Free The Gathering Storm by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene

to her age. "Between us girls, eh? I'd hate for your father to ever think I wanted to marry a fellow who lives in Hollywood."
    Just as Mama's American citizenship protected my father's interim ministry in Germany, my U.S. citizenship became a cherished treasure that might somehow save lives.
    As I completed my studies at the dining room table late one night, men I had first met at the White Rose Inn discussed the saving of even one Jewish life.
    Bonhoeffer, Eben Golah, and members of the desperate Jewish community, including Varrick's father, Mr. Kepler, used my mother's citizenship as an example. The Nazis still feared American opinion. As long as America remained neutral, the Third Reich could do whatever they liked. The Nazis were not eager to offend Americans by preventing Jews or German opposition from leaving. The marriage of a Jew to an American might open the way for an entire family to emigrate to the U.S.
    I heard Mr. Varrick say, "The only way now for a German Jew to obtain a visa to the U.S. is by marriage to an American."
    Bonhoeffer said, "What we need is a surplus of American men and women willing to marry."
    Varrick's father immediately cried, "My son Varrick has great affection for your daughter Lora, Pastor Bittick! Could we not consider—"
    Then Eben added, "Robert, the marriage of your daughter to young Varrick could possibly open the door for all the Kepler family to escape. Would your daughter Lora consider such an arrangement?"
    I felt the blood drain from my face as I heard my name on Eben's lips, emanating from behind the door panel of Papa's study. Marriage?
    Mama came out of the kitchen door. She was drying her hands on a dishtowel. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew wide. She looked at me, then stared at the door. She lapsed into English and said in her strong Texas accent, "Are those men discussing what I think they are discussing?"
    I nodded and closed my book. "Oh, Mama."
    "Marry you off like a mail-order bride?" She threw the towel onto the table and untied her apron. "I'll set those fools straight." She started toward the door.
    I stood. "Mama, don't. Don't! They're right!"
    She turned on her heel and stared at me as the dialogue behind the door continued. My heart pounded.
    "What are you saying, Loralei Bittick? Marry a young man you don't love so he can get a visa to America..."
    "So he can be free? Oh, Mama! Yes! Yes, I'll do it. I'll marry Var rick in a minute, if he wants to. This is the first time I've felt...like I can do something. Don't you see? I will!"
    Mama's beautiful lips curved in a knowing smile. "But Lora, you don't love him, do you?"
    I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Did I? Did I love Varrick? Or was I still hanging on to some shred of hope about the older man in my life? Was I still dreaming of Eben?
    "Jesus," I whispered, "help me know what to do."
    Mama put her arms around me. I cried a little on her shoulder. "I...like Varrick. A lot. Maybe love. I mean, I think I could love him. But that's not the point. The Kepler family...all of them. If this is the way—"
    She stroked my hair. "You are amazing, Lora. You know you are, honey?"
    I nodded. Suddenly I was no longer helpless. I could make a dif ference in a world gone mad.
    "I'll tell them," I volunteered. "If Varrick Kepler will have me for a wife—I mean, if it's okay with Varrick—it's okay with me."
     
     
    And so, in March 1938, Varrick and I were married by my father in a quiet ceremony witnessed by an American newsman named Shane Dean, who was on assignment in Berlin. My parents knew him well. His report of our wedding was sent by wire to the American newspapers. It was illegal in Germany for a non-Jew to marry a Jew, but my citizenship put the issue outside Nazi jurisdiction. An article was printed in the New York Times pronouncing that true love had even overcome the racial laws of National Socialism.
    Varrick and I spent our first two nights holding hands on a slow train carrying us to our honeymoon