When Stars Light the Sky (The Women of Midtown #2)
Prologue
N EW Y ORK C ITY · 1898
America was supposed to be the land of opportunity, but it seemed more like a land of hunger and confusion to Inga. Huddled on the cold floor of the empty church, she tried to calm her breathing because even the tiniest noise sounded loud in the dark, echoey chamber. It didn’t feel right to sneak inside a church, but she was only ten years old and always obeyed her parents.
Papa had been robbed ten minutes after they left Ellis Island, which was why they had to sneak into the church to sleep. All three of them wore their coats, hats, and scarves, but it was still cold. Why was November in New York so much colder than November in Bavaria?
Papa lay slumped against the steamer trunk, his fist clenched around its handle even in sleep. That trunk contained the only items of value they had left: Papa’s hammers, tongs, tacks, and scissors for making shoes. Mama slept with their canvas bag of clothing strapped across her shoulders like a packhorse. Inga curled around her satchel, hoping dawn would come before a scary priest or nun turned them out into the night.
Nobody found them. By morning she was so stiff it hurt to sit up, and yet the way the sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows tinted the church with a rosy-gold shade so pure it gave her hope.
“What are you smiling about?” Papa groused. He always complained when she smiled for no reason because people might think she was simpleminded.
Inga scrambled for a reason to be happy. “Even though we’re poor, we just got to spend a free night in the fanciest church in the world.”
The comment caused a spurt of laughter from Mama. Making people laugh had always been Inga’s special gift. Some people were great shoemakers like her father; others were smart or could play instruments. But Inga’s gift was to cheer people up. That had been especially important over the past year when life became increasingly bleak after her sister died and then people stopped buying Papa’s shoes because the factory-made shoes were so much cheaper.
“Shhh!” Mama warned, the harsh command echoing in the church. Someone was coming, and they weren’t ready to leave yet.
Inga held her breath as two people entered the church. The fabulously dashing man and the lady beside him headed straight toward a bank of votive candles near the front of the church. The lady knelt, and the man tossed a coin into a metal box, the clang ringing out in the silence. He proceeded to light a few votive candles. The flickering light illuminated the couple.
They were rich ! The man wore a silk top hat, and the lady had a diamond comb in her hair.
The man shook out the match after lighting a bunch of candles, then tossed another coin in the collection box and lit another match. He kept lighting candles until the entire rack was ablaze with light. He knelt beside the woman and whispered something in her ear that caused her to giggle. He laughed too, a hearty sound from deep in his belly, although soon the couple quieted and started praying again.
They seemed so devout ... until the woman let out an ungainly snort and broke into helpless peals of laughter again.
Laughter was contagious, and Inga clamped a hand over her mouth. Her father shook a warning finger at her, though Inga couldn’t tear her eyes away from the rich people at the front of the church. What were they laughing about?
Eventually the man rose to his feet and adjusted his coat. He then helped the lady to rise.
“Quick, hide,” Papa whispered. He scooted behind a statue of a saint being tortured by an arrow, beckoning Inga to follow. Yet she couldn’t leave the satchels. What if someone stole them?
The couple strode down the aisle, and the man spotted her. Anxiety took hold within Inga as he blanched in surprise, then started to close in on her, the corners of his mouth turning down beneath his clipped, dark mustache. He rambled a stream of words in a language she didn’t know.
“I’m sorry,” she said in German. “I don’t understand.”
“ Bist du Deutsch? ” the man asked.
“ Ja ,” she confirmed, and before she could say anything else, Papa was beside her, assuring the stranger they would leave soon and meant no harm. Papa scooped up one of the satchels beneath his arm, then tried to hoist the trunk behind his shoulder. But it was too heavy, and it banged on the floor.
“ Keine sorge , der himmel wird nicht fallen ,” the stranger said. His accent was terrible, but a sense of well-being settled over Inga. Don’t worry, the sky won’t fall , he had said. It was the same thing her grandmother always said, and she grinned.
The man gave a hearty laugh and continued speaking in German. “Now that’s the sweetest smile we’ve seen all day. Isn’t it, Mary?”
“Yes indeed,” the rich lady said. “Such pretty blond curls you have, my dear.” The lady’s German was heavily accented too. She had ropes of pearls around her neck, and she smelled like lilacs. “Come sit down and tell us why you had to spend the night in a church,” the lady prompted.
The rich people introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Gerard. They didn’t look like the sort who needed to trick strangers out of all their money, so her father told them of their sad tale of how they had lost their savings as soon as they got off the ship. A stranger offered to exchange their German marks with American dollars for a better rate than offered at any bank. The stranger was German, so they trusted him. It wasn’t until they tried to get a room in a hotel that they realized they’d been swindled. The paper money was fake, and they had only a few German marks left to their name.
The rich lady’s eyes softened with pity when she looked at Inga’s tattered hem, and she elbowed her husband, who reached for his wallet.
“Here, this should make you whole,” Mr. Gerard said and casually pressed a few bills into her father’s hand. Her father didn’t even look at the bills, but his eyes brimmed with tears.
“Thank you, sir,” he said on a shaking breath. “A million times, thank you!”
The Gerards nodded farewell and departed in a swirl of rustling silk and perfumed air.
Papa waited until the door closed behind the Gerards before counting the bills he’d been given.
A hundred dollars! It was enough to take care of them for at least a month. Inga raced to the window to watch the couple disappear onto the streets of New York, convinced she’d just caught a glimpse of two guardian angels.
For the rest of her life, she would remember to keep the Gerards in her prayers.