The Dressmaker's Son (7 page)

            “Oh, yes,” he replied
as Rebekah walked around him with Samuel by her side holding tightly to her
hand.  He thought Rachael was going to faint.  “Rebekah,” she whispered as she
ran to embrace her.

            “And this is my little
Samuel,” Rebekah said as they pulled apart.

            “I didn’t know you were
coming, Samuel,” Rachael said as she knelt to hug him. “But tomorrow, I will
take you for a big surprise.  He’s beautiful, Rebekah. Look at all that blond
hair. But tell me.  How did this all happen? How is Mama? Is she okay?”

            “Why don’t you girls go
upstairs with Samuel,” Jacob interrupted. “I’ll finish closing up the store.  I’m
sure Rebekah wants a bath for her and Samuel.  And they must be hungry.”

            Rachael turned to Jacob
and put her arms around him. “I don’t know what to say, Jacob,” she said, her
voice full of emotion and tears in her eyes. “I married the most wonderful man
in the world.”

            Rachael led Rebekah to
the steps leading to the upstairs.  Miriam was in the kitchen at the sink. “I’m
mashing the potatoes, Mama,” she said without turning around.

            “Do you think we’ll
have enough for some company?” Rachael asked.

            “Who’s coming?” she
asked as she turned. “Oh my God! Tanta Bekka! Mama did you know she was
coming?” She bent down and scooped up Samuel. “And this must be Samuel.”

            The excitement
continued as all of the children welcomed Rebekah.  She had been Tanta Bekka
since Solomon was little and couldn’t get out the word “Rebekah.”   After
dinner, the girls and Rachael cleaned up while Rebekah bathed Samuel and got
him ready for bed.  With only three bedrooms, some rearranging of sleeping
quarters was in order.  The beds in Miriam and Leah’s room were pushed together
so Rebekah could sleep there with Leah and put Samuel in the middle so he
wouldn’t fall off.  Rachael made a pallet for Miriam on the floor.  “This will
do for now,” Rachael said. Tomorrow we will decide who will be where.”

            Finally there was time
for Rachael, Rebekah, and Jacob to sit quietly and talk.  Rebekah had thought
long and hard about how much she should tell them.  She realized that there had
to be some explanation for the urgent need for her to come immediately to
America.  And while nobody had said anything, both Jacob and Rachael had
commented on Samuel’s looks.  So she didn’t lie and tell them anything that
wasn’t true, but she lied by omission, by not telling everything.

            She told them how
unhappy and lonely she had been after they had gone to America but not about
her affair with Misha.  “When Michael died,” she said. “I had no reason to stay
in Yelizavetgrad.  I wanted a new life in a country where my son could grow up
safe from the pogroms.  Mama agreed I needed to leave.”

            “But why so suddenly,”
Jacob asked. “Why was it so urgent you leave so quickly?”

            “Mama said she had to
get me out of there since I was so depressed.  She insisted on writing to Jacob
to bring me to America.”

            “Poor Mama,” Rachael
said. “We must find a way for her to come to America, Jacob.”

            “We will, Rachael, but
it will take some time.”

            “Oh, I am going to work
and help save money to bring Mama here,” Rebekah declared.

            “It’s been a long day
for you, Rebekah,” Jacob answered. “Let’s get you to bed, and in the morning we
will talk about your new life in America.”

CHAPTER 14

Jacob had already
made a plan for Rebekah’s life.  There was a widow, Mrs. Weiss, who shopped
often in the store.  She had been a widow for over a year now, and she was very
lonely.  Her two children were grown and had lives of their own.  One, Aaron,
was a piano teacher who was married with no children, and the other, Fanny, had
married an accountant who was successful.  They also had no children.  Both had
offered to have her live with them, but she was not ready to give up her
independence. “Maybe if they had children,” she had told Jacob, “I could help
take care of them, but really what would I do in their homes?”

            Jacob understood Mrs. Weiss's
feelings.  When he knew Rebekah was coming, he had suggested that maybe Mrs. Weiss
could rent two rooms to her in her home.  “Why two,” she asked.  “The little
boy can’t sleep in the mama’s room?”

            “Oh, yes,” Jacob replied.
 “But one room would be for Rebekah to sew.  That is how she will make her
living.”

            Rebekah had been
endowed with an enormous talent.  She could sew anything.  When her father had
taken them to Kiev, Rebekah was amazed at the fashions the women were wearing.  She
had come home, and with fabric Rose had saved, created those same fashions.  She
had even made Rachael’s wedding gown, a treasure so exquisite that Rachael
vowed she would have a daughter who could one day wear it.  Jacob knew that if
he could get her some clients through the store, she would make a good living
as a seamstress.

And he had been
right.  At first he had gotten her one or two women who needed someone to make
a dress here or a skirt there.  But one day a woman came into the store and
told Jacob that she wanted to engage the same woman who had made a dress for
Mrs. Bronsky.  Jacob knew, of course, that it was Rebekah.  

Mrs. Bronsky was a
good customer of Jacob’s.  Her husband, Abraham, was a pharmacist whose parents
had come to New York from the Ukraine in the 1890s when Abraham was only ten. Because
he was an only child, his parents had worked tirelessly so that Abraham could
go to college and become a professional. Abraham worked in his own apothecary
and had developed a reputation for being as knowledgeable as some doctors in
treating people.  The Bronsky’s crossed the line socially and were often
invited to affairs given by some of the German Jews, many of whom had settled
before the mass of Russians had come to the Lower East Side.  These German Jews
didn’t have much of an affection for the Russian Jews who had been emigrating
over that last several years.  They felt above these peddlers and tradesmen.  But
this woman had been so impressed with the quality of the fabric and workmanship
of Mrs. Bronsky’s dress that she had asked for the name of Jacob’s store.  She
was planning a wedding for her daughter and wanted to see what Rebekah could
create as a wedding gown and gowns for herself and the attendants.

“Bring me pictures
from a fashion magazine,” Rebekah had told her.  “Or I will go with you to
Bloomingdales and look at gowns.  Then we can decide colors and fabrics, and
Jacob will place the order.”

It was the biggest
job Rebekah had undertaken and she was concerned about meeting the deadline.  But
Mrs. Weiss, who had already become attached to Samuel, assured her that she
would help.  “What else do I have to do?" she asked Rebekah. “So little Sammy
and I will play, and I will cook for us. You will sew!”   

Rebekah did a
spectacular job, and that was the beginning of her career.

CHAPTER 15

It had been almost
eight months since Misha discovered that Rebekah and his son had disappeared.  He
had gone to get him as planned right around his second birthday.  

When he told
Catherine about Samuel and of his plan to bring the boy to live with them, he
didn’t get the response he had hoped for.  She had been furious.  “What would I
want with the son of a Jew pig?” she had screamed.  “And how will you explain
that your son is circumcised?”

“We will have him
baptized,” he told her.  “And nobody will know of the circumcision.  We can say
it was a medical necessity if we have to.”

While it had taken
a while to soothe her anger over his infidelity, she had finally come around.  She
began to fix up a little boy’s room for him and had seamstresses making little
outfits for him to wear.  “We will have to tell my father,” she told him one
evening.  “What will you say to him?”

“Just enough to
get by,” he replied.  “He need not know the mother was Jewish, just that he is
my son, and we are going to raise him as our own.  Do you think your father has
never had a dalliance of his own?  Misha will never remember any other mother
but you, Catherine, and he has my eyes and hair so everyone will know he is
mine.”

Her father took
the news well.  He knew how unhappy Catherine had been not being able to bear a
child.  “This will be good for her, Misha,” he told his son-in-law.  “But
please, have some control.  You don’t need to go around leaving little bastards
all over the countryside!”

Misha smiled. “Where
have you left yours, Captain?”

His father-in-law
glared at him. “If there are any,” he declared.  “They are far from interfering
with my wife’s contentment!”  Misha left it at that.

He was excited as
he approached Rebekah’s home, anxious not only to claim his son, but to see her.
 In reality, she was everything that Catherine was not: intelligent,
fun-loving, sexual, and free-spirited.

When a young woman
answered the door he assumed it was a friend of Rebekah’s.  

            “Is Rebekah in?” he asked.

“Rebekah doesn’t
live here anymore,” the young girl replied nervously, wondering what this
soldier was doing looking for Rebekah.

“What do you
mean?” Misha asked. “Has she moved to another house?”

“I do not know
where she has gone,” she said. “I am Esther. My husband Schmuel and I live here
now.  Rebekah’s husband Michael died about a couple of months ago. Schmuel has
taken over the cobbler shop and we have bought this home.”

“Where has she
gone?” Misha shouted at her, pushing his way into the house.  He shoved her
aside and ran through the little house.  It was obvious that they were gone.

He grabbed Esther
by the shoulders. “Tell me where she is, bitch,” he yelled.

Esther was
terrified.  She began to cry hysterically.  “I don’t know where she and Samuel
have gone,” she managed to say between sobs.  And, in realty, she really didn’t
know.  Rose had been very careful not to tell anyone why Rachael was leaving or
where she was going.  Knowing that Misha was going to show up, she had made the
arrangements with Schmuel to take over the shop and buy the house.  Stomping
out of the house Misha threatened to burn her home and the damn cobbler shop if
he didn’t get some answers.

When he calmed down,
he remembered Rose.  Rebekah had told him about her parents and the little
delicatessen that her mother had run since her dad died.  It didn't take him
long to find it.  When Rose saw Misha coming in she was not surprised.  She
knew it was just a matter of time before he would show up looking for Rebekah
and Samuel.

She greeted him
calmly.  “Misha, how nice to see you again. Have you stopped for something to
eat?” she asked innocently.

“I’ve come for
what is mine,” he answered harshly.

“I’m afraid I
don’t have anything of yours,” she replied, still playing her little game. It was
mid-afternoon, and the restaurant was empty except for two women who took their
packages from the counter and left.

 Misha grabbed
Rose’s arm and demanded to know where Rebekah had gone with his son.   

Rose would not
tell. “They are gone and they are safe,” she replied.  “Leave them in peace,
Misha.”

He gritted his
teeth and pushed Rose against the counter.  “I will destroy everything you have
until I find them,” he threatened.

Rose just looked
at him.  She had been through three horrible pogroms; her husband was gone and
her children were in America.  “You don’t frighten me, Misha,” she said calmly.
 “I have nothing you can destroy.”  He raised his hand to slap her across the
face, but stopped in mid-air.

“We’ll see about
that,” he almost hissed, and walked out of the store.

            Rose leaned against the
counter.  She wasn’t scared.  She was tired.  There was nothing left for her in
Yelizavetgrad.  She would have to find a way to go to America.

Rebekah had
continuously told Misha how lonely she was without her sister here and how they
had gone to America, so it was no stretch for him to go down that road first.  His
first stop was at the police chief’s office.  At first, the police chief acted
as though he knew nothing of this girl Rebekah, but Misha threatened him with
his life and the lives of his family.  The police chief knew Misha would harm
them.  He had no choice but to tell him that Rebekah and her son had gone to
America.

“I have no
knowledge of where she went,” he told Misha. “I only know that she took the
train to Amsterdam to go on the steam ship.”

Methodically Misha
began to check all the manifests from the major port in Amsterdam, but to no
avail.  He had no way of knowing that Jacob had secured the tickets for Rebekah
and Samuel under different names.

 But he also had one
of his soldier’s intercept Rose’s mail and that is how he finally found out exactly
where Rebekah and Samuel were.  Then he made his plans to go to America to
claim his son.

He was traveling first
class. The crossing was calm and Misha spent all his time planning how he would
bring Misha home.  In his papers he already had tickets for both of them to
return to Russia in three weeks.  He believed that would be sufficient time to
accomplish his goal.

As he sat on deck
he couldn’t help but think of how anxious Catherine was about his leaving.

“Please, Misha,”
she had pleaded. “Let me go with you.  How are you going to travel back here
with a small child by yourself?  You know nothing about children.”

“I’ll be fine,
Catherine,” he told her.  “I am the child’s father.  What do I need to know? 
He isn’t an infant.  He is almost four years old.”

“But what if he
won’t come with you,” she asked. “What if he is afraid of you because he
doesn’t remember you?  He would more easily go with a woman.”

“He will come with
me, Catherine.  I will find a way to entice him.  I have commanded hundreds of
troops.  I can handle one little boy.  Don’t worry about this.  Just make all
the preparations necessary so you will be ready for us when we come home.  You
said you have to redo the room because he will be older, and you have to find a
tutor for him for when we return.  Start working on those things and the time
will pass quickly.”

Catherine knew
better than to argue with Misha when he took this tone.  The discussion was
over.  “Yes, Misha, I will stay busy getting ready.”

The day he was
leaving Catherine had given him a small package.  “These are a few toys for a
child his age and a book you can read to him on the ship, Misha.  Travel safely
and bring our son back to me.”

Rebekah’s letters
had filled him in on all that was going on in her and Misha’s life.  Of course
every time she called him “Samuel,” Misha would grimace and remind himself that
as soon as he got hold of him, he would be “Misha.”

It appeared that
both Rebekah and little Misha had adjusted well to life in America.  It did not
surprise him that Rebekah was becoming successful as a seamstress.  She was a
very creative, intelligent person.  This, coupled with her natural independence
and straight-forwardness, would take her far in any endeavor. Her beauty, he
knew, would also open doors for her. Misha read all about the nice widow who
had opened her home to her and Samuel.  He knew exactly where they lived.

From the two
letters of Rachael’s that his soldier had intercepted, Misha learned more about
Jacob’s store, Jacob’s involvement in the synagogue and the close relationship
between Rachael’s family and Rebekah.  Once he got there, he would spend some
time watching all of them and learning their habits. He leaned back and relaxed.
 There was no doubt in his mind that Misha would soon be his.