Chapter Thirty-Seven Aletta #2
Aletta nodded and leaned against the wall as she watched Cecilia take out items from the grocery bag. Even the speed at which her friend was moving gave her a headache and made her want to lie down and rest.
‘After you eat, I’m going to wash your hair and give you both haircuts, and then I’ll set to cleaning. And I’ll be back again tomorrow to do the rest, and the day after that if I need to. I don’t want either of you lifting so much as a finger.’
‘Cecilia, I know you’re Aletta’s oldest friend, but—’
‘I won’t hear of it,’ Cecilia said, not letting Aletta’s mother finish. ‘Now, you two sit down and let me look after you.’
Aletta saw the tears in her friend’s eyes as she turned away, and so she obediently sat down. If this was what Cecilia needed from her, if this was her doing her best to make them all feel better, for her to be able to cope with what had happened to them, then she wasn’t going to argue.
‘I truly thought I’d never see you again,’ Cecilia said quietly, her back still turned, her shoulders trembling. ‘Whole families disappeared and never returned, the things they did . . .’
Aletta beckoned for her mother to sit beside her, hoping that Cecilia never learnt even half of what had truly gone on at Ravensbrück.
‘So please, just let me show you that I love you,’ Cecilia said. ‘I felt helpless for so long, I felt like a coward for hiding away in the countryside, but taking care of you is something I can do. So please, let me.’
Aletta’s heart felt full, despite her pain. Because Cecilia had always been a good friend to her, and this was testament to exactly what kind of a friend she truly was.
‘Cecilia, did Peter or Thomas make it? Did any of our Jewish friends survive?’ Aletta asked. ‘The families we went to school with?’
Cecilia’s shoulders dropped. ‘Peter and Thomas both made it, but not the Jewish families we knew. Not one of them,’ she said.
‘A while after you were taken, they started making all the Jews wear the yellow star, and then they made them turn over all their property and money. By the time they rounded them up and sent them to the camps, they’d been stripped of everything. ’
Aletta blanched at the mention of the camps, and she could tell that Cecilia had seen the change in her.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to mention the—’
‘It’s fine,’ Aletta said, before she could say the word again.
‘You know, even though I was there, it’s still hard to believe what happened to them.
Most were murdered before they even knew where they were going.
’ But we survived, Aletta thought. Else survived.
Not everyone is lost. Most, but not all.
Cecilia’s eyes met hers, but it was as if neither knew what to say.
‘I’m sorry, Aletta. For what happened to you.’
Aletta’s smile came easily then, because she knew how much Cecilia cared, how long she’d probably been waiting to say those words, even though she had absolutely nothing to be sorry about.
‘How about you let me just do a little bit of the cleaning,’ Aletta said. ‘I don’t know how long I can sit here and do nothing.’
‘You can stir the casserole and make some coffee for us,’ Cecilia said. ‘Then you can go straight back to sitting and listening to me prattle on.’
‘Or we could play cards?’
Cards reminded her of Harry, and just thinking of their last day together stung, but she wasn’t going to let her memories ruin the time she had with Cecilia.
‘Cards it is then,’ Cecilia said. ‘But not a spot of cleaning, do you hear me?’
Two hours later, once Cecilia had fed them and watched over every mouthful, and moved around the house righting things and tidying, Aletta answered a question she’d known was coming.
The words had been heavy on her tongue, and as Cecilia turned to her, standing in front of the damaged wall, she knew it was time to tell her when she asked.
‘I don’t want to ask anything you don’t want to answer, but this wall,’ Cecilia said. ‘Was it a hidden space?’
Aletta found herself nodding, but the words still didn’t come. There was so much she needed to tell Cecilia, but she just wasn’t ready to relive most of it. Not yet.
‘Do you remember Harry?’ she finally asked.
A fist closed around Aletta’s heart as she spoke his name, and Cecilia’s eyebrows rose in answer.
‘I lied to you back then,’ she said, taking a deep breath before continuing. ‘The last time we saw each other, when you came to visit, Harry was hidden in there, and I wanted to tell you so badly, but we’d agreed to keep him secret from everyone. Even from you.’
Cecilia’s face softened and Aletta watched as her friend turned back and looked at the space before sitting beside her and taking her hand.
‘They took him, your Harry? When they came for you?’
Aletta nodded, her throat thick with emotion again. ‘I don’t think I’m ready yet, to talk about him, or my father,’ she whispered. ‘Or what happened to us. But I just wanted you to know that that was his room. That’s where we tried to hide him from harm.’
Cecilia wrapped her arm around Aletta’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to her head. ‘One day you’ll be ready to tell me, but until then, we can just sit in silence if that’s what you want.’
Aletta let herself be held, inhaling the familiar, sweet smell of her friend’s perfume as they sat together on the sofa. Her mother was asleep already; darkness was starting to blanket the sky outside, and Aletta had never been more grateful to have Cecilia holding her close.
‘There is actually someone I’d like to talk to you about,’ she whispered. ‘I’m afraid that if I don’t talk about her, I won’t be able to keep her memory alive.’
Cecilia’s arm stayed warm around her shoulder as they sank back into the cushions. ‘What was her name?’ Cecilia asked.
‘Her name,’ Aletta said, summoning all her strength, ‘was Chloe, and she was the bravest girl I’ve ever met.’