Finding Rebecca: A Novel of Love and the Holocaust by Eoin Dempsey Page B

becoming pregnant.”

    ‚ÄúWell, when I start trying to get
pregnant, I’ll quit.”

    Uli smiled and looked down at his
feet before bringing his eyes back to the tree house. “This thing wasn’t easy
to build.”

    ‚ÄúI can remember seeing it for the
first time. I think it might have been the greatest thrill I’ve ever had, even
to this day.”

    ‚ÄúI‚Äôm glad to hear that, but maybe you
should get out a little more and not work so hard eh?” They both laughed and
Christopher threw down the cigarette and followed his uncle back up to the
house, where Stefan and Alexandra were waiting at the kitchen table.

    The bottles of beer piled up on the
kitchen table and Christopher’s father opened the bottle of brandy he had been
saving. It was the first time Christopher had ever seen Alexandra drink more
than a couple of glasses, and the white wine Stefan gave her had its inevitable
effect on her. When she started asking her father when he was going to get
married again and imploring him to get out there and meet someone, Stefan
stepped in.

    ‚ÄúI appreciate your concern,
Alexandra, but I think it’s time you got off to bed now.”

    ‚ÄúOk.‚Äù She nodded and stood up. ‚ÄúDaddy,
will you carry me, like you used to when I was a little girl?” she said with
her arms outstretched. Christopher watched his father and started laughing.

    ‚ÄúI think you‚Äôre getting a little too
big for that, and I’m a little old.” Stefan scratched his head. “I think that
the wine I let you have has gone to your head.”

    ‚ÄúOh, come on Dad, you can still do
it. I know you can.”

    ‚ÄúYou heard the girl, Stefan, carry
her up the stairs,” Uli said.

    Stefan smiled and shook his head. ‚ÄúOk
then, come on.” He took her in his arms. Alexandra waved goodnight to
Christopher and Uli, then disappeared out through the door and up the stairs in
her father’s arms.

    Five minutes later, Stefan arrived
back into the kitchen, wiping a bead of imaginary sweat from his brow. “She
asked me to read her a story after I put her to bed, but I had to draw the line
somewhere.” The three men laughed as they had all night.

    ‚ÄúSo tell me about your work
Christopher?” Uli asked.

    ‚ÄúI enjoy it. I am good at it too, I
think.”

    ‚ÄúHe is good at it. I‚Äôm very proud of
him,” Stefan added.

    Christopher looked across the table
at his father, his eyes lingering for an extra second before he turned back
towards his uncle.

    ‚ÄúYes, this is a very beautiful
island, a very beautiful place. But you’re always going to be the outsiders
here, aren’t you? You’re always going to be the German family living on the
English island.”

    ‚ÄúThis island is not a part of
England,” Stefan replied.

    ‚ÄúCome on, Stefan, you know what I
mean.”

    ‚ÄúThere were problems, especially when
we first arrived, but they’re few and far between now,” Christopher’s father
said, looking out into the black of the night outside. “It took me a while to
persuade certain people that the war was over.”

    ‚ÄúI remember,‚Äù Uli said, and picked up
the glass of brandy. He swirled the brown liquid around in the glass for a few
seconds before taking a sip. “Do you ever regret coming here?”

    ‚ÄúNo, not with what was going on in
Germany when we came over here, and particularly with what has happened since,”
Stefan replied.

    ‚ÄúBut Germany has changed now. It‚Äôs a
different place than it was when you left.”

    Christopher shifted in his seat as
Uli spoke and threw his eyes onto his father’s face. Stefan looked back at his
brother and picked up the glass in front of him. Christopher wondered if he
should speak, but his father eventually spoke. “Different how? Better or
worse?”

    ‚ÄúOh