Hannah Rothstein was pacing the living room, her hands cradling her stomach. She stopped her pacing as she recognised Clara, who quickly explained she was here without the knowledge or consent of the hospital. ‘Please go through to the bedroom and lie down on the bed.’
‘Why have you come to help us?’ asked Hannah. ‘You are putting yourself in danger just by being here.’
Clara took the fetoscope from her bag and huffed on it, then rubbed it against her uniform. ‘To warm it up,’ she said as she waited for Hannah to get into position and pull up her dress to expose her swollen belly. ‘I want both of us to sleep with peace of mind tonight.’ She gave a reassuring smile to the young woman. ‘When did you last feel the babies move?’
‘One today. This one at the top. But the other, at the bottom, it was yesterday morning,’ replied Hannah, her voice wavering. ‘Normally they are so active, especially in the morning. But there’s been nothing today either.’
‘I’m going to examine you now,’ said Clara. She first measured Hannah’s abdomen to ensure it was the size she’d expect for a twin pregnancy.
Clara then pressed her hands gently, but firmly, across Hannah’s abdomen, feeling for the position of the babies. Her fingers detected the firm roundness of the baby’s head low in the pelvis. Another good sign.
‘This baby is in the correct position,’ she said, offering another reassuring smile. ‘Now let’s see about the other.’ Again, her hands expertly detected the baby. ‘There’s not much room for them. I’m going to use the fetoscope to listen for their heartbeats.’
With methodical care, Clara placed the wide end of the trumpet-shaped instrument on Hannah’s stomach before placing her ear to the smaller end. She closed her eyes as she concentrated on locating the heartbeat, while silently praying she’d be able to detect it. For a moment there was nothing but silence. Hannah tensed as she gripped the side of the mattress with her hand. Clara was aware David was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, his breathing deep and heavy as anxiety radiated from him.
Clara moved the scope again. Then, there it was, the distinctive, rapid galloping rhythm of a foetal heartbeat – strong and regular. Exactly what she wanted to hear.
‘I can hear the heartbeat,’ she said. ‘Now, for the other one. Our quiet baby.’ She moved the fetoscope around again. And there it was, the steady rhythm of the second baby. ‘I hear the second heartbeat,’ she said, looking up and smiling at Hannah.
‘You can? Really?’ Hannah asked, excitement mixed with fear coating her words.
‘Yes. It’s very strong,’ said Clara. ‘Let’s see if we can wake the baby up. I think they are just having an extra-long snooze today.’
After several prods and gentle massaging of Hannah’s stomach, there came a sudden movement from inside the womb.
‘Ugh. It kicked me. I felt it kick me,’ cried out Hannah in relief.
‘Baruch Hashem,’ sighed David under his breath as he expressed his profound gratitude to God.
Hannah closed her eyes and when she opened them, tears slid down her face. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you so much for coming.’
‘I couldn’t not come,’ said Clara. ‘You don’t need to worry about your babies. Sometimes they have quiet times. I think your little one has got themselves nice and comfortable and decided not to move much.’
Clara spent the next few minutes checking Hannah’s blood pressure, which was a little high but given the stressful day, it wasn’t anything to be alarmed about. ‘You must rest, though,’ she instructed Hannah as she packed away her equipment. ‘You know, sometimes twin pregnancies don’t go to the full term. They often come early. Try to see your doctor as soon as possible.’
Hannah and David exchanged a look. ‘It is not possible,’ said David. ‘He has been relocated.’
Clara frowned.Relocated?And then the reality dawned on her. This poor young couple were all alone without any medical care.
‘Can you help us?’ asked Hannah. Her eyes were full of fear and hope at the same time.
‘I don’t know,’ said Clara. It wasn’t that she couldn’t deliver a baby. She was more than capable of that, but it wasn’t always straightforward. ‘I don’t have the facilities to help if something were to go wrong.’
‘Neither do we,’ said David.
‘With you at least we stand something of a chance,’ said Hannah, sitting herself up on the bed. ‘Without you, we have nothing. Just hope.’
Chapter 3
How could she refuse the Rothsteins, even if she wanted to? Her principles wouldn’t allow her to abandon a pregnant woman and an unborn child. She had a duty of care, not to mention her conscience to reconcile each evening.
Despite the desire to help another woman, Clara was aware what a precarious position this was putting both her and Friedrich in if it were discovered. It was one thing making these decisions and putting one’s own life at risk, but she was also putting Friedrich’s life at risk, and he had no say in the matter. The authorities were very clear on how they viewed people helping the Jewish community, and with Friedrich’s position in the military it would be seen as nothing short of treason. She would be forcing him into this situation. She knew he wouldn’t forbid her. He wasn’t that type of man. He would stand by her and support her, but she had no right to ask him to do so.
She climbed onto the tram that pulled up and as she sat down decided, like the incident at the hospital, that she wasn’t going to tell Friedrich what had happened. The less he knew the better. The less he knew, the less he’d try to help her and thereby implicate himself further.
There weren’t many people on the tram and Clara took a seat behind an elderly gentleman and a woman with her young child. Clara rested her head against the window, watching the late-afternoon shadows stretch across Berlin’s streets. She felt emotionally drained after everything that had happened in that one day.
The tram jolted to a halt and at first Clara didn’t think anything of it. Then a hush fell across the carriage as conversations stopped as abruptly as the tram had done. Clara looked up as two uniformed policemen boarded the tram.
