Free Finding Rebecca: A Novel of Love and the Holocaust by Eoin Dempsey Page B

lost in the post. She
wrote her address again in large letters decorated with colored pencils and
lined with tiny blue flowers. She was doing well and back in a local school
during the day, working in the bar at night. The letter was short. She asked
that he write back again at the end and that he might even come to see her that
summer when school stopped.

    Christopher lay back on the bed,
staring up at the ceiling and thinking of her as she wrote the letter. He had
told her he would always be there for her, no matter what. And now his father
had made him a liar. He ripped open the next envelope. This letter was only a
few words.

    May 12 th 1935

    Dear Christopher,

    Please reply to this. I am worried, I can‚Äôt come back to see you but wish
that I could. Your father told me that you are trying to move on but please
just let me know that you are all right, that you don’t hate me.

    Love

    Rebecca

    Christopher came to the last letter.
The dread inside him was building, as if he knew what it said. He gasped as he
saw the date, a full year and a half since the previous letter. He tried to
remember where he was on that day when she wrote it, but he couldn’t, and read
on.

    November 13 th 1936

     
    Dear Christopher,

     

    This is not a letter I ever thought I would write, because before this I
could never imagine my life without you. You have always been there whenever I
needed you. I suppose I was naïve to think that you’d always be there for me,
even when I left Jersey and even as I sit here, alone in this room in
Portsmouth. I knew that you would be angry that I left without saying goodbye
and that it took me so long to write to you but I never thought that you would
be so angry that you would not reply to me, or never want to see me again. But
I understand, your father has explained everything to me. I know that I haven’t
been the easiest person to be around. I still remember that first day we met,
when you found me crying in the bushes and I think that if you looked for me
today you would find me the same way, just in a different place. But I will be
all right. You know me, I’m a survivor, and I am where I need to be at this
time in my life. One day I will come back to Jersey and we will see each other
again.

     

    I miss you. I always will.

     

    Love

     Rebecca

    Christopher felt the wet on his face
and the heat of the pain inside overtook him and he lurched forward, the letter
falling out of his hand and onto the floor. He sat there for a few minutes
before he finally got up, to walk to the window and stare out into the black
nothingness of the night.

    Uli left two days later. ‚ÄúGo back to
Berlin and find yourself a wife, Uli,” Christopher laughed as they hugged.

    ‚ÄúNo way Christopher, you know me- I‚Äôll never buy into that
old con.” Christopher laughed again as Alexandra hit him in the chest and
Stefan glared at him. Christopher was still not talking to his father, but his
anger had faded over time. Stefan assured him that Rebecca was safe. He knew
little more than that. She was gone and it was time to get on with his own
life, at least until she came back, and if she didn’t, at least he would know
that her parents would never hurt her anymore. Christopher thought over the
words and actions of his father and much as they hurt him, he accepted the
situation as it was. Rebecca was gone.

     

     
Chapter 7

     
    It was only six months later that
Christopher received the letter from Uli, just before Christmas in 1937. He had
met a 24 year old teacher, Karolina, and they were to be married in the spring.
They had only known each other a few weeks. Everyone was shocked except Stefan,
who said that nothing his brother could do would surprise him anymore.

    They arrived at Lehrter Stadtbahnhof,
the main train station in Berlin on a fine morning in April 1938, three days
before the wedding that Christopher had thought he would never see. It had