva’s reaction. “As I said, your father was not a very smart man. Beatriz was upset and said you were in Aiden to recover.”
“I was in Aiden to recover from the beating.”
“Your grandmother also said that you had severe melancholy after your mother’s death and that you were being treated by your Uncle Dieter.”
Eva gazed at Marlene for the longest time. She wasn’t even sure how to tell her what really happened. She felt Zoe’s hand against the small of her back in a sign of encouragement. “That isn’t the whole truth.”
“I didn’t think it was. I don’t trust Beatriz Muller, and I would say that the real story is much worse than that.”
Eva’s hand froze over a piece of cake on the platter. She sat back down and looked at Zoe, who had a horrified look on her face. “What did you say?”
“I said the real story must be heartbreaking. I just have to look at your face, darling. You have a very expressive face, and the mention of Aiden scares you. I can see it in your eyes. Yes, you were overcome with melancholy over your mother’s death, but there is more to this story, isn’t there?”
“Yes, there is.”
Marlene leaned across and took Eva’s hand. “What did they do to you?”
“Electric shocks and drugs,” Eva quietly said as she held back from the pain that overwhelmed her. She watched Marlene’s face for the disappointment she feared would happen, but it wasn’t there. Her eyes closed and Marlene sighed deeply.
“You were tortured for being a lesbian.”
“Yes.”
Marlene clutched her hands in her lap. “Daphne told me that you were different and that she feared for your safety.”
“She did?” Eva asked and glanced at Zoe, who looked equally surprised.
“Yes, we talked about a lot of things.”
“She was right.”
“She was. She was right about a lot of things.”
“What do you mean?”
“There was more to Daphne that anyone ever realized,” Marlene related quietly. “Your mother possessed a power—”
“My mother possessed a power? What kind of power?”
“How do you know this?” Zoe asked, and swiveled around on her knee to face Marlene, one hand clutching Eva’s shaking hand.
“She told me about the women in her family. She called it the curse, and it was something that she found terrifying. She told me that when she was younger one of her aunts came to visit—”
“Irene?”
“No, that wasn’t her name. Erika something.”
“Erika Faber?”
“Yes, I think that’s correct. Daphne overheard Erika and her mother talking about gifts. Erika told your grandmother that she knew Daphne was gifted and that somehow the gifts were split between Daphne and Tessa.”
Eva exhaled slowly and her heart beat a little faster. “This wasn’t normal, was it? I mean the gifts splitting?”
“Erika said to Grandmother Eva that this was not normal. Eva did not want to listen to any of it believing Erika was insane and it was the nonsense of the insane. The gifts had been split between the two daughters. Normally, from what Erika told your grandmother, what usually happened was that one of the daughters,
if there was more than one, would inherit these supernatural gifts, but with the Mitsos daughters, both girls received them.”
“My mother didn’t have either Eva or Theresa in her name…”
“Of course she did, darling,” Marlene replied. “You didn’t know your mother’s full name?”
Eva grimaced and shook her head.
“It was Eva Daphne, but because her mother’s name was Eva, Daphne used her middle name.”
“Sweet Mary, Mother of God,” Zoe exclaimed. “Both girls were given the names.”
“That was unusual?”
“It seems so. Theresa is now dead but—”
“She’s not.” Eva shook her head. “Theresa, my aunt, is not dead.”
“She’s not?” Marlene blinked in surprise. “Daphne was right.” She slapped her hand on the table. “Daphne was right. Your mother never believed that Tessa was dead. Never believed it.”
“Aunty Tessa was living in Thessalonica. My mother didn’t know where she was?”
“No. Your mother kept telling me that Tessa was not dead. She couldn’t be dead because she could still feel her.”
“Wow,” Zoe said.
“How do you know she’s not dead?”
“We are staying with her in Dahlem.”
“For the love of God.” Marlene put her hand on her heart. “In whose house?”
“My great aunt Irene’s. Do you know her?”
“No, I don’t believe…” Marlene stopped and gazed up at the crucifix hanging on the wall. “Your great great aunt was called Erika Faber?”
“Yes.”
“My Wilhelm received his last rites from a Father Johan Faber…” Eva stared at her, shocked. “He is your uncle?”
“Yes,” Eva whispered.
“Alright.” Zoe got up and shook her hands. “Now this is getting really scary.”
“There is nothing to be scared about, Zoe,” Marlene calmly said. “Father Johan was there for my Wilhelm every night after they brought him home. When he could, my son would talk to him. The priest stayed with him, slept near him. Never left his side. There isn’t anything to be scared about. That was an act of love.”
“I’m glad that Uncle Johan was there for Willie.”
Marlene nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. “Your mother asked me to give you a letter.”
Awakenings (Intertwined Souls Series Book 4) Page 27