Now, she peers inside. The hut has no windows and there is still a hole in one wall for the goats to enter and exit.
‘We can clean it out and I’ve got a small gas cooker you can have. There’s a tap nearby for water and you’re welcome to use the bathroom facilities in our house. Up to you, but it’s yours if you want it.’
‘What do you think?’ asks Ziggy. He wrinkles his nose. Livi can hear the hesitation in his voice – this place is worse than he imagined.
Livi sighs, but she’s smiling too. ‘Like I said, I’ve lived in less pleasant places. We can clean it up and there’s plenty of room inside for a bed. We can eat outside in good weather.’
‘Are you sure?’ Ziggy is surprised.
‘I won’t be living here alone, you know,’ she tells him. ‘If I suffer, you suffer. So we’ll both have to just make the best of it for a while.’
*
The morning of Livi and Ziggy’s wedding finds the house in chaos. Cibi and Mischka arrive early with Karol and Joseph in tow. With their cousin, Chaya, the children run amok, trailing their mothers behind them to feed them, fix plasters to grazed knees and change the babies and then change them again. Throughout the mayhem, Livi remains calm, enjoying the noise and excitement small children bring to any occasion.
Cibi is once again trying to fathom from Livi why the wedding is being held on the rooftop of an apartment building.
‘Because, and as I’ve already told you, Ziggy’s uncle has a flat in that block with access to the rooftop.’ She takes her sister’s arm. ‘I know you’re worried the children will jump over the side.’ Cibi’s look of horror makes Livi laugh. ‘Come on, Cibi, don’t you remember those nights in Bratislava with our friends, talking all night in the open air?’ Livi looks wistful. ‘That’s when I first felt like a grown-up. And what could be more grown up than getting married?’
After changing baby Chaya’s outfit for the third time, Livi is finally happy. Her niece looks adorable.
‘Now it’s time to get you into your wedding dress,’ Magda tells their youngest sister.
‘If you must,’ replies Livi, with a grin.
Finally ready, Livi and her sisters, urged on by the well-wishes of their neighbours, walk the three blocks from Magda’s house to the rooftop wedding. And Livi’s spine begins to tingle. Not now, she thinks. But she doesn’t resist the memory and lets her mind drift back to the hospital, to Matilda. The girl is with her on her wedding day and Livi realises she will be with her when she has her babies, her grandchildren, when she is old; that she is as much a part of her story as this happy day. Livi lifts her chin and starts to climb the stairs to the rooftop.
The balcony is perfect. The sisters gasp in unison as they take in the garlands, the floral arrangements sitting in the middle of colourful tablecloths, and the canopy above their heads, draped in a heavy fabric featuring wreathes of olive branches. The rich aroma of hot food permeates the air, spicy and sweet.
Mischka and Yitzchak take charge of the children and Cibi and Magda escort Livi up the aisle towards Ziggy, who awaits his bride with an enormous smile. Livi hurries to his side, not wanting to delay the moment of their union any longer.
*
The third glass is smashed and the third sister is married. Shouts of, ‘Mazel tov’， and cheering, fill the air. The melee begins with feasting and ends with dancing.
Livi has never been happier, but then, of course she has. She remembers the sisters breaking away from the death march, tired, almost dead, certainly too wrung-out to feel much of anything, but that had to count as a defining moment, the beginning of their journey back to life.
Mrs Weizmann, now a widow, takes Livi and Ziggy aside before she leaves. ‘I want to wish you a long and happy life together. If you have a marriage even half as loving as my own, you will have succeeded,’ she tells them.
Livi hugs Mrs Weizmann and, for a second, she lets herself believe this is her mumma, here on the rooftop to witness her marriage, to share the love and good wishes of their friends, to celebrate her youngest daughter’s happiness.
When she draws away, Mrs Weizmann wipes a tear from Livi’s cheek. ‘I am sorry your mother isn’t here,’ she tells the young woman, as if she has just read Livi’s mind. ‘But you have wonderful sisters, and now a wonderful husband.’
*
After the last dance, Livi breaks away from Ziggy to find her sisters. They link arms and whisper a prayer for Mumma and Father and Grandfather, and in doing so, they renew their promise.