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Lili, Gil, and Martha climbed out of the black London taxi and walked up the stone stairs to the large wooden door of a greystone row house. Gil clunked the brass door-knocker three times. The door was opened by a giggly young girl. She looked up at Martha and said, “are you Mum’s new Nan?”
“Why yes, dear. I guess I am your Mum’s new Nan. My name’s Martha. What’s your name?”
“My name’s Olivia. Please come in.”
“As they entered the house, several adults and more children stood, quietly watching them. A smiling middle-aged woman walked over and said, “Martha, I’m your daughter, Gemma.” She gave Martha a big hug and both of them cried, unable to let go of each other.
After regaining her composure, Martha asked, “Well, who are these other beautiful people?”
“These are your great-grandchildren Max and Kirsty. You have more great-grandchildren, too, but they haven’t yet arrived. This is your granddaughter, Vera.”
Vera gave her a hug. “And this is my husband, Daniel.”
“Please meet my friends Lili D’Amico and Gil Novak,” said Martha. “They saved my life, and helped me to find you.”
“Come, let’s go into the sitting room,” said Gemma.
They had tea, coffee, and cakes to eat while they got to know each other. Rather than talking about the past, they spoke mainly about their current lives. Every few minutes, more people arrived. “Martha, these are your other grandchildren, Clara and Michael. I’ll let them introduce their families in a minute. But first, I’d like to introduce you to my other mother, Emma. Emma Ableford.”
Emma gave Martha a big hug. “I’m so, so sorry for what you’ve gone through in your life. I’ll be more than happy to share Gemma with you.”
“Thank you for giving Gemma such a wonderful life.”
More introductions were made and, after much conversation, lunch was served in a large dining room. Before dessert was served, Lili stood and made an announcement. “Tomorrow morning at ten o’clock at our hotel, we’ll be holding a reception for Martha’s Scottish half-siblings and some of their children. So, Gemma, their children are your half-cousins. You are welcome to join us, if you’d like to meet them. Any of you who would like to attend, you’re all invited.”
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THE NEXT DAY, MARTHA met her half siblings, Sarah Duncan and Laith Gillies. They introduced their spouses, children, and grandchildren. Morag Wilson, who had previously met with Lili and Gil in Torquay, was there. Gemma Wells was thrilled to meet her new cousins.
Gil asked everyone to get a drink and a snack, and to take a seat for a presentation. He projected Martha’s family tree on a large video-screen for all to see.
GIL EXPLAINED HOW EACH of the people in the room were related to each other. He explained how Martha had also found new relatives as far away as Israel and Brazil. There were many questions about that. Based on the chart, the Scottish relatives were only related to the English and Israeli relatives. Gemma was related to the Israeli and Brazilian relatives. It was all very complicated.
“So,” asked Archie Gillies, “if I have the same amount of Jewish DNA as my cousins, Morag and Emily, why are they Jewish but I am not?” “We all have the same Nan, don’t we?”
“The reason you are not Jewish is because your mother isn’t Jewish. This aspect of Jewish lineage originates in Jewish laws that have been in place for thousands of years. To the Jewish people, you are considered a Gentile,” said Gil. “These laws have been followed for millennia before anyone was aware of DNA. I don’t claim to be an expert on this.”
Lili spoke up. “One thing that’s interesting is that, beside the fact that you and your cousins have approximately the same amount of so-called Jewish DNA, the female lineage also passes down a complete set of mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondria are cell-like organelles that are like the batteries inside each of the cells in your body. These organelles have their own DNA, in addition to the primary DNA in each of your cells. Morag and Emily have essentially the same mitochondrial DNA as their grandmother and many grandmothers before. Archie, you do not. Your mitochondrial DNA is from your own mother’s lineage.”
“Well, who are these people, our cousins that live in Israel?” asked Laith Gillies, Martha’s half-brother. “What kind of people are they?”
“So far, all we’ve done is meet with them by video-conference,” said Gil “The ones we’ve talked to seem to be very nice people. They speak fluent English. In a few days, we’re going to meet them in person. So far, our main discussion was about Martha’s history and how this all came about. We haven’t really had a chance to get to know them, who they are and what their lives are like. Perhaps some of you will want to visit them, too.”
“Gil, let’s not sugar-coat all of my Israeli cousins,” said Martha. “One of our cousins is an old retired spy who tried to have me killed. Gil, could you put up the stolen art slide and explain it to them?”
“I was hoping that this would have been a private discussion, but it’s your show, Martha. This is a BBC news item about a cache of art, worth over forty million euros, stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. It was recently discovered in a vault at a Swiss bank. The art was stolen from the house of Avram and Talya Meyer in Berlin. They were Frieda’s parents, killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, in a concentration camp. The art is going to be returned to the Meyer’s heirs, who are Martha, Sarah, Laith, and your three Israeli cousins, Shmuel, Sarit, and Rina. Until Martha did her DNA search, your Israeli cousins didn’t know there were any other heirs. Once Shmuel found out about Martha and her history, he tried to have Martha and Gemma assassinated to prevent them from inheriting. Martha had to go into hiding. Shmuel even had Lili kidnapped to Eastern Europe from America to use her to find Martha. Luckily, Lili escaped.”
The room had gone completely silent except for some children playing tag. Gil took a sip of water and continued. “The American State Department contacted the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this. A few months later, we were told that the problem was resolved, and that there would be no more trouble for Martha. But they wouldn’t reveal to us what was done about it.”
Martha said, “Part of the reason I’m going to Israel is to give this Shmuel a slap upside his head!” Everyone burst out in laughter. “He thinks that, since my father was a German officer, I’m some kind of Nazi girl. That’s a bunch of crap! That’s really how the Nazi’s thought, that anyone with Jewish blood should be put to death.”
“Does this Swiss bank know that we are also heirs?” asked Laith.
“The American State Department has already notified the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs that Martha, Laith, and Sarah are heirs to the Meyer estate,” said Gil. “I recommend that you get some legal representation for this. What I understand is that all of the heirs must come to an agreement on how to disposition this art. Will it be sold, kept, or donated?”
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GIL, AND LILI SPENT the next few days touring London. Gemma spent most of her time getting to know Martha. Martha’s half sister, Sarah Duncan, also seemed to develop a close relationship with both Martha and Gemma. When Martha, Gil, and Lili were on their way to the airport, Martha said, “I finally feel like I have a family! Gemma and Sarah are coming to visit me next summer. Oh, and you know what? They told me that Scotland Yard has started an investigation on how Gemma was stolen from me.”