The Storm Sister (The Seven Sisters #2) (69 page)

‘As you have pointed out, you are my husband and I must bow to your opinion and judgement. Of course, Felix and I will stay here with you. It is our place.’ She turned away from him
and continued towards the door. Then she paused and turned back. ‘I just pray that you are right, Pip. For God help us all if you are not.’

Five days before Pip’s concerto was due to be premiered, the German war machine attacked Norway. The country, whose merchant fleet was fully occupied helping Britain to
provide a blockade in the Channel to protect it from invasion, was taken completely unawares. The Norwegians, with their skeletal navy, did their best to defend the ports of Oslo, Bergen and
Trondheim, even managing to destroy a German warship in Oslofjord carrying arms and supplies. But the bombardment from sea, sky and land was incessant and unstoppable.

As Bergen was beleaguered, Pip, Karine and Felix retreated up into the hills to the sanctuary of Froskehuset and sat there in terrified silence, listening to the buzz of the Luftwaffe overhead
and the sound of gunfire in the town below them.

Pip could not raise his eyes to meet Karine’s gaze; he knew exactly what it would contain. They got into bed that evening, both of them silent, and lay there like two strangers with Felix
asleep between them. Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, Pip searched for her hand.

‘Karine,’ he said into the darkness, ‘how can you ever forgive me?’

There was a lengthy pause before she answered. ‘Because I must. You are my husband and I love you.’

‘I swear that, even now this has happened, we are safe. Everyone says the citizens of Norway have nothing to fear. The Nazis only invaded us in order to protect the passage of their iron
ore supplies from Sweden. It is not about you and me.’

‘No, Pip.’ Karine gave an exhausted sigh. ‘But it is always about
us
.’

Over the next two days, the residents of Bergen were assured by their German occupiers that they had nothing to fear and that life would go on as normal. Swastikas hung from
City Hall, and soldiers in Nazi uniforms filled the streets. The town centre had been badly damaged during the battle for Bergen, and all future concerts were cancelled.

Pip was in despair. He had risked his wife’s and his son’s life for a premiere that now would never take place. He took himself outside and walked up and into the forest. He slumped
onto a fallen tree and put his head in his hands. For the first time in his adult life, he wept with shame and horror.

Bo and Elle came to visit them that evening up at Froksehuset and the six of them discussed the situation.

‘I hear our brave King has left Oslo,’ said Elle to Karine. ‘He’s hiding somewhere up in the north. And Bo and I are leaving too.’

‘When? How?’ asked Karine.

‘Bo has a fisherman friend who works out of the harbour. He has said he will take us and any others who wish it across to Scotland. Will you join us?’

Karine threw a furtive glance at Pip, who was deep in conversation with his father. ‘I doubt my husband will want to come. Are Felix and I in danger here? Elle, please tell me. What does
Bo think?’

‘None of us knows, Karine. Even if we reach Great Britain, the Germans may invade there too. This war is like a plague that spreads everywhere. At least here, you are married to a
Norwegian, and are now a Lutheran yourself. Have you told anyone here of your original religion and heritage?’

‘No! Well, apart from my parents-in-law, of course.’

‘Then perhaps it is best you stay here with your husband. You have his name, and the history of his famous Bergen family to protect you. It is not the same for Bo and me. We have nothing
to hide behind. We are only grateful to Pip and his family for giving us sanctuary and leading us out of danger. If we had stayed in Germany, then . . .’ Elle shuddered. ‘I have heard
stories of camps for Jews, of whole families disappearing from their homes in the dead of night.’

Karine had heard them too. ‘When will you leave?’

‘I will not tell you. It is best that you don’t know, in case things here get worse. Please say nothing to Pip, or his parents.’

‘Will it be soon?’

‘Yes. And Karine,’ Elle said, grabbing her friend’s hand, ‘we must say our goodbyes now. And I can only hope and pray that one day we will meet again.’

They embraced then, their eyes glistening with tears, and took each other’s hand in a show of silent solidarity.

‘I will always be here for you, my friend,’ Karine whispered. ‘Write to me when you reach Scotland.’

‘I will, I promise. Remember that despite his misjudgement, your husband is a good man. How could anyone except those of our race have foreseen this? Forgive him, Karine. He cannot
understand what it is like to always live in fear.’

‘I will try,’ Karine agreed.

‘Good.’ With a small smile, Elle stood up from the sofa and gestured to Bo that she was ready to leave.

As Karine watched them go, she knew with a certainty that came from her soul that she would never set eyes on either of them again.

Two days later, Karine and Pip braved the journey down the hillside and made their way home. They saw smoke was still billowing from the burnt-out houses along the harbour side
that had been destroyed in the shelling and fires.

The chart maker’s shop was one of them.

Both of them stood and gazed at the smouldering heap in horror.

‘Were they in there?’ Pip choked out the words.

‘I don’t know,’ Karine replied, remembering her promise to Elle. ‘Maybe.’

‘Oh dear Lord.’ Pip fell to his knees and started to weep, but as he did so Karine spotted a platoon of German soldiers marching down the road.

‘Stand up!’ she hissed. ‘
Now!
’

Pip did as he was told, and both of them nodded deferentially at the soldiers as they passed by, hoping they would be seen as simply a young Norwegian couple in love.

On the morning of what should have been the premiere of
The Hero Concerto
, Pip woke to find that Karine had already left the bedroom. Seeing Felix was still happily
asleep in his little bed at the bottom of theirs, he went downstairs to find his wife. Walking into the kitchen, he found a note propped up on the table.

Gone to find bread and milk. Back soon. x

Pip went to the front door and wandered anxiously into the street to look for her, wondering what on earth had possessed her to leave the house alone. He could hear the odd pop of gunfire in the
distance – there were still pockets of the Norwegian army putting up a fight to the bitter end, although no one was under any illusions as to who the victors were.

Not seeing a soul in the deserted street whom he could ask about his wife’s whereabouts, Pip went back inside the house and went to rouse his son. Felix, who was now seventeen months old,
climbed out of bed, then toddled down the stairs holding his father’s hand. There was another sudden loud burst of gunfire.

‘Bang bang!’ Felix said with a grin. ‘Where Mama? Hungry!’

‘She’ll be back soon, let’s go and see what we can find you to eat in the kitchen.’

Pip understood immediately why Karine had gone out as he opened the food cupboard to find it was bare, then noticed the two empty milk bottles standing by the sink. Pip resorted to a scrap of
bread left over from supper last night to keep Felix quiet until she returned. He sat the boy on his lap and read him a story, trying to concentrate on something other than his own fear.

Two hours later, there was still no sign of Karine. In desperation, Pip knocked on his neighbour’s door. The woman comforted him with the fact that there were already food shortages, and
that she herself had queued for over an hour yesterday to buy bread.

‘I’m sure she’ll be back very soon; she may have had to travel further than usual to find some provisions.’

Pip went back home and decided he could stand it no longer. After dressing Felix, he left the house, holding his little son firmly by the hand. Billows of acrid smoke from the Luftwaffe’s
bombing raid still hung across the bay, and the occasional sound of gunfire continued. The streets were mostly deserted, even though it was past eleven o’clock. He saw that their usual bakery
had its shutters closed, as did the greengrocer and fishmonger further along Teatergaten. He heard the heavy footfall of a patrol, and as he turned the corner, saw them marching towards him.

‘Soldier!’ Felix pointed to them, oblivious to any danger they represented.

‘Yes, soldier,’ Pip said, racking his brains for where Karine might have headed to. Then he thought of the small parade of shops on Vaskerelven, just past the theatre. Karine would
often ask him to go there on the way to or from work if there was anything they needed.

As he approached the theatre, he looked up and saw that the front of it was completely blown away. He choked in horror at the sight. His immediate thought was that although he had the original
piano music up at Froskehuset, the rest of his orchestrations had been kept under lock and key in the theatre’s main office.

‘My God, they’re almost certainly all gone,’ he muttered, distraught.

Averting his gaze so as not to show his distress and fear to his son, Pip marched past the remains of the theatre, determined not to allow himself to dwell on what had been inside.

‘Far? Why people sleep?’ Felix pointed to the square a few yards away, and it was then that Pip saw the bodies – maybe ten or twelve – which looked as though they had
been thrown to the ground like discarded rag dolls. He could see that two of them were dressed in Norwegian army uniform, and the rest were obviously civilians – men and women and a young boy
too. There must have been a skirmish earlier and innocents had got caught in the crossfire.

Pip tried to pull his son away, but Felix stayed rooted to the spot, pointing at one of the bodies.

‘Far, we wake Mor up now?’

Bergen, Norway

September 2007