Despite the bitter cold, my skin shone with perspiration as I snuck back in the side door of the villa to rejoin the party. I blessed the presence of the hallway mirror that allowed me to check that I wasn’t too disheveled before entering the ballroom. I smoothed a few flyaway hairs and steadied my breathing before returning to the swirling vortex of the dance floor. I danced at least three waltzes before Friedrich spotted me.
“There you are, my dear. I wondered where you’d gotten to.” Friedrich’s smile was twisted with annoyance. “You went missing a while back. I must have missed seeing you on the dance floor.”
“Ladies’ room,” I said. “I won’t bore you with the intricacies of ladies’ undergarments.”
“I appreciate the courtesy,” he said, winking. “Though perhaps later . . .”
I shuddered at the idea of intimacy with this man, but there was no pretending that I’d have any choice but to submit. I ignored the suggestion and took his hand to go back to the dance floor. At least there, I knew the steps I was supposed to take.
We were only a few measures into a waltz when two uniformed guards came to our side.
“We think we’ve captured the fugitive,” one informed Friedrich without preamble. “We have her in the library, sir.”
“Her?”
“Yes. A woman and a newborn, sir.”
Tilde. The baby.
I felt a hand reflexively rise to wrap around my midsection but forced it to remain at my side. They must think this means nothing to you.
“Curiouser and curiouser. I’ll come see her.”
I fought to regain my composure and hoped I was succeeding in some small measure. I scanned the room for Klara but did not see her.
“Perhaps I should come in case the baby needs looking after,” I said. “I learned a bit from my mother.”
Friedrich flinched at the mention of my mother, but assented.
When we entered the library, Klara was already waiting, holding the baby and sitting next to Tilde in an armchair as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ernst and two guards looked wary.
“Fräulein Rombauer, what is your relationship to this woman?” Ernst said upon my entry. Klara’s look was remarkably nonchalant, so I endeavored to emulate it.
“This is Mathilde Altman. She’s been my dressmaker on many an occasion. She made the very dress I’m wearing.”
“Just as I said,” Klara chimed in. “She came to make sure we didn’t need any last-minute alterations. Though if we’d known she’d just had a baby, my parents wouldn’t have bothered the poor dear.”
“I wouldn’t hear of anyone else touching my creations,” Tilde said with mock seriousness. “Though I admit it wasn’t ideal to have to bring the little one along. Our nanny has been ill, you see. But I thought with Klara and Hanna being as much friends as clients, they’d understand.”
“Understand? Delighted to see the little darling. Though I thought you’d gone home hours ago. What happened?” I asked.
“Oh, I took advantage of your offer to feed the baby and take a nap in your room. By the time I woke up it was dark, and I couldn’t find my way.”
“Well, thank goodness the men found you before anyone else. There have been reports of vagrants in the area. Can you imagine what might have happened?” I said, giving a shudder for effect.
“Fortunate indeed,” Ernst said, his expression changing to one of concern.
Friedrich looked at Tilde and seemed mollified. I seized my opportunity.
“Poor Tilde must be dead on her feet,” I said. “Surely someone could phone for a car to give her and the little one a ride back to town, since she was kind enough to taxi in?”
Friedrich nodded and one of the four guards scurried away.
“Rolf will take you where you need to go, Frau Altman. I trust we won’t find you wandering in the woods again.”
“I wouldn’t dream of troubling you again,” she said, the jovial spirit in the room rebounding. “And I certainly don’t want to trouble your man to drive me all the way back to Berlin. A taxi will do beautifully.”
“There’s one waiting in the drive, Captain,” the underling chimed in. “Dropping off some guests and hoping for a return job.”
The young lieutenant looked eager not to miss out on the festivities, and Friedrich’s expression softened. Occasions like these were few.
“Very well. See Frau Altman and the child to the taxicab and handle the fare into town,” he said. He turned to me. “Let’s go back to dancing, shall we?”
Friedrich said nothing as we walked back into the ballroom. He pulled me into his arms in time with the swell of the music. “Morning stroll, eh?” he whispered in my ear.
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “Klara had cold feet and that’s the end of it.”
“And you weren’t missing for twenty minutes just before the girl was found? That’s just coincidence?”
“You’re acting paranoid, Friedrich. It’s not a flattering look for you.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s paranoid to connect this many dots, my dear.”
“Then why let her go?” I replied. “If you don’t think I’m telling you the truth.”
“Because she doesn’t matter. I don’t know why you’re protecting her or from what, but in the grand scheme of things, she doesn’t matter. But I promise you this, if you step one more toe out of line, it will be your neck you need to worry about. Not hers. They warned me that you had some of your mother’s same proclivities, but I was blinded by my attraction to you. I won’t be so foolish in the future.”
I stared at him agape, not caring who on the dance floor might be watching us.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be married in less than two weeks, and you’ll be plenty busy with your new life to worry about getting into any mischief.”
“Two weeks?” I asked.
“Time’s up, darling. I’ve waited long enough. And if that woman I’ve just let walk out of here means anything to you, you won’t put up a fuss. I could have her behind bars where she belongs and the brat thrown in the lake with the snap of my fingers.”
I felt my stomach curdle at the veracity of his words and the sincerity with which he spoke them.
The evening wasn’t yet over, and Friedrich wouldn’t allow us to give the appearance of having quarreled. Klara too was on the floor, dancing with officers as though we hadn’t just narrowly escaped the wrath of one of the most vindictive men in Germany. I wanted to cross the room to talk to her but didn’t dare risk attracting Friedrich’s attention. I danced when she danced until I saw her lingering for a moment at the punch table.
I begged off on my partner, claiming to be parched, and walked to the table with all the nonchalance I could feign.
“I’m sorry,” Klara whispered. “They were watching me too closely. I thought you had a better chance of warning her away than I did. If they’d found her in the cottage, there would have been no explaining it away.”
“All that matters is Tilde and the baby. And it seems like we did what we could for her,” I said.
“But what about the others?” Klara asked. “Tilde isn’t the only one trapped in Germany.”
“I know,” I said, looking down into my lemonade cup.
“You have no idea what they have in store,” Klara said, the color draining from her face as she looked out onto the dance floor. “Stoltz told me, and I’m sure she only has the barest idea of what’s going on compared to the men in this room.”
“That’s what she lectured you about? What scared you so much?”
“It’s more than enough. Just keep safe, Hanna. Remember that you mean nothing to these people if you get in their way. And everything if they need something from you.”
“We have to do something,” I said.
“We’ll find a way,” Klara said. “Women like us find ways to do the right thing in silence and shadows. The trick, as always, is how to stay alive long enough to make a difference.”