Chapter Thirty-One Gertrude
Chapter Thirty-One
Gertrude
Less than two hours until the Oceanus is torpedoed
I stood before the mirror and stared at the face that had no traces of the girl who’d once laughed so easily. I unpinned my hair and ran my fingers through the natural curls, just as Sigrid did. She clearly enjoyed the attention of men.
Alfred had said my curls looked too wild for a proper woman. So, I’d pinned my hair up. It remained in a twist for most of my marriage. I only let it down when Alfred and I were alone. He liked fisting his fingers in the strands as he’d pulled my face toward his. “You have possessed me.”
I felt for the knife in my pocket. Everyone on the Oceanus knew Gertrude Werner was pregnant, but once I reached the crowded docks of New York City, I would become invisible again.
I’d been practicing the name “Sigrid Stein” so it would roll off my tongue easily.
Sigrid and I were two Central European women with accents that sounded much the same.
Our dialect differences were only noticeable in Vienna.
If I could get off the ship, find Chief Mate Riggs, and make it to the dock, I might make it past immigration. First, I had to outsmart William.
A knock at my door startled me. I quickly secured my hair and tucked Sigrid’s papers away.
“Yes?”
“It’s Dr. Brooks. I came to check on you.”
I unlocked the door to find Dr. Brooks standing there with a plate of food in hand. “I didn’t see you at dinner or breakfast.”
“I was tired.”
“I thought you might be hungry.”
My stomach grumbled. “That’s very kind of you, Dr. Brooks.”
“Is everything all right?”
It took no effort to say, “As I said, I’m tired.”
His eyes narrowed a fraction as he assessed my quickly pinned hair. “You look worried.”
Why did Sigrid have his business card? Was he prepared to buy the rare volume? “I’m always worried. Who isn’t?”
His head tilted as if he was solving a puzzle. “What’s worrying you?”
Being close to him altered something inside me, the way salt changes water. “The U-boats. The baby. The war. There is plenty to worry about.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s troubling you. You’ve proven you’re very resilient and willing to take chances, otherwise you wouldn’t be here now.” His steadfast gaze was hard to read.
“I’m not as strong as you think.” I’d played this game with Alfred. I was always careful never to show him what I was thinking.
“I disagree.” He shook his head slowly. “Reading people is what I do best. Listening to the stories they tell is how I make my way in the world.”
I took the plate. “You inject too much into a simple woman’s expression. I have simple goals and wish only to reach the United States.”
He looked left and then right. “Is someone bothering you?”
I’d encountered plenty of trouble during the last seven months. My best defense was to avoid, deflect, and hide. “Why would someone bother me? I’m no one.”
“I noticed the way some watch you in the dining room. Some have asked about you.”
I could feel the color draining from my face. “Who?”
“William. And Sigrid.”
The ship rolled, catching the crest of a wave. “They stare at me?”
“Why are they interested in you?”
“I don’t know.” My denial tripped over my lips as a weak whisper. “Perhaps because I am Austrian. Kindred spirit of sorts.”
He shook his head. “They know you, don’t they?”
And if I admitted the truth, then what? Would he save me, or would he use the information against me? “They might.”
“From where?”
I rubbed my thumb against the side of the stoneware plate. “Austria, I suppose.”
“Or Vienna.” He spoke the word without a hint of a question. “How would a US industrialist in Vienna and his actress lover know you?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t care. Austria is the past. And I can’t keep moving forward if I dare look back.”
Dr. Brooks’s eyes sharpened in a way I hadn’t seen before.
His silence soaked under my skin and dug into my bones. “When we dock in the morning, I’ll knock on your door and escort you to the immigration offices.”
Would he? If he did deliver me to immigration, I could produce Sigrid’s papers. But the credentials wouldn’t matter if I didn’t escape this ship.
“Chief Mate Riggs has made the same offer.”
“He’s a good young man. But he doesn’t understand people like William and Sigrid. I do. We’ll dock in New York late tomorrow morning. Wait for me. Stay in your room. I’ll bring you a plate tonight and in the morning.”
“You don’t have to take care of me.”
“I want to.” He touched his index finger to his forehead in a salute. “The least I can do is get you safely into the United States.”
“Why would you help me?”
“Do you still have the coin I gave you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. It’ll bring you luck.”
He wasn’t a remarkable-looking man, but when he met my gaze, I noted the slight hardening of his jaw. I now glimpsed a darker man accustomed to the shadows. That man was cunning and clever.
“Thank you, Dr. Brooks.”
And then his expression softened. “Maybe one day we’ll meet after the war, and you can tell me your entire story.”
“It’s very dull,” I said.
“I doubt that very much.”