Page 67 of The Berlin Sisters
As Ava passed David, he reached out his hand and she clasped it without hesitation. She knew she’d never know how to properly thank him for what he’d done, for the way he’d so selflessly risked his life to save theirs, but she hoped he could sense her gratitude.
‘Thank you,’ she said, knowing it wasn’t enough but saying it anyway.
He grimaced, his other hand covered in blood, pressed to his bullet wound again. ‘I would do it all over again,’ he said, his breath catching, his breath hissing out of him when he tried to move, ‘if it meant keeping you all from harm.’
Something warm and deep swelled inside of Ava. She stared down at David, keeping hold of his hand just a moment longer than she should have. It dawned on her that there were two men in this room, two men who’d been part of her life these past months, and the one who’d pledged to spend the rest of his life with her had been the one who’d tried to kill her.
‘Is she going to be all right?’ David asked, looking past her to Eliana.
Ava nodded. ‘It’ll just take time. She’s been through a lot.’
David looked away, as if he couldn’t stand to even acknowledge what they might have done to his sister.
‘Where’s Hanna?’ she asked, suddenly realising that her sister wasn’t there.
‘Getting supplies,’ David groaned, slumping back down again.
Ava wished she could lower herself to the carpet and cradle him through his pain, but she needed to help Eliana first. She had begun to walk across the room when she heard the unmistakable creak of the stairs.
‘Where did Hanna say she was going?’ Ava whispered.
David looked up at her. She knew he’d heard the noise, too. ‘Down the hall. To fetch water, and a needle and thread.’
Ava glanced at the pistol, sitting on the bed where she’d left it. She didn’t doubt that she’d be capable of squeezing the trigger and taking a life if it meant saving David or Eliana, not now.
She lifted the gun, standing protectively in front of David, her breath shallow, her heart racing.
‘Mama?’ Ava put the gun down when she saw her and ran forward, opening her arms and throwing herself at her mother.
‘Ava!’ Her mother’s hug was tight. ‘Where’s Hanna? Where are the Goldmans?’ She gasped. ‘What happened to David?’
Ava stepped back, pushing her hair from her face as her mother took in the scene in the room. ‘Eliana is in the next room. She needs you. I’m going to get her new clothes.’
‘And Hanna?’
‘I’m here, Mama.’ Hanna had returned with towels, a dish of water, and a needle between her lips, her words mumbled from trying not to drop it.
‘Make those clothes warm ones, Ava, just in case. We need to leave now.’ She turned to Hanna. ‘You’ll have to work fast.’
Ava hurried, pulling clothes from her wardrobe and taking them to Eliana. She let her mother tend to Eliana and went back to look for more things, realising that they all needed to change if they were going to be on the run. They couldn’t walk around in bloodstained clothes without being noticed, and her mother was right – who knew how long they might be on the run for? Theywould need warm layers, particularly if they were to be moving around at night or sleeping rough.
‘Where’s Papa?’ Ava asked when she came back, dropping to her knees to assist Hanna, who was preparing to take out the bullet lodged in David’s flesh. His guttural groans made Ava flinch, hating to see him in so much pain. ‘He warned me but then I never saw him again.’
‘Your father is gone,’ her mother said, her voice so low that Ava wondered if she’d misheard her.
‘Gone?’ Ava echoed.Am I truly never to see Papa again?It seemed like only hours ago that his hand had been so warm, his touch light as he’d whispered in her ear, had passed her the note in a move that had ultimately saved her life. ‘He’s already gone?’ What did she even mean bygone?
‘They’ve already executed him for treason, but he has forged papers in his study, locked in his safe for all of you.’ Her mother cleared her throat, clearly trying not to cry, to be brave for them. ‘We have to leave as soon as Hanna has that bullet out of David, and we must save our grief for later. Your father would want us to be safe, he’d want us to do anything we could to stay alive, do you understand?’
Ava understood. No one was coming to save them. If their father was truly gone, then it was all over. The resistance network valued them, but she’d seen first-hand how ruthless they could be, which didn’t give her any hope that they might risk coming to help. She refused to cry, knowing that her mother was right. They would have to wait to grieve – that was what her father would have wanted.
‘It will be a death sentence if we stay,’ Hanna said, looking up at Ava, as if she could read her thoughts.
‘We need to go and get Frau and Herr Goldman,’ Ava said, looking away as her mother dressed Eliana, not wanting to see theugly purple bruises on her skin, caused by a man she’d once willingly let touch her. ‘They will have heard the gunshots and they’ll be terrified out there.’
While Ava was downstairs rifling through her father’s drawers and opening his safe to find the documents, her mother called out that she was going to get Herr and Frau Goldman, and they were to meet in the kitchen in five minutes’ time. Ava found the identity papers hidden away for all of them, and she also took the money from the safe, a diamond necklace she’d never seen before, and a loaded pistol. She hated the idea of carrying a gun, but she figured it was better if they had two.
Ava went to the kitchen, quickly finding a bag and putting together two small sacks of food and filling some bottles with water. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and they could all take something else to eat with them on the way.
