By the second day, she was sitting beside Hildy on the couch, poring over documents Hildy had found and put into binders. She was reliving her life with Lucy between them, as if they had known each other for years.
By the time she left today, she had both of them completely charmed, which, if I’m honest, does not surprise me. Grossmutter has always been like that.
Soft voice, sharp mind. The kind of presence that makes people lean closer without realizing they are doing it.
“She made you promise, didn’t she?” I ask Hildy.
Her eyebrows lift slightly. “About Germany?”
I nod.
Lucy answers before she can. “We have to bring the babies.”
“Yes,” Hildy laughs under her breath, glancing at me. “She made us promise.”
I lean over and kiss her cheek. “And you agreed?”
Lucy nods emphatically. “I want to see the towers.”
“She said as soon as we’re able,” Hildy adds softly. “Not right away.”
To me, it was, “You will bring them.”Not a request, not quite an order either, just certainty, like she already knew it would happen.
“She liked you,” I tell Hildy.
That same small smile returns. “I liked her too.”
Lucy squeezes the rabbit under her arm and looks between us. “She said babies like Germany.”
I glance at Hildy. “Did she say that?”
Hildy nods, amused. “She said the air is good for children. And the forests.”
That sounds exactly like her, “She doesn’t love city life.”
Lucy brightens suddenly. “Can we go before Christmas?”
“It will have to be during the off-season, so yes.”
“Okay.” She wiggles, and I take the cue and set her back on her feet, and she heads toward the living room.
Hildy watches her go. “She was wonderful with her.”
“I know.” I pull her into the foyer
“And with me.”
That one surprises me less than she probably thinks. My Grossmutter has spent a lifetime observing people. She knew exactly who Hildy was within the first hour,and so did I.
“You realize what she just did,” I say after kissing her properly.
Hildy tilts her head.
“What?”
I gesture vaguely toward the sky where, somewhere far above the clouds by now, a plane is carrying her back across the Atlantic.
“She just made sure our children will grow up knowing where they come from.”
