Chapter Twenty-Six
‘She’s been found!’
Sam’s knees weakened like an old man’s at the news. Ben and Helene helped him inside his house so he could sit down. They had arrived unexpectedly at his door with beaming smiles, yet he had not dared to hope it could be news of her.
‘Are you sure it’s my Elsa?’
Ben nodded. ‘As sure as we can be.’
‘How is she? Where is she?’
‘I received this letter from Jim this morning.’
‘Your friend who works at the British Red Cross?’
‘Yes,’ said Helene, taking the letter from his hands and unfolding it for him. She pointed to the typed words. ‘It’s official. Elsa Kalbach works as a translator in Hamburg.’
‘A translator? Hamburg?’
‘Jim says she’s an interpreter and works with our military to help improve relations.’
Sam’s raised hopes began to fade. ‘It probably isn’t her. She has no reason to be in Hamburg. The only family she has is in Bremen.’
‘This Elsa was in Bremen, but not for long. Her work left a useful paper trail to follow. She’s been working in Hamburg since ’48.’
Sam took the letter and read it for himself. He looked at them then at the letter again. His gaze rapidly searched it. ‘It doesn’t have an address.’
‘Jim probably doesn’t have it,’ said Ben.
‘Or thought it wasn’t appropriate to give out a woman’s address to a man he doesn’t know,’ suggested Helene helpfully.
Sam nodded. ‘You’re probably right. He doesn’t know me. I’ll have to visit her place of work.’
‘You are going to Germany?’ suggested Helene.
‘Yes,’ he said simply as he stared at her name in the letter. Ben’s contacts had taken less than six months to find her. Seeing her name in type, with details of her place of work, made it feel real.
‘You could write first. It may be less of a shock for her,’ suggested Helene kindly.
‘Yes. After all, it might not be her,’ cautioned Ben. ‘It’s a long way to travel.’
Sam shook his head. ‘I don’t want to write a letter. It could get lost or ignored. I need to see her for myself.’ He looked up at Helene. ‘I can’t explain it. But I have to.’
Helene was the first to understand. She smiled. ‘Then I think it should be sooner rather than later. You’ve waited long enough.’
‘I just want to speak to her. See how she is. I’ll not pressure her. She still goes by her maiden name, so I can only assume she did not marry.’
‘Unless she did marry and this is another woman,’ cautioned Ben.
‘But he won’t know for sure until he goes to Germany to find out,’ argued Helene.
Sam stood. ‘If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I just need some air.’
Ben and Helene hurriedly stepped back and watched him walk to the door. ‘Are you all right, Sam?’ asked Ben.
Sam nodded absently and waved them to stay inside as he stepped outside.
His boots crunched on the frosty coating of the cobblestones as his breath billowed into white clouds in the chilled early morning air.
The cold nipped at his fingers and nose, reminding him of the beginning of his long march to freedom across Poland and what had then been eastern Germany in the early months of 1945.
The temperatures had been lower then. Snow lay thick on the ground, its surface turning hard and sharp.
Blizzards sliced through the air and stung at the eyes.
He remembered the blackened fingers of frostbitten friends, and those who had fallen by the wayside.
Near to death, he had been taken to a rural barn and a few days later she had stumbled into his life — and she had not left his heart ever since.