The Sky Beneath Her(67)

“Have you read it?” Alfred asked my uncle.

“No, but my niece has.”

Alfred looked at me. “Do you think I would like it?”

“It’s a serious book, but I think you’re up for the challenge.”

A smile flickered before he refocused on my uncle. “How much?”

Despite my uncle’s customary caution, he named his price. The markup was sizable, but our rent was due, and the stove needed to be repaired.

Alfred’s brow rose. “Is it worth the price?” he asked me.

“It’s a rare and valuable book. It would be welcome in any well-stocked library.”

“Ah, then I must buy it.” He reached into his wallet and counted out the required number of schillings.

I wrapped the book in paper and handed it to Alfred. “Thank you, Herr Gruber.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Naida,” he said.

My cheeks had warmed with a tingling glow. Young boys and old men had often flirted and talked to me, but never had a man as seemingly important as Herr Gruber shown interest. “And you, sir.”

Alfred tucked the book under his arm and left the shop and climbed into the back seat of a gleaming black car.

“How did you know his name?” I asked.

As Uncle Eric counted his money, he said, “Herr Gruber is a very powerful man and well liked by the Germans.”

“How do you know he’s not a spy?”

“I don’t. That’s why I sold him a German book.”

“Who told him about us?”

“I would guess the selkie. She has many connections.”

Herr Gruber didn’t return for two weeks, and when he did, he brought me a book of sonnets and fish scraps for Grimm. I was enchanted. The next time he entered the shop, he brought me Mozartkugel, a chocolate confection. I was convinced of his affection. So, I found the good luck coin my mother had given me. She’d always imagined I would carry it on my wedding day. I took to wearing it in my shoe.

Herr Gruber soon invited me to dinner, and over the weeks, he took me to several fancy restaurants. I felt like a princess. He sent me flowers, in early winter no less. At a dinner in November, another woman, dressed in a dark silk dress, approached our table. She carried herself like a queen and barely glanced in my direction when she spoke to Alfred. He stood and kissed her on the cheek, and after he introduced me, he’d immediately turned to her. The two had talked for several minutes. I felt invisible.

That night when I returned to the bookshop, I found my uncle waiting up in his worn chair, a book in hand. Grimm slept on his lap. “Is he all that you hoped for?”

“More than I could have dreamed of.”

He pulled off his reading glasses. “But you look worried.”

I thought about the stunning woman in black. “My father left my mother. Did it break her heart?”

His brow furrowed. “It was a terrible blow. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t want Alfred to leave me.”

“I don’t think he would do that. He’s enamored with you.”

“But I’m not like Alfred and the people in his world.”

“Perhaps that’s why you’re so special to him.”

The snows fell in November. The city grew more tense, and many businesses closed, but my uncle refused to leave. But Herr Gruber didn’t return in November or December. With the coin always pressing against my skin, I waited, watched, and imagined him with the lovely blond.

Uncle Eric knew I was disappointed, but neither of us spoke about Alfred Gruber.

With each passing day, I grew more determined to win him over. On a cold January evening, I walked to the Danube’s riverbanks. I thought of the river gods my mother had once told me about. The Roma revered them, but they had great powers and could be tricksters. So, I removed my mother’s coin from my shoe. The current was choppy and fast, and the fish jumping.

I clenched the coin in my fist, and, ignoring her warning, I made a wish. “Bring Alfred back to me. Make him love me forever.”

I gripped the old coin. The current churned, swirling faster near the shore and splashing droplets on my shoes.

Wishes are dangerous, the river whispered.

“I know what I want.”

Be careful what you demand, the water whispered back.

“Alfred is different. He must love me forever,” I said. “I don’t want to lose him to another woman.”

The water teased the shore, rolling in and out. You don’t know him.

“I do. I do.”

And then I tossed the coin into the water. A cloud passed in front of the full moon, shrouding me in shadows.

Alfred returned to the shop two days later, carrying a lavish bouquet of roses. He asked my uncle for my hand. My uncle agreed. My wish had been granted. Alfred was bound to me forever.

Now as I lay in my ship’s bunk, I realized the river had been right. I’d known nothing about the darkness lurking inside Alfred.

I skimmed my fingers over the brand above my breast. My mother’s and the river’s warnings haunted me. My wish had become a curse.

My belly tightened, but this time the sensation came and went quickly. I lay very still, smoothing my hand over my belly. The baby wanted to come, but it would have to wait a little longer.

In the room next door, I heard the deep timbre of William’s voice and Sigrid’s melodic responses. Sigrid had brought Alfred to me. And she’d followed me to this ship. The threat was so close and present now. Alfred’s hold on me remained.