Читать книгу The Twins - Sheldon Cohen - Страница 15

Helene could tell that something was wrong when Alfred returned home. The look on his face betrayed him. They sat in their tiny kitchen sipping tea. “What did your brother have to say?”

“It was a shock. We’ve got a lot of talking to do.” He slumped in his chair.

“What? Don’t sit there like a frog on a log. Tell me.”

“It’s a long story.”

“Start from the beginning. I’ve got nothing but time.”

“Remember when I went to the beer hall before the wedding with Werner, Sigmund and Reinhard.”

“Sure.”

“First you got to promise that what I tell you tonight will never leave you. It’s confidential.”

“I swear,” she said leaning forward, her forehead crinkled.

“Werner met a waitress there. She got off duty at 9:00 o’clock and went back to her quarters behind the beer hall. We were sitting there having a few beers, and then Werner said he had to go to the toilet. He was gone for about fifteen minutes. I started to wonder what happened to him. I thought maybe he got sick or something, so I went to the toilet to check on him. I spotted him coming out of one of the huts in the back. Damn if he hadn’t gone in there and had sex with that waitress. What else could it be? I don’t think he was there to have a cup of tea. I’m sure he didn’t see me. When he came back, I didn’t say a word and I forgot all about it. What he does is his business.”

“So why are you telling me this?”

“Wait, the story is just starting. You know that Werner and Brigid are going to adopt a baby. Well it turns out that the waitress got pregnant and it’s her baby that Werner and Brigid are supposed to get.”

“Unbelievable. I thought they’re not supposed to know who the mother is.”

“They’re not, but Werner found out.”

“How’d he find out?”

“He wouldn’t tell me.”

“Did he tell Brigid anything?”

“No.”

“I still don’t know what this has got to do with us?”

“Here comes the shocker. The waitress was supposed to have the baby a month from now, but she just delivered. Not one, but two boys.”

Helene mouthed the words, “Twins.”

“You got it. Werner says he wants only one baby. He offered me three thousand marks to take the other.”

“What?”

“Do I have to repeat it?”

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing. What do you think? He needs an answer in forty-eight hours.”

“We’ll make our own babies.”

“I know, but three thousand marks?”

“You want to take this baby?” Helene asked eyes widely opened.

“I need to hear from you. You’ll be raising it more than me. You’ll be the busy one. Now that I’m going to have a good job, we could afford it. We’d be able to buy a house, and I wouldn’t have to get a loan from my future boss and pay him back for years. We could get a good start, become a family right away, and make a success of our lives. We can still have as many kids as we want. Werner says we’ll be eight thousand kilometers apart and never see each other again. I’d do it, but it’s up to you.”

Helene stared at her husband, looking deeply into his eyes. She couldn’t believe he had been so considerate of her, communicating with her about every major decision that had to be made. Could she cope with so sudden a life-altering decision? It was clear he wanted to do this. “I have to sleep on this. We’ll talk again tomorrow,” she said.

But she couldn’t sleep. They spent half the night talking and bleary-eyed they decided that they would accept Werner’s offer and take one of the twins.

The next day Alfred spoke to Werner. “We’ll do it,” he said the moment he saw him. “Tell me what I need to do, and tell me when we get the money.”

Werner nodded his head, a sly smile on his face. “Good choice, Alfred. That makes things easier for both of us. First, I have to tell Brigid. She doesn’t know the kids were born. I had to wait to see what I could work out with you. Now I’ll tell her what happened and that you’re gonna take one of the babies.”

“What are you going to tell her about why we agreed?”

“You told your wife something about why you’re doing this. Did I ask you what you told her? No. Remember, I said I do not care what you tell your wife as long as you get her to say okay. Same thing goes with me. What I tell my wife is my problem. I’ll know what to say. Just make sure that your wife doesn’t question my wife and I’ll make sure my wife doesn’t question yours. If this works, they’ll never see each other again anyhow. Never.”

“I didn’t hear about the money yet.”

“The minute I see you carrying your baby away, I’ll put the money in your hand. We say goodbye and then we don’t see each other any more. You’ll be leaving in a few days, and I’ll be getting a baby room ready, and we’ll both start taking care of our kid.”