Page 22 of The Pianist's Wife
‘This is how we keep you safe, Amira. This is how we keepboth of yousafe.’
Amira turned her gaze to Fred, as Gisele leaned towards her with an expectant look on her face.
‘So, Amira, what do you say?’
‘I say,’ she said, through gritted teeth, ‘that you and I need a word in private.’
Chapter Ten
Amira smiled politely at Fred as she and Gisele excused themselves. She didn’t utter a word until they reached the sitting room, before finally turning around to address her friend.
‘Marry him?’ she hissed. ‘You thought I would say yes to marrying your, your—’
‘Homosexual friend?’ Gisele asked. ‘There, I said it for you. I know it’s shocking at first and hard to understand, but he is no different than you. Well, of course he’s verydifferentfrom you, but you’re both facing the same problem as far as I can tell.’
‘No different than me?’ Amira repeated. ‘You’ve lost your mind. Honestly, Gisele, of all the hare-brained things you could come up with...’ Not only hare-brained, but Gisele knew how dangerous it would be for her to apply for a marriage document and have her papers scrutinised.
‘Please, just listen to me for a moment,’ Gisele said, her cheeks flushed a deep pink. Amira was happy that she at least had the decency to look embarrassed.
‘Oh, I’ve been listening to you this whole time! Listening to you appears to be my problem, because for some reason, you think you can take it upon yourself to solve all my problems!’
‘Have you finished?’ Gisele looked exasperated as she folded her arms across her chest. ‘Fred has a partner whom he loves verymuch, and who he is makes him as hated by the Nazis as you are. You can’t deny that gives you both something in common.’
Amira held her tongue. Gisele wasn’t wrong, but still,marry him? She could have told her to travel to the moon and it wouldn’t have sounded any more absurd, not to mention that someone other than Gisele now knew her secret.
‘Do you know something about Maxi that you haven’t shared with me?’ Amira asked. ‘I need you to be truthful with me, Gisele. Has Hans told you anything? Has something happened?’
Her friend shook her head and placed her hand on her heart. ‘I haven’t heard anything, I promise you I haven’t. But there is something.’
Amira’s breath caught. She knew Gisele had been keeping something from her, and her heart began to pound as Gisele reached inside her pocket and produced a letter.
‘Oh no, please tell me that’s not—’
‘No! It’s nothing to do with Maxi. I said I’d promise to tell you if it was.’
‘But if it’s not Maxi . . .’
Gisele’s sigh was deep. ‘It’s my mother. She’s just written and announced that she’s moving to Berlin to be closer to us. Apparently the country life doesn’t suit her anymore, despite me telling her how unsafe it is here.’
Amira knew she’d paled at the mention of Gisele’s mother. She’d never, not after all these years, forgotten the way that woman had looked at her when she’d been just a schoolgirl.
‘Even more unfortunately, she’s planning on staying here until she’s settled.’
Amira swallowed the news. Two weeks. She’d had two weeks of feeling safe since her father had passed, and now the one person who could threaten her carefully maintained secret would be here. ‘Here? In your home.’
Gisele held up the letter and read from it. ‘It doesn’t seem right for a stranger to assist in looking after my wonderful grandchildren, when they have a perfectly capable grandmother who could help raise them.’ Gisele sighed again. ‘But the truth is that she’s all excited about my Mother’s Cross award and wants to parade me around, I’m certain of it.’
Amira closed her eyes for a beat, a feeling of helplessness washing over her. When she opened them, it was to see Gisele’s hands on her arms, holding her, her gaze seeming to implore Amira to agree with her.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘If I could turn her away, I would.’
Amira nodded. ‘I understand. I just...’ She took a deep breath. ‘I just wish that I wasn’t faced with an impossible choice every which way that I seem to turn.’ Her entire life had been marred by loss, by sacrifice, and she was just so tired of everything being taken from her. She was still holding on to her dreams, but there was only so long she could keep believing she would one day be a teacher, get married or have a family of her own.
‘Please, just tell me that you’ll consider Fred, that’s all I ask,’ Gisele said. ‘But if you do this? It has to remain a secret between the three of us. No one else can know that it’s not a real marriage.’
‘Not even Hans?’
Gisele swallowed, her eyes wide. ‘Not even my husband. He is a tolerant man, but I fear that even he wouldn’t tolerate this.’
