Читать книгу The Twins - Sheldon Cohen - Страница 16

Now it was Werner’s turn to talk to Brigid. When he arrived home, she was at work in the kitchen preparing lunch. She looked up and saw Werner with a wide grin on his face. “You look like you’ve got something to say,” she said.

“Do I ever. Forget what you’re doing and sit down. I don’t want you standing when you hear this.”

“What?” asked Brigid, twisting her apron strings.

“Your son is here.”

“My son!” both hands closed over her mouth.

“Yes.”

At the news, she stood up and walked excitedly around the room. “But the baby wasn’t due for another month.”

“The pastor got in touch with me. She delivered early.”

“Oh, my God,” she screamed as she leaped in her husband’s arms. Then alarmed she backed off and asked, “Is the baby alright?”

“Pastor Braun said that they’re going to have to watch the babies for a few days. But he was sure they’d be alright.”

“Babies? They? What are you saying?”

“You’re right. I got ahead of myself. Let’s get that out right at the start. They’re twin boys.”

Brigid’s eyes opened wide. She put her hand to her mouth and stared at Werner.

“Let me tell you the whole story. There’s a lot I found out and you got to know it all.”

“Oh, my God.”

Werner told Brigid the identical story that Alfred told Helene, only it was Alfred that had the affair with Frieda.

Brigid sat staring blank-eyed, absorbed in the tale. When Werner finished she stammered, “But twins? I don’t know what to think now. I’m…uh…I didn’t prepare myself for twins. I’m not…I…”

“I know. Me neither. So I went and had it out with Alfred.”

“What do you mean ‘had it out?’”

“I just laid it all out on the table. I told him the whole story just like I told you. I told him that I knew I was probably going to adopt a baby that could be his, but now that there are twins everything changed, and he should take one of the boys, and we take one, and he goes to the United States, and we stay here, and everyone’s happy.”

“I can’t believe any of this. What did he say?”

“Believe me it’s true. We had quite a go around, but then he said he would talk to Helene and let me know.”

“And he let you know?”

“Yeah. He said yes. In a few days, we are going to get the babies. He will bring his home, and I will bring ours home. He will leave soon to the United States and we will start furnishing our son’s room. If you see Helene, do not say a word. It would wreck everything.”

“My God. This is amazing. It’s hard to believe what’s happened.”

“I couldn’t make up a story like this. Do you want your son?”

“I want a son more then anything else in the world.”

“You’ll have him soon.”