The Woman with the Blue Star, Pam Jenoff [highly recommended books txt] 📗

“All right,” I said. We returned to the chamber and slipped in quietly so as not to wake Pan Rosenberg. I climbed into my bed. I could not sleep, though, but tossed and turned. The incident with the munitions played over and over in my mind. Someone had been in the sewer. The danger felt worse, our situation unsustainable.

Hearing my restlessness, Saul crossed the chamber. He climbed in bed and lay down beside me. “Is this all right?” he asked. I could not answer over the lump in my throat. He embraced me from behind and my heartbeat quickened as I wondered if he might try to take things further than we previously had, now that we were to be married. But he simply held me tight. “One more day,” he murmured in my ear, and I knew exactly what he meant. By tomorrow night, we could be together properly as man and wife. Still, it felt like forever. I imagined our life after the war, Saul writing and me studying to become a doctor. It had been so long since I believed things like that might someday be possible. I didn’t know where, but we would be together. I drifted off in the warmth of his arms and slept soundly for the first time since Mama had left.

In the morning when I awoke, Saul was already gone. “He went to prepare things,” Pan Rosenberg said.

Saul must have told his father the news about our wedding already. I searched Pan Rosenberg’s face for a reaction. “You don’t mind?”

He smiled and his eyes danced with excitement. “Sadele, I couldn’t be happier!” I saw then that our marriage would be a vote of confidence, a statement that there would be a future. It would bring all of us, including Pan Rosenberg, a bit of much-needed hope. Then his face turned solemn. “I only wish that your parents were here to see it. I hope, though, that you will let me be a father to you both.” I saw then that he had ripped a page from one of his books and was attempting to write a makeshift ketubah for us.

I didn’t know where Saul had gone or what he needed me to do by way of wedding preparations. So I set about getting ready, putting on the dress that Ella had given me, which somehow had remained relatively clean, and fixing my hair as well as I was able. My thoughts turned back to the munitions and I wondered if Krys had been able to find the crates or figure out who had come into the sewer to take them.

Despite Krys’ admonition to stay in the chamber, at eleven o’clock, my usual meeting time with Ella, I started for the grate. I was excited to tell her about our wedding plans and to ask her to be a part of it. But she did not arrive at her usual time, nor after. I wondered if Krys had told her what happened with the munitions and forbidden her from coming to the grate as well, and whether she would listen. How was I going to find her and let her know the news about our wedding?

An hour later, I returned to the chamber, dejected. “Ella didn’t come,” I told Saul, who was back now. “What if something is wrong?”

“I’m sure everything is fine,” he reassured, although he could not possibly know if that was true.

“I hope so. I would still like her to be there when we get married. Can we wait a bit longer to see if she turns up?” A flash of disappointment crossed his face. “I know with the munitions and everything that has happened, it seems we should not waste a minute. But I’m sure she’ll come tomorrow. I just know it.”

Saul smiled. “Of course. What’s one more day when we have the rest of our lives? But, Sadie, what if she does not come tomorrow?”

It was a question I could hardly bear to consider. “Then we will get married without her.” Saul was right; we could not wait forever.

The day passed slowly. “I’m going to use the time to see if I can find some scraps to make us a proper chuppah,” Saul said brightly that night after dinner.

“You don’t have to.” The entire sewer was a kind of wedding canopy, sheltering us from the sky above. But Saul seemed so excited, I did not want to dissuade him.

“Be careful,” I said. He gave me a quick kiss and then started out into the tunnel.

An hour passed, then two, and I began to worry. As night drew close, I hoped Saul had not wandered too far searching for things in his enthusiasm and run into trouble. I considered going after him, but I didn’t know which way he had gone through the tunnels. By now, he could be anywhere.

“Do you think he is all right?” Pan Rosenberg asked, his voice pinched.

“Yes, definitely.” I forced confidence into my voice. “He is just looking for things for the wedding.” Unconvinced, Saul’s father did not prepare for bed that night as he usually did, but paced anxiously back and forth.

Finally, well after midnight, Saul appeared in the entrance to the chamber. “Saul, where were you? I was so worried. Is everything all right?” My questions came out in a tumble.

He shook his head, and seeing the somber expression on his face, I felt my heart tighten. Just then, a dark shadow appeared behind him. “Ella?” I was stunned to see my friend in the sewer for the very first time. “What are you doing here?” I hoped for a second that, despite the implausibility at such an hour, he had invited her in for the wedding and that she had somehow agreed.

As I took in her expression, though, I knew nothing could be further from the truth.

“The sewer is no longer safe. I need all of you to come with me