Page 71 of The Berlin Sisters
THEMÜLLERESTATE, BOGENSEE, GERMANY
JULY1946
Ava held David’s hand tightly as she stood at the open door, looking out over the garden. There had been times over the past two years that she’d wondered if she’d ever have the chance to return, whether she’d ever be able to come home and carry out her sister’s wishes. So much time had passed since she’d last stood at that door, terrified and wondering how they were all going to survive. Since they’d fled and left her mother and sister behind.
David squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him. Whatever pain she was feeling, whatever trauma echoed through her memories, she knew it was only equal to what he was feeling. The day they’d left Bogensee had been the day they’d unknowingly said goodbye to their families, to everything they’d known and loved, but the time that had passed since then had slowly begun to repair their pain.
‘Shall we take him out to the garden?’ David asked, and Ava watched as he bent to scoop their son into his arms.
Their child had just begun toddling, his unsteady little legs marching him about all over the place, and as soon as he was held high, he was wrestling to get down again.
‘Let him walk,’ she said. ‘He can hold my hand and tire those little legs out.’
Ava held David’s hand on one side and her son’s on the other as they walked out and then down the few steps that led to the grass and garden beyond. It was overgrown now, with haphazard plantings sprouting every which way; something that made her think of her beloved Papa. He would turn in his grave to see the property in such a dishevelled state. The interior had fared better, despite the soldiers who’d used it while they’d been gone, although Ava hadn’t yet been able to set foot upstairs, despite the time that had passed since she’d last been in there.
‘Are you thinking about them?’ she asked, glancing over at David.
‘Of course. Are you?’
She nodded, taking a moment to let her emotions settle, not wanting to cry in front of their son. She’d cried enough tears to last her a lifetime, but even so her eyes still filled with moisture whenever she let her mind go back to the last day she’d kissed her mother and held her sister’s hand.
‘I keep thinking about what it was like for them, after we left. How long they fought for, what they did to give us the chance to be free.’
She could see David swallowing, clearly trying as hard as she was not to break down. If she’d been a mother at a different time, she wondered if it would have worried her, for her child to see her cry. But after everything they’d been through, after all the tears and heartache, Max was their little miracle, the child who had lit up their world and helped them to find their smiles again, and shedidn’t want anything to stop him from his happy babbling and joy at life.At a life we are so very fortunate to have.
Everyone they’d loved had gone. From what she could gather, her mother and sister had died within hours of saying goodbye and sending them on their way, fearless until the very end to protect those they loved. Her father had been executed for treason, but her mother had been wrong; that day, when everything had changed, he’d still been alive, tortured and then sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he’d been killed within days of arrival. And David’s beautiful, kind-hearted parents had eventually been discovered and sent to Auschwitz, where they’d survived for some months before perishing just before the camp was liberated. She’d even found out what had happened to her old friend Lina, who’d also ended up losing her life at a camp.
These were stories of the past, stories that Ava didn’t often let herself think about, but being back home had brought everything rushing back. She paused, looking out towards the field, remembering the bunker, remembering the walks she’d taken with her father, the first time he’d told her what he was involved in. Ava could barely remember the girl she’d been then, and she only hoped that her actions in recent years went some ways to making up for her ignorance during that time.
‘She’s here.’
Ava turned at David’s words, letting go of his hand and her son’s. Eliana, suitcase still in hand, was standing by the house. Her heart fluttered at seeing her old friend, still finding it hard to believe that all three of them had made it.
‘Eliana!’ she cried, rushing to her and engulfing her in a hug. ‘It’s so good to see you. I can’t believe you’re really here.’
Eliana hugged her back just as fiercely.
‘I can feel your bones,’ Ava said. ‘We need to spend the weekend feeding you.’
Eliana laughed and stroked Ava’s hair, smiling at her in a way that two people could only do when they’d been through so much together, when they knew one another better than they knew themselves.
‘Is it strange to say that this feels like home?’
‘It is home,’ Ava said, linking her arm through Eliana’s as they slowly walked back to the garden and down to David. She tipped her head to rest it on Eliana’s shoulder. ‘This will always be your home.Ourhome, for all of us. Forever.’
They stood for a moment, watching David run around chasing Max, making him giggle in a way that warmed Ava’s heart. She felt Eliana soften beside her, and knew that it was having the same effect on her.
‘He’s the most beautiful child,’ Eliana said with a sigh. ‘You two make such wonderful parents.’
‘We try our best. All we want is for him to be happy.’
They stood in comfortable silence for a little longer, gazes fixed on the scene before them. Ava didn’t need to tell Eliana the responsibility she and David both felt to live their lives with gratitude, to make the most of every day and never take for granted the gift of simply being alive. Everything they’d been through, everything they’d fought for and lost, had bonded them in a way that was as strong as blood.
‘Has there been any word of Ethan?’ Ava asked.
Eliana cleared her throat. ‘No. I haven’t been able to find out anything.’
‘So he’s still officially listed as a missing person?’
