Chapter 48
ETHEL
It had been two months since Julia’s family moved to Prince George’s County, Maryland, but between getting her family settled and Ethel being swamped with the holidays, they hadn’t managed to catch up in person, even though they lived only ten miles apart.
After weeks of missed chances, their schedules finally aligned on the first Friday in February, allowing them to share a long-awaited date for tea.
They met in the lobby of the Willard InterContinental Hotel, falling into each other’s arms.
“Oh, you smell so good.” Julia held Ethel tight as they rocked.
“Girl, I’m still wearing the same old Jean Naté.”
“I’ve always said that it smells better on you than it does on me.” Julia removed her gloves and led Ethel past the marble columns to one of the bloodred tufted, U-shaped settees. Her hair was raked into a stylish side-parted bob, and her lips were painted plum.
Ethel didn’t usually wear much makeup, but Anke had picked out a winter-white cashmere sweater for her the night before, and Monika insisted on a few swipes of cocoa-colored lipstick. Seeing Julia all gussied up made Ethel grateful for teenage daughters.
Grand twinkly chandeliers fell in tiers from the ceilings, and classical piano music made the large room feel cozy.
“You know right back there in that corner by the window is where Dr. King wrote his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech? The one that he gave at the March on Washington.” Julia pointed.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Sure did. I read that a few Negro bellhops partitioned off the space so that he wouldn’t be disturbed. Did you go to the march?”
Ethel shook her head. “I stayed back, but Bert went, and he took Franz, Heinz, and Leo with him.”
“Wish we had been home, because I would have definitely been front and center.”
“It was a hot day in August, I can’t see you out there with all those people, melting away.”
“The heat don’t bother me none.” She fanned herself, smiling.
“Well, Bert said that at some point, Dr. King’s speech appeared to peter out. So much so that he started losing people’s attention.”
“Really?”
Ethel nodded. “It was Mahalia Jackson who shouted for him to tell them about the dream. He went off script, and that’s when the speech came alive.”
“Well, you know it’s always a fabulous woman behind every good man.
” Julia cackled. “I sure did come back to the States at the right time. Now we have the right to vote, and white people have a law that says they must treat us civilly.” Then she leaned in and whispered, “That’s why I picked the grand Willard Hotel to meet: It’s white-folks fancy. ”
Ethel snorted as the waitress took their tea orders, and Julia requested a plate of sandwiches, scones, jams, and clotted cream.
“How are the girls?” Ethel asked.
“You know how the teenage years are. Boys sniffing around. Sid keeps the shotgun by the door.” She laughed.
“You must bring them over for dinner. I make a mean bone-in ham.”
“Honey, trying to get my Sid to do anything social has been like pulling teeth. He is such a homebody. After work, he opens a beer and stays in front of that television box until it’s time for bed.”
“But he’s always liked spending time with Bert. Let’s pick a Sunday afternoon so they can watch the baseball game.”
“I’ll put it on our calendar.”
The waitress returned with the pots of tea.
“But how are you, darling? You seem so busy.”
Ethel poured cream into her teacup. “I had an interesting visitor right before Christmas,” and then she told Julia about Sophia.
How the girl just showed up on her doorstep only to uncover the huge mistake that Ethel had made.
Fresh shame and guilt washed over her. “Words can’t describe how terrible I feel. ”
“Honey, you did the best you could. If it wasn’t for you, those children would be stuck in Germany in an orphanage. God only knows what would have happened to them.”
“But it was my responsibility to get them here, sorted and safe.”
“And you did that, even left your own children behind to bring them across the Atlantic Ocean.”
“But a switch in identity? I should have been more careful. She’s been celebrating the wrong birthday, for goodness’ sake. Can you imagine what that must be like? To find out that you have gone through your whole life as another person?”
“You said she was a teenager, which means she still has her whole life ahead of her. This is just a tiny blip in the big picture.” Julia reached for her hand.
“Now, stop this. If my memory serves me right, I talked you into taking that flight with the children to New York. Any chaos that ensued, you can blame it on me.”
But Ethel had stewed in her private shame for so long, now that she had voiced it to Julia, she couldn’t stop the words that bubbled to the surface.
“Do you know about all the phone calls and letters that I’ve received from parents over the years?
People have even accused me of rushing the process of the proxy adoptions.
Condemned me for not vetting the families properly.
I could handle that from unhappy adults, but this is different.
She’s a child.” Ethel’s bottom lip quivered.
“You did your best.”
“Stop saying that and just admit it. I made a damn mess!” she hissed, and Julia’s head whipped back.
“Ethel Louise Gathers, I have never in my life heard you swear. That’s my job, to cuss people out.
And I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit here and allow you to cuss yourself, especially when I know that you have a heart of gold.
” Julia reached into her purse and snapped her handkerchief in Ethel’s direction.
While Ethel dabbed her eyes and blew her nose, she muttered, “I’m so sorry for my outburst. I don’t know what just came over me.” Her chest heaved up and down as she looked around to see if anyone was watching, but no one even blinked in their direction.
“Stop apologizing. You’re human, and you are entitled to your feelings.
But feelings are not facts.” Julia brushed a hair out of Ethel’s eye.
“The bottom line is that you have always fought for those children abandoned in Germany. And heck, for the German mothers who couldn’t keep their babies, and the American mothers who couldn’t have their own. You’ve changed the face of history.”
“Oh, Julia.” Ethel felt her cheeks warm.
“Honey, I am certain that when it’s your time, all of heaven will be right there to meet you at the pearly gates.”
“Stop trying to make me smile.”
Julia cocked her head. “Shucks, I’ll be first in line petitioning the pope to start the canonization process. I’ve already picked out your name: St. Sarah.”
Ethel shook her head, and her lips turned up in a half grin. “You are too much.”
“I’m serious. What does this girl expect you to do?”
Ethel let out a long sigh and then took a sip of her tea. “I’ve reached out to Sister Ursula to see if she can dig up any information. Sophia is set on finding her birth mother.”
“Well, that’s all you can do.”
Then Ethel told Julia that the girl was only a sophomore in high school and had tracked her down through the telephone book. “She has chutzpah, that’s for sure, and I’m going to help her make things right.”
The food arrived, and Julia plated a crustless sandwich and a scone with jam and handed it to Ethel.
“Now, the pity party is officially over. I want to eat this treat while you fill me in on all the army wives’ juicy gossip. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
“Well, Dorothy Hansen’s husband has been stationed in Saigon for more than a year. Poor thing, the few times I’ve heard from her, she’s been worried sick about him and all the soldiers fighting in ’Nam.”
Julia lifted her knife and spread a heap of clotted cream on her scone and took a bite. “Well, I’ll keep her in my prayers. But I said juicy gossip. Isn’t Wanda getting a divorce?”
Ethel smirked. No one could make her comfortable like Julia, and they sat with each other sharing stories until their tea was stone cold.