The House by the Fjord (14 page)

‘How very kind of Harry to include me,' she said, feeling that she must revise her initial opinion of him.

Her final gift was from Steffan. When it was unwrapped, a jewellers' box was revealed. She opened it to find a beautiful gold necklace and matching earrings. It was easy to see it had been a craftsman of exceptional skill that had made this exquisite set.

‘How can I begin to thank you,
Svigerfar
!' she exclaimed. ‘It's a wonderful gift.'

He watched as she put on the earrings and Gudrun fastened the clasp of the necklace for her. Then she darted across to a wall mirror and gave a deep sigh of pleasure at her reflection. Then she turned back to Steffan. As it was the custom always to shake the hand of a donor when a gift was received, she took his hand into hers.

‘
Tusen takk, Svigerfar
,' she said, almost in a whisper from the depth of her feelings, which somehow created a moment of intimacy between them, even though she sensed that his resentment was still there. It was too deep-rooted even on this Christmas Eve for him to show any compassion for her sorrow that she had never conceived. Apart from the circumstances of the Nazi occupation, she supposed it was the first time he had been denied what he had wanted most in his life.

He went to bed soon afterwards. Gudrun was unable to relax until the untidiness in the dining room had been cleared up. Anna helped her and it was soon done. They also washed the dishes, for although Gudrun had help in the house, she had given the girl time off to spend Christmas with her own family. Anna, remembering Sally's letter that had told how she had a dishwasher in her kitchen, she wondered how long it would take before those machines could be purchased here or anywhere else struggling to recover from the war.

They returned from the kitchen to sit by the corner fireplace, where birch logs crackled cosily and danced with flames. There they enjoyed several chocolates from the box that Harry had included with his gifts. Gudrun talked for a while about him.

‘He's the only son of Steffan's late sister, of whom he was very fond. As I have mentioned to you, Harry has always been generous. During the Nazi occupation he often managed to get food for us. I did not let Steffan know, because it was against his principles to have anything denied to others, but I could not refuse when so often the shops had nothing to meet the ration cards and our own cupboards were empty. Only the Germans were well fed, and what they did not eat was shipped back to Germany.'

‘At least you can be pleased to know that in caring for Steffan you kept him well after his stroke.'

‘But that was his second stroke, which is why I dread him having a third one. He suffered the first one after Johan had escaped to England and we received a false report that he had been captured, which meant the death sentence. It turned out to be another young man named Johan, but the damage had been done. Steffan was in a very poor state and unable to leave his bed, when the Germans began rounding up the fathers of the escapees as hostages and putting them in concentration camps.'

Anna was shocked. ‘Was Steffan arrested?'

She shook her head. ‘Fortunately the two young soldiers who came to get him were reluctant to drag a sick man from his bed. I could see that they were kind-hearted boys, as I'm sure many of them were, but they had to obey the Nazi orders that turned them into thugs. These two reported back to their medical officer, who came strutting into our small section of the house to inspect the patient. He took one look at Steffan and told the soldiers to leave the old man as he was going to die anyway.'

Anna gasped. ‘Did Steffan hear that?'

‘Yes, he did, and maybe it was a turning point, because he rallied afterwards, determined to hold on to life until Johan returned. Yet it took him a long time to recover. That was when Harry was particularly helpful, getting eggs and other foodstuffs to help Steffan's recovery.'

‘Did Harry ever try to escape to England?'

She shook her head. ‘Harry was in the resistance, although that is all I know. Naturally he does not talk about what he did, but I do know that when one of the resistance leaders was being hunted in this area, Harry endured being labelled a quisling when he pretended to fraternize with the Germans in searching for the fugitive. After that – as he explained to us and to a court after the liberation – he had gained the Germans' trust enough for them to put him to work in one of their offices. This enabled him to thwart them in minor ways, such as alerting those about to be arrested and so forth.'

‘How did he clear his name after the liberation?'

‘It was difficult for him and he only escaped prison by sheer luck when a few people spoke on his behalf, telling how he had warned them when the Germans were making raids on property and so forth.'

Anna was reminded of Fru Eriksen at Gardermoen, who had also been spoken for by someone she had helped. Now she tried to revise her opinion of Harry. That instinctive dislike of him had not been entirely erased in spite of his generosity, which she had genuinely appreciated.

‘What of Alex?' she asked. ‘What did he do here in Norway? He has never mentioned being in England.'

‘He was there!' Gudrun exclaimed with emphasis. ‘And he was in and out of Norway too! Not that we would have known, except that he had a special award from the King and another from Winston Churchill when that great man visited Oslo not long after the end of the war. Alex was in the SOE.'

Anna caught her breath. Those in the Special Operations Expedition – men and women specially trained in the UK who returned to their own Nazi-occupied countries and organized branches of resistance to carry out vital sabotage and take great risks themselves in various operations. Such men and women had done as much to win the war in their own courageous way as the armed forces.

‘I asked Alex once about what he had done,' Gudrun continued. ‘He simply said that his worst moment had been when he was in Oslo on a secret mission and saw his own parents coming along Karl Johan gate. He had to turn away and look in a shop window, because on no account could he let them see him. Too many lives depended on his remaining totally inconspicuous. He watched their reflections pass by. Sadly for him, he never saw either of them again as both died before the occupation ended.'

Anna felt a deep pang of pity for him. He lingered in her thoughts when at last she and Gudrun went upstairs to bed. They said goodnight in whispers on the landing, not wanting to disturb Steffan. Then Anna closed her door silently and stood in thought for a few moments. She had had an insight into the lives of three very different men that evening. She now understood and sympathized with Steffan's frozen attitude towards her, which she doubted would ever really thaw. As for Harry, he had much to commend him which she had not suspected before, and she hoped her initial uncertainty about him would fade as she came to know him better. Yet it was Alex who had done most for his country. Now that everything had been made clear to her, she felt more in control of her own life. She found this a comforting thought as she made ready for bed. Yet before getting under the duvet, she went to the window and parted the curtains to look out at the snowy scene. It was a clear night and the fjord looked almost luminous under a sky of stars.

On the far side of the fjord were the twinkling lights in the villages of Vestnes and Vikebukt. Again, the feeling swept over her that all was more familiar to her than she would previously have believed possible. She could only conclude that Johan had described everything to her so vividly that he had given her this extraordinary awareness of the beauty and history of his homeland.

Christmas Day dawned bright and clear, the sky a cloudless blue. Anna smiled to think how her aunt had thought this land was dark by night and day. When she went downstairs, she saw immediately that several framed photographs of Johan had been placed here and there by Gudrun. Most importantly of all, the portrait of Johan had been moved to the drawing room wall near another portrait of his mother. Gudrun found Anna studying it.

‘Steffan told me to put it back in its original place,' she said. ‘I have missed it there so much. He had everything shut away when we received the terrible news about Johan. He just could not endure reminders of what he had lost. It was the same when he lost his wife. I believe his grief will begin to heal now.'

‘I hope so much that you are right,' Anna replied thankfully.

Then it was time to get ready for church. Anna had expected it to be a service at the museum church, but that was not to be. Instead, Harry was coming in his car to take them across the fjord to Vestnes, and from there they would attend the service in Tresfjord church. Gudrun explained that Steffan's wife, Rosa, had grown up on a farm in Tresfjord, and she and Steffan had been married in the church there. Her last resting place was in the churchyard.

‘It is Steffan's annual pilgrimage,' Gudrun explained. ‘It is a physical strain on him to make any journey these days.'

Harry arrived promptly. He jumped out of the car to help Gudrun settle Steffan into the front passenger seat. They all exchanged the season's greetings.

‘
Gud Jul!
Happy Christmas!'

Then, as Harry held the rear door for Gudrun and Anna, they both thanked him for the stockings.

‘Are you wearing them?' he asked.

‘I am!' Anna extended her foot for display. He grinned approval. ‘You've the right ankles for them!' Then he bent his head to look in the car, where Gudrun had taken her place on the back seat. ‘What about you, Gudrun?'

‘I'm saving them for a special occasion. Perhaps for Anna's wedding, if she should ever find someone to match the best young man that any of us ever knew.'

‘That's impossible!' Anna answered firmly, taking her place beside Gudrun in the car. She was surprised at such tactlessness. Then she caught a glance that Harry threw at Gudrun. Did either of them suppose that he had a chance with her?

It was not far to the quay. After Harry had driven on-board the waiting ferry, Gudrun took Steffan into the warmth of the saloon, but as the ferry began to move, Anna went to an upper deck and stood at the rails to gaze at the panoramic view unfolding before her. The great mountains ahead seemed to glide towards her, bringing their own reflections with them. Although the air was sharp and icy cold, there was not a breath of wind to ripple the surface. Harry came to lean on the rails beside her.

‘How does this view match that of your home vista?' he asked.

‘My personal vista where I grew up was of a seaside promenade and the English Channel, which can capture all the colours of the fjords at various times.' She glanced at him. ‘If you are expecting me to praise one country before another, I would never do it, even though Norway is special to me as it is Johan's land.'

He was silent for a minute or two. ‘Are you still leaving here after New Year's Eve?'

‘Yes, my train ticket is for travelling by day this time, and I will probably return to England soon afterwards. Steffan and Gudrun are aware of my plans and that I intend to return to Norway to visit them from time to time.' Then she seized the chance to change the subject. ‘Tell me the names of these wonderful peaks.'

Once on land again, it was only a short drive to the church. It was a white octagonal building with an air of tranquillity about it in its setting of mountain and fjord. Its flagpole held the Norwegian flag high in honour of Christmas Day, and although it hung limply in the still, cold air, it made a brilliant splash of colour against the snow-white scene.

They went first into the churchyard where Steffan took the sheaf of flowers that Gudrun had bought for him the previous day and went alone to stand by his wife's grave. Neither Gudrun nor Harry made any move to follow him, and Anna realized that this was a time when he needed to be on his own. She saw how tenderly he brushed away the snow on the gravestone and then how carefully he laid the flowers in place. Then, unexpectedly, he looked across and beckoned to her.

She went to stand by his side and she read the inscription on the gravestone as they stood in silent respect. Then he spoke quietly.

‘Johan would have been standing where you are now.'

After a few more moments he turned to retrace his steps and she followed him to the church door where Gudrun and Harry were now waiting. There Steffan was greeted by people he knew and others used to seeing him once a year. Anna sat next to him in the third row of the pews, with Gudrun and Harry seated on his other side. She was fluent enough in Norwegian to follow the service easily, but she was unfamiliar with the hymns and during the singing she studied the simple but very colourful decoration of the church, wondering what long-ago hand had first painted stars on the vaulted ceiling and decorated the four pillars that supported it. The carved altar piece, which she had been told dated back to the seventeenth century, as did the very handsome pulpit, was of the Last Supper and was clearly the work of a country craftsman more devout than skilled, the figures of Christ and the disciples standing proud at their table. On the wall nearest her was an equally antique angel with outstretched arms, the left one charmingly longer the right one, and Anna appreciated seeing these unusual works of country art.

Harry stayed to dine when they returned home to Molde. He was a good talker and – as Anna had noticed before – Steffan clearly enjoyed his company. She wondered again what it was about this good-looking, friendly man, whom she knew to be generous by nature, which made her wary of him. It caused her to remember how Odin had slunk away in the forest, refusing to go near the concentration camp, but that was a foolish comparison when this man had done so much for his country in difficult times.