The Dressmaker's Son (27 page)

CHAPTER 66

Rebekah found
Samuel sitting against a tree. When he saw Rebekah he jumped and ran to her
screaming. “Mama, Mama. What happened? Where’s Father? You’re covered in blood!”

She looked down at
her bloody dress and hands.  Then she thought for a minute about what to tell
him.  “The truth,” she said to herself.  “It isn’t fair to let him think he
will be coming with us.”

“Samuel, I have
something very sad to tell you,” she began.

“What, Mama? Why
are you crying?”

“Your father isn’t
coming back, Samuel.  He has been shot.”

“No, Mama.  Father
said the shot was not bad, that he would be fine.  I heard him.”

“I know, but he
was shot again, and this time it was bad.”

“He’s dead?”
Samuel asked incredulously.

“Yes, Samuel.  He
is in heaven now.  He has no more pain.”

Samuel tried to
stifle a sob.

“It’s okay, Samuel.
 It’s okay to cry.  I will miss him too.  He loved you very much, you know.  He
said to tell you that and to tell you that you should grow up to be whatever
you want to be.”

Samuel shook his
head.  After a while his sobs subsided.  He looked at Rebekah, “What are we
going to do, Mama?”

“We’re going to
make a plan, Samuel.  We’re going to make a plan to get to Helsinki and then to
America.  I promise.”

Samuel rubbed his
eyes and took a deep breath.  “I’ll help, Mama.”

Rebekah sat and
held him a while longer.  Then she stood up and opened the suitcase. “I’m going
to try to clean myself up and change my dress, Samuel. It’s dark now so we will
stay here until the morning, but we will move even further back into the woods.
 I still have some of the food Mr. Ivan gave us that we can eat for dinner.  In
the morning we will figure out how we can travel to Helsinki.”

The next morning
they got up to the sun peeking in among the trees and birds chirping to each
other.  It was a beautiful spring day.  She changed Samuel’s clothes and walked
around to the front of the station where they got a carriage. Rebekah noticed
that there were no signs of the bodies.

“We will go in and
use the bathroom and get washed up some,” she told Samuel. “Then I will ask
about tickets to Helsinki.

When they came out
of the bathroom, Rebekah was surprised to see how full the station had gotten.
There seemed to be people everywhere trying to get tickets. She got on one of
the lines and started chatting with the woman behind her. “Is it always this
crowded so early?” she asked.

“No,” the woman
replied. “Have you not heard that America has declared war on Germany?  People
are trying to get home.”

            Immediately her mind
began to race.  Would this affect her being able to sail to America? Misha had
told her how the seas were not terribly safe because of the German submarines.  Would
ships going to America be attacked?  She wasn’t worried about Sweden or Norway,
and Finland was part of the Russian Empire so they were fighting the Germans.  “Take
a deep breath, Rebekah,” she thought to herself.  “You will figure this out.”

            When she reached the
window she bought two tickets for Helsinki.  The ticket master told her the
train would leave in about three hours. She asked him where she could get
something to eat and he directed her to a café a few blocks away. With all that
was going on she felt they would be safe.

Breakfast at the
café was wonderful.  It was the first real meal they had had in ages.  Samuel
really wanted to talk about his father and what had happened to him.  Maybe he
wasn’t dead, Mama,” he told her. “How did you know he was dead?”

While her heart
was broken for herself, it ached even more for Samuel; but she knew she had to
make sure he didn’t hold out any hope that Misha was alive.  “I knew, Samuel. I
felt his heart and it wasn’t beating.  And when we came out of the woods this
morning everyone was gone.  Someone must have heard the shots and come.  We
didn’t hear it because we were so far into the woods.”
            A few tears slid down Samuel’s cheeks.

“It’s okay, Samuel.
 It will take us a long time to understand this and for the hurting to stop.  But
your father would want us to be brave.  He loved us very much.”

They finished
eating and walked back to the train station. When it was time to board, they
found two seats near the back of the car. Samuel settled in by the window. They
were finally on their way to Helsinki.

CHAPTER 67

June 1917

The first convoy
of ships to Europe consisted of fourteen ships and twenty-three armed escorts,
divided into four groups. They would leave from the anchorage of Tompkinsville on
Staten Island, New York, at sunrise June 14
^th
, 1917.  Solomon was on
the
Mallory,
sailing in the third group.  The voyage would take twelve
days.  The biggest threat that haunted the flotilla during the entire trip was
the fear of German U-boat attacks.  Although there would be an attack on the
first group of ships on June 22nd, on the second group on June 26th, and on the
fourth group on June 29th, no damage was done.

Solomon’s group
had no attacks and arrived at the harbor at St. Nazaire, France, on June 26th. 
The harbor was crowded and there was much confusion, but all the troops
eventually disembarked.  When the convoy arrived in port, American flags were
flying and General Pershing himself was there to greet them.  

 Once settled,
Solomon wrote to Kathleen:

The
reception by the French has been spectacular.  You would think we were saviors.
 After we landed it took almost three days for all of the ships to disembark.  Then
all of us who are soldiers were loaded into railroad boxcars and sent off to
our designated training area.  The walk from the train station was long.  I am
in Gondrecourt in the Lorraine region which I am told is about 120 kilometer southwest
of Paris.  The weather is chilly and rainy which is not usual for June.

My
battalion was given a very special honor.  We were brought to Paris by General
Pershing to march in that country's independence parade.  People cheered and
shouted all along the route.  A lieutenant colonel who spoke French approached
the statue of Lafayette’s tomb and said in French, “We are here, Lafayette!”
The screaming and shouting was deafening.

Our
training goes well.  There is little free time to do much, but that is okay
because it makes the time pass. We are learning to use French artillery and all
about what they call trench warfare.  I do not know how long it will be before
we are sent into battle.

Meanwhile,
how are you and our little one doing? I think of you all the time and picture
you getting bigger and bigger.  Take a picture for me so I will know what you
looked like.

I
miss you and love you so much.

My love,

Sol

PS. Please
share all this news with Mama and Papa and tell them I love them and will write
soon.

            When Kathleen finished
reading the letter she headed to see Jacob and Rachael.  It was a beautiful
summer day so she walked the whole way.  She was getting bigger, but work was
still no problem and she welcomed the diversion.  The newspaper printed every
little story about the war and her first scare was when she read that the
convoy to France had been attacked.

            Entering the store she
saw Jacob waiting on a customer.  Rachael was folding pieces of fabric on a
table.  When they saw her they both asked at the same time, “Kathleen. Is
everything okay?”

            Kathleen smiled.  “Yes.
 I received a letter from Sol and he asked me to share it with you.” She
reached into her purse and retrieved the letter.  “Here, why don’t you read it
together,” she said handing it to Rachael.

            “Are you sure,
Kathleen?” Rachael asked.  “We wouldn’t want to intrude on your privacy.”

            “Oh it is fine.  There’s
only a little bit of mushy stuff.”

            “Only a little bit?" 
Jacob asked in mock seriousness. “Shame on that boy.”

            Everybody laughed.  When
they had finished reading the letter Jacob said, “Well, he is really there.”

            “I know,” Kathleen
acknowledged.  “It’s hard to believe. Even though we watched him go, somehow it
didn’t sink in until right now.”

            “Do you have to go to
work, or would you like to stay for dinner?" Rachael asked.  “The children
would love to see how big their niece or nephew is getting.”

            “I’d love to stay,” she
answered.  “The little one really is getting big.  I hope I’m not having an
elephant.”

            Dinner was really nice.
 All the kids had to touch Kathleen’s belly.  Jacob shared what was in the
letter Kathleen had received.  When she left, Kathleen gave Jacob and Rachael a
big hug.

            “I am so lucky to be a
part of this family,” she said. “Jacob told me how wonderful you were, but it
is hard to understand this kind of warmth without experiencing it.”

            “You are our daughter
now, too. Kathleen.  And we will all go through this together,” Jacob answered.

CHAPTER 68

It was almost night
when the train pulled into Helsinki. The trip had been pretty uneventful.  At
one of the stops Rebekah and Samuel got off and bought sandwiches and drinks to
take back on the train.

“Finally,” Rebekah
thought to herself as they disembarked the train at Helsinki.  “It has taken us
over two years since we left Petrograd to get here.”

They took a taxi
to what the driver said was a moderately priced inn.  Once in their room
Rebekah looked through her papers to find the information with the name of the couple’s
father had said to contact.  They were Rose and Joseph Rabinovich.  Then she
counted her money to see what she had left.  Somehow she had managed to keep
her money hidden in her corset since she left Petrograd.  Now she realized that
she probably did not have enough money to buy tickets to America. She would
speak to the Rabinovich’s in the morning about what she should do.

She and Samuel
went to a small café for dinner and then came back and bathed in the bathroom down
the hall.  When they got back to the room, they literally fell into bed.  “Mama,”
Samuel had said, “Doesn’t the bed feel good?”

“Yes, Sammy.  It’s
been so long since we have slept in a real bed.”

Samuel turned and
looked at her.  “Father would have liked this,” he said in a wistful voice.

“I know, Sammy.  Come
snuggle with Mama.”

Mrs. Rabinovich
was warm and friendly and genuinely pleased when Rebekah called and told her
who she was.  

“My goodness,
Rebekah.  We were so concerned about you. I’ve had two letters from Benjamin
asking if you had arrived. You’ll have to tell us where you’ve been.  Perhaps
you can come over for lunch today?”

            Walking into the
Rabinovich’s home created a wave of nostalgia.  It had all the trappings of a
Jewish home: a menorah and dreidel on the mantle of the fireplace, a Seder
plate and hagadas on the dining room table, and Jewish art on the walls. She
could smell the chicken soup cooking.  Mrs. Rabinovich was preparing for Sabbath
dinner.   

One of their
grandsons, George, was there and Mrs. Rabinovich had arranged for him to take
care of Samuel and have lunch with him. As it turned out, George and Samuel
became fast friends which made the time go quickly for Samuel.

Lunch with Mr. and
Mrs. Rabinovich was wonderful.  Rebekah told them both all about what had
happened on her way to Helsinki.  She left out what happened in Vyborg, but
told her some of what had happened with Misha.  When she finished, they were
both quiet for a minute.  Rebekah feared perhaps she had told them too much.

“You poor thing,”
Mrs. Rabinovich finally said.  “It must have been awful.  You are a strong
woman.”

“My mama always says
that when it comes to our children, God gives us the strength to do what we have
to, Mrs. Rabinovich.”

“Please, call me
Rose,” she answered. “And my husband is Joseph.”

Rebekah smiled.  “My
mama’s name is Rose.”

“And where is she
now?”  Mrs. Rabinovich asked.

“In America.  I
sent her there when I came back to Russia to find Samuel.  I was worried about
her safety.  May I ask how you and your husband came to live in Finland?  And
how you know Benjamin?”

“Of course.  Benjamin
and Joseph were in the army together. They fought together and ended up in
Helsinki together.  Joseph elected to stay here and sent for me and the children.
 Benjamin returned to St. Petersburg, but our families have remained friends.”

“Is it any easier
for Jews here?” Rebekah asked.

Joseph answered. “Not
really.  But there were no pogroms to deal with.  There were rules under the
Swedish constitution that were very severe against Jews.  Originally Jewish
soldiers were not permitted to settle here, but eventually there was a decree
by the czar that ordered that discharged Russian soldiers and their families,
without regard to their religion, were allowed to stay temporarily in Finland.  Later,
though, another decree was issued expressly governing the presence of Jews in
Finland.  It was quite severe, but it wasn’t always enforced.  Right now they basically
ignore us.  We have built a synagogue and continue to work as craftsmen and
tradesman, but our children are educated.  I think we will be okay here.  I am
more worried what is happening in Russia now that there is a provisional
government which isn’t very strong.”

“I know,” Rebekah
answered.  “I’ve heard it is terrible in Petrograd.”

Joseph smiled.  “I
can’t get used to the name change. Benjamin says it isn’t over.  The Bolsheviks
won’t stop until they are in power.  But let’s talk about you, Rebekah.  What
can we do to help you get to America?”

“Well, I believe I
have enough have money saved for the ship, but I have no idea how to get the
proper papers for me and Samuel to sail.  Benjamin had said you might be able
to help me secure them.  I didn’t anticipate the delay in getting here.  

Joseph thought for
a minute. “I can do that Rebekah, but it will take maybe a week or two.  Where
are you staying?”

“At a little hotel
that the taxi driver recommended,” Rebekah answered. “He spoke a little Russian
and was quite helpful.”

“Well, first things
first,” Rose butted in.  “We have a small room that belonged to one of the boys.
 You and Sammy can stay here.”  

“That’s a very
generous offer, Rose, but I would insist on doing something for our keep.  I’m
a good cook and I’ll be happy to clean.”

“Helping you will
be its own reward,” Rose said.

“I don’t know how
I will ever be able to thank you both,” Rebekah replied.