Far From Home

Chapter 11

On their first day in Berlin, Arielle accompanied Sebastien to the Red Cross office set up for refugees returning to Berlin, people looking for lost relatives, and those trying to apply for temporary living quarters because their homes had been bombed out. There were people living in shelters all over the city, in rugged conditions, with the sick, elderly, and mentally disturbed, and others with crying babies, all camping out together on cots, or wrapped in blankets on the floor.

At the Red Cross office, there were separate sections for survivors of the camps, for others looking for relatives, and assistance of all kinds. There were bulletin boards with endless lists and notices. The offices had begun to get lists of the dead from the camps. The number of names was shocking, literally hundreds of thousands of people had died. The Nazis had kept careful records. Some of the records had been burned in the final days of the war, but there hadn’t been time to burn them all.

The Red Cross was also referring people to other charitable organizations that had been set up to assist people with emigration to America and other countries.

There were translators available in Hungarian, Czech, Russian, French, and Polish to assist those who didn’t speak German. They were shorthanded in every department, and Arielle was glad she had gone with Sebastien. The volume of forms and printed information was overwhelming. The workers were well intentioned and well organized, but there were so many people lining up with such a wide variety of questions, issues, and problems that the volume of demands was almost impossible to keep track of. Thousands of immigrants, survivors, and people looking for missing family members were arriving in Berlin from other cities, desperate for help. Food was in short supply and chaos reigned everywhere. The lines were divided by camp and Auschwitz was the biggest, so the lines were longest requesting information about deaths and survivors there. Sebastien didn’t know which camp Naomi and Josephine had been sent to, so he stood on the general information line, which seemed endless. He had heard rumors that they had been sent to Auschwitz, but it had never been confirmed. There were a dozen possibilities, another being Ravensbrück, which was a women’s camp. It was purely guesswork to decide which organization to go to, and which camp to line up for. The walls were literally covered with lists of the dead.

Arielle stood in line for Sebastien wherever they went, so she could ask questions in German while he went to check the names of the dead. The names of his wife and daughter had not appeared on any list so far, which seemed like a hopeful sign, but the workers were processing so much information that it was possible the names just hadn’t been added to the lists yet.

Arielle and Sebastien went to two organizations the first morning, including the Red Cross, and two others that afternoon after a quick lunch from a food truck. At the second one of the afternoon, Sebastien was so overwhelmed by the noise, crowds, and tension that he felt dizzy and had to get some air while Arielle kept their place in line. There was the constant sound of people crying, which added to the sense of despair. The workers were kind and compassionate, but it was an overwhelming experience for everyone just being there. Arielle was glad to have come with him. And considering how many people they were dealing with, and the volume of inquiries, she was impressed that the relief associations were as organized as they were.

The information from Auschwitz was the most complete because the camp had been liberated three months before the others, in January, and the people handling the information had had more time to process it. Some of the other camps which had been liberated in April didn’t have a full grasp on their information yet, and lists of the dead were incomplete.

On the third afternoon, Sebastien and Arielle lined up for information from Auschwitz again. It was the fourth time they’d inquired, and Arielle doubted that they would get any new information, but she followed Sebastien’s lead. It was all guesswork as to which organization, which worker, and which line would provide the both desired and dreaded information.

Sebastien had written out slips with Naomi and Josephine’s information on them to hand to the worker they were talking to, with the dates of birth, date of deportation, and any pertinent details. The whole process was profoundly depressing. The workers were dealing in human lives, people with children, parents, professions, homes, their life stories reduced to names and numbers by the Nazis. They had treated them like sheep or cattle, with no human value whatsoever.

It was hot in the room where Arielle and Sebastien had lined up, and the weather was unseasonably warm outside. The room seemed airless with so many people in it, as their turn came after a three-hour wait on line. Sebastien handed the woman at the desk the two slips of paper with Naomi’s and Josephine’s names, and she checked new lists they had received the day before. She went down them with a practiced eye, with a ruler and a pencil, and suddenly her hand stopped, and Arielle’s heart along with it. The woman jotted something down, and then looked up at Sebastien, as he stood there, waiting. Arielle felt as though time had stopped and they were in a vacuum that had sucked the air out of them.

“We have one of your family members on today’s list, Mr. Renaud. Naomi Anna Katz Renaud, deceased at Auschwitz, November 9, 1941.” She wrote all the information down, even the crematorium number. “I’m very sorry. It wasn’t long after she arrived.” She spoke French to him so he understood immediately. He looked as though he had been shot as Arielle watched him with deep concern. Although he knew it was possible, even likely, hearing it was worse than he expected.

“Does it say anything about my daughter?” he asked in a shaking voice, as Arielle squeezed his hand. She was almost afraid to touch him, as though she might break him if she did. He tried to remain calm, as he asked about Josephine. She checked the list again and shook her head.

“No, we have no Josephine Renaud on the list.” He thanked her, took the piece of paper she handed him, put it in his pocket, and walked outside without saying a word. When they got to the street, there were tears rolling down his cheeks, and he looked at Arielle with all the pain of the world in his eyes. What he was going through was almost too much to bear.

“It’s over,” he said softly. “At least I know. I can mourn Naomi properly now. She died in the gas chamber, and I know when. I wonder if Josephine was with her, and they didn’t bother to put her on the list because she was a child.” But they had listed children too.

“If that’s true,” Arielle said somberly, “at least they were together.”

“Naomi was very brave. She might not even have been afraid, and she would have comforted Josephine.” They walked down the street then for a long time, without talking. He was processing what he knew now, and Arielle was glad she was with him. She wouldn’t have wanted him to be alone. And they still had to keep searching for his daughter on the lists, but at least he knew about Naomi now, and she could rest in peace.

They walked back to their hotel, and Sebastien stayed in his room that night and didn’t come out for dinner. Arielle used the time to call some of Marianna’s old friends. They were surprised to hear from her. She wondered if they knew that Marianna’s father had been executed as a traitor, but it didn’t matter. She asked if they had seen Marianna or knew where she was living, or where she worked, if she had a job. They all said they were sorry, but none of them knew anything. Arielle told them the hotel where she was staying in case they saw Marianna anywhere, and then she thanked them and hung up.

She lay awake for a long time that night, thinking about Naomi, Marianna, and Josephine. It seemed unlikely now that they would find Josephine alive, if her mother had been killed so soon after she arrived. An eleven-year-old wouldn’t have been much use to the Nazis. She had been too young to do hard labor, or work productively. All Sebastien and Arielle could do was hope that if she was alive, they’d find her, and that Arielle would find Marianna soon. She knew Marianna would know where Viktor was. She had called the German war office but it was closed. They had all suffered for long enough. Marianna needed her mother, and Josephine needed her father, and they needed their daughters. They needed some relief from the agony of the situation and constantly dashed hopes and dead ends.

—

They spent another endless day the following day, on long lines. Sebastien had left his contact information at each organization where they went. He was very quiet after he learned of Naomi’s death, and after a fruitless day searching for news of Josephine, they went back to the hotel, and found a message for him from the Red Cross. There was a name and a phone number to call and nothing else. He was almost too tired to return the call, and Arielle offered to do it for him. When Arielle called, the woman on the phone asked if she could speak to Sebastien Renaud. She said she spoke French, and Arielle handed him the phone. He looked exhausted while he listened, it had been the most draining week of his life. And then suddenly, as though an electric current had run through him, she saw him sit up straight and he looked at her with wild eyes.

He grabbed a pen and notepad, and jotted something down. “You’re sure?” he asked the woman at the other end. “Fine. Yes. Of course. Can I go now? Thank you very much.” He hung up the phone and stared at Arielle.

“She’s here, in Berlin. She was sent from Auschwitz to Ravensbrück in 1942, and she was there ever since, it’s primarily a women’s camp. She was liberated on April 30, and she’s been in the hospital. She was too weak to tell them her name until a few days ago, so they didn’t have records, and they hadn’t added her to the list of survivors. The Red Cross just got her information, and it clicked for the person who saw it and had written my name down. I’m going to see her. Do you want to come? She’s at a facility called the Jewish Hospital.”

“I know where that is. It’s not far. Do you want me there? I don’t want to intrude,” Arielle said cautiously. He nodded, stood up, grabbed his jacket, and put it back on. He rushed to the door, and Arielle followed him. It struck her that Ravensbrück was only ninety kilometers outside Berlin. Josephine had been so near all along, and so far. Arielle wondered how long it would have taken them to connect her to Sebastien if he hadn’t been so persistent. He had lost Naomi, but now Josephine had returned to him. It was an incredible gift.

Sebastien didn’t speak at all in the taxi on the way to the hospital. He couldn’t. He stared unseeing out the window, and held Arielle’s hand.

When they got to the hospital, they went in the main entrance, and Arielle translated for him at the front desk and explained that these were special circumstances when the clerk started to tell her that visiting hours were over. Josephine was in the ICU, and when Arielle finished explaining the situation to the woman at the desk, she stood up and said she would escort them herself. She had a colleague take over when they reached another floor, and the second woman led the way with quick firm steps and sympathetic glances at Sebastien.

“What did you tell them?” he whispered to Arielle.

“That she just got out of the camps and you haven’t seen her in four years,” she said seriously. “The first woman tried to tell me that visiting hours were over, so I told her the truth.”

They reached the ICU very quickly, thanked their escort, and went to the nursing desk. Arielle translated again, and the three nurses on duty at the desk looked at Sebastien with awe.

“She’s been here for six weeks,” one of them said. “We only learned her name two days ago, and we notified the Red Cross immediately.”

“They just called her father this afternoon. He spoke to them twenty minutes ago. He hasn’t seen her in four years,” Arielle said with tears in her eyes.

“She’s still quite ill, but she’s better than she was when she came in. The doctor can speak to Mr. Renaud after he sees her.” Arielle translated what she said, and the head nurse led them to the cubicle where Josephine lay, hooked up to a multitude of monitors. She was a slight figure under the covers, and barely made a ripple in the bed. Her arms were skin and bones and her face was gaunt, and deathly pale. Her head had been shaved but her hair was growing out in soft blond curls that looked like peach fuzz. And on the inside of her bare arm, they could clearly see the number the Nazis had tattooed on her arm at Auschwitz. It was the only camp that used tattoos, Arielle knew now.

The nurse whispered to Arielle as they hung back in the doorway, “She weighed fifty pounds when she came in. We have her up to sixty now.” Sebastien approached the bed, and Josephine’s eyes fluttered open and she stared at him.

“Je rêve, Papa?” she asked him in a whisper. Am I dreaming, Papa? His eyes filled with tears as he shook his head.

“Non, tu ne rêves pas, ma chérie.” You’re not dreaming, my darling . He bent down and kissed her, and the big blue eyes he remembered so perfectly were bigger than ever in her tiny sunken face. She looked like a young child as she lay there and smiled at him. He sat down in a chair next to her, and they held hands and didn’t speak. There was too much to say. Arielle had to leave the room, she was crying so hard as she watched them. They were the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. A father and his daughter, returned from the dead, a moment filled with love and hope and four years of prayers finally answered. She waited in the hall for him, and he came out an hour later, wiping the tears from his eyes, and he hugged Arielle tight. He wished the same for her, that she would also find her daughter and son. It had been the most precious moment of his life, and worth all the pain it had caused him. He had never given up hope. He had lost Naomi, but found their daughter. It was like her final gift to him from the grave.

The doctor was waiting to see him, but didn’t want to intrude either. He knew the story, and just the condition Josephine was in was enough. They had taken photographs of her when she came in, for the war trials.

The doctor spoke French, so the two men could converse directly, but Sebastien wanted Arielle to stay.

“I’m not sure it’s the right thing to say in a case like this, but your daughter has been very lucky. She has no permanent internal damage. Except for dysentery when she came in, which she has probably had for a long time, her organs are functioning normally. There is evidence of fractures of both arms, but they healed properly. She lost some teeth from malnutrition, but that can be fixed. She has digestive problems from the severe malnutrition which may trouble her for a while, but I think that with time and good care and nourishment, she will recover. We’d like to keep her here for some time, until we can get her weight up to a more normal range, and continue to observe her. She is an amazing young woman. She’s vulnerable to infections with her weight so low, so I’d like to keep her here for a month or two. And there will be no charge of course for any medical services. We are proud to help her to a full recovery.” The doctor’s voice shook with emotion, and so did Sebastien’s when he answered and thanked him. Other nurses were gathering in the halls, and some doctors, and they all came to congratulate him on the return of his daughter and vowed to do everything they could to help her.

Sebastien looked in on Josephine again after the doctor left, and she was sleeping soundly. He bent and kissed her forehead and she flinched at first and then smiled in her sleep. He left the room, and he and Arielle left the hospital together. When they got outside, Sebastien stopped and pulled Arielle into his arms and stood there holding her, sobbing with relief and the release of four years of terror and agony.

“I thought I’d never see her again,” he said when he stopped crying, took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. “Thank you for being the best friend in the world and coming with me. And now you have to go and find Marianna and Viktor.”

“I’m sure Viktor is still with the army somewhere. He could be anywhere in Germany, in a prisoner of war camp. But the Allies will treat them well. And I still have some people to call who might know where Marianna is. I’ve called her parents-in-law several times, and they don’t answer. I wonder if they’ve left Berlin until the madness is over. They have a country home in the Black Forest, they might be there. I don’t have that number. But I have other people to call. I just feel so strongly that she’s here somewhere. I’m ashamed to think that that terrible place was so close to Berlin and we never knew what was happening there.” All over Germany, people were saying that about the various camps in proximity to them. But his daughter was back, and whether or not people knew no longer mattered. What mattered was that Josephine was alive and that it would never happen again.

Sebastien went to the hospital to see Josephine the next morning and planned to stay with her all day. Arielle said she’d stay at the hotel to make some calls. She still had some old friends of Marianna’s she wanted to call to see if they’d heard from her. And Jürgen’s parents still didn’t answer. She was sure that they had taken refuge at their country home. She assumed that Gregor’s schloss had been taken over by the SS, and didn’t bother to go there. Marianna wouldn’t have gone there.

She spoke to Marianna’s old friends, but no one had seen her in years. She had led a busy life with Jürgen. She was married and they weren’t. She had been the first of her friends to marry, which had separated her from them, and then the war.

Arielle went for a walk in the afternoon to clear her head and Sebastien called her when she got back to her hotel room.

“How’s Josephine?” she asked him.

“She sleeps a lot, but she says nothing hurts her. She’s so thin. They’re feeding her intravenously and giving her supplements. She says they’re disgusting.” He laughed, and it was good to hear him laughing. He had been so serious, and sometimes so sad for all the time she’d known him. “I feel like Naomi sent her back to me. Maybe she watched over her for the last four years. It’s a miracle that she survived. I don’t know how she did. They had her breaking rocks, paving roads, and digging graves. She doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“That sounds pretty normal. I can’t wait to get to know her when she’s feeling better.”

“Some of the nurses brought her balloons today, and a teddy bear and some flowers. Everybody loves her.”

Arielle called two more of Marianna’s friends after that. They were the last two she could think of, friends from years ago when Marianna was in her early teens. She had changed schools after that and the girls had lost sight of each other. But Arielle was willing to try anyone.

When she called the last one, Ursula, known as Ushi, she was happy to hear from Arielle. “God, isn’t it a mess here?” she commented about the state of the city. She was surprised to get a call from Marianna’s mother.

“As a matter of fact, I did see her a few months ago.” As she said it, Arielle’s heart started to race. It was the first positive answer she’d had. “I went slumming with some boys I know, and we went to an awful beer garden. Marianna was working there, which surprised me. We didn’t really get a chance to talk. She was busy, and the boys I was with got horribly drunk and rowdy and they told us to leave. But she gave me her address. She said she didn’t have a phone, but to write to her or drop by and we’d go to lunch. I never called her. My mother’s been sick, and I’ve been taking care of her. How did you lose track of Marianna? Some kind of family feud?” Ushi had always been nosy and loved to gossip.

“No, I’ve been in France for the last year, and we lost track of each other.”

“France must have been a lot better than here. They managed to liberate Paris without blowing it up, and everyone was kissing in the streets and throwing flowers. They went totally crazy here. My mother won’t even let me leave the house.”

“That’s very smart of her. Stay home and be careful. It’s dangerous outside, with all the soldiers in the streets.”

“I suppose. Give my love to Marianna when you find her,” Ushi said, and Arielle looked at the address she’d written down. It was a bad neighborhood, and what was Marianna doing working in a beer garden? Why did Jürgen let her do that? She grabbed her bag and hurried out, with the slip of paper still in her hand, found a taxi, and gave the driver the address. She had the address of the beer garden too. But she decided to try the apartment first. When she got there, several of the houses on the street had been bombed out, others had only minimal damage. Marianna’s building looked like it had been battered for a long time, but none of the damage looked new. Arielle hurried up the rickety steps, found the outer door was open, and looked at the list of apartments and tenants. Marianna’s name was on the list as Auspeck, her maiden name. Arielle walked up to the third floor and rang the doorbell. She could hear women’s voices inside, and a tall, buxom blond woman came to the door and seemed surprised to see Arielle. The blonde had a good figure and was wearing slacks and a halter top that showed off her bosom, and there was a redheaded young woman right behind her.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m looking for Marianna von Springer,” which was her married name, “or von Auspeck.” Marianna had walked all over Berlin that afternoon, looking for her mother, and was lying on her bed, trying to cool off, with blisters on her feet.

Claudia realized immediately who she was, and smiled at Arielle. Both women knew that Marianna had been looking for her mother, had gone to France and come back to Berlin to find her, and had had no luck so far. Claudia put a finger to her lips, and beckoned Arielle to come in.

“Marianna,” she called out, “there’s a delivery for you.”

“You take it,” a familiar voice answered. “I can’t walk another step, my feet are killing me.”

“You have to sign for it yourself,” she shouted back, and the door to a bedroom opened and Marianna came out in a black skirt and white blouse and bare feet. She glanced at her roommates and then looked right past them to what looked like a vision to her. Her mother was standing there looking as neat and clean and beautiful as ever, with her arms held out, and Marianna flew right into them and almost knocked her down. They were both crying and so were the two roommates, watching them.

“I looked everywhere for you, Mama, where were you? I went to all the places where we used to go. I went to Villier and Jeanne and Louis told me you were here to find me, so I came back three days ago.”

“I got here five days ago. I’ve been in Normandy since last July.”

“I thought maybe you were with Jeanne and Louis, but you weren’t.”

“I had to lie low because of the Occupation. I didn’t know if they were looking for me because of your father, and it was too dangerous for any of us to call you. And as soon as Berlin was liberated, I came to find you, after a few weeks to let things cool off here. What are you doing here in this apartment?” Claudia and Hedi had discreetly removed themselves to Claudia’s room so mother and daughter could catch up after a year. “Where’s Jürgen, and why did you give up your apartment? And I saw that you’re using your maiden name on the tenant list downstairs. What’s going on?”

There was a lot to cover. “Jürgen was killed in September, and his parents were upset about Papa. They said that I was a disgrace and an embarrassment for their son. When he was shot down, they told me to leave the apartment in two days, and they wouldn’t let me go to his funeral. So I had to get a job and I moved here.”

“Oh, darling, I’m sorry about Jürgen and about his parents treating you that way.” Arielle was outraged at the thought of it, and sad to hear that he was dead. He was a lovely boy. “You can stay with me at the hotel if you want. It’s not great but I’d love to have you with me.”

“I’d like that too.” Marianna looked strange for a minute. “I went past Jürgen’s parents’ house. Their whole street was bombed and their neighbor thinks they were both killed. He wasn’t sure.” Arielle looked shocked. It explained why their phone hadn’t been answered. Marianna didn’t say anything else about it. She didn’t want to talk about Jürgen’s parents anymore. They had been cruel to her and made Jürgen’s death so much worse for her.

“How long are you staying in Berlin?” Marianna asked. She didn’t want to lose her mother again, but the danger for her was over.

“I’ll stay as long as you need me. And I have to find Viktor. Do you know where he is? Is he in Berlin?” She smiled at her daughter and there was a long silence, as Marianna looked at her and Arielle’s smile faded quickly. She could sense terrible news coming.

“He was killed in January in the Ardennes. They didn’t send him home. They buried him there,” Marianna said, as tears rolled down her cheeks and Arielle’s and they held each other.

“I didn’t even know,” Arielle said miserably. “No one could notify me because I was hiding from the Germans in Normandy. I was safe there.” They cried for a while, and clung to each other. They’d had so many losses, Gregor, Jürgen, Viktor—but at least they were together again.

Hedi and Claudia came out of Claudia’s room dressed for work and they had to leave.

“I’m going to stay with my mother tonight,” Marianna told them, and they smiled and said good night to them both.

“They seem like nice girls,” Arielle said after they left.

“They are. They’re just different from the girls you’re used to. How did you find me?” Marianna couldn’t believe her mother was there with her. It was a dream come true.

“I called Ushi, after everyone else I could think of. She told me about the beer garden and gave me your address. I came here as soon as I hung up. Do you want to stay here?” she asked, looking around. “You could stay at the hotel, or we could get an apartment for a short time. Nothing expensive, but in a safer location. Or we can go right back to Normandy if you want.” There was nothing to keep them in Berlin now. They had no home there, and they had found each other.

“I’m not ready to leave Berlin yet,” Marianna said quietly.

“Oh?” Arielle was surprised.

“I met someone about a month ago. He’s American, a lawyer and a captain in the army. I want you to meet him.” Her husband had been dead for nine months, his family had rejected her, and it wasn’t totally inconceivable in wartime that she had met someone else. Life moved at a fast pace in wartime, which Arielle was well aware of.

“I assume he’ll go back to America eventually,” Arielle said cautiously.

“He’s leaving in three months. He’s visiting the camps this week, and helping to prepare the war trials.”

“He sounds interesting.” Arielle tried to keep an open mind. She had a lot of information to process. A great deal had happened in the last eleven months.

She talked to her mother about Tim then, and how protective he was. “He’s not like Jürgen. He’s not a boy, he’s a man.” Arielle liked the sound of that. Gregor had been a man too, there was a difference.

They sat talking about Viktor then. Arielle still couldn’t believe her son was dead. She needed time to think about it and absorb it. It seemed so unreal.

“Do you have to work tonight?” she asked her.

“I took two weeks off to look for you. Tim wants me to get a better job in a better neighborhood.” Arielle didn’t disagree with him, and she hadn’t even seen the beer garden. The idea of it for Marianna terrified her.

“Why don’t you pack a bag? You can sleep in my room at the hotel tonight,” she said, and Marianna scurried off on her blistered feet to get her things together, and was ready a few minutes later.

They walked down the stairs together and Arielle hugged her again. She couldn’t believe she’d been lucky enough to find her. She’d been so afraid she wouldn’t, and would have to go back to Normandy without her. And it sounded like Marianna didn’t want to leave Berlin. It appeared that she was serious about the American she had met. Arielle had just found her and didn’t want to lose her again, but she wanted her to be happy too. And it would be a long time before Berlin’s wounds would heal and the country would be healthy again. Gregor had been right. Hitler had nearly destroyed them.

“I don’t want to live here anymore, Mama,” Marianna said in the taxi on the way to the hotel, as they surveyed the damage of all the bombed-out buildings.

“They’ll rebuild it,” Arielle said sadly, thinking about Viktor. She had the joy of finding Marianna mixed with the grief of losing her son. It was so typical of life to win one thing and lose another, and a delicate balance as to whether life was more happiness or sorrow. Like Sebastien finding out Naomi had died and that Josephine was alive. The balance of life.

“Do you want to stay in Normandy, Mama?” Marianna asked, and Arielle thought about it.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I could ever be happy in Berlin again without your father, and so many sad things happened here. Normandy is a little quiet. I’ve been thinking about Paris, but I wanted to find you first and see what you’re going to do now that the war is over. I assumed you’d be here with Jürgen. You can never predict what surprises life will give you. Where does your American friend live?”

“New York.” Arielle nodded, thinking about it. Berlin had always been home, and now Arielle was thinking about France and even giving up her German citizenship after the Germans killed Gregor, and Marianna was talking about New York. Everything had changed with the war, and Gregor and Viktor were gone, which was the biggest change of all.

“A friend of mine came to Berlin with me,” she told Marianna before they reached the hotel. “He was looking for his daughter too. He was married to a Jewish woman, in Paris, and she and their daughter were deported four years ago. He could never find out what happened to them. He finally found out yesterday. His wife died at Auschwitz, and his daughter was rescued from Ravensbruck. She’s in a hospital here, and she’s alive, it’s a miracle. She’s fifteen.”

“How terrible,” Marianna said, and then asked her mother bluntly, “Are you in love with him?” They had always been open with each other.

“No, we’re just good friends. It helped me get through this year. And we were in the Resistance together.”

“Mama!” Marianna looked shocked. “Did you kill anybody?”

Her mother smiled. “No, I just translated German documents. And he was a forger, altering passports to help Jewish children escape.”

“He sounds interesting,” Marianna said, looking out the window. It was odd how drastically things changed and how your life could turn out so differently than you expected it to. She thought she’d be married to Jürgen forever, and he’d survive the war, and they’d have babies afterward. And she’d expected her father to live forever too, and Viktor. She’d had a triple loss.

They arrived at the hotel then, and Marianna went upstairs with her mother. They talked for two hours about everything they had missed for the last year, and Sebastien knocked on Arielle’s door as they were finishing sandwiches from room service.

“Am I disturbing you?” Sebastien asked politely when she opened the door. “I wanted to tell you how Josephine is doing. She was better today.”

Arielle opened the door wider so he could see into the room. “There’s someone I want to introduce you to, my daughter, Marianna.” He looked stunned to see her, and beamed at Arielle, as Marianna came to shake his hand.

“Congratulations on finding your daughter,” she said warmly.

“Thank you. How did you two find each other?”

“I got lucky,” Arielle explained. “One of her old school friends knew where she works, and where she lives, so I went to her apartment and she was there.” And then her face grew serious. “We lost Viktor, in January in the Ardennes.” She was still getting used to the idea. It didn’t seem real yet.

“I’m so sorry for both of you. We lose some people, and then we find others,” as he had with Josephine. “I’m so grateful you two found each other.”

Arielle put an arm around her daughter, and Marianna held her tight. “We are too,” they both said. He left them alone to enjoy each other a few minutes later. Arielle and Marianna slept together that night, curled up like two puppies in the same bed, as though they’d never left each other, and would never lose each other again. Arielle was trying not to think of the American army captain from New York, who might take Marianna away. It was too soon to worry about that. She wanted to savor every moment with her daughter now that they were together again. The rest could wait.