The Other Einstein(33)
As I left them behind in the parlor, I heard Mrs. Engelbrecht speaking to Albert. “You have become quite a fixture here, Mr. Einstein. I might have to begin charging you for the many hours you’ve spent in my parlor.”
Mrs. Engelbrecht didn’t sound as though she was making polite chatter. I paused to listen to their exchange.
It took Albert a long minute to respond. “I am sorry if I’ve upset you, Mrs. Engelbrecht. I always make certain to leave before dinner commences or visit only after dinner is over, as are your house rules.”
“You are always careful to obey the letter of the law, Mr. Einstein, but I fear you have no intention of obeying the spirit of it.” Her voice grew harder and colder; she nearly seethed. “Take heed to obey the law in its entirety as it pertains to Miss Mari?. She is in my charge, and I am a watchful crow.”
Chapter 13
July 27, 1900, and August 10, 1900
Zürich, Switzerland, and Ka?, Serbia
The steam from the train billowed throughout the station. For a brief second, it filled the air between me and Albert, and I lost sight of him. I felt his hand reach for mine, and we giggled at the impossibility of being invisible to one another while standing only inches apart.
The thick puffs of smoke slowly cleared from the air, revealing him in stages. The thicket of chocolate-colored curls on his head first. The mustache hiding full lips next. And finally, his deep brown eyes, beseeching me for insights, kisses, promises, everything, and nothing. I would miss those looks in the days to come.
“It will only be two short months, my beloved sorceress,” he said.
Beloved sorceress, little escapee, ragamuffin. I had become much more than just Dollie. Albert had a host of names for the bohemian intellect he believed me to be. He adored that I was different from all the other women he knew, particularly the ones with whom he’d be spending the next two months: his sister, mother, aunt, and their insipid cronies. I had tried my hardest to become his ideal, no matter the toll it took on my studies.
“I know, Johnnie. They will be busy ones for me, so hopefully, they will pass quickly. But still…”
Albert could afford to lounge these summer months away. By cramming with the notes I’d taken during all the classes he’d skipped, he had passed the oral final examination for his diploma; only his dissertation remained, should he choose to finalize it. But not me. The term in Heidelberg—which now seemed so silly, running from the inevitable—combined with all our extra, noncurricular research projects meant that I was one step behind him. He could move forward, look for work, or research more deeply the subjects we worked on together, while I needed to take my final exams next July when they were next offered. To make the extra time worthwhile, I had decided that I would spend the upcoming year not only studying for my exams but also working on my dissertation with Professor Weber. That way, when I finished, I would have both my physics degree and my doctorate.
“But still…” He echoed my lamentation but didn’t need to say anything more. That morning, he had listed all the things he’d miss while we were apart. The long afternoons in our quest to understand the rules of the universe. The stolen kisses and hugs when we were certain the omnipresent Mrs. Engelbrecht was occupied.
The summer months would be busy but hard for me. While he’d be hiking with his family in the picturesque towns of Sarnen and Obwalden, I’d be squirreled away studying at the Spire in Ka? with only Papa, Mama, Zorka, and Milo? for sporadic company. Funny how the place I used to love above all else had become a lonely exile. My future was standing before me, and I hated to leave his side even for an instant.
The train released another pillar of steam, and we lost sight of each other a final time. I felt Albert’s arms around my waist, and in the momentary veil of fog, he kissed me. Longing surged through me, and I thought of all the nights we exercised such restraint.
“How did I get so lucky as to find you? A being as bold and intelligent and single-minded as myself,” he whispered into my ear.
I felt his hand at my back, guiding me toward the steps to my train car. I hurried to my seat, so I could get one last glimpse of him from the window. There he stood, looking sad and forlorn on the platform, bags piled all around him. His train would not leave for another three hours, but he insisted on coming to the station with me and waiting. Zürich, he said, held nothing for him without me.
? ? ?
“Miss Mari?, dinner is served.” Our new kitchen servant, Ana, called up the stairs to the attic, where I’d been holed up for the better part of three weeks. I knew the servants thought I was strange to be reading instead of socializing or strolling like the other ladies. I saw their sidelong looks at the tomes I read and the time I spent alone.
“I’ll be right down,” I called back.
I wanted a few more minutes with the letter I’d just received from Albert. I knew my parents would ask about him, and Zorka and Milo? were sure to tease me. I needed to be calm and unruffled to withstand the assault of my brother and sister and deflect Zorka with questions about school and Milo? with queries about his favorite games. I couldn’t risk bursting into tears when they asked me about it.
Had Albert really written such upsetting lines? Didn’t he know that it would torture me to know every detail of his mother’s dramatic reaction when he told her we planned to get married? The image of his mother throwing herself down on her bed, crying hysterically at the news, and then hurling insults about me—that I would destroy his life and that I was entirely unsuitable for him—was almost unbearable. I knew now his parents wanted a Jewish wife for him or, at the very least, a Germanic one who would coddle him like his mother always had, but I didn’t think either one of us expected this sort of tantrum. Her prejudices against me were many: my Orthodox Christian upbringing, my intellect, my Slavic heritage, my age, and my limp. Everything I suspected the first night I met her and more.