Yesterday Was Long Ago: Part Two Read online

  “That’s why we came,” Ida interrupted. “If we ever hear about you or your son lying about that girl again, you will regret it!”

  “You mean those von Waldens from Lindenfels who couldn’t make it?”

  “What do you mean by ‘couldn’t make it’? They have been our closest friends from our Lindenfels time, when nobody wanted to be bothered with a ‘damn Jew’. They are also the best friends of Philip and Victoria Reinhardt.”

  “But were never of my late client, Verena Reinhardt,” Blumenfeld replied with a smirk.

  “Times have changed drastically. She never liked your gossiping either, only your hats!” Ida answered with the same smirk.

  “Don’t let us get those von Waldens between our long-standing friendship,” Blumenfeld pleaded, knowing their department store bought quite a few hats from him. Both Wertheims only smiled, never considering him anything but a businessman.

  “In case you didn’t know,” Martin said wistfully. “that so-called drunken girl married a fine doctor from Switzerland. It was he who found her unconscious at Sam’s party, brought her to the hospital, and was told that her drinks were tampered with on purpose so guys like your son could get the girl. Therefore, the down payment. All three boys and Bertram von Walden were in on it!” Blumenfeld’s mouth opened in disbelief. “I have plenty of witnesses, including the doctors and police. They would love to testify against a Jew. I could re-open the case again.”

  “Don’t do that, please. We went through a lot already.”

  “Well then have a good day, Mr. Blumenfeld. And as of today, we buy our hats somewhere else.”

  The Wertheims left, feeling quite satisfied. The von Waldens had endured a lifetime of being unfairly judged, simply for their lack of money. It was about time someone told that Blumenfeld the truth, so he would never utter a word again.

  12

  Rupert Foster still visited Astrid and Andreas on a regular basis. At present, they were sitting on the von Waldens’ cozy terrace, sipping on a glass of lemonade, discussing the extremely hot July day. They never ran out of any topic or subject, yet Bertram’s name was never mentioned. The von Waldens didn’t care where he was, and Rupert, who knew the answer, cared even less. If anything, it was a relief not to face this scoundrel anymore who had deceived them in the worst way. Rupert felt neither remorse nor guilt, knowing he may have ended up in Steyr the way Bertram ended up in Grein. There was no doubt in his mind how carefully Bertram had everything pre-planned, never counting on a policeman’s suspicions. His poor, dear trusting parents would be without their son who had survived the war, but Bertram would be nowhere to be found.

  Astrid was in the process of thanking him for all those many unobtainable goods he brought again, when the doorbell rang. She welcomed Gisela Reinhardt, who said with great pride that this was her very first experience in making jam and she just had to bring some by to let them taste it! She also apologized for her interruption after hearing two men’s voices.

  Astrid asked her in, while praising her for her thoughtfulness and trying to make a proper introduction. Rupert stated quite nonchalantly that they had already met, and that he visited the Reinhardts’ house again because of Bertram’s disappearance. Astrid showed surprise, but Gisela told her the reason, still thinking how handsome he was and admiring his great physical appearance. He, too, couldn’t help but notice her good looks and easy-going manner. After all, she was a Reinhardt. However, at present, she wore no ring. She gladly accepted the offered lemonade and joined the conversation about the extremely hot weather. “It must be awfully hot to be in uniform,” she said to Rupert politely. He only said that he never gave it much thought, while Andreas claimed to receive many patients with heat strokes at the General Hospital, where he worked as an apprentice.

  “I wish I had your brain,” she replied clumsily, being sorry to have made that remark; after all, Rupert Foster was a Sergeant waiting to be accepted at the police academy.

  “We are all meant to be and do something different, Gisela. I don’t envy your daily task with those many deaf mutes, especially when you could be sitting idle.” Andreas replied.

  “Idleness at the Reinhardts’ place is a deadly sin, you know that much. But be that as it may, I love my work.”

  Rupert said he loved his work too, looked at his watch, and said his parents were expecting him to help them with their flower beds. As usual, he embraced Astrid, who had each jar opened and tested by now, and said his good-byes to Gisela by expressing the hope to see her again, while tapping Andreas on his shoulders and saying, “So long, Doctor,” with a smile.

  “So long, Officer,” was his reply, which both said always with tongue in cheek. It had become a joke between them for the last several years.

  “Now there is a nice fellow, Gisela. What a pity you are one of the Reinhardts.”

  “I don’t see that our name has anything to do with that,” she replied sharply.

  “Not the name alone, but what goes with it,” Astrid said in return, while praising her homemade jam. “I took a taste of each one of them and can honestly say they all are very good!”

  Gisela was happy about the compliment, but her thoughts went right back to her name and fortune. “Don’t think for one moment that I won’t marry whom I love, regardless of my parents’ opposition. I have plenty of money of my own.”

  “Which may be another minus for a girl like you,” Andreas interrupted. “Take a man like me, for example. There is no way I would like to have a wife who supports me with her parents’ or her money. I’d rather work at the hospital for the rest of my life.”

  “Well, Andreas, you are the exception to the rule… and I am in a position to know that. Take, for example, Dr. Wimmer. His wife is rather common, but her parents own a butcher shop and their money enabled him to open a practice. Or Dr. Horner, whose rich in-laws don’t even know how to spell surgeon, but they own a big farm. His wife is addressed as ‘Frau Doctor’ and everyone is quite proud,” Gisela said with a sigh, with Astrid and Andreas agreeing, as they knew even more of those examples.

  ∼

  After she left, both felt strongly that she liked Rupert very much. And so did he, thinking about it while on the way home on the trolley. He just had her lovely face in front of him! Arriving at his small, newly purchased house, located near his parents’ large one, he found the letter he had been awaiting anxiously. His first thought was that the young lady had brought him luck already. The police academy finally answered and wrote him that he was accepted. Knowing how happy his parents would be, he walked immediately to their place, waving the elongated envelope. While entering their large pantry from the garden, he looked at the calendar and it reminded him that it was one year to this day that Bertram disappeared.

  As expected, his parents were quite happy, though they would now see less of him. For the next two years, it meant rigorous training and studying before he could call himself an ‘Officer’. But he was willing to give it all.

  ∼

  September 2 was his first day, and he knew from many colleagues that his first duty was directing traffic, which would be a repetition of what he did three years ago, but so be it. He was told that he would be in the first district’s commercial center, not too distant from the Reinhardt place, mostly known as the Palace.

  As fate would have it, Gisela had to cross the street with eight of the deaf-mute orphans twice a day. Rupert and she had not seen each other since July 1, and both, although thinking of each other daily, had given up and considered another coincidental meeting as hopeless. The Reinhardts were the benefactor of other orphanages, and Gisela took, while staying in Berlin with her grandmother, a course for deaf mutes, which came in handy after her return to Vienna. It became unavoidable not to see Rupert Foster, who tipped his hat and smiled, in Gisela’s opinion, more at the children than at her. He stopped the traffic, which consisted mostly of horse-and-buggies, with streams of bicycle riders along with repainted military trucks in any color availa
ble.

  After a few weeks of his smiles, which she returned with a nod, she promised herself to see Astrid. Although she always had a weakness for tall, strong handsome men, somehow she felt this was an entirely different matter. He seemed not to care who she was, which made all the difference to her. Astrid was quite astonished that Gisela would confide such personal matters, but was glad to be asked.

  “He is completely unattached. However, he was engaged during the war for about two years and, after his return in 1918, the girl was not only married, but had a baby boy. She never let him know a thing about it. The year of 1917, he didn’t get a furlough, as they were in desperate need of medics, so he had quite a big disappointment.”

  “As you know, I was engaged not once but three times. How about that? My last one was our biggest embarrassment, as all invitations were mailed when father was told. Well, never mind. I am sure you know all about that. I had little choice but to live with my grandmother in Berlin. Of course, she lives in a small villa and enjoys an entirely different lifestyle. And you know what?” She smiled, gratified, “I liked it better! It was those strikes and demonstrations that worried my parents and made me come home.”

  “Dear Gisela, you were gone for years. It was about time you came back!”

  “Now Paul is in Berlin keeping grandmother Lotte company, and he likes it as much as I did in Berlin.”

  Astrid continued to tell her all about Rupert’s closeness to his parents, his taste in women and mentioned his newly purchased house. Gisela asked her to keep their conversation private as her parents would never forgive her. “Frankly speaking, I am not quite sure if I can forgive myself.” While saying a hearty goodbye with an embrace, Astrid promised to say a special prayer.

  “You do that, please, because it will take a miracle,” she smiled before leaving, quite upbeat.

  ∼

  It was All Saints Day, November 2, and for Austrian and German citizens, it was a must to visit graves and, if possible, to put some flowers on them. Vienna, which had a huge, central cemetery, was overflowing with people since the war and its aftermath took lives by the thousands. And what would be more appropriate than for a volunteer like Gisela to take her brood of children, who were between three and six years old, to the graves of their parents. But for a big chore like this, she needed the help of a map.

  To make sure no one got lost among the thousands of mourners, Gisela requested one person for extra help. Erika Landgraf, who taught at the same kindergarten but had no children with handicaps, was happy to offer her services, especially since her parents were out of town. Both had grown very close during the last few months and had much in common. While still looking for the last two graves, trying to get to the right location, a policeman, standing inconspicuously at their back, asked if he could be of any help. It was none other than Rupert Foster, who had spotted Gisela and her brood quite some time before.

  “Oh, hello Officer,” both girls said almost in unison. “As a matter of fact, we could use your help,” Erika replied while Gisela looked in his brown eyes, her heart pounding all over again.

  “Hello, Miss Reinhardt. I see there is no holiday for us,” he smiled, seeing her perplexed look. In no time, he was surrounded by Gisela’s children, who gave to ‘their’ policeman a happy smile. Gisela introduced Erika, while he nodded and took a closer look at the map.

  “You are just a few feet away. Right over there.” He pointed, shook each elated child’s hand and said goodbye.

  “Is he ever handsome!” Erika said once he was out of hearing distance. “But so was my former boyfriend, who not only cheated on me with my best friend, but I see him from time to time with other ones too.”

  “In my experience, it’s hard to trust anybody.”

  “By the way, how come the policeman knew you, if I may be so frank to ask?”

  “Through a mutual friend for one thing, a visit to our place a year ago for another … and I cross the Rotenturmstraβe with the children. He makes the traffic stop so we are never harmed.”

  Both girls brought the tired children back and parted with a promise to see each other tomorrow. Gisela’s thoughts were on Rupert. And, for the first time in years, his were on a woman again. “If she only weren’t a Reinhardt,” he told his parents that evening.

  “So what?” his mother replied, who barely left her home and garden. But his father knew what his son meant and gave a very accurate description of the palace, as he remembered Christmas of 1918 quite well.

  “I tell you Wilma, I have never been in a place like that before or after.”

  “Well our son has his own house. We help him to enlarge it, so he doesn’t need a thing from that family.”

  “You don’t understand, Mother.”

  “I do! It won’t matter if she loves him.”

  To a woman like his mother, life was so simple and she never looked any further to make it complicated. She just couldn’t comprehend Rupert’s dilemma.

  Rupert made his usual visit to Astrid and mentioned the short meeting with Gisela. Astrid could only think that her prayers were answered and volunteered more than he ever would have dared to ask. “Poor, sweet Gisela! She suffers from a low self-esteem, as she is the only one who never attended a university.”

  “Good to know,” he answered, feeling rather pleased at the thought there may still be a slight chance for him. Arriving at home, with his mother tending to her flowers and garden, he had a chance to talk to his father alone.

  “Son, you have nothing to lose by asking her to a fine cafe house. Clear your mind and go for it. That’s what I did with your mother.”

  “You too?”

  “Yup. Her family owned a large farm and I was a musician-turned-carpenter with no money, so to speak.”

  “Any opposition?”

  “Until their dying day.” He shouldn’t have been surprised to hear it, having never met one set of grandparents. But since his father came from a very large loving family, they were never missed.

  Erika and Gisela said their good nights when she saw a large man in a police uniform across the street. Rupert had an hour to spare before his night school and took his father’s advice, agreeing that he had nothing to lose.

  “Miss Reinhardt?”

  “I thought it was you.”

  “Yes, it is me, alright,” he emphasized with his pleasant, warm voice. “I came to ask you if it were possible that we might meet one day at Café Sacher over a cup of coffee and have a nice talk.”

  She was glad it was dark, so he had no way of seeing how much she blushed. “If you think we have something to talk about?” she questioned with a smile.

  “Shouldn’t we find out?”

  “If you think so.”

  “I do.”

  “Alright… you know my hours, including Saturdays.”

  “Well mine are not that regulated, but this Saturday I am off duty.”

  She pondered for a while so as not to appear too eager. “Six would suit me fine, but I live near Sacher… I…”

  “I know where you live, but I will be waiting here. By the way, here comes your trolley around the corner.”

  “You are more observant than I am,” she smiled again.

  “It’s my job, Miss Reinhardt.” He helped her to ascend with a light wave and a relieved heart. Arriving at home, she appeared still in a state of euphoria.

  “You had a good day Gisela,” her mother noticed with relish.

  “Let’s say a good evening for a few minutes.”

  “Can you be more specific?” her father wanted to know.

  “I have a date Saturday evening at Café Sacher.”

  “Anyone we know?” asked her mother, quite interested.

  “You may, as he was here with his father in 1918 at our open house, passing out cigarettes to the wounded soldiers.” Both parents only looked at each other with a shrug.

  “He was in a police uniform, as he had duty a few hours later. His parents have a grocery store in the ninth
district and Peter, Paul, and some other friends remarked that they were the most generous ones to bring so much.”

  “Now I remember,” Victoria said. “They came with the von Waldens.”

  “Right mother. At that time, I was so smitten with my former fiancé,” she sighed.

  “Is he still a policeman?” Philip continued to pry.

  “Yes, but now he is enrolled in the Academy to get ahead.”

  “Ahead in that field means to be a Captain or a Major when you retire,” Philip replied again.

  “Who cares as long as one likes what he is doing? Not everyone can be an engineer or doctor,” she said sharply, feeling defensive.

  “Right you are, Gisela. He seemed, as I remember him, very handsome and authoritative.”

  “He still is, Mother.”

  Philip drew a deep breath. “You already had your experience with handsome men. And as for authority… well, so far no one has outdone me,” he smirked, satisfied. Victoria gave her daughter a wink and told her to eat.

  “Father, you were right. I took the liberty of asking Miss Reinhardt—her name is Gisela—to have a cup of coffee at Sachers. And she accepted!”

  “Wonderful,” he replied. “I am going to tell your mother!”

  ‘Wonderful’ was also the evening at Café Sacher; if one would have asked Gisela or Rupert to sum the evening up. The famous, cigar-smoking Anna Sacher greeted Gisela with a tight hug, gave them a good table, and Rupert knew at once that the Reinhardts were, without a doubt, some of her steady clients.

  She was one of the most beloved Viennese, who served and treated everyone as her equals. Although the Café served primarily Vienna’s nobility before the war years, it made little difference if a blue collar worker brought his wife or friend for a special occasion. She knew everybody and everything, but never repeated anything, regardless of her own observations. Among them were, of course, Philip Reinhardt’s own reserved loge.

  Gisela was surprised that he had suggested Café Sacher, but assumed that she was possibly only one of many girls he took there frequently. Anna Sacher inquired only about his liking and progress at the Police Academy and wished both a pleasant evening. Gisela found Rupert equally handsome in his tastefully matched civilian clothes, which itself was a rarity. Men just looked better in uniforms. There was not a moment of doubt in her mind that he had his connections. She wore a beige dress and coat with small red trimming, including a red French beret. Rupert not only found her very beautiful, but the first few minutes of conversation were totally honest and delightful. They discussed their upbringing, his one year in med school, which he flunked and then decided to be a medic in the war. His friendship with Bertram was mostly out of pity, though he was probably lying about his many beatings at the hand of his father Baron von Walden too.