A Family Reunion Part II.
Nick was still staring at the sign above the konditor shop when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His instant reaction was to spin round, expecting to see his husband, but to his surprise it was…
"Grace! What on earth are you doing here? Why aren't you in New York?"
His sister laughed, then replied, "What a wonderful welcome… I would be in New York, were it not for an unexpected twist in my long running divorce case. I was called by the lawyer of my client's soon to be ex-husband, and offered the kind of settlement that would meet all of her expectations and more, completely out of left field. It was more or less what I asked for all those months ago, and was informed was never going to be on the table. Naturally, I was suspicious, and asked what had changed. It transpires that there is a young lady involved, although not the one that was the cause of the couple's decision to separate in the first place. She lives on the West Coast, and he wants to be with her as soon as possible. A quick and amicable settlement is suddenly his desired option, on condition that we do not mention it to the first young lady that brought us to the point…"
"Such a tangled web…" sighed Nick, rolling his eyes, and Grace chuckled.
"The upshot is that my client is very happy, and within two hours of the offer being made, they were both in my office, signing the papers. Now, the case had been due to be heard in court this morning, and my diary was cleared for the rest of the week to deal with it. That left me at a loose end, and when I mentioned that to Coop, he suggested that I should come over here and join you. He has his work, and the twins will be well cared for by Nils, with a little help from Pam. I flew in via Munich, and will have to fly home on Sunday morning, first thing. It is a good opportunity for me to meet the family too, plus it is is beautiful here. The fact that it is a spa town is an added bonus…"
Nick smiled, happy that his sister's marriage was so strong that she did not question her husband's motives in sending her off to Germany as some women would. "Well, it is a nice surprise. I will need to let Fritz know there is another guest for dinner. My next questions are where are you staying, and how on earth did you find us?"
"I'm staying at the same hotel as you, but it was nearly midnight when I checked in; I decided to have a quick look around Munich before I caught the train here. I went straight to bed, and slept late. As to how I found you, well I came to have a look at the family business, so it was chance. I think that by the look of that display, there is no doubt whose side of the family you get your flair for baking from…"
Wes meanwhile had not even noticed the arrival of his aunt, his eyes still drawn to the plethora of delicious looking cakes. His eyes had focused on one that seemed to be made of a multitude of thin alternating layers of cake and cream; that had to be hard to achieve. Then there was all the sugar craft and the glazing, and he realised that this level of baking was far above the level that his dad achieved…
Then he looked up, about to say as much, and saw his aunt reflected in the glass next to his father. He squeaked in surprise, then raced to hug her with enthusiasm. He stayed with her at the window, pointing out the cakes he liked the most whilst Nick went to fetch Jeff. He too was delighted to see Grace, as although he trusted Fritz, the rest of his family were still an unknown quantity; having reinforcements for tonight would be no bad thing at all…
To Nick's surprise, his husband did not even seem to notice the cakes, and they were able to had off to get some lunch, which was actually more of a snack. They found a stall that was selling all kinds of wurst. Nick and his son both settled for a simple bratwurst, whereas Jeff coaxed his sister-in-law into joining him in a currywurst, which he had sampled on their visit to Berlin over a decade before, and had enjoyed immensely. Grace had taken him at his word, and afterwards, although she would not rush out to purchase one again, she had to admit that it was quite tasty. They then returned to the hotel, where Grace took Wes to the swimming pool; his father meanwhile had agreed to sit in an old fashioned deckchair in the grounds, the main building right behind him, as his husband made a sketch…
Nick had of course made his call to Fritz, and although he had been a little shocked at the arrival of his other distant cousin, it would be no trouble at all to lay an extra place at the family table. He knew that his mother would be even happier to be welcoming both of the siblings at the same time. Although she hadn't said anything, he knew that she had done a search online once she knew the names, and had been quite impressed to read the description of the firm that Grace had co-founded. Then she had discovered that her husband was a well known actor on Broadway, and that made for an even more interesting evening…
At the appointed time, the party of four were outside the main entrance to the hotel, awaiting the taxi that had been ordered to convey them to their destination. When it arrived, it turned out to be a fine Mercedes vehicle, and not the sort of ordinary taxi that they had seen in the streets of the town. It quickly took them out of the streets of the town and into the lanes of the densely wooded hills above it; the roads so narrow that they had to slow down to pass walkers or cyclists safely. They were heading back down towards the valley when they suddenly left the road and turned into a gateway that they hadn't even seen coming. The drive lead them through the woods, which cleared to bring them to the door of an extensive old house, built in the local style.
"Well, it looks as if the baking business is a real money spinner," whispered Grace as they exited the car.
She fell quiet as the front door opened and Fritz appeared to meet them. Nick introduced him to his sister, who responded in her own fluent German. Then it was time for Fritz to make a confession… "This is actually my grandparents' house; my family home is much more modest, and down in a village in the valley. However, this house is the better venue for a large family gathering, and more convenient as it is where my great-grandmother lives as well…"
Nick nodded, aware that the old lady in question was the reason that they were all actually in Germany, the reason that Fritz had actually searched for his American connections in the first place. He had known that he would meet her, but somehow he had imagined that tonight it would just be Fritz's parents and siblings, giving him the chance to get to know them before the remainder of the family. As if able to sense his husband's mood, Jeff turned to him and whispered quietly to him. "It will be overwhelming I know, but isn't it better to get this over with at once? It will be like ripping off a giant Band-Aid. If things go wrong, then we simply enjoy our next few days of sightseeing."
"Jeff is right, little brother," added Grace. "And the longer we all stand out here, the worse it will be…"
Nick smiled, then stepped towards Fritz, the look of concern on the teenager's face vanishing as he did so. "Maybe this is too much at once… Everyone in the family was so keen to meet you, and I just thought that this seemed the best way to achieve that."
"It is fine, trust me," Nick replied, then gestured to his host to lead on as he took Wes' hand. Fritz took them up the outside steps and into a grand hallway, lined with panelling and all of the trophies of a long occupation by one family.
"The Duval family have lived in this house for at least three centuries, surviving wars and times of strife, and all the debates over the nationality of this land, so close to France. I believe that Duval men from France married good German wives, and over the years the identity merged and blurred, until now only our name gives a suggestion of our family history. We might not emerge from a line of Dukes or Princes, but we have served all of them over time through our business, and I could not be more proud," Fritz said as he lead them to the main reception room of the house, where both his parents and his paternal grandparents were waiting for them…
There was no awkwardness at all as Fritz made the introductions, and then made more as his older brother and sister appeared. Nick was first to notice that there was no sign of Matthias, but he said nothing. There was no need in the end, as Fritz's mother soon told him the reason why. "I asked the children not to have their partners here this evening, although I am sure that you will have the opportunity to meet them before your stay here is over. It is also wonderful that your sister is here as well; an unexpected surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Now, if you could excuse me for one moment, I have something that I need to show you all…"
She popped out of the room briefly, leaving everyone else confused as to what she was fetching; then she returned with a framed photograph, which she handed to her father-in-law. He started at her, then at the photo, before staring intently at Grace, which she found more than a little disconcerting if she was honest.
"I am sorry, this must look strange, but I noticed it at once, and I wanted my father-in-law to see it too. You see, you are very like his mother was when she was your age; this photo is one that she has in her own sitting room, and well…" Fritz's mother took the photo from the older man, then strolled over to Grace, turning the photo to face her as she did. Grace gasped then at the image, a black and white one taken in the early sixties, of a woman in her thirties who did share the same facial characteristics as she did… "You are probably wondering how we are still Duvals as well, given that she is the direct blood relation to your great-grandfather through her father. She married a distant cousin; the two of them became childhood sweethearts when he was sent here at the start of the war from his home in Berlin. His parents both died in the conflict; his father in the army, his mother in an air raid. The marriage of those two was a happy one, and it saved the family business…."
"She certainly looks happy," said Grace, "and she is so like me that it is uncanny. I also admire the outfit that she is wearing in that photo. She is obviously a woman with a keen sense of style, and more than willing to move with the times."
"She was and still is. When Fritz came out to us, we were all concerned as to how she would take the news, but when he told her…"
"Mother, that is my story!" interjected Fritz, and his mother laughed. "I was so nervous about telling her, but she already knew! She also told me that in Matthias I had found the perfect match. It turns out that one of her brothers, one of our great-great-uncles, was also gay, but that was in a very different era. He was living in a time when even being suspected of those tendencies was enough t have you condemned, and forced to wear a pink triangle in a camp… He died in a climbing accident in 1940, when he was barely twenty years of age. She has always suspected though that it was not an accident, but as he was alone, no-one will ever be able to prove otherwise…"
Fritz paused then, and said apologetically, "I am sorry, that is not a happy story, but it made her tolerant, but also tough. She had to be, especially in the late 1940s, when she was working alone in the bakery with her mother, having to cope with the shortages, the hardships, the not knowing where the men in the family where, and when they would return…"
"You will meet my mother soon enough," said Fritz's grandfather then, "and the rest of the family too. For now, I am pleased to welcome you all to our home. The fact that your are here has made my mother smile more broadly then I have seen her do so for years. She had always regretted that she did not reach out to her uncle at the end of the war, and although she is too late for him, the fact that his descendants are here is equally as good in her eyes…"
At that moment a clock struck the hour, which made Fritz's grandmother nod, then open a door at the far end of the room, indicating to her guests that they should follow her. They did, and passed into a second room, much smaller than the one they had just been in, from where the dining room could be seen through another door. The small room was not empty however; sitting in an armchair was an elderly lady with thick white hair and sharp blue eyes. The majority of the party continued through to the dining room, but Fritz stopped, and gestured to those from the United States that they should do so as well. The old lady looked at them all, studying them carefully, then smiled.
"I am certain that the brunet young man is Nick; he reminds me of my older brother in appearance, sharing the same family features… He was, of course, younger than you are now when I saw him last over 80 years ago, but I can still see him, in that uniform, heading off to what they had all convinced him would be a great victory. He was taken in, like most people, by all of the propaganda that was constant at the time. He would never return from Stalingrad…" she said, in German, which meant that for Jeff, most of what she said was unintelligible; he did hear Nick, of course, and then Stalingrad, followed by the sad expression. He knew enough European history to know the significance of that place name, and his quick study of the German language had given him the word bruder.
As for Nick, he cast his eyes down, then replied, "I am most sorry to hear that; war is never a great thing, and even those that in the end will declare themselves the victors end up losing so much."
The old lady smiled, and said, "Wise words. I understand from Fritz that you work at the United Nations; if I recall the character of my youngest brother correctly, the fact that his great-grandson is working there would make him very proud. He loved peace, hated intolerance, and wished the League of Nations had done more to foster understanding. That was why he had to leave here, of course; the regime was not for him, and the fact that he declared his position to be so publicly had earned him a place on the lists of the Gestapo for a visit. He departed without a word, telling nobody he headed out one morning when everyone else was still asleep, boarded a train to Strasbourg, and from there he headed on to America. There was a postcard from New York to my mother, but then nothing…"
There was a pause, and her eyes turned to Grace. "She was of his mindset, in full agreement with him, but she was unable to express it, trapped as she was by marriage and duty. Now she would have admired you, young lady; strong, independent and showing the men who is really in charge. However, enough talk for now; dinner is waiting, and you must all be hungry."
The meal was a three course one, and in the course of it they got to know the rest of Fritz's family properly. As well as Fritz's siblings, his father's brother and sister, and their spouses were also present. Of the other sister, the one that had been so cruel to Fritz, there was no mention. The conversation was mainly in German, unless someone was directly addressing Jeff, who apologised for his sketchy knowledge of even the basics.
That meant that he spent much of his time chatting to Wes, and it was thanks to him that there was a revelation. In his contacts with Fritz, Nick had mentioned that he had hyphenated his surname on marrying, but Fritz had not told his family. The conversation had turned to the family name, and Fritz had asked Jeff in English how he felt about being a Duval. Before he could answer, Wes said, "He isn't; daddy and papa both have two surnames, like me and Aunt Grace; they are Mr and Mr Sterling-Duval."
There was silence, as Nick had told Fritz that Jeff was an artist, and he had told his family. It would be Fritz's grandmother that would speak. "Wait, are you…? Are you the Jeff Sterling-Duval? The man that drew The Judging Angel, and The Happy Couple for Queen Elizabeth?"
"Yes, that would be me," replied Jeff in a matter of fact tone, before he carried on eating as most of the others in the room gasped.
Their eyes then turned to Fritz, who sheepishly replied, "I will admit that I did know, but I decided not to mention it, as there was already a nervousness about meeting Nick without the added complication that his husband was a famous artist that you all admired for the beauty of his work."
"That is certainly true," the young man's father replied. "To be in the presence of such an artist to have him here, in our ancestral home! It makes this an even greater moment; a family reunion which brings us the chance to meet a man of such global renown…" Jeff blushed redder by the minute as the man gushed, and Nick had to quickly change the subject to spare him…
After dinner, Nick and Grace found themselves being asked to join the matriarch of the family alone in a study. Fritz was intending to show Jeff a couple of paintings that the family owned, works that his father was certain might be by one of the great artists, whilst his sister and mother would take care of Wes, both having good enough English to have a conversation with him. Alone in the room, the old lady took out a leather bound book, which turned out to be a photograph album in disguise.
"My mother hid this away the day that my brother left, and I would not see it again until my father passed away. She hid it because she knew that my father would be determined to erase any trace whatsoever of the son that had just fled; by the time that she did so, the images of him that were in photo frames had already been purged. My father did not know about the existence of the album of duplicates, or doubtless he would have sought it out to destroy it as well." She opened it, and turned straight to a page, before holding the book out to Nick and Grace. It was a family group portrait, and they realised at once that the little girl at the front was the woman before them now, and the man at the rear that was uncannily like Nick had to be her eldest brother.
"Your great-grandfather is the boy two from the left of me," the old lady said, and for the first time, the two siblings looked on the face of their ancestor… Grace smiled, but for her brother it was much more of a shock; staring back at him was a recreation of an image that he had seen before, in his old school photos. He was almost a carbon copy of his late great-grandfather, and wondered how his father would react if he ever saw these pictures, and how much they were alike.
"I can see by the look on your face that there must be great similarities to yourself at that age; even now, I can certainly see it. He was a quiet soul, never happier than when he was out in nature, away from what he saw as the madness of the human race. Of course, as the grip of the regime on the country deepened, he changed; I did not see it, but after the war, my mother told me what she witnessed in him. He became withdrawn and insular, starting fights with our father and brothers all the time. He found himself in trouble at school, as his failure to comply rigidly to their rules became a bigger and bigger issue. He was bright enough that he could have attended university, an honour then, but he could only go if he agreed to join the ranks of the party. He refused to do so, of course, not that he said as much to my father, who was so proud of him for achieving that; the first in the family…"
"That lie was how he managed to get the money he needed to escape. He was given money for his books and lodging, and that was enough to book a passage to America, with some little over for living on. My parents did not know that he had decided not to take his place until afterwards. He packed, as if that was where he was going, and insisted on no farewell at the station, heading there early and alone. Instead of boarding the train to Munich, he took the one to France, and from there he went to New York, via Paris and London. The first that my parents knew was when the letter arrived from the university, asking them why he had not reported to the university on the set date. Then came the visits from the Gestapo, the investigations. They had been watching already, his anti-Nazi attitude had not gone unnoticed, and it had placed a tarnish on the whole family. Even the fervent belief in the party of my other brothers and eldest sister could not entirely remove that stain… My brother would be so proud to know that his descendants are so committed to the aims of justice and peace."
Nick nodded, making a mental note to check the records at Ellis Island when he got back to New York, so that he could find out more about the man he wished he had known about sooner.
"Soon after he left, the war came, and it changed everything. In 1938, my mother had four sons at home, and three daughters. By 1945, she had lost her sons, one to America, one to an 'accident', and the other two as casualties of war. My elder sister was a widow with two children, and as for my father - well, he was a shadow of the man he had been. He grieved for his two soldier sons, the loss of the lineage, but he refused point blank to extend an olive branch across the Atlantic to the son that had fled there. I think that was down to the fact that the second of my brothers to die in battle was killed in a fight with an American unit, and he firmly believed that my other brother could well have been serving with those very forces. He wasn't, of course, as Fritz discovered; he was fighting, but in the Pacific… My father treated the man that would be my husband as a surrogate son, and he encouraged us in our relationship. The irony is that he might not have been so keen had he known the whole truth that my mother did…"
The old lady took the photo album back into her hands then, and turned a few pages, showing a fresh photo to her audience, one of a young boy and his parents. "That is my husband with his parents, in the happy times before the madness took over. What you will note is that he looks nothing like either of them, and that was something else that my mother was careful to keep hidden from my father. He was an only child as well, which in those days was quiet unusual. The truth was that my husband was not their biological child. He came into their care at the age of five, in the year 1933. He was the son of a couple that my father-in-law knew; he and the husband worked together. My husband's real parents were murdered by a group of brown shirts, in their home, whilst my husband his himself successfully upstairs. He would likely have shared their fate had a neighbour not intervened and called the police, who still came in those pre-Nazi days. His parents crime was the same one that they would have killed my husband for; they were Jewish…"
She paused then, and looking up, saw the look of shock on the faces of her two distant relatives. "Of course, the adoption process was not one that was conventional and talked about publicly. They moved swiftly from the small town in Bavaria they had called home to Berlin, where nobody knew them or their history. However, by the time that war came, the fingers of the Gestapo were probing into everything; it had become a fact of life that people would denounce their neighbours, hoping to earn themselves brownie points by doing so. Things were getting harder, and then, by 1941, there was the added threat of bombing raids. She also believed that they were being watched, and it would only take one word about the close friendship that they had had with a Jewish couple and the fact that said couple's son had vanished to bring disaster. That was how she contacted my mother's mother, and arrangements were made to get my husband out of Berlin, no easy task with the growing restrictions on people's freedom…"
"In the end, he was smuggled out by a family whose home had already been destroyed by a bombing raid; my mother-in-law was friends with the lady in question, whose husband was well thought of and highly ranked within the Party. The tragedy was that the woman's own son, her eldest, had died in the raid, along with her husband; still grief stricken, she readily agreed to claim that my husband was the boy in question; in all of the chaos, nobody would check, particularly not with who her husband had been. The timing was perfect as it happens; within 6 days of his leaving, my husband's parents were also dead, killed in another raid. We would discover after the war that the Gestapo had been scheduled to call on them the next day, their investigation having found out the truth. They did not notice that there was no trace of his body in the ruins of his parents' home. They assumed he had died with them. Had they not done so, had the administration not been so fractured and disorganised, then they would certainly have caught up on him in time. They were determined to achieve their evil aims, and nobody was to be spared…"
"There are still places in the world where such things continue; places where people are made scapegoats because of their race or creed for the ills that have come from society in general," said Nick sadly. "We still find ourselves faced with new examples of it as an organisation in the UN, and these days, as then, both sides of the political spectrum are as guilty of it as the other. I have often thought that the biggest threat to the survival of the human race is the human race, but if I say that in public, it opens up a whole new can of worms…"
"I am certain that if my father or sisters had found out about my husbands Jewish heritage, it would have been the end of the world in their eyes at the time, and sadly, it remained true of my sisters right up until their death. Luckily, the subject has never arisen, and need not do so now. So, that is the family history lesson, but that is not the real reason I encouraged Fritz in his search; there was an ulterior motive in seeking you out. When my father died, he left instruction in his will that the business was to be divided up equally between his wife and his daughters. His one remaining son was not even mentioned. My mother was unable to do anything in her lifetime to alter that, nor could she touch the capital of the business. However, in her will, she left the instruction that her share in the business was to go to her son, or his descendants; in other words, her vote on the running of the firm was to pass to the boy she had lost. It has not mattered until now, as there was never a disagreement between myself and my sisters in the running of the bakery. That, however, has recently changed…"
"My sisters left their shares to their children, none of whom are directly involved in the firm day to day; they take profit, but do none of the work. That was fine, until we received an offer to purchase the original shop in the old town in Baden Baden from a development company. The shop itself is extensive, but behind that is the now disused original bakery, and it is vast. Property so close to the Leopoldsplatz is worth a lot of money, so the offer was large, but even so, to sell the property would be a destruction of the family heritage, which is part of the Duval brand. My sisters' children see it differently; they see only euros. The way the business was divided up by my father was in equal shares of 25%, but the others seem to believe they have all the cards, believing that my mother's vote is now void, as nobody knows where the erstwhile man that she bequeathed it to is, and is probably deceased in any case. Thus they believe they have two thirds of the say, a majority. Until now, I have stalled them, but they made it plain to me, through lawyers, that they intend to press matters and accept the offer, unless there is a major change in circumstances…"
Nick and Grace looked at each other, both relieved at the words they had just heard. They had been sought for a reason, but it wasn't so they could provide financial aid; rather, it was so that they could save the family's heritage. It was Nick that spoke first. "So, basically, as we are the descendants of the person that your mother left her shares too, and no challenge has been made to that will…"
"The vote falls to you. There is no financial gain, but you still retain the 25% vote."
"That would level up the playing field, I guess, but it would not solve your issue, just create a stalemate," said Grace.
She was surprised when the old lady chuckled. "That would appear to be the case, certainly, and as far as the other parties are concerned, it is. However, they are unaware of something, a move by my husband back in the day. In the late 1950s, the younger of my two sisters came to him one night to ask for help. She and her husband were in financial trouble, and she wanted a loan. My husband was a generous man, and refused to loan her the cash, wishing to gift it to her instead, as she was family. She in her turn declined that, stating that she had her pride. They discussed the matter, and eventually they found a solution that suited them both. Lawyers were brought in, all the correct legal documentation was drawn up and witnessed, and in return for the cash she needed, she gave my husband 2% of her share in the business; what amounts to a half a percent in total. So, I have 25.5% of the shares; they know, but they think that as they still have more in total, they win…"
"However," said Nick with a smile, "now that we are on the scene…"
"Exactly!" said the old lady with a grin…