“Of course I did.”
“My God. I hope she doesn’t tell anybody else.”
“Sit down. You want a cake? I bought a couple of those you like. Eclairs, ain’t it?”
Bill Malloy smiled. “You’re a marvel. You really are.”
“Maybe. Anyway McGinty asked when you’d be starting at the office. I told him not until Monday. That OK?”
“I guess so.”
“It’s a start, boy. Learning from books and teachers is one thing. Doing it for real’s different.”
“For two years, dad. And then I do it my way.”
“If that’s how you want it then so be it. Maybe you’ll change your mind when it comes to it.”
“Dad, I can earn at least twice as much in a law firm. You know that.”
“Money’s not everything. There’s more to life than that.”
“Dad. Kathy and I are going to be married in two weeks’ time.”
He saw his father open his mouth to speak and then close it as he stood up slowly and walked over to the corner cupboard. He opened the door and reached inside. There was an envelope in his hand as he walked back to the table. As he put the envelope down in front of Bill the old man said, “I wish you both every happiness in the world. There’s two hundred dollars in there to help you get started.”
Bill looked at his father and reached out to touch his hand where it rested on the table.
“I love you, dad. Thanks.” And he kissed the old man’s cheek.
As Bill Malloy showered and changed for his date with Kathy he went over in his mind his talk with his father. He’d do two years at the union, but after that he would find himself a job with a law firm. He’d wondered why the old man went along with it so easily as if he wanted to get it over. Looking at that piece of parchment again and again. He smiled when he realised why the old man was so cooperative. He couldn’t wait to put it in the frame so that it could be hung on the wall of the living room alongside the photograph of his father shaking hands with his other hero, Harrison, his union’s boss at the annual conference. Bill Malloy didn’t believe in hero-worshipping. Experience told him that heroes all too often had feet of clay. Better admire a man for his talents and leave it at that.
They ate at Nico’s place, pasta and cassata ice-cream and a glass each of the house red. And Bill Malloy suddenly felt young again. Young and optimistic. He reached out for her hand on the table, smiling as he said, “You haven’t changed your mind?”
She smiled back. “About what?”
“You know about what.”
“So say it.”
“Will you still marry me?”
“I said I would two months ago.”
“So when?”
“What about your father?”
“Forget him. This is just you and me.”
“That wouldn’t be a good start for us, Bill. He’s a good man and he cares about you. We don’t want to hurt his feelings.”
“I spoke to him this evening. I told him we were going to be married in a matter of weeks.” He paused. “I also told him that I would only work as the union’s legal adviser for two years.”
“What did he say?”
“He accepted it. Wished us luck.” He smiled. “He’s a great fan of yours underneath all that bigotry about non-Catholics. And he’d saved up two hundred dollars that he gave us as a wedding present.”
“He’s a great old guy but he’ll be very lonely without you there.”
“We’ll see him as often as we can. I’ll see him every day anyway at the union offices.”
“Can I make a suggestion?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“You said that the O’Haras were moving at the end of the month. Why don’t we rent the floor from your father until we actually need a separate place.”
“D’you really mean that?”
“Of course I do.”
The pleasure and relief on his face was all the reward she needed.
“My God. He’ll be so pleased.” He looked at her fondly. “I love you so much, Kathy. I’m so lucky. I can’t believe it.”
Two months later, a Wednesday, Moscow and Berlin announced that they had signed a non-aggression pact. It was the 23rd of August 1939 and Bill Malloy and Katharine Sarah Lane were married the following day.
In the White House the President and his senior advisors knew that a red light was flashing in Europe, and its light was visible across the Atlantic. At a meeting in the oval study Roosevelt reviewed the possible consequences with the leaders of Capitol Hill.
The President, in reviewing the likely outcome, concluded that the Allies had only a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. He suggested that it might prevent the outbreak of war in Europe if the United States revoked the neutrality law which required the USA to withhold sales of arms to aggressors and victims alike. The revision alone might act as a deterrent.
The man he needed to influence was Borah who could have carried the Senate. Borah refused. “There is not going to be any war this year,” he claimed. “All this hysteria is manufactured and artificial.”
When Hull from State said despairingly, “I wish the senator would come down to my office and read the cables,” Borah said arrogantly, “I have sources of information in Europe that I regard as more reliable than those of the State Department.”
Roosevelt looked at the men around the table after a poll had gone against his proposal and said quietly, “Well, gentlemen. The responsibility is yours. I bid you good evening.”
For Party members all over the world the pact seemed incredible. A pact with the Nazis. But for the American public it was of no great interest. If they even noticed the event it was just one more example of the mess that was Europe.
CHAPTER 6
For Andrei the signing of the German–Soviet Pact was almost incredible. He had got a message from Lensky explaining why it had been necessary and he was told to explain the situation to
