The Dressmaker's Son (22 page)

CHAPTER 49

The long work day
complete, Rebekah headed back to her cell with Samuel.  She almost passed Ivan
who was leaning against the wall as she came around the corner.  He was
bouncing a small red ball about the size of a tennis ball.

            “Good evening,
Rebekah,” he said, smiling first at Samuel and then Rebekah.  Bending over to
Samuel, he handed him the ball.  “For you, Boyachick,” he said mispronouncing
the nickname.

“How nice of you, Ivan,”
Rebekah said returning his smile.

            “The pleasure is mine,”
he insisted.  Then he took Rebekah’s arm and pulled her aside.

“I am afraid there
could be some bad news,” he told her, shaking his head from side to side.

            “What is it, Ivan?”

            “Orders have come for
us to transfer a bunch of prisoners to Novgorod Provincial Prison.  I haven’t
seen the list, so I don’t know if you and Samuel are on it or not.”

            Rebekah reached up and
took Ivan’s face in her hands. “Ivan,” she said softly.  “You have to see if
Samuel and I are on the list.  Where is this prison and how will they take us
there?”

            Completely overwhelmed
by Rebekah’s action Ivan just stood there for a minute.  Finally, he put his
arms around her waist. “Let me see what I can find out for you.  Go to your
cell.  I will come by later with whatever information I have.”

            Rebekah kissed him
gently on the cheek, knowing she needed all the help she could get from him.  “Thank
you, Ivan,” she all but whispered.  “I knew I could count on you.”  Turning to
Samuel who was bouncing the ball against the wall she said, “Come, Samuel.  Thank
Ivan for the ball.  Then we must go back to get ready for bed.”

            Rebekah slept
restlessly all night.  She was petrified that she and Samuel were going to be sent
to a hard labor prison.  Everyone had told her how much worse conditions were
there.  And what if they were separated?  The worst, of course, would be to be
sent far to the outskirts of Siberia.  She’d heard tales of thousands dying
along the way when they had to walk there in the snow and ice.  Other prisons were
in various cities and could be reached by train.

            Ivan didn’t come by
that night, but he did show up mid-afternoon the next day.  She could tell the
minute he walked in that things were not good.

            “What is it, Ivan?” she
asked as he approached.

            “Not good, Rebekah,” he
told her solemnly.  “You and the boy are on the list to be transferred to
Novgorod Provincial Prison on Friday.”

            “Day after tomorrow?”  Rebekah
asked shocked.

            “Yes. According to one
of my friends in the head warden’s office, the orders arrived yesterday.  They’re
sending about two hundred people.  He said they will send you by train.”

            “Is there anything you
can do to get us off the list?”

“I don’t think so.
 I tried to get him to ask that you and the boy be allowed to stay, but he said
that the warden had inquired about what to do with you because you had no
papers, and the answer came back to transfer you with the next group leaving.”

Rebekah lowered
her voice to a whisper, “My God.  I can’t let this happen, Ivan.  You have to
help me.  I’m just trying to get back to America with my son.  How many stops
does the train make? Do you know anyone who could help me get off the train
with Samuel?”

“Samuel?” he
replied, puzzled.

“Yes. That is his
real name, Ivan. Boyachick is a nickname,” Rebekah answered. “Please, Ivan, see
if there is anything you can do to help me.”

He could see the
tears about to brim over in her beautiful eyes.  “Don’t cry, Rebekah,” he said
grasping her shoulders and looking into her eyes.  “I know you are a good
woman, and I’m so impressed with Boyachick; I will see if there is anything at
all I can do.”

Rebekah smiled,
“Thank you, Ivan. You are our only hope.  It is nice to know that there are
still good people like you.  If we can just get to Finland there are people
there who can help us.”

“I’m not
promising, Rebekah.  I don’t know how I can possibly help, but I will try.”

CHAPTER 50

Vadim looked up
when he saw Misha crossing the floor.  “I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” he
said as Misha approached him.  “But, I do have a little more information.”

Misha smiled,
“Tell me, Vadim.”

“Well,” he started.
“The ticket master that I spoke to in Vyborg said that he talked to the man who
was on duty the next morning, and he reported that there had been a woman there
that morning, but she had a little boy with her with blond hair.”

            “The girl must have been
a disguise,” he said almost to himself.  “I knew she was clever.”

            “And where did they go
from there?” he asked Vadim.

            “He wasn’t sure, Major.
 But he said that she ran over to his window, pointed to a train and asked if
she could use the tickets she had on it.  He tried to tell her no, but before
he could tell her where it was going she ran and got on with the little boy.”

            “Where was it going?”
Vadim asked.

            “He wasn’t sure.  He
said it seemed to be really full and there were several guards.  I asked him to
try to find out where it was going.  They are supposed to keep a log of every
train entering and leaving the station like we do here.”

            Misha thought a minute.
 Going to Vyborg seemed to be the best place to start.  “When is the next train
to Vyborg, Vadim?” he asked.

            “There is supposed to
be one in about two hours.  They run pretty often, but sometimes they are
filled with troops being moved around.  Shall I issue you a ticket?”

            “Yes, but do me favor,
Vadim.  Issue it in the name of Peter Petrovitch,” he replied slipping him some
money.  “I don’t want her or those protecting her to get wind of the fact that
I am on her trail.”

            “I understand.  Just a
minute and I will have it ready.  And the ticket master who you need to ask for
is Gregori.  I will write his name down for you.”

            “I appreciate your help
and loyalty,” Misha responded.

It was actually
three hours before the train arrived.  The trip to Vyborg, though, was
uneventful.  Misha dozed in and out for most of it.  Although there were many
soldiers, there was room for civilians, and of course, Misha had no problem
boarding because of his rank.  He arrived in Vyborg at four in the morning and
went straight to the ticket window to see if the ticket master he needed to see
was there.  He wasn’t, but the man on duty was the same man who had seen the
woman with the little girl.

“She was quite a
beauty,” he told Misha.  “I never saw them again, but two days later there were
bulletins describing her and saying she was wanted for murder.”

“Murder?”  Misha
asked incredulously.

“Yes.  Funny thing
was, the next day the person who brought the bulletins around came back and
collected them.  Said that the wife didn’t want to press charges and be
subjected to the notoriety.  I guess the deceased man was pretty important
because the police backed down and closed the case.”

“Interesting,”
Misha replied trying to look unaffected by this story.  “Did the woman tell you
where she was going?”

“Like the others
who were forced off the train for the troops, she was headed to Helsinki,” he
answered.

”I see,” Misha
replied. “By the way can you tell me what time Gregori comes on?”

“In about four
hours, sir.  His shift is right after mine.”

“Thank you.  I
just had some regards for him.  Meanwhile, can you tell me a hotel that’s not
too far from here?”

“Yes, sir.  Just
go out the front door and there should be a carriage that can take you there.”

Misha headed for
the front door.

There was no
trouble getting a room at the hotel.  Misha couldn’t help but wonder if Rebekah
had spent the night there when she was forced to get off the train.  Taking out
a picture of Rebekah he had taken while watching her in New York, he showed it
to the clerk.  “Do you by any chance recognize this woman?” he asked.

The clerk studied
the picture. “Well,” he answered, “she looks like a woman who stayed here
several months ago.  Had a little girl with her.  If it’s the same one, she
created a big mess.”

“What do you
mean?” Misha asked.

“I don’t really
know all the details.  I was here when she came in, but we had no rooms because
of all the people who were forced off their train.  But the couple in front of
her had an extra room, and they let her and the little girl have it.  I wasn’t
here the next morning, but the husband of the couple who gave her their extra
room was found dead in that lady’s room. From what I heard, he was an important
man and the chief of police started to launch an all-out search for her, but
the wife wanted it kept quiet.  Who knows what he was doing in the other
woman’s room,” he said with a smirk.  “Is she a friend of yours?”

“Not really,”
Misha said.  “But she is wanted for kidnapping that child.  If you know
anything else, you need to tell me.”

“No, Major
Petrovitch,” the clerk replied nervously.  “I’ve told you all I know.”

“Thank you, then,”
Misha said as he picked up his key and headed to his room trying to imagine
what had happened to Rebekah that night.            

CHAPTER 51

Solomon looked out
the window at his family.  Everyone was there: Papa, Mama, Miriam, Leah, Joshua
and Gabe.  They were waving and pointing to the window.  Mama finally caught
his eye and smiled.  She was trying so hard to be brave.  She smiled and
mouthed, “Be safe, Sollie.”

            He smiled back and blew
her a kiss.  Gabe was not so brave. Despite his young age, he understood that
his brother was going to go to war.  He stood there saluting the train with
tears running down his cheeks.

            Solomon had tried to
explain to him that he was only going for his training, but Gabe could not seem
to make the distinction.

            As the train began to
pull out of the station, Solomon searched for Kathleen.  He finally saw her
standing several rows behind his family a little further down the track.  She
waved and blew him a kiss.  He put his hands up to the window like he had
caught it and blew one back.  “When this is all over,” he thought to himself, “I’ll
be able to tell them.”

            As the train pulled out
of the station and picked up speed, Solomon turned from the window and relaxed
in his seat.  Kathleen had been the one thing in his life that he never
expected to happen.  Yes, he expected to one day meet a nice Jewish girl, get
married, and raise a family.  But he didn’t expect to be shot in the heart by
an Irish Catholic nurse.  They had actually met outside of Bloomingdales.  

Solomon was
delivering the last of the gown orders to the store for Rebekah, and the bags
were piled up in his arms blocking his vision.  As he went to step up to the
door he missed the step and fell, hitting his head on the cement.  Still
clutching the dresses he started to get up.

            “Don’t get up too
fast,” this firm yet lilting voice ordered.  “You’re bleeding and that was a
pretty nasty fall.”

            “Oh, I’ll be fine,”
Solomon answered, ever the proud male.

            “Maybe so,” the voice
replied kneeling down next to him. “Here, take this handkerchief and press it
on the cut.”

            Solomon just stared as
he took the handkerchief from her and held it in his hand, looking into her
deep hazel eyes.

            “Oh, here, give it to
me,” she ordered taking it from him. Gently she wiped the cut.  “It’s right on
the hairline,” she told him, “but it is kind of deep. You might need some
stitches.”

            Finally he found his
voice. “Oh, I’ll be okay,” he told her. “I’ve been cut before.”

            “Just like a man,” she
shrugged. “Listen,” she continued, running her hand through her very straight
deep auburn hair. “That can get infected.  It could also leave a scar and spoil
your pretty face.”

            Solomon blushed.  “You
sound like a doctor,” he said.

            “Nurse,” she replied. “At
Mount Sinai Hospital.  Why don’t you come with me and I will get someone to sew
it up for you.”

            He rose carefully
gathering the bags of dresses.  “I need to deliver these, first,” he told her.  “Then
I’ll come.  Who should I ask for?”

            “I’m on my way there
now.  Just asked for Kathleen in the emergency room,” she replied helping him steady
himself.

            He shivered slightly at
her touch.  “See you in a little while, Kathleen.  Thank you.”

            “Don’t mention it,” she
answered as she turned and headed down the street.

            The rest was a blur.  When
he got to the emergency room, Kathleen was standing behind the counter.  She
looked amazing to him in her starched uniform with her hair swept up under the
little nurse’s hat.

            “I’m glad you decided
to come,” she said as he approached the counter.  “Fill out these few papers
and have a seat.  I’ll see if I can get someone to sew that up.  It still looks
pretty bad.”

            “Yes, ma’am,” Solomon
replied smiling.

            Twenty minutes later
Kathleen came out and took him into a little curtained cubicle.  “Just sit on
the table here,” she said.  “Dr. Goldberg will be in to look at it.  I’m sure
he’ll want to stitch it up.”

            “Will it hurt?” Solomon
asked.

            Kathleen laughed. “Now,
now, little boy. Be a brave soldier.”

            Solomon laughed with
her.  “I will be okay if you hold my hand,” he replied.

            Just then Dr. Goldberg
came through the curtain.  “Is this the young man you rescued today, Kathleen?”
he asked.

            “Yes, doctor. I thought
he might need stitches.”

            “He certainly does,” he
said pulling over a little rolling stool and sitting down.

            “I’ll get a tray,”
Kathleen said and disappeared through the curtain.  Within minutes she was back
with the things needed to suture the wound.

            The suturing done, the
doctor left Kathleen to bandage the wound and give Solomon instructions.

            “I really appreciate
all you’ve done for me,” Solomon said. “I’d like to take you out to dinner to
thank you.”           

            “Oh you don’t have to
do that,” Kathleen answered.

            "But I really want
to.”

            “Oh,” Kathleen said laughing.
 “I meant you don’t have to do dinner.  Coffee or lunch would do just fine.”

            They made plans to meet
the next day for lunch.

            On the way home,
Solomon couldn’t stop thinking about her. He knew already that he was falling
in love with her, and it amazed him. After what had happened to Millie, he
didn’t think he could ever really fall in love again. It was still painful to
think about the tragedy of her death. He knew she was one of the girls who had
jumped from the windows to their deaths and had always wondered if they had let
him in the building he could have saved her. But he also knew the reality was
that the flames were ferocious and when he found out that the man who had the
keys to the locked doors on each floor had fled the building, he knew he couldn’t
have gotten to her.  The locked doors had been an issue before the fire.
Solomon had been part of a small group of employees who had seen the danger in
it and had gone to management about changing it. He wondered if they had been
more vocal could Millie’s and all the other deaths been prevented. His parents
had tried to convince him that he couldn’t blame himself for what happened, but
he still had his moments.

            They had only met
Millie once, but loved her charm and how she was able to make Solomon laugh.
When they found out she was working so many hours and going to school at night
to become a teacher, they were really impressed.

            It was a beautiful day,
and Solomon walked slowly home as he reflected about Millie. Looking upward he
said to himself, “I know you would want me to be happy and not be alone,
Millie.”

            The more he learned
about her, the more he fell in love with her.  Her parents were immigrants from
Ireland and hers was a large Catholic family.  She had left the church,
however, and was trying to find a religion that worked for her.  That was one
of the reasons she was working at Mount Sinai: there were lots of Jews.  They
talked about Judaism and Solomon was surprised to find that she had spoken to a
rabbi about converting.

            “It isn’t easy being a
Jew, you know,” Solomon told her one evening during one of their discussions.  “There
is so much prejudice.  They blame us for everything.”

            “That’s the part I
don’t get,” she said. “To me you are just a wonderful person.”

            “And that is why I love
you.  I just want you to be sure if you make such a decision, it is for the right
reasons.  Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

            “Of course not.”

            “What made you leave
the Catholic Church?  And what do your parents think about it?”

            Kathleen smiled. “Well,
the second one is easier than the first.  My parents were beside themselves.  They
truly believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and now my soul is
doomed to Hell no matter what I do or what kind of life I live. That makes them
very sad.”

            “The first question
isn’t quite as easy.  I was always different than my brothers and sisters.  From
early on I had questions about the Catholic religion.  But you weren’t allowed
to talk about it.  Once in Sunday school when I was about fourteen, I asked if
someone wasn’t Christian but they lived a really good life what would happen to
them.  The Sister said they would not be saved if they didn’t accept Jesus
Christ as their Savior.  I asked what if they lived in China or Africa where
they had no exposure to Jesus Christ.  The Sister said they would still not be
saved and that is why we send missionaries to spread the word of the Lord.  She
asked me to stay after Sunday school and told me that I needed to have more
faith.  I needed to just believe what I was being taught and accept it.  I
couldn’t do that.”

            “So what did you do?”
Solomon asked.

            “I started looking into
other forms of Christianity, but they were pretty much the same way.  I stayed
in the Church because I had no choice, but when I got out of high school and
started nursing school, I stopped going and kept trying to find something else.
 I knew I believed in God, but after that I was pretty stymied.  I chose Mt. Sinai
for my nursing, but not before looking into Buddhism.  When I started exploring
Judaism, my biggest concern was that you saw yourselves as God’s ‘Chosen
People.’  That bothered me. It was like the Catholic thing all over again.  I
became friendly with a girl at work and we used to talk about it.  She
suggested I speak to Rabbi Greenman.  He explained that ‘chosen’ didn’t mean
that they were better or chosen from all the rest to be saved.  He said it
meant the Jews were chosen to lead others to Him as the one true God.  That
made sense to me, so I started studying more.”

            “Wow,” Solomon
responded. “You really did your homework. Far be it from me to tell you what
decision to make about your own religion.”

            Kathleen said she was
sure and she started classes to convert.  Solomon helped her with her lessons
and was there when she went to the Mikva, a place where the conversion is
concluded by submerging oneself in a pool of water which symbolizes a change of
soul.  He beamed with pride.  Yet still he did not know what to tell his
parents.  They were not meticulously observant Jews.  They observed the
holidays and had Sabbath dinner, but Papa didn’t close the shop on Shabbat. He
couldn’t verbalize his reluctance to tell them. But knew in his heart, they
would accept Kathleen. It was a question of the proper timing.

When Solomon
joined the army, they decided to get married. The rabbi who guided Kathleen’s
conversion performed the ceremony, and Solomon promised that when he got back
home they would have a proper Jewish wedding with both their families.

            Solomon reached in his
pocket, took out his wedding ring and put it on his finger.  “I won’t take it
off,” he thought to himself, “Until I am home.”