Free Safe Haven by Anna Schmidt Page A

much.”
    “There’s a blue one that would go perfectly with your new dress,” Ilse said. “Turn around, and I’ll tie it onto your braid.” She made a bow with the ribbon and lifted Liesl’s braid over the child’s shoulder to show her the result. “See? It is just right.”
    The smile Ilse gave Suzanne said that she had made up her mind—Suzanne was a friend. “I wanted to bring something for you and Mr. Schneider,” Suzanne said, “but I couldn’t think what.”
    “This is more than enough. There is no need for gifts,” Ilse assured her.
    Suzanne turned her attention to Theo’s uncle, who had remained quiet. “I understand that you are a professor, Mr. Schneider … or is it Dr. Schneider?”
    “I was a professor, and yes, I have my doctorate, but these days I work in the shelter’s hospital. I keep the records there.” The smile he gave her was one of embarrassment at his reduced status, and she wondered how many of the people inside the fence felt that same sense of loss. Grief came in many forms.
    “And what subjects did you teach back … when you were teaching?”
    “I taught in the sciences at the University of Munich. Our home was there. It is where I suppose we will be sent once the war ends.” His eyes wandered away from her face as if he were already somewhere else.
    Suzanne felt that she had some understanding of the man’s sadness. When a person lost the job they were meant to do, it could be demoralizing. And for a man in his prime as Franz Schneider had been, the blow must have been shattering. “I am so very sorry,” Suzanne said softly.
    “But you are here now,” Theo reminded him. He knelt down close to where Liesl had plopped on the grass and was talking quietly to her doll. “Did you name her yet?”
    “Lizbeth. That’s what Mama told me Beth now calls herself. It starts with the same letter that my name starts with. Lizbeth is in England, and she married Josef, and they have a baby, and—”
    Ilse touched the top of her daughter’s head. “Enough, Liesl.”
    “Was all that news in Beth’s letter?” Theo asked.
    “Yes, all of that and more,” Franz replied. He looked directly at Theo and added, “Now we understand. For all these months we had thought that Josef …”
    She heard the older man’s voice break and wondered what the story behind this puzzling dialogue might be.
    “Miss Randolph,” Ilse said, covering for her husband, “perhaps one day you will meet our niece. Then you will have a story to tell. I assure you.” She laughed. “Beth—for she will always be Beth to me whatever she may call herself—lived with us in Munich. She practically raised Liesl for the first eight years of her life. When we were forced to leave, we were separated and until Theo brought us a letter that she had sent to his parents to hold for us, we had no idea what had happened to her. It is such a relief—a gift really—to know that she is safe and happy.”
    Suzanne’s brain was reeling with angles for that story—Beth’s story. But Edwin had sent her here to get the story of the refugees. And besides, Beth and her husband were still overseas, and there was this little matter of a war raging over there.
    “Miss Randolph is working on a story for the newspapers about the shelter,” Theo said as if confirming her thoughts. “Aunt Ilse, would you be willing to introduce her to some of the other women?”
    For the first time since they’d been introduced, Suzanne saw Ilse hesitate. “I really don’t know that many people yet. When you have so many people from different countries—different religions and customs, different languages even—it takes time, Suzanne. We’ve only just arrived here.”
    All Suzanne heard was that Ilse had not said an outright no. She smiled. “I’ve got time,” she told the older woman. “And meanwhile, you and I can become better acquainted while you tell me your story. You and your husband and daughter will become a voice telling