The farmer’s attention swung to the young man.
“Aunt Sally. What are you calling her that for? She’s no aunt of yours.”
Heinz stayed silent, his eyes never leaving the brute of a man.
Sally found her voice. Pushing aside her fear, she spoke quickly. “Actually I am. Well, more of a cousin, than an aunt but you know what family relations are like. His mother, God rest her soul and my mother shared… great grandparents.”
At the disbelief on the couple’s faces, Sally wasn’t sure what to say next. Where had that lie come from? They’d know she was lying, wouldn’t they?
“You come to take me home. I pack.”
Heinz’s declaration was as much a surprise to her as it was to the Daltons. Mr. Dalton glanced between them but Mrs. Dalton was faster to recover.
“You’re not going anywhere. We signed papers for you to stay here and that’s where you will stay.”
Sally saw the doubt in her eyes, despite her aggressive tone. She took a step closer to the woman, speaking directly to her.
“Heinz didn’t sign himself into slavery Mrs. Dalton. He is coming with me now and I suggest you make no attempt to stop us. If you do, I will return with the constable, the Reverend, and someone from the department of agriculture.”
At the mention of the last person, Aggie took a step closer to her husband, who paled. Sally pushed her point home.
“We both know the Department would be very interested to examine your books and the entire farm from top to bottom. I’m sure they will also inform the school board of the conditions in which you are keeping children, using them as slave labor.”
She knew she’d won, just from the look he gave her.
“Get out and take that dirty kraut with you. Don’t darken my door again.” He turned his back on her, but Aggie stepped forward.
“You’ll be sorry for this, Sally Matthews. I’ve seen you strutting around like you are somebody, not the result of that slapper of a mother of yours dropping her drawers for any Tom, Dick or Harry.”
Sally gasped. Her mother may have been pregnant and unmarried, but she was far from what Aggie suggested. She’d been walking out with Sally’s father for years when the Great War broke out. She’d fallen pregnant when her fiancé came home on embarkation leave in 1918. They were supposed to get married but didn’t have time to call the banns or get a license. Her dad never came back and her mother had paid a high price.
“Don’t you say another word, Aggie Dalton,” Sally hissed, her voice shaking as she clenched her palms into fists by her side. She’d love nothing better than to slap the woman across the face, but violence was never the answer.
She held Aggie’s gaze until the other woman looked away. Only then did she move toward the door.
“Just you wait,” Aggie snarled.
Sally dismissed the threat but left the kitchen and stood to wait for Heinz’s return. She wished she could take all of the boys with her but she didn’t have anywhere to put them. Shaking, she asked Rachel to reassure them she would send help up to the farm. She wouldn’t forget them. The boys turned and walked away, shoulders slumped. She bit down on her lip, determined not to lose control. Not here, when Dalton was probably watching her.
Heinz seemed to take forever but it was only a few minutes. He arrived with a similar brown suitcase to the one Tomas had, although his was more battered and worn-looking.
They walked out of the farmyard in silence. Sally took several deep breaths to slow her racing pulse.
“Where now?” Heinz asked once they got to the farm’s boundary. Sally slammed the gate shut behind her, although part of her was tempted to leave it open. So what, if Dalton lost a couple of animals?
“You are coming home with me Heinz—sorry—Harry. I want to speak to the Constable and the Reverend but regardless, I am not leaving you here.”
“There will be trouble.”
There most likely would be but she didn’t care. She couldn’t turn her back on this boy. She loved Tomas and Liesl like her own, already and he was their flesh and blood.
“Don’t you worry about trouble. I can handle the Daltons. Now come on, let’s get out of here. The place gives me the heebie-jeebies.
“The what?” Rachel queried.
“Oh, it’s just a made-up word for something that gives you the shivers or a bad feeling.”
“Heebie-Jeebies!” Rachel repeated the phrase a couple of times. “It is a good word. It gives me the heebie-jeebies too.”
19
They returned to the village without any further incident. Rachel and Heinz spoke the whole way home in German, but Sally didn’t correct them. She needed time to think. What could Dalton do to her? She wouldn’t put anything past his spiteful wife.
Sally was never happier to see the red phone box on the outskirts of the village. Almost home. They would call to the rectory first.
“Harry, there is one thing you must do for me.”
“Yes, Aunt Sally.”
She smiled but then turned serious. “If you come to live at my house, you must treat Liesl the same as you treat Tomas. Both children need a happy home. We have a nice time together and I don’t want anyone to ruin that. Do you understand?”
Harry kicked at the ground before a quick reprimand from Rachel made him speak.
“Yes, I understand. I wish to thank you for looking after my brother. Ouch!” Harry glared at Rachel. “And my sister. I will take some of the burden now. They are my family.”
“Glad to hear it. Right, let’s get inside and collect the young ones. No doubt Maggie will be dying to hear everything. Then we will go home,
