Page 45 of The Berlin Sisters
‘And even so, you remained best friends with this boy? Throughout it all?’
‘His name was,is, Ezra,’ Ethan said. ‘Remember our conversation earlier, about grey areas?’
She nodded.
‘Well, I didn’t have a choice about being in Hitlerjugend, but I did have a choice about how I treated those around me. Even though we had to see each other secretly, so no one else saw us, he remained my best friend.’
Ethan was a rare man, she’d give him that, and it only made her like him all the more. He’d clearly been raised by good parents, kind parents; people who wouldn’t accept what was going on around them, but knew they had to at least appear to play by the rules to avoid detection.
‘How have you managed to avoid being called up for service?’ she asked.
Ethan’s arm fell away from hers then, and she watched as he patted the breast pocket of his coat and listened to his sigh. ‘I haven’t,’ he said, taking something out and passing it to her.
She squinted in the almost-darkness, trying to make out what it said. But after reading the first sentence, she knew what it was.
‘Do your parents know?’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘You were able to avoid being called up until now, because of the grocery store?’
‘I was. But apparently they need every man they can get now,’ he said. ‘I had pneumonia as a child, and it damaged my lungs, so in the beginning that was another reason for me to stay home, because I didn’t pass the medical. But now it seems they’re taking any man, no matter what.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, taking hold of his arm again, hating the thought of this gentle, caring man being sent to fight a battle that he didn’t believe in. ‘I’m so sorry that you’ve managed to stay clear of the fighting for so long, only to be called up now.’
‘So am I.’
‘Who will they send to replace you in the store?’
He cleared his throat, holding her gaze. ‘You. You are my replacement, Eliana.’
She gasped. ‘Me? I’m the reason you’ve been called up?’
Ethan shook his head. ‘No, you are the reason my parents will have help when I’m gone. If it weren’t you, it would have been someone else. My papers had already arrived.’
They walked the rest of the way to the Müllers’ apartment in silence, and when they got there, Eliana turned to Ethan, blinking away tears that this beautiful man in front of her would soon be gone.
She slid her arms around him, refusing to be shy now that she knew how little time they had together, drawing him close and placing her head on his chest, closing her eyes when his arms went slowly around her. They stood like that for a long while, until she finally stepped back, looking up at him, hoping he knew what he’d come to mean to her in such a short time. Given everything that had happened to her and her family over the past few years, genuinely kind, good people had been in short supply, which made her appreciate Ethan and his family all the more.
‘You’re a good man, Ethan. I feel so privileged to have met you.’
He hesitated, watching her, as if deciding what to do, before placing a warm, slow kiss on her cheek that she felt all the way down to her toes. It was as close to a first kiss as she’d ever had, and she couldn’t have imagined it being better if she’d tried.
‘Goodnight, Elly,’ he murmured against her skin.
‘Goodnight, Ethan.’
And with him watching, his eyes burning into her back, she ran up the steps to the door and let herself in, finding it almost impossible to wipe the smile from her face as she ducked her headdown, not wanting anyone to see her. She was acutely aware that, despite her change in appearance, someone who’d known her from before might recognise her.
‘You must be the Müllers’ niece!’ came a shrill woman’s voice that took her completely by surprise.
Eliana breathed a sigh of relief that the woman was a stranger, before glancing back to see if Ethan was still there. To her disappointment, he was already gone. She turned back to the woman standing at the foot of the stairs with a young girl whom Eliana presumed was her daughter tucked into her side. They were well dressed, with the woman wearing a thick fur coat that for some reason looked familiar to her, even though she knew that was a ridiculous thought.
‘I am,’ she said, remembering the role she was to play, fixing her smile just as she’d practised in Ava’s bedroom when she’d been trying on her clothes and preparing to become someone else. ‘I’m very fortunate to be staying with them, although I have to say that I’m still getting used to the air raids here.’
The woman was smiling brightly, but Eliana felt like she was about to be interrogated.
‘I don’t think any of us will ever get used to those. But remind me, your parents are...’
