The German Wife(23)

“I know, Lizzie. I do too. But you know what I love more?” I looked at her, and in the darkness, I saw the gentle smile she offered me. She reached across and squeezed my hand. “This family, honey. Family is everything. I thought I’d already taught you that.”

“You did,” I said. We weren’t the kind of family to say I love you or to express our feelings aloud, but she’d taught me in other ways. Even those hours she spent on the bench near the Texas live oak reinforced to me that what mattered in life was to love so deeply that sometimes you were truly tormented by it.

“The weather let us down, not the judge. At least he gave us a chance and he bought us two more years here. We should be grateful to him, not scared of him or angry with him. Knowing the judge as I do, I know he wouldn’t be demanding money from us unless he really needed it. I bet he’s as distressed about this as we are.”

There was strength and dignity in that statement that astounded me. I stared at Mother in the moonlight—all calm and compassionate, even though she’d just acknowledged she was on the verge of losing everything.

“How are you so strong?” I asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Lizzie. You are just like me. I know they say women are the weaker sex, but there’s nothing weak about the women in this family. The strength of generations runs through our veins. It doesn’t matter what life throws at us—we find a way to keep going. And it seems to me that those of us who are strong have an obligation to care for others when they aren’t.” Mother suddenly pushed herself to a standing position. “You aren’t going to solve this sitting out here on your own tonight. Let’s skip church tomorrow. We can drag Daddy and Henry out for a drive if the weather is good. Maybe they can get some perspective if we get them off the farm.”



12


Lizzie

Huntsville, Alabama
1950

I’d heard Calvin use a sharp tone a handful of times over all of the years of our marriage, but never before had it been directed at me. I didn’t quite know how to deal with it.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that this is insanity!” I blurted, pointing to his office window and the civilized party beyond it, still taking place on the lawn just a few hundred feet away. “They just bring a bunch of Nazi families here and let them roam free and think everything is going to be fine?”

“Not every German was a Nazi, Lizzie,” he sighed.

“But some of those men were,” I said quietly. Cal inhaled sharply. “I’m willing to play the game in public, but when it’s just you and me, I shouldn’t have to pretend I don’t know that.”

“You call that playing the game?” Cal said, waving vaguely toward the window overlooking the party. “This new program is a golden opportunity for Huntsville and it’s a golden opportunity for me. I need your support in this.” I scoffed impatiently, and Calvin threw his head back in frustration. “Do you even know who you were shouting at down there?”

“Does it matter?” I exclaimed.

“It was Sofie Rhodes, Lizzie. Jürgen Rhodes’ wife.” Oh hell. Out of all the German scientists, there were only a handful that Calvin seemed particularly awed by—and Jürgen Rhodes was right at the top of that list. “He’s waited five years for her to join him here, and before I even had the chance to introduce myself, you started an argument with her.”

“She started the argument with me,” I muttered.

“It doesn’t matter!” he shouted, and I startled in surprise. Calvin squeezed his eyes closed and drew in a shaky breath. “Lizzie, you’re my wife. Even if you can’t support me, I need you to pretend you’re behind me all the way.”

“I am behind you,” I snapped. “But you were outraged at all of this too a few years ago. These men didn’t change—you did.”

I spun on my heel and left his office, slamming the door behind me. My temper ran hot even as I walked from the office building, across the lawn, and back to the party. As I returned, I was pleased to see the Rhodes family walking across the lawn toward the cars. It felt a little like Sofie Rhodes was running from our argument, and that was infinitely satisfying.

But Brianna was crying, sitting awkwardly on Becca’s lap, her face pressed into her mother’s neck. My heart contracted at the sight of her. Over the years, I had grown so fond of Brianna, and her sister Ava too.

“What’s all this?” I asked her, taking the seat beside Becca. Brianna pointed to a nasty scrape on her knee.

“That German girl pushed me over.”

Just as my anger started to fade, it burst back. Becca was shaking her head in disgust.

“I didn’t see it but Avril did. She said some Kraut kid came barreling around the tree and just pushed Bri over. She didn’t even apologize.”

“Typical,” I muttered, shaking my head. I brushed a lock of Brianna’s hair back from her face and said quietly, “Don’t you worry about it, honey. You just stay away from those kids, okay? They’ll be at your school this week, but you don’t have to play with them. It’s not right that they’re here. You’re a nice girl, so I know you want people to like you, but you don’t have to go along with something when you know it’s not right.”