Page 49 of The Pianist's Wife
‘Oh Hans, you didn’t,’ she said with a gasp. ‘Please tell me that this wasn’t you? Please, tell me you weren’t involved in Fred’s arrest?’
‘The order came through that they were looking for him, and I gave them the address,’ Hans said, sounding broken, his voice no longer holding the strength it had before. ‘I didn’t have a choice, Gisele. I did what I had to do, and I only thought they were going to question him, not take him to a camp.’
Amira dropped her head, her stomach twisting as she fought not to be sick.
‘What if they’d found Amira?’ she asked. ‘What if they suspected her, too? What if they’d taken her?’
He led them to Fred. Gisele’s husband is the reason he was taken to that godforsaken camp!
‘If it’s a choice between saving my family andanyoneelse, I choose my family, Gisele,’ he said. ‘I always will, so please don’t ever ask me to do anything differently. If you’d only told me, I could have done something.’
‘But—’
‘There are no buts, Gisele,’ he said, sharply, his voice rising. ‘I would have thought a woman with four children and a Mother’s Cross would know that, without having to be told. Your family must always come first, goddamn it!’
‘My family does come first! It always comes first. But you have to tell me what you’re going to do. Will you help me to protect Amira? Can I trust you?’
She’s fought her entire life for me, and now she’s going to have to make a choice between her family and her friend.
‘Hans?’ Gisele cried.
‘You put our children in danger, Gisele. You put me in danger. You—’
‘Just tell me whether you’ll protect her?’ Gisele pleaded, the desperation impossible to miss in her voice.
But Hans never answered, and when Amira heard his heavy footsteps thundering across the room, she leapt up and scrambled against the far wall of the hall. He swung the door open and stormed away, not even bothering to glance in her direction, and when Amira stepped into the room to look for Gisele, she saw her rip the bronze medal off her lapel and hurl it to the floor. Gisele’s tears came in big, ugly sobs that wracked her body, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath and failed. Amira tentatively stepped closer.
‘I’m sorry,’ Gisele said as she slowly looked up. ‘I’m so, so sorry, Amira.’
Amira went to her and hugged her, despite it all. She was terrified of what Hans might do but now, with Fred gone, Gisele would be all alone in the world if she didn’t have Amira.
‘He forced you to tell him,’ Amira said.
‘But I don’t know what he’ll do, Amira! I honestly don’t know what he’s capable of. My own husband. I truly don’t know.’
‘Gisele, you’ve fought all your life for me, from when we were little girls. You’ve been like the sister I never had. But I don’t need you to save me now. What I need is for you to help me save Fred.’
‘What if it’s already too late to save him though?’
They both jumped when the front door slammed shut.
‘We can’t believe it’s too late for him,’ Amira murmured as they held each other. ‘We have to believe that there is still time.’
‘And what of Hans? What if he never comes back?’ Gisele cried.
‘He will,’ Amira said. ‘He loves you, and he will come home. You know he will.’
What she wasn’t so certain about was whether he’d come back with two Gestapo men, who’d march her from his home and down to the train station to join the other Jews headed to Auschwitz.
An hour later, Hans still hadn’t returned, and Gisele was alternating between anger and tears. Amira passed her a fresh cup of coffee and sat down beside her. She’d been tempted to leave and go back to her apartment, but she was pragmatic enough to know that if Hans sent men for her, they’d find her wherever she was. Which had led her to staying with Gisele while she still could.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Gisele whispered, Amira tucked close beside her on the sofa.
‘You have nothing to be sorry for,’ Amira whispered back. ‘You’ve always been my truest friend, and nothing has changed.’
‘But to think that he had a hand in Fred being arrested, in what happened...’
‘To his credit, he could have detained me immediately when you told him the truth, and he didn’t.’
