Dearest readers, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for not only reading but also following, favouriting and reviewing my story! (AvonleaBlythe - don't worry for not reviewing each chapter as I am thrilled by just knowing that you're enjoying the story! And the Guest - thank you for all of your reviews, they always make my day!) The support from all of you means a lot to me and I can only hope that you're taking pleasure in reading the story of Hester at least half as much as I do whilst writing it! - Bathsheba Blythe
Chapter XXIII
With the news of the Warsaw Ghetto's uprising in late April causing Hester and her family to rejoice and yet caused a cold shiver to run down their backs at the same time, came also a certain girl, a woman more likely, also of a Jewish history yet not Jewish herself. She wasn't particularly tall and yet she wasn't short either. Her figure was neither skinny nor chubby. She was, however, not ugly at all but instead her beauty radiated from her entire being like the sun shining above her. She was just like her husband described her to his family in his letters.
She had a black bob of hair which was effortlessly shiny, straight and reaching her pointy chin that was rounding up to her rosy cheeks which were rosy regardless of the temperature in the air. Her nose had a few visible freckles as well. However, the most striking feature about that young woman were her eyes, the real green, emerald-like eyes which were mesmerising to look into and overfilled with hope and faith of her spirit. Above those fantastical eyes were black, bushy eyebrows which were making her look like an exotic movie-star who was still considered "undiscovered".
She wore a plain, dark purple dress with a polka-dot pattern on it and a sweetheart neckline with a triangular cut right underneath it. Her matching purple jacket rested comfortably on her shoulders. It was an old dress but she looked beautiful despite its age, it was as if she was emanating some kind of special power of belief and kindness in which everyone could, without trying, fall in love with.
Her suitcase was small but neatly closed and her pale long hands trembled slightly as she was stepping out on the ground of the Glen St Mary's train station, even though she was smiling, again, effortlessly. She was looking around, turning her head and trying not to step on other people rushing through the station which was full of the fumes coming out of the train.
However, she didn't look confused or nervous for long because suddenly a young, short girl of almost nineteen (and therefore only three years younger than the young woman herself) with just as black yet curly hair reaching her shoulders caught her hand surely, yet gingerly with a wide smile on her smooth, pale face. She wore a yellow dress which she made herself and looked just as elegantly as the woman standing next to her "You are Daria, aren't you?" she said to her kindly.
The young woman smiled widely at her then and caught her hands in her own very tightly "Hester!" she said happily and gasped in joy "Oh, my very own and only sister!" her Polish accent was just as delightful of a sound to Hester's ears as it was for her parents who stood right behind the two of them.
"Yes, it is!" Hester chuckled merrily and put Daria into a hug, stretching her arms upwards a bit so to reach her neck "I'm so glad to meet you eventually!" she whispered into her ear excitedly.
"I am too, dear." Daria whispered back, her voice trembling slightly as the two pulled away almost reluctantly.
"I can see very clearly why my oldest son married you so quickly." Rilla said with tears in her eyes and a smile crossing her flushed face "Come here, to your mother, my dear girl." she outstretched her arms and Daria was swiftly embraced by them, to the allowing extent of Rilla's arms which was obviously limited because of the not-so-small-anymore bump she had grown underneath her green dress.
Hester's own eyes filled with tears by then as she looked at her mother hugging her second daughter who was given to her in the time when children brought nothing but joy, in whatever circumstances they'd enter this world, and then looked at her father whose eyes were also misty yet happy nonetheless. "Welcome to Prince Edward Island, dearest Daria." Ken said when it was his turn to embrace the newest addition to his children, and he kissed Daria on the head softly "I hope that you'll feel at home here."
Daria pulled away slowly and smiled at each of the new faces which she considered her own already "It's been a long time since I felt at home." she said "And I already do, even without seeing the House of Dreams yet!" she chuckled and so did her parents and sister-in-law, smiling at one another.
"Your room is right next to mine, you know." Hester said to her as she took her arm in hers readily, as they all started walking towards their car "It's Gilly's old room which he advised us to clean to the highest standard before your arrival." she chuckled at the remembrance of the letter her oldest brother sent her only two weeks earlier.
Daria laughed as well, a rich lovely sounding laughter, as she looked down at Hester with even rosier cheeks "That's my Gilbert! Always bossy but with good intentions at heart." she said and smiled while looking down at the gold band wrapped around her fourth finger of her left hand "I couldn't be happier to be here, in the place he calls home and which I know I will call my own home too." sudden tears appeared in her eyes but Hester stopped them by smiling into Daria's face, squeezing her hand affectionately.
"We will have the greatest time together, sister." Hester said to her kindly and they both shared what Anne Blythe would call a "glance that speaks for miles".
"Will you play for me, Hester?" Daria asked suddenly, very eagerly "I've heard people play instruments only a few times in my life, when I was very small, and from what Gilbert told me I know that you are more than a musician, you're a true professional composing her own work!"
Hester blushed then and grinned back "Well, I do compose although I wouldn't say I'm a professional." she said almost bashfully "But, of course, I'll play anything you want me to, my dear."
"Girls, hurry up into the car!" Ken called out to them cheerfully from the front seat of their blue car "Your mother says that she's hungry and you know that pregnant women aren't pleased with waiting!"
After laughing together, the newly met sisters hurried into the car, both knowing that from this day forward their lives would never be quite the same as they were before.
"Oh, there will be an August wedding, a real wedding!" Daria exclaimed while walking arm-to-arm next to Hester, along the shore "I've never been to a wedding before, you know."
Hester looked curiously at her sister-in-law and raised her eyebrows, even though she was still smiling sweetly "Really? I've only been to two weddings myself: one was uncle Shirley's and auntie Emma's but I can't remember anything about it because I was only one year old when they married!" both of them laughed together light-heartedly "And the second one was the wedding of our cousin Bruce and Louisa, you met her and their twins." Daria nodded along with a smile on her face.
"Of course, I do. I talked with Louisa about music and Bruce too, of course, and I almost cried over how beautiful Rose and Violet are!" she and Hester both chuckled together again.
"I know, they are extremely sweet and I can hardly believe they're already four years old." Hester said in a bit melancholic voice yet her face was still merry "And you have no idea how happy I am for this wedding of auntie Una. Of course, I've told you her story and so you know why it makes all of us so terribly happy for her to be so in love and so happy too after everything she went through." Hester instinctively touched a pocket of the flowing blue dress she was wearing and felt the rough piece of paper underneath it.
Daria noticed Hester's automatic move, which she now was acccustomed to and smiled at her softly "I love aunt Una, she's simply the kind of person you have to love instantly while meeting her for the first time." she said gently.
"That's very true." Hester agreed "And I can't wait to be a true bridesmaid too!" her cheeks suddenly turned pink and both sisters laughed together, their laughter spreading across the shore like an echo of a promise, taken away by the warm wind of May in the direction of the old Lighthouse which was now in front of them.
It was sunset and a day after Hester's nineteenth birthday. The occassion was celebrated just like Hester wanted, a family gathering with dinner and music and nothing else. She played the cello for her family and then talked with her Group which now consisted of herself, Marion, Vance, Lily (who came to Glen for a few days only and now was on the train back to Redmond), Jo with her little darling Fleur and now also Daria whom everyone loved with the first sight of her. Ken even joked that both Gilly and his family fell in love with her at first sight.
Three weeks have passed since she came to Canada and met her husband's family whom she loved like her own already, and vice versa. She really was just like Gilly described her, always smiling and being positive. She wasn't entirely outspoken but she wasn't quiet either, however, she was always kind and sweet with her cheeks all rosy and round like ripe apples. She and Hester especially became very close, they lived in the same house after all, and Hester for one also knew the other side of Daria's positiveness.
She, of course, knew Daria's history and their family did too but Daria told Hester only (except for Gilly) her whole and entire story with a trembling lip and tears running down her usually always smiling face. She was born in Warsaw and was an only child of her parents. Both her mother and father, along with her two uncles (brothers of her father) and an auntie (sister of her mother) were all killed in the invasion of Poland which started the war. This meant that almost her entire family was killed in one day when she was out in town, shopping for food for their family dinner. She heard the bombings but she would never think that anything happened to either her house or her family. When she discovered her flat, where her family lived, entirely crushed she dropped to the ground and couldn't cry, or move at all, she just sat in the middle of the crushed bricks, windows, furniture and dust all over her and stared at what once was the window of her own small bedroom. It was only when a nurse took her to a safe, yet unknown to Daria, place and talked as Daria said herself, "some sense into me. She convinced me that I have to start living again."
At first it seemed impossible and Daria said that the entire week after the invasion was the week of her life she can't recall at all. However, when she finally regained her senses and the shock opened the door to the realisation of what actually happened, she spent another week weeping her heart out in the arms of the nurse who offered her to stay at her apartment for her emotional recovery. "It was as if I was never truly born. How could I be when everyone and everything I loved were gone?" she said to Hester but then shook her head again and wiped away her tears, slowly smiling once again "But then I stood up, got up from the bed, out of the house, and I went to the hairdresser. I cut my hair, which was always up to here…" she put her hand on the middle of her stomach and then touched her bob, smiling wider still "And I decided to live, to live for not only myself but for all the people I've lost because they would want me to do that for them."
So she packed the small suitcase the nurse gave her with the three dresses she now only owned and went to the train station. She headed to Poznan, to the only family she had left in this world, her aunt Hanna and her son, who was Daria's cousin and best friend, Mateusz. She knew that they weren't safe, they were both Jewish after all, even though Daria herself wasn't and her coming and staying with them was a risk but she took it nonetheless.
"They were so wonderful, those two months staying with them." Daria told Hester with shining eyes "Mateusz and I were almost like children again, and all three of us with aunt Hanna laughed every single day and even danced." But then the Germans came and their trio knew that they were in trouble, a very serious trouble indeed. Even though Daria was Catholic, she had Jewish blood in her from her mother's side, and she did look Jewish enough for the Germans being able not to believe her she wasn't.
Hanna told Daria to pack her things and leave the country as soon and as fast as she can, for her own good and safety. Daria didn't want to leave but Mateusz convinced her to do so and with a heavy heart and tears running down her cheeks, she obediently packed her one and only suitcase and left Poland for Netherlands where she trained as a nurse and started to settle down slowly in the heart of Amsterdam. "I didn't really have any friends there, in the hospital." she said "But I didn't mind, I was happy by simply helping the soldiers who gave their lives and health into my small hands." she looked at her hands and smiled "I didn't feel lonely anymore."
A year later she got a letter from her cousin which said that both Mateusz and Hanna were both to be sent to a concentration camp in a week's time. He didn't even say to which one they were to go. So Daria decided to do just what he told her to do, simply be happy and live for herself, even though it was not an easy task for the first three months afterwards. She really did know that now everyone from her family was dead. "But I know that all of them are my guardian angels from Heaven and that they are watching over me." Daria said with misty eyes and a trembling lip "And I intend to make them proud."
And then one day, as soon as she started her shift, she was told to take the care over "this Canadian pilot who was found a few days ago in the fields". Gilly was in a terrible state, covered almost entirely in mud; he was terribly thin with one arm and a leg both broken. That meant that Daria had a very long and hard work ahead of her in order to bring him into a state which could be called "under control". But she did do it, even though it took her a few hours cleaning and bandaging his arm and a leg but after all, she was proud of how efficient she was. He was unconscious by then but she was there, above him when he woke up and looked up at her with his grey eyes and a smirk upon his face ("typical Gil" Hester laughed) and he said to her in a cracked voice "Are you an angel?" and Daria replied to him "Far from one, I think.", even though she already was head over heels for him and apparently he for her. Then Gilly smiled even wider and said slowly "Well then, you're nearer to one than you think." and the rest was just as simple as them falling in love with one another more and more each day after that. Daria, with not as much English to be able to understand absolutely everything Gil was saying to her, was able to understand him without any words needed.
Hester wasn't surprised by how quickly Gil started to love Daria and she him. Hester knew from not only Gilly's letters but now from also Daria herself, that they were "born under the same stars" and were, as overrated as it sounds, meant to be together. It was the sparkle in Daria's eyes when she was talking about "her Gilbert" or looking at or touching the gold band around her finger that revealed the feeling she had for her husband and which was also the same feeling Hester knew was in Gil's heart for his wife.
That was also how she came to the realisation herself that she simply wasn't meant to be with Seb and that made her feel a bit better too, at the core of her heart. She knew that there was, in that very moment, someone and maybe someone she knew already, maybe not, who was the person she would be spending her life with one day. "You'll find each other, Hester." Daria told her "At the time when you're least going to expect it. And you'll love how unexpected it will be.".
Now both Hester and Daria walked together along the sandy shore, barefooted, their arms connected as their souls were and Hester knew that whatever life would bring her, or the war at that too, she'd always have something or someone that will give her hope to live, if not for herself, then for someone else whom she loves.