“What has happened?” I asked.
But Martine was already turning for the escritoire around the corner in the parlor. I left my tea making and followed her. Martine began rummaging through the pigeonholes, yanking out identification papers and passports, no doubt looking for Brigitta’s.
“Martine! Please tell me,” I said. “You’re scaring me.”
“I don’t want you to be scared.” Martine didn’t look up but kept rummaging through the nooks, pulling out Reichsmarks now. “I just want you to do as I say. Please go up and pack a bag. I’ll be up in a moment to pack Brigitta’s.” Then she turned to me. “You might have to stay there for a long time. And you might... you might have to take Brigitta somewhere else after you get to Innsbruck. I’m not sure yet. I’ve wired my father and he’s... he’s working on it.”
“Working on what?” I said, a shapeless dread spreading across me.
“I might need you to hide Brigitta for me.” Martine’s voice cracked on the wordhideand tears sprang to her eyes.
I could barely breathe. “Why?”
“Because I was at the post office just now and I ran into Klaus’s mother, Sigrid. Klaus is that little boy at Brigitta’s school, the one who is in a wheelchair.”
“I know who Klaus is.”
“Sigrid told me she and Klaus are leaving within the hour forher sister’s in Saint Pölten. There is a government woman going around to all the homes of the students at Brigitta’s school asking questions about them and filling out forms and official documents about their disabilities and how much care they need. Sigrid said four children from another school like ours in the Meidling district were taken yesterday and transported to some hospital west of the city. Their parents were told after the fact that that’s where their children would be residing now. Shut away in some hospital where no one could see them. They institutionalized them, Helen! We’ve got to get Brigitta somewhere safe.”
Regret enveloped me. I’d been wrong to keep from Martine the news that the woman had already been by and that I had taken care of it. I placed my hand on Martine’s shoulder. She stopped riffling through the escritoire, looked at my hand on her shoulder and then up at me.
“You don’t need to worry about this,” I said. “That woman, Fraulein Platz, has already been by, but I took care of it. You don’t have to worry. I didn’t mention the visit to you before because you’d been so anxious about rumors of disabled children being sent to live in institutions. I convinced Fraulein Platz everything here regarding Brigitta’s care is fine. Exceptionally fine. She left here quite satisfied.”
Color drained from Martine’s face. “What do you mean she has already been by? What do you mean you’ve taken care of it?” Her voice was laced with fear and doubt.
“She came by a week ago, but I didn’t say anything because she was happy with her assessment of Brigitta. I knew you were worried about so many other things. I didn’t want you to worry about this, too.”
Martine’s expression and tone were now signs of building anger. “How could you think you were doing the right thing by not telling me?”
“Because you had been so upset by the things Captain Maierwas telling us. And I assure you, I did take care of it. We don’t have to worry about Brigitta.” I had never had an employer look at me the way Martine was looking at me in that moment. I’d never angered one of them like I had just now.
“How do you know you took care of it?” Martine said, her voice rising in pitch and volume.
“Because Fraulein Platz was only here for a few minutes and she was happy with her assessment. She was happy with what I told her.”
“What did you tell her?” Martine said urgently. “What did you say?”
“I told her what you and I and the captain had talked about before. That Brigitta is loved here in this family and very well cared for. She is no burden on society and she never will be.”
Martine stared at me, unconvinced.
“I assured her that Brigitta has me as her primary caregiver and that I’m very fond of her, and that I had a chance to go back to the States when Captain Maier suggested I go, but I didn’t go. I stayed. I stayed to take care of her. I will stay as long as Brigitta needs me, even if it’s always. You know that.”
Martine’s eyes had widened in astonishment as I spoke. Now she lunged forward and grabbed my shoulders. “How could you do such a thing!” Martine screamed. “How could you say that?”
My mouth dropped open in surprise. “Say what? What did I say?” I gasped.
She dropped her hands and spun away, clenching her fists. “How could you say that you are the one who cares for Brigitta, that you are the one who will always take care of her? You could be sent back home to the United States tomorrow! The Reich owns your work visa now. They could deport you with one stroke of a pen.” Martine threw her head back and let out a muffled cry of rage. Then she turned back to me. “I can’t believe you did something so stupid.”
“I said I’d always be here for her!”
“That is a promise you can’t keep! What you told them is that Brigitta will always need someone to take care of her.That’swhat you told them.”
Full awareness swept over me like a rogue wave. Dear God, I’d made a horrible mistake. “I am so sorry, Martine. I promise I only wanted to keep Brigitta safe! You have to believe me.”
Martine whirled away from me and into the kitchen. She grabbed the car keys from their hook on the wall and threw open the back door. I knew where she was going to go. Martine was going to dash to Sonnenschein and fetch Brigitta. The kettle on the stove began to scream.
“I’ll come with you!” I shouted, dashing into the entry hall to grab my sweater and then racing back into the kitchen to turn off the flame under the boiling water. But when I opened the back door, the car was speeding down the alley. Martine had left without me.
