Hi, so here is another chapter and this one covers Johan's past. Getting into his head was a huge joy and an ease to write and therefore expect to see more of it.
There will be a bit of a time jump in the next few chapters or so but that will be explained.
Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just this plot and the character of Johan.
Please Read and Review.
And as always the same note about historical inaccuracies and outdated language.
A Sister's Love
Chapter 7-Missing Pieces
Liesl, Brigitta and Jon are on a boat heading to Australia and soon they realise that that any secrets they want hidden are bound to come out sooner rather than later.
It was clear that despite their father's career being entirely in the Navy not all of them were ship people. They'd had no experience as children after all and that one time in the boat did not count because Brigitta remembered they had all fallen in, in a combination of excitement, joy and shock at the fact that their father had bothered to come home and see them. Liesl upon the first night had been wracked by sea sickness to the point where she could barely leave the cabin and could only stomach water and bread.
Granted their first days at sea had not been easy. There had been many rough rocking backwards and forwards and twice had it not been for Jon, Brigitta was sure that she would have fallen out of the little bunk she was in.
Clearly this was not the first time he had done the transatlantic voyage from Australia to Europe and vice-versa. He knew immediately that to gain the upper hand they had to get control of the small bathroom that separated the next cabin. Once that was under control he said the second easiest thing to do was make sure that they were not a target for any other passengers and that meant that they should not be alone for long periods of time. Mercifully as the ship moved out of rockier waters Liesl managed to recover from both her sea sickness and from shock (no doubt) and the two of them were able to spend more time on the deck with Jon watching the waves underneath the boat and more than once seeing a rare dolphin.
Liesl was content to sit on a chair and let the sun warm her face refusing to look at the water unless she had to and keeping all of their valuables hidden between her skin and her shirt while Brigitta would go the edge of the ship and stare down at the waves. For a moment it was like all of the weight of the world and the last few months had gone when she looked down and saw the rippling water. Jon was sometimes there smoking and she watched the smoke billow in the clear air and thought that the food (which was not great) and the constant rocking at night was worth the feeling of freedom that one got when they left Austria, when they left Europe and when they left the constant nagging danger of the Nazi's.
There were indeed many more dangers ahead. Listening to talk at the mess table (as dinner seemed to be called) Brigitta heard stories about the Japanese who seemed to be growing in influence as much as the Germans did and though she had learnt enough to know that she did not want to ask questions at the dinner table she found that she did want to ask them in private.
"The Japs?" Jon said that night as they were in their cabin—he had dutifully stayed outside of the room while they had been getting changed and he had tried to keep the smoking to one or two when they were in behind closed doors.
"Well I suppose in the grand scheme of things the Germans are more dangerous—but in Australia the Japs are ones that we keep an eye on. See Germany is so very far away that it would be difficult for them to launch an attack on our mainland. The Japs however could do it very easily. But there's still no mention of war—who knows—in two months it will be a new year. Perhaps 1939 will be the year that we get peace"
Liesl smiled at him when he said that and he smiled back but Brigitta noted that the smile did not meet his eyes and she thought that having seen, and having lived under the Nazi regime that there was no place for peace while a man like Hitler was in charge of a nation.
Instead he was happiest when he was talking about his home. Australia he told them was hot all year round and in certain places there was no snow. They had miles upon miles of desert known as 'The Bush' where you could get lost in if you weren't careful and several kinds of animals some of whom were poisonous.
Even Liesl listened and when she was told of the Kangaroo who carried their babies (always called Joey's regardless of weather they were boys or girls) in a little pouch in their stomachs. He talked about the beaches where there were sharks in the water and all sorts of crocodiles. He spoke of Melbourne the city they would be staying in and the big rows of shops and the fact that people were made welcome there regardless.
He spoke of a world that seemed after so many months like a Fairytale. He spoke of places and people that Brigitta had never seen before and despite the almighty loss of her family that had kept her awake at night most nights since they had separated she found that she was sleeping easily. Perhaps Jon was right and it was the sea air that was making her tired?
Who knew but she slid underneath the sheets as the second week of the sea voyage began and found she was sleeping deeply and easily in a way she had not been able to do for some time. Now it was time to look towards a future and who knew? Perhaps as 1939 came around they would find their family and the world would be right again to enter a new decade of peace.
She wasn't sure how much she believed that last bit but she was sure that it was a possibility.
And the possibilities right now seemed endless.
Jon was out on the deck breathing in the salt air. He had dressed down and was in his shirt and his trousers his braces off and trying desperately to feel something other than the strong sense of failure that seemed to choke him.
He had done a brilliant job after all, he had gone to Germany with a clear cut sense of purpose and had come back with nothing but a teenage bride and her sister and he knew that he had only done that as a sense of accomplishment because he knew he couldn't go into the house where his grandmother was and tell her that he had failed completely.
And his grandmother would love Liesl and Brigitta. They were bright enigmatic young woman who were utterly unapologetic—Brigitta especially. His grandmother would have Brigitta in university sooner than the girl could graduate high school and certainly she would thoughally encourage any unsocial behaviour that was outside the norms of what one would expect from a young lady.
The problem was he had failed and that had him stood overlooking the ocean contemplating the fact that he had married a girl he didn't know who was sixteen (and therefore far, far too young for his twenty year old self) and that he had done it only so he didn't chuck himself overboard.
"Jon?" he whirled around.
There was Liesl old shawl thrown over her shoulders coming to stand next to him. She had lost a little of the paleness that had consumed her for the time being and Jon had to wonder weather or not it had been due to the fact that she had made the decision to come with him and that there was less of a degree of fear that came with that.
Or at least he hoped so.
"Liesl" he said turning around cig still in his mouth. "You alright? Brigitta alright?"
"She is asleep. She is fine, I just came out for some air. And I wondered where you had gone"
He gestured next to him and she took a step looking down into the water and then promptly taking a step backwards.
"Not a fan?"
"I remember when I was thirteen reading about the Titanic. I was not a fan before but that was the clincher so to speak. And therefore I have hated ships"
"Since then there's been a lot of improvement"
"I know. But still"
He took a step back and turned so that they were looking at each other.
"I need to know" Liesl said finally. "What you were doing in Germany"
Fuck.
"Why?"
"Because…because If this is to work regardless of the outcome then we need to be honest with each other. And I know Brigitta, I know that she has told you everything and anything, the good, the bad and the ugly that has seen us to this moment right here and now. And I need to know why you are here with us. I have put a great deal of trust and faith in you. I have entrusted you with my sister who is infinitely more valuable than myself and so I need to know why…"
And God was that not the crux of it. For here was his sixteen year old wife looking at him with those big blue eyes (which arguably made her look a combination of both young and a great deal more attractive) and he found that she was right. He had asked a young woman to place a considerable amount of trust in him for no reason and for very little in return. Even he was not so much of a romantic (indeed he was no romantic at all) to think that this was going to turn out into some dramatic love match that would defy all odds.
He lit another cigarette throwing the old one to the ground. Liesl watched him. He leaned back on the railing and thought for a second.
"You know I am half Australian, half German?"
She nodded once.
"My father is German, my mother is Australian. He fled during the first war, in the aftermath when nobody knew which way was up and he…he came to Australia and he married my mother. I was born and though my grandmother did not approve all was well. There were a few babies though none of them survived. And then there was my sister. Helena. She is…six now and…and in the giving birth to her my mother lost her life. A baby after nearly fourteen years—"
"I understand" Liesl said shortly and it sounded as if she did. As if she did understand that woman died after giving birth and that time between the first born and the last born was significant and he wanted to prod but there was a sense that he had started his story now so why would he stop when the reality was so painful, he could not stop.
"My father became disillusioned…well…he had been disillusioned before my mother but…he had wanted to return to the fatherland and when Hitler—" he felt his face contort into a snarl. "Came to power he thought that he was the best thing that had ever happened to Germany. That was the end of our relationship. I told him flat out standing to him as I am standing here to you and I wasn't going to a place I had never been before and certainly not so I could wear a uniform that was not my own. I was Australian. I am Australian. I was never going to follow a man I thought politically and personally repulsive. And so my father and I had the worst fight a man and his father could have and he tried to shoot me"
She gasped. Jon sucked on more smoke and blew it out into the air.
"Course he had to scarper then but he took Helena with him and I…I followed. Got as far as the new house he was in and I fought my way through to her bedroom but she was scared of me. In months he had completely turned her against me, my grandmother, my country and my ideals, my sister at six was the perfect Nazi girl and she looked at me as if I was a monster and then my father arrived and I had to fight myself out that scenario and then scarper. I left her in the company of monsters…there was nothing I could do. And the entire time my father, the man who was supposed to love me no matter what looked at me as if I was scum on the bottom of his shoe and a stranger at the end of the street all at once"
Liesl said nothing. Instead she watched him and Jon through the smoke over the side of the ship not bothering to watch.
"I failed" he said flatly.
"No you didn't" she said cutting across him.
"Liesl"
"Jon" she said taking a step forwards so that they were almost nose to nose.
"You did nothing wrong. You did absolutely nothing wrong. You tried. It was not your fault. And you saved Brigitta and me"
"Perhaps. Doesn't mean that I have to see it your way"
"I know" she said simply. "But as far as I am concerned in this story. You. Are. The. Hero"
And then she hugged him.
Jon hugged her back and he clung to her despite his promise to both her and to himself that this would be a clandestine marriage. He hugged her and clung to her wishing that he could bury himself under her skin and pretend that everytime he closed her eyes he didn't see his sister looking at him as if he was the monster that haunted her nightmare and his father looking at him as if he was epitome of evil for simply believing that one war had been enough, and that peace was something that deserved to last.
And there you go, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will bring you the next one sooner rather than later.
Next Chapter-Finally, Brigitta, Liesl and Jon end up in Australia and a new life if about to begin as the last golden days of the 1930s finally draw to close.