Pegasus: A Novel Part 11

"I didn't think you would take him in," his tenant said apologetically. "I'm sorry, sir. We just wanted a horse."

"It's all right," Alex said, looking tired. "I'd rather get shot for a man than for a horse. We'll figure out what to do. Merry Christmas, by the way."

"Merry Christmas, sir," his tenant said, and left an instant later, with a look of disbelief.

Alex checked on his unexpected guest then. He had eaten the food, he smelled of the whiskey, and he was already asleep. Alex didn't even know if he was telling the truth, but he trusted his tenant, and they had come to him. So he had decided to help. The story he had told was heart-wrenching. He had lost his entire family in one blow. And he wasn't unique. There were too many others like him all over Germany now. People who weren't lucky enough to join a circus with eight horses and a boxcar before the war, and had no way out now. Everything about it seemed wrong to Alex, as he turned off the lights and went upstairs to bed. He tried not to think about Marianne's empty room, which he did every night as he walked by. He lay awake for hours, trying to figure out what to do for the man in his cellar.

He checked on him again in the morning. The wound was still clean and he felt better, and no one came to search the house. There were no soldiers anywhere, and his housekeeper was off for two days. He brought the man food again, and let him come upstairs to use the bathroom, and then took him back down to the wine cellar. They didn't speak to each other except for the man saying thank you in an emotional voice, as Alex locked the wine cellar again. The house was entirely quiet, and the next afternoon, his tenant returned.

"How is he?" he asked as Alex let him into the house.

"He seems all right." And by then, Alex knew what to do. He had filled his tank with all the gas they had, and calculated how far he could go. Almost to the Swiss border, but not quite. Close enough-if the man was clever, careful, and could move fast enough.

"I have a friend who can help him," his tenant said cautiously. "If you get him as far as the St. Lorenz Basilica in Kempten. He has a house nearby, and he'll take him the rest of the way." And then Alex understood. This was no accident that had just happened. His tenant was obviously helping Jews escape. He had heard about a few brave people doing what they could and his tenant was one of them.

"My car is in the garage. He can get from the wine cellar to the garage without anyone seeing him. I want him in the trunk-in daylight, at least when we start out. It looks less suspicious than traveling by night. I'll take him to your friend. And then we will forget this ever happened." His tenant looked at him gratefully and nodded. "Get him in the car now. I'll be in the garage in ten minutes." Alex went upstairs to dress then, in a suit and a hat. He wore a heavy topcoat, and he looked properly dressed when he left the house, as though he might be visiting friends. His tenant was waiting for him in the garage. "Is he in?" The tenant nodded, and then without a word, he handed Alex a pistol.

"You might need it." Alex hesitated, and then took it and slipped it in his pocket.

"Thank you." And with that he got in the Hispano-Suiza and turned on the ignition as his tenant opened the garage door for him, and he drove out, as the man lumbered off, looking like a farmer on his way home.

Alex took the main road instead of a back one, and drove past the von Bingens' estate at a normal speed. A soldier stopped him and recognized him immediately.

"Good afternoon, Count," he said respectfully. "Everything in order?"

"Fine, thank you. I'm going to visit friends." The soldier waved him on. He didn't check his papers or look in the car. He knew he didn't need to, and Alex drove on, until it was dark, and continued on after that. He pa.s.sed one checkpoint and stopped, and one soldier asked another if he should check the trunk and was told no. And Alex drove on with no problem. He remembered the location where his tenant had told him to go to meet his friend. It wasn't as close to the Swiss border as his pa.s.senger in the trunk might have hoped, but they would take care of getting him over the border, and they were undoubtedly better equipped than Alex to do so, in his coat and hat and city shoes. He didn't even want to think about what might have happened if the soldier at the second checkpoint had opened the trunk and found him. Alex could still feel the weight of the pistol in his pocket, but he didn't want to use it.

He went to the address he'd been given, got out of his car, and knocked. The man who answered the door looked startled to see a Hispano-Suiza outside his door, and someone who looked like Alex. He nodded, and they exchanged a pa.s.sword his tenant had given him. They were on a backcountry road with no one around. The man who had answered the door opened the trunk and helped the injured man, who said a hoa.r.s.e goodbye and thank you to Alex. He could hardly walk after the cramped ride, but he disappeared into the house. The door closed and Alex drove off without further comment or conversation, making his way back the way he had come. It had been shockingly easy, and he thought about it as he drove toward home.

He pa.s.sed the von Bingens' schloss early that morning, and the colonel was out for a ride. Favory was prancing, and there was vapor coming from his nostrils as the colonel saluted the count, and Alex slowed down with a smile.

"Enjoying your Lipizzaner, Colonel?" he said politely.

"Very much so, Count."

"He looks well." The colonel smiled and patted his neck, and Alex drove on, and a few minutes later he was home, as though nothing had happened. His housekeeper came in a few minutes later and made him a cup of tea, as Alex went to put away his hat and topcoat, picked up the cup of tea in the kitchen, and went to his study. He could still feel the pistol in his pocket, and he took it out and locked it in a drawer. It had been a good night's work, the first of its kind for him, and as he took a sip of the steaming tea, he suspected it wouldn't be the last. A door had opened for him that night, and he had chosen to step through it. There was no turning back.

Chapter 20.

Edmund and Marianne's wedding at Haversham was just as they had planned it. Simon got a day off to be the best man, and Charles gave her away. She wore a dress by Isabel's dressmaker that molded her figure and made her look like a young G.o.ddess in white satin, and she wore the veil that Isabel herself had worn twenty-five years before. And there were twenty of the Beaulieus' friends from the area in attendance, along with a handful of Edmund's closest pals from the RAF. All of the young men were in uniform, and Isabel urged everyone not to talk about the war for the rest of the day. They were married in the chapel on the estate, which Isabel filled with flowers from her hothouse, and she made the bride's bouquet herself of white orchids from the greenhouse. And the weather was fair.

The bride looked exquisite and was beaming, and the groom ecstatic. They had lunch at the endless table in the dining room, and nearly filled it. It was covered with silver birds and fresh flowers, and at the end of the day the bridal couple drove away to Brighton for a three-day honeymoon at the Grand Hotel, which was funny and old-fas.h.i.+oned, and they both loved it, although it had changed a great deal. Edmund had childhood memories there, which he wanted to share with her, despite the sandbags and provisions for war. All they could see was each other, and the life ahead of them. They would have been happy in a tent under the stars just so they were together, which was all they cared about. They were madly in love with each other. The boardwalk was closed but they chased each other down the beach like children, and retired to their room at regular intervals to make love. And when Edmund brought his bride back to Haversham, she looked peaceful and happy, and he spent one last night with her in the big pink guest room, and she cried the next morning when he left and made him promise again that he would come back.

"You know I will, Marianne. Always," he said, as he kissed her for the tenth time in as many minutes, and finally he left. It had all been absolutely perfect, and she was in a daze for days. She wrote to her father to tell him about the wedding, and then to Toby. He couldn't believe she'd gotten married when he read it. They were only two years apart, and he was still infatuated with Katja, but he couldn't imagine marrying her for another ten years, if that. Marianne had become a grown-up, and he still felt like a child at seventeen. He told his father about the wedding when he got the letter, and Nick smiled and shook his head.

"That really makes me feel old. I remember when she was born, not that long ago. Don't you go getting any ideas," he said to Toby, who made a face and shook his head.

"No way. I'm too young. So is she." He wasn't sure he approved of her getting married so young, but it was different with girls. It was hard to believe he hadn't seen her in two and a half years. The time had flown. And their life had changed so much. And now she'd always live in England, and she was a viscountess, in a castle bigger than theirs. And he and his father and brother were living in a trailer with the circus, and they were on tour again. This was their life now, and Toby had grown accustomed to it. They all had. It was comfortable for them, and they liked the familiar routines, although changing towns every night was hard sometimes. But they'd gotten used to that too.

When they got to California in July, Nick drove Christianna to Santa Ynez again. They had a decent car this time, and they stayed at the same hotel. And some Romanian girls covered for Christianna, but Nick had the feeling that her father knew the truth and chose to turn a blind eye to it. He had grown very fond of Nick and the boys, and he knew how serious Nick was about his daughter. Nick wasn't playing with her. He loved her, profoundly. And she loved him.

They drove to the same bluff as they had before, and he looked out over the land he hoped to buy one day. He called it "his ranch," and Christianna laughed at him. He was still talking about it when he turned to look at her with a gentle expression.

"I've been thinking," he said cautiously. He wanted to be sure this was right for her too. "What do you think about our getting married when we get back to Florida at the end of the tour?"

"Are you asking me?" she teased him. She thought he was joking or just thinking out loud. They talked about it sometimes, but he always said that he wouldn't marry her until he felt he had enough put away. And none of them were able to save a lot of money working for the circus, although Nick was always careful and had been saving for three years. He didn't have enough put aside for a ranch yet, and maybe he never would, but he had what he needed to marry her and feel right about it.

"Not yet," he said in answer to her question, and then he got down on one knee where they'd been standing at the top of the bluff. "Now I am," he said, smiling up at her. "Will you marry me, Christianna?" Her eyes opened wide.

"Are you serious? Now?"

"At the end of the tour." He wanted to take her on a real honeymoon, and he couldn't do that until they got back.

"I mean, you're asking me now?"

"Yes, I am. I love you, and I want to wake up with you every morning for the rest of my life." They'd been sneaking around for two years. It was long enough. Too long.

"Yes," she said breathlessly. "Yes ... yes!" She wanted to shout it off the bluff. He stood up and kissed her then, and he stunned her by taking a tiny engagement ring out of a box in his pocket. It had a small diamond in it, but it was a proper ring. He had been planning this for a long time, and had wanted to do it here, at their future "ranch." She didn't believe he'd ever really have it, but it was as good a place as any and a very romantic spot. He put the ring on her finger and kissed her again, and then he swept her up in his arms, put her in the car, and took her back to the hotel, where they made love to celebrate the moment, two years after they had made love there for the first time.

"It's going to be a big wedding if we do it at the circus," she said after they made love.

"I don't think we can do it any other way," Nick said practically. "The circus is going to make a big fuss about it." It was all part of the hype of being circus stars, but he was prepared for that.

They told her family when they went back to the fairground in Santa Barbara the next day. And word spread like wildfire that they were engaged. They even got a telegram congratulating them from John Ringling North, and suggesting that they hold the wedding at Ca' d'Zan, the original home of John and Mabel Ringling, which was their palatial estate in Sarasota. It was going to be an even bigger deal than Nick had thought, and the Ringlings wanted all the publicity they could get.

By the time they got back to Sarasota in early November, the date was set, Christianna had the dress, and John Ringling North was going to have commemorative posters made of the couple to sell at the big top for the next year. Nick and Christianna were the stars of the circus, and were treated like royalty. And this was going to be a royal wedding. They would be married, as he had offered, at Ca' d'Zan on the Sat.u.r.day after Thanksgiving, and all the performers were invited. They were expecting eight hundred people at the wedding, with a special tent set up for dining and dancing.

Nick had asked Toby to be the best man, and Lucas was the ring bearer, although he was a little old for it at nine, but he took the job seriously, and stood clutching the rings at the wedding. And Joe Herlihy made a special toast. The bride was radiant and Nick was as handsome as ever in white tie and tails. It was a fabulous event, a true circus extravaganza, and the posters of them sold out the first night and they had to make more. They agreed to do a special show the day after the wedding, and she wore her bridal veil with her white leotard and tutu. And the day after that, Nick took her to the Breakers in Palm Beach for their honeymoon. It was an elegant hotel and they were treated like movie stars while they were there.

"Well, Mrs. von Bingen"-he smiled at her one night after they made love-"are you tired of me yet?"

"I'll never be tired of you, Nick, until I die," she said solemnly.

"That's liable to be long after I do." She was twenty-two years younger than he was, but it didn't bother either of them. Everything about their union felt right.

And when they got back to Sarasota, everyone congratulated them again, and they were the heroes of the hour. They got standing ovations at every show. No one was tired of their fairy-tale marriage yet, and when they appeared on the Lipizzaners together, the crowd cheered. And Nick went to talk to Sandor the day after they got back from Palm Beach.

"I came to collect on my wedding present," he reminded his father-in-law.

"What present is that?" Sandor teased him. "You got my daughter. Isn't that enough?"

"No, I told you that the only wedding present I want from you is a net for her act. I said it two years ago, and you agreed. She performs with a net from now on," Nick said firmly, and Sandor could see that he meant it, and looked worried.

"The audience won't like it," he warned him.

"They'll get used to it. I told you I'd marry her. And I kept my word. You gave me yours, Sandor. We shook hands on it. The net, or she gives up the high wire, today." Sandor looked at him long and hard and nodded. Nick drove a hard bargain, but he was a man of his word. "Tonight," he reminded Sandor, who nearly groaned.

And that night, when she went on, Nick followed her to the ropes. And he saw it. There were eight handlers holding it for her. And she saw it, too, and turned to him in surprise.

"Does my father know?"

"It's his wedding present to us." Nick smiled broadly and kissed her. "Now go do your act." He was going to enjoy it for the first time in three years. And when the crowd spotted it, they cheered. They approved. Nick gave Sandor a thumbs-up, and he waved back. She was never going to wind up in a wheelchair now, or fall to her death. Christianna had a net at last, thanks to Nick.

Two weeks after their wedding, they were still the talk of the circus, and Christianna was quietly sewing some of her costumes in their trailer, listening to the radio, when Nick walked in from feeding the horses. He leaned over to kiss her, happy to see her, and enjoying their newly married life, when the program she'd been listening to was interrupted and the announcer said that the j.a.panese had bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. They both stopped talking and were mesmerized by what he was saying.

"What does he mean?" Christianna looked at Nick, thinking she hadn't understood.

"You heard him. American naval s.h.i.+ps were bombed and sunk by the j.a.panese in Pearl Harbor." It was something no one in America had ever thought could happen. They'd been attacked on their own territory. America had finally been forced into the war.

Within minutes, people had come out of their trailers and were telling others. There was a huge hubbub everywhere. Some people were panicking, afraid that they'd be bombed in Florida too. The whole circus was ablaze with the news within an hour. People were glued to their radios. And John Ringling North announced that one of their special Christmas performances was canceled for that night. Everyone stayed home to listen to the news, and Toby and Lucas were with them in the trailer, listening to the radio.

The next day, the United States and Britain declared war on j.a.pan. And three days after that, Hitler declared war on the United States. America was at war. Two thousand four hundred and three men and women had died at Pearl Harbor, and 1,178 were injured. The big top was still dark, and Nick wondered if life would ever be normal again. He was talking to his brothers-in-law about it that afternoon, when Toby came home with a sheepish look. Nick wondered what he'd been up to. And Toby told him half an hour later when they were alone.

"I enlisted, Papa," he said, looking half proud and half scared of his father's reaction.

"You did what?" Nick looked at him, horrified. "You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can. I'm eighteen. And they'd draft me anyway."

"You're not even American," Nick reminded him. He didn't want his son going to war, for anyone.

"They took me," he said quietly with a determined look. "Germany took away our citizens.h.i.+p anyway. I leave for boot camp in two weeks."

"That's insane!" Nick said, and stormed out of the trailer, near tears. He didn't want his son risking his life for any country, neither his old one nor his new one. But Toby was right. He would have been drafted. When Nick told Christianna about it, she could see how upset Nick was.

"Maybe he's right, and they would have drafted him," she said quietly.

"He's German," Nick reminded her. But that rapidly became an issue too.

Two days later U.S. Immigration authorities came to the fairground to question all German nationals who were employed by the circus. Many were roustabouts, and several important acts were German performers. All of the horse acts, two of the big cat acts, Nick, many clowns, several gymnasts, and their star contortionist. And one by one they were questioned, as to their loyalty. Those who were Jewish were immediately exempt and allowed to ask for asylum. The others were given the opportunity to go home if they wanted to, and some had more complicated status, Nick among them. He had been deemed Jewish by the Germans, so he and his children qualified for asylum, but he was also married to an American now. Christianna was a citizen. So he had the choice of requesting asylum, or asking for citizens.h.i.+p through his wife.

"What's it going to be, Mr. Bing?" the immigration officer asked him, holding a clipboard. He had handed him back his pa.s.sport and the boys'.

Nick hesitated for only a second. "I'd like to become an American," he said quietly. It was his final act of renouncing Germany forever. The officer made a note on his clipboard.

"We'll be in touch with you in the next few weeks," he rea.s.sured him. "What about the name? I see your pa.s.sport is issued in a different name from the one you use in the circus. Which do you want it to be on your citizens.h.i.+p papers?"

"Nicolas Bing," he said clearly. He had lost the "von" and his t.i.tle, but he had a name he could live with, one that would never link him to Germany again.

"Got it," the officer said, and moved on to the next one, as Nick looked at Christianna.

"Do you mind?" he asked Christianna, and she shook her head.

"You can be whatever you want to be," she answered, but she thought he had made the right decision.

In the next few days, they learned that several of the performers, mostly the non-Jewish Germans, were going back to Europe. They had decided not to stay. They didn't want to be under suspicion for being spies.

And all Nick could think about in the ensuing days was Toby leaving for the army and going to boot camp.

The best thing in his life had happened only days before, when he married Christianna. And now the worst was about to happen. His son was going to war.

Chapter 21.

Toby left for boot camp at Fort Mason in San Francisco right before Christmas and there were tearful goodbyes with Katja, as well as his father, stepmother, and brother. Christianna was as upset as Nick and Lucas, and dozens of people came by for days before, to wish him well. And Toby and Katja were inseparable for the days before he left. They spent as much time as they could together, kissing and holding hands, but everyone else wanted time with him too. Many of the other young men were leaving, but Nick and his family were much loved, and Toby was a sweet boy. Pierre came to pantomime his goodbyes, and actually managed to make Nick laugh, which was rare now. He had been stone-faced and red-eyed since Toby enlisted after Pearl Harbor. He wasn't afraid to show how much he would miss his son. And he sobbed openly the morning Toby left. Katja was equally inconsolable, and Lucas and Christianna clung to each other and Nick after their goodbyes. And Gallina stood by in tears to comfort her daughter.

Toby would be home again for a visit in February, before they left on tour in late March or early April. And then the army would s.h.i.+p him somewhere, no one knew where just yet.

It made Christmas for Nick and his family a bleak affair. Nick didn't have the heart to buy or decorate a tree, so Christianna did it for him, and she and Lucas strung up lights outside the trailer, but Nick was serious all the time now, and terrified to lose his boy.

Those who had decided to leave the circus were already gone by then, or packing up. Their decisions had been quick, and made Nick's horse act even more important, since the others were departing. The only time Nick smiled now was when he performed, and nothing Christianna did could cheer him. She worried about him constantly, and talked to Gallina about it.

"He's had a lot of losses in his life," Gallina explained gently. "He's afraid. Be patient. He'll cheer up." Christianna did everything she could to lighten the mood, but Christmas was awful, and New Year's was no better. Nick stayed home when she went to have their traditional New Year's Day dinner at the Polish restaurant with her family, but her father and brothers said they understood. Christianna and Lucas went anyway and joined the others. Nick just wasn't in the mood, he was still too upset about Toby.

And in January, Nick had a letter from Alex, in a more complicated way this time, through a friend in Geneva, who forwarded the letter to Nick, since America had entered the war. Alex said nothing about conditions in Germany, or his life, due to the censors, but he told Nick that Marianne and her husband were expecting a baby in the late spring. It was Alex's first grandchild and he was excited about it. He said he missed her terribly and couldn't wait to see her and the new baby and meet her husband one day. And when Nick put down the letter, he looked at Christianna with a rueful smile and a groan.

"Now I feel ancient," he told her. "My friend Alex is having his first grandchild. He's four years older than I am, but I could have one too." Nick was forty-six now, and Alex had just turned fifty, which seemed astonis.h.i.+ng too. It seemed only yesterday when they were boys, and had lives they thought that nothing could touch or would ever change. And now everything was gone. Nick worked in a circus, and Alex was alone and hadn't seen his daughter in more than a year, and Toby was going to war.

Nick and Christianna hadn't talked again about having a baby. With Pearl Harbor happening only days after their wedding, Toby enlisting was all he could think about-the babies he had, not the ones they didn't.

And when Toby came home after boot camp in San Francisco, it was agonizingly bittersweet. Each second was precious, and Nick never let him out of his sight for a minute. He wanted to be with him every moment he could. Toby did a final performance with his father, in his corporal's uniform, at the ringmaster's request. And when he and his father rode the Lipizzaners through their final steps, the crowd stood up and cheered them. They were cheering for Toby as tears rolled down Nick's cheeks. The ringmaster had explained over the microphone that Toby was s.h.i.+pping out.

And there were countless others like him, at the circus, and in all walks of life. Every young boy in America was wearing a uniform and looked like a man overnight. Even Lucas seemed suddenly older and more mature. And Toby had come back from boot camp looking solid and strong and healthy. He was home for five days, which went too quickly, and the night before he left, he announced that he and Katja had gotten engaged. And she and her family were as tearful as Nick about his leaving. And on the eve of Toby's departure, after walking Katja back to her trailer, the two brothers lay in bed in their familiar bedroom, and Lucas hugged him and told him how much he would miss him. Toby had tears in his eyes as he embraced his younger brother, and Lucas was crying.

All of Christianna's family came to see him off in the morning. Sandor referred to him as his grandson, and told him how proud of him he was, and what a great American he would be. And Katja and her family came to see him off at the train to California, and no one could stop crying.

In the days after Toby left for Fort Mason, Nick tried to keep busy with the horses, and practicing new routines for his new act without Toby. But Christianna and Nick were the main focus, even more so now. Nick had written to Alex to tell him that Toby had enlisted, but he knew it would be a long time before Alex got the letter, and longer still before Nick heard from him, from Switzerland. But it was shocking to realize now that Nick's little boy was in the army, and Alex's little girl was about to have a baby of her own. Time had flown.

And in April, Toby was able to get a message to Nick from Fort Mason that he was s.h.i.+pping out. He wasn't allowed to say where, but he said it was in the Pacific. He knew two other Germans in his company, and none were being sent to Europe. But at least he was being allowed to fight for his adopted country. Nick wished he weren't going. And at the same time j.a.panese Americans were being sent to internment camps in the West. The government wanted to be sure that there were no divided loyalties among any of them. But Nick knew nothing more about where Toby was being sent. Toby promised to write to them as often as he could. Nick slipped the letter into a little box, along with the others Toby had written from boot camp. He had saved them all.

They had another letter from him in May, from Hawaii, while they were on tour, and he sounded happy and excited, although he could say little about what he was doing or where he was going. Between the restrictions on him and the censors who read Alex's letters, Nick felt like he was in the dark about both of them, but at least he had letters from time to time. He wondered if Marianne had had her baby yet, but he didn't know that either. And he hadn't heard from her since Toby left for boot camp. She usually wrote to him and not his father, and Toby gave him her news.

Marianne's baby was due in the first days of June. She'd had an easy pregnancy, although the days seemed long to her without Edmund. Isabel had her help in the garden, to keep her busy and walking and moving, and she thoroughly enjoyed having her daughter-in-law with her, and watching Marianne blossom like a lovely flower. And Isabel was over the moon about the baby. As was Edmund. He came home as often as he could, which wasn't often. And each time, he rubbed his hands gently on his wife's belly, amazed and thrilled by how much it had grown. He loved feeling the baby kick, and looked excited each time, as though it were the first time he'd felt it. It wasn't likely he could, but he had said he would try to get leave around the time the baby was due, in the first week of June, and his mother warned him that first babies were almost always late. She told him that he had been three weeks late, and she'd almost changed her mind by then if he was going to be so rude and tardy. But she had forgiven him the moment she saw him.