A Sparrow in Terezin Read online

  She nudged Sera a bit with an arm around the shoulder.

  “One last hug,” she said, enveloping her in the sweetness of a friend’s embrace. “Now, off we go.”

  Penny winked and led them down the hall.

  Sera followed behind her friend, past the office where she’d sat more than a year before, waiting for the head of the Hanover clan to greet her about a potential commission. The commission to find a painting of a Holocaust-era violinist—Adele Von Bron—and the unfolding of the story that would eventually bring them together.

  They passed the great room, with its wall of windows and sweeping views of the water, its cozy fireplace and whisper-soft lighting, where she and William had sat on so many quiet evenings, talking and dreaming about their future together. It’s where he’d knelt down on one knee, with tears in his eyes, and asked her to be his wife.

  The estate house had seemed magical then. And inviting. And so full of promise for their future. That was until the week before, until they’d received the terrible phone call that set everything in motion to move the wedding up by more than six months.

  “Are you sure he looked okay?” Sera laid a light touch on Penny’s elbow to pause their march toward the back door. “I mean, he doesn’t look like he wants to change his mind about all this?”

  Penny tilted her chin down and glared at Sera as though through a pair of bifocals.

  “Why would he dream of changing his mind? He followed you to Paris so you wouldn’t have to go alone. You’ve been engaged for months. And you love him. You told me yourself—he’s the love of your life. I’m quite sure he feels the same about you.”

  “But we decided to go ahead with the wedding now on such short notice. We haven’t even packed everything up yet. Think of all the crates that still have to be shipped here from New York. The gallery is still under renovations and is months away from opening. And Will’s just going back to school. Think of his life, and my work, and our families . . .”

  “You’re about to walk down the aisle and you want to talk about crates and school schedules?”

  Sera felt a blush tinge her cheeks under her friend’s motherly stare.

  “No. Not exactly.”

  “Then what has you playing the role of the jittery bride? It’s not like you.”

  Sera wished she could tell her what was going on behind the scenes. But the truth was too difficult. Best to state the obvious and leave the rest out.

  “I’m not thinking about old ghosts, if that’s what’s underneath that intense glare of yours. Nerves about being left at the altar were put to rest quite a long time ago.”

  “Good.” It took Penny no less than a split second to chime in. “Because the altar won’t be empty this time. And your former fiancé has no place in your vows today.”

  “Of course not,” Sera agreed. “But it still doesn’t change the fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Everything is so uncertain. After all, I could walk out there and—”

  “Marry the man you love.”

  Sera stared back at the openness in her friend’s eyes, saw the understanding, and finally exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.” Penny nodded. “You love him. Say ‘I do.’ Pledge your heart to him and for one day at least”—her shoulders rose on a dainty shrug, as if the answer were just that simple—“forget the rest.”

  Was it that easy to forget the uncertainty?

  Twilight greeted them as they stepped through the French doors at the back of the house.

  Sera followed her maid of honor along the smoothed cobblestone path that was etched through the garden. It looked enchanting, having been softened by the flickering of tea-light candles that lined the path all the way to the edge of the sand.

  “Wait,” she called out to Penny, who halted in her steps and turned round.

  “What’s the matter?”

  Sera shook her head. “Nothing, I just—” On a last-second whim, she stooped and slipped her feet out of the classic white peep-toes. “I need to leave something behind.”

  It felt right to lose the heels, as if she were choosing to hold nothing back. Sera was walking toward her future. It was waiting—he was waiting, out on the beach, for her. The shedding of one last barrier between them made her feel all the more free. She wanted to have the option to run if she chose.

  Sera tossed her heels up on the cobblestone path and after nodding Penny on, took her first barefoot step down in the sand.

  The last of the evening’s sun washed down over the beach. A salty sea breeze caressed her cheeks as the beauty of the kaleidoscope sky and lively bay waters created a backdrop behind them.

  The bay looked like it did all those months ago when she’d first come to California; it toiled, deep blue and uncaged, stirring in chaos along the edge of the estate. It mirrored the circumstances in which she’d come into the Hanovers’ lives, they having been thrust into a legal battle to win back their estate and she, unknowingly at the time, about to fall in love with the eldest son when they first walked together through the sand.

  William stood before her, in a gray linen suit and white oxford unbuttoned at the collar. His stance was relaxed. And he looked sincerely happy, with a wide grin that melted over his features the instant he locked eyes with hers.

  Sera had to remind herself not to run all the way.

  She took each step slowly, remembering what it had cost for them to reach this moment together. She saw the faces of his family beaming around them: his mother, ever smiling and supportive. His younger sister, Macie, was there with her husband, Eric. Penny had turned to stand opposite William’s younger brother, Paul, the free-spirited musician with the quick wit and wicked-good looks. Sera bit her lip over a suppressed smile at the thought of Penny’s insides tying in knots at having to put up with the best man.

  And then her gaze turned back to William.

  He waited patiently, with his hands clasped in front of him. The sea wind toyed with his hair, leaving it the way she loved it: just a touch windblown across his forehead. And she smiled with sheer contentment, maybe for the first time, as her soon-to-be husband reached out for her hand.

  He cradled her fingertips in his as if they were made of the most precious porcelain and escorted her up to the small altar on the sand. It was fashioned out of a simple white garden archway that was softened by a bower of brilliant summer peonies and banners of draped white fabric that flowed in the breeze.

  She handed her bouquet to Penny, then turned to William as she joyfully laced her fingers with the warmth of his.

  He looked down at the hem of the gown she’d lifted in her walk through the sand and tilted his head.

  “No shoes?”

  “Uh,” she whispered back, feeling her shoulders tilt up in a shrug. “I guess I felt like leaving something behind.”

  He winked at her. “You’re stunning.”

  Sera’s eyes misted.

  “So are you,” she whispered before thinking, then felt the light tinge of a blush when he laughed at her automatic reply.

  “Well, that’s a first for me, I’d say.”

  Sera’s heart felt free on that beach.

  As she held William’s hands in her own, and as they exchanged rings, pledging to love and honor him all the days of her life, Sera finally understood what it meant to find lasting love. William was an honorable man of God—the best she’d ever known—and now they would belong to each other.

  The service was short, just the way they’d wanted it.

  The minister called the group into prayer, and Sera lowered her head to rest on William’s shoulder. The words prayed over them were lovely. They were binding and spoke of such promise for the blessings of the future. They almost made her believe what Penny had told her in the house: just marry him.

  That’s it.

  The rest would just have to work itself out.

  The prayer ended and on
a spontaneous smile that burst forth from both of their lips, they were pronounced husband and wife.

  William gathered her up in his arms with a grin of contentment and kissed his bride. Sera closed her eyes and leaned into him, winding her arms around his neck as he leaned in to whisper a tender “I love you” against her ear.

  “William Hanover?”

  The voice broke into the bliss of their lovely sunset beach.

  Sera’s eyes popped open.

  William’s body stiffened in her arms for only a moment, then he placed a single kiss at the base of her neck and drew away. He took a step in front of her, as if to shield her from a threat. She drew up close behind him and threaded her fingers tight with his.

  “Evening Carter,” William said, nodding to the older gentleman.

  Sera had met him a few times over the last year. He was an acquaintance of the family, but she knew better than to think his presence on their beach was simply to offer his congratulations.

  He nodded back, the gesture laden with quiet emotion.

  “Good of you to come. Our families have been friends for a long time, so of course you’re welcome to stay and celebrate with us.” William tilted his head to a long table set up not far from where they stood with vases of elegant blooms and tiny candles flickering light through the fallen dusk. “We’ve only just been married.”

  Carter shook his head. “I wish that was all I was here for, but there won’t be time for dinner.”

  William raised his eyebrows and asked, “Now?”

  “I’m afraid so. They’re waiting up at the house.” Carter inclined his head toward the glow of lights shining from the back windows of the estate house. There was activity: a car with blacked-out windows and a pair of men walking around, indicating that Carter had walked to the beach unaccompanied as a courtesy.

  He then gave a respectful tip of his head in greeting.

  “Evening, Sera.”

  She didn’t nod back. Instead, she leaned in closer to William’s back and answered with a reluctant, “Hello, Carter.”

  No, God . . . please. Sera tried to remember to breathe.

  This can’t be happening. Not now.

  Her heart thudded beneath the lace overlay at her chest.

  Paul stepped forward and blurted out, “What’s going on?” His customary bravado was evident in the stance he took in front of the newly married couple.

  “Stand down, Paul.”

  William shot his younger brother a look that suggested he not argue.

  The younger Hanover didn’t seem inclined to listen to the authority in William’s patriarchal tone. Instead, Paul crossed his arms over his chest and planted his feet deeper in the sand. He gave the unwanted guest a steely glare.

  “Someone should tell him he’s trespassing on private property.”

  William shook his head. “Now’s not the time to go into this, Paul.”

  Surprisingly, Penny took a step forward too, as if she was drawing a line for which side she’d chosen to fight. She looked every bit a member of the Hanover clan with bouquets planted at each hip and a scowl on her face, standing shoulder to shoulder with the younger Hanover brother in the sand.

  “Uh,” Paul muttered under his breath and shook his head. “He can’t take you anywhere.”

  “I think the fact that he’s here right now”—William paused, then looked up to the house before continuing—“would suggest he can.”

  The matter-of-fact edge to his tone gave every indication that he was in complete control. Sera had no idea how he managed it; she could have melted right there in the sand.

  Paul notched his chin higher in the air.

  “Then he’ll have to go through me.”

  Macie stepped forward and draped her arm over their mother’s shoulders as she questioned, “William, what on earth is going on here?”

  “It’s all right,” he started, raising a hand to steady them. He turned to his younger brother and whispered in a voice only the three of them could hear, “Paul, you can’t know how much I appreciate your loyalty. I won’t forget it. But right now I must ask you to think of the family.” William tilted his head toward the group edging up behind them. “And please step back.”

  Sera’s heart nearly broke when she turned to find Macie comforting their mother. Mrs. Hanover had bowed her head and continued to dab a tissue to her eyes. Those faces that had beamed with such unabashed happiness only moments before now looked on in stunned disbelief.

  William stepped up and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It’s not your fight—not this time.”

  Paul eyed him for a moment, considering. “I don’t care what’s happening—I’m on your side.”

  “I know that. And when I need it, I can be certain you’ll have my back. But right now it’s out of your hands, little brother.”

  After a brief pause, the younger Hanover eased his stance, though he certainly didn’t look happy about it. He nodded slightly, then took Penny’s elbow in his hand and gently pulled her with him as he retreated back in the sand. He stood off to the side of the bride and groom but kept his rebellious air fully intact.

  William nodded to Carter then before turning to Sera.

  He gently unlaced his fingers from hers, then brushed a hand over the apple of her cheek. She tried to meet his hand, but her fingertips were shaking too badly to grab hold. He turned her palm and pecked a gentle kiss to her fingers.

  “I had doubts,” Sera admitted, biting her bottom lip over the vulnerability of saying the very thoughts out loud. “Before I ever stepped into the sand, I worried that you wouldn’t be here. Not because you wouldn’t want to but because of the uncertainty ahead of us. Whether we should have gone ahead with the wedding. But you did come, didn’t you? You waited for me on our beach.”

  “I fell in love with you on our beach,” he whispered over the sound of seagulls pitching and soaring off somewhere behind them. “From the first day. Remember that? When I was hiring you to find a lost painting?”

  She gave an embattled nod, pushing back tears.

  “And I found you as well. So no, Sera, nothing could have kept me away. Not even this. I’m just sorry you only got to wear that beautiful dress for an hour.”

  Sera shook her head in defiance, never breaking the connection of his eyes to hers, though they stung with hot tears.

  “It’s not your fault,” she said, then added a firm, “I trust you.”

  William looked back at her, he, too, keeping the connection with her eyes, though a rush of wind blew in around them. It almost felt as if their dreams were scattering with it.

  “Will,” she whispered, leaning into him. “I trust you.”

  He didn’t answer her.

  Instead, he scanned the side of her face and brushed a lock of hair away from her temple, its softness having danced about in the breeze that kicked up off the water. He calmed the tendril by gently hooking it behind her ear.

  “Let me go?”

  He’d whispered the question, though it held such strength that she felt she couldn’t refuse. Not now, when everything they’d hoped for was being turned on end.

  “Can you do that, love?”

  Sera nodded, though she dreaded hearing what was to come. He gave a final squeeze to her hand before letting go. She forced her eyes to close when he walked away from her side, heard the chink of metal to metal before her heart officially sank, knowing that their world had come crashing down.

  Sera turned and collapsed into Penny’s waiting arms. The bridal flowers were quickly discarded in the sand at their feet. She cried, uncaring about the raccoon eyes now, realizing that what they’d been dreading was their new reality.

  “William Hanover,” Carter said with feeling in his voice. “You’re under arrest.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  March 15, 1939

  Prague

  Menacing clouds painted the sky over the Charles Bridge.

  Daylight was weak and unable to cut its usual path thro
ugh low-hanging clouds that had forced an eerie blanket of snow over the city. Kája noticed the lack of light as they walked along the Vltava River and how the old town square was shrouded in a pitiful gray.

  Good, she thought. How could we leave if the sun were shining?

  It was March and yet there was no promise of spring.

  No flowers adorned shop window boxes. Stoves still burned throughout the day, warming Prague’s citizens as during the worst chill of winter. It should have been gray on a day like this. Any other color would have convinced Kája she was dreaming. That the lovely old streets weren’t full of motorcars and scores of soldiers with loaded guns. The Czech people couldn’t be standing in the cold, some sobbing out clouds of frozen breath and others watching in stunned disbelief as a regime moved in to infect their city with red swastikas. She had to trick herself into believing that the snow mounded on the street corners was because the children had been at play and piled it into forts, not because it had been cleared so the Nazi army could move through unobstructed.

  She sniffed against the bitter cold. A punishing rush of air burned her nostrils.

  “Kája?”

  Her attention was pulled from the activity in the streets back to Hannah, her older sister, who had come from behind and hooked an arm around her elbow.

  “Come. We must hurry,” she chastened, pulling her along.

  Hannah’s voice was tinged with alarm. Though her whisper was audibly soft, an unmistakable firmness chided in Kája’s ear. The hand that tightened round her elbow was fused with caution, and Hannah’s lovely golden eyes that had so often smiled back at her were, on this day, quite void of anything but fear. They stared back now with a layer of rebuke at her distraction.

  “You ought not look back.”

  “I’m sorry. Yes,” Kája said with a nod, and pulled the funnel collar of her evergreen wool coat up tighter round her neck. “I am coming.”

  It took courage to divert her eyes from the flurry of activity around them, but still Kája obeyed.

  It was the first time in years they’d stepped out on the streets without the Star of David sewn on their garments. They’d never been so bold before; surely they’d be spotted. Found out. Detained and then—