September, 1978

It took nearly a year and a half before Jakob was able to fulfill his wife's greatest wish: relocate their family back to West Germany. It took nearly the same amount of time to explain to Edie that they couldn't just pack up and leave, especially with a young son and another child very eager to announce itself to the world as soon as possible. Jakob also couldn't help insist that it wasn't his idea to live in Poland, but their respective families together as they fled Nazi-occupied Germany in hopes to survive the atrocious Holocaust. It didn't especially help that the Invasion of Poland had happened soon after, and that their war-ravaged countries left them barely escape with their lives, much less with a penny to their name.

Jakob worked tirelessly every single day, and most evenings, reducing and smelting iron ore in a blast furnace with the knowledge that his dangerous work was for a flimsy check that hardly covered the cost of food. On occasion, when he didn't feel as though he would keel over from exhaustion, he would offer his deft skills in mechanics to the local Poles for extra currency. It also didn't hurt that his heavily pregnant Edie also sacrificed her time at nearby bakeries for a few extra złoty on the side.

So, it was with zero fanfare that the Eisenhardt-Lehnsherr family gathered their meager few belongings and boarded a train that would take them southwest to Edie's hometown in Heidelberg. They quietly arrived in the rural city with the sun warm at their backs and only the soft sway of fig trees to greet them. They placed their travel-worn cardboard boxes atop chartreuse colored grass, and stared up at their stone and timber home with a mixture of exhaustion and pride.

"Sie haben es geschafft," she laughed, one calloused hand held to chapped lips as the other rested on the large swell of her stomach.

You did it.

"Nein, wir haben es getan," he whispered into the kiss he placed to her temple.

No, we did it.

"Nein!"

"Gute Arbeit, Erik!" Edie praised the wriggling toddler in his father's arm. His round belly peeked from underneath his tattered shirt as he pitched forward to pat her cheeks with chubby, dirty hands. She placed a kiss to the little fingers as he giggled at the feeling.

"Ein Wort, schon. Und in seinem Alter! So smart, unsere Jungen." Jakob bristled with pride as he chuffed Erik underneath his plump chin.

One word, already. And at his age! So smart, our boy.

Edie supplied a happy a smile in return, before the edges of her lips turned down fiercely. She placed both hands on her stomach, feeling it harden as a spine-tingling ache rippled from her back to front. It wasn't particularly painful, but Edie knew that it wouldn't be long before she would be changing her tune. She reached forward, grabbing her husband's bicep in a white-knuckled grip.

"Es ist Zeit, Jakob."

It's time, Jakob.

"Aber wir haben nicht holte einen Namen!" He cried out protest.

But we haven't picked a name!

"Ich beschlossen. Ruth oder Maximilian. Keine Argumente. Wir gehen müssen!"

I decided. Ruth or Maximillian. No arguments. We need to go!

Ruth Anya Lehnsherr was born on a cool, September evening with blue eyes and auburn hair. There were smiles and kisses, and no passing out during her first night in the world, and when everything settled down and the screams of a mother in labor were nothing but a painful memory, she was lovingly adorned with a silver bracelet with a pendant that was identical to her brother's own.

TBC...

Please Review.