Page 307 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

Anna walked into an enormous entrance hall with white marble floors, a polished wooden ceiling, and a series of white marble arches around three sides. In the middle of the room, an immense round wooden table sat on top of a large woven rug. Ahead to her left was a long, narrow room filled with antique furniture. Woven tapestries draped the walls. Straight ahead, in another archway, was a beautiful stained-glass door. The archways on her right seemed to lead to a room filled with lots of plants.

“Wow.” Anna turned around several times, trying to take everything in. She’d never seen such a beautiful, elegant home.

From her left, a high-pitched squeal and footsteps came from the stairway tucked away behind another set of archways. An excited female voice spoke very fast in German, and Alex laughed as a tall blonde, a little older than Anna, bounded down the stairs and ran right to him.

“Anna, this is my little sister, Greta. Greta, this is Anna.”

“Oh, Anna. I am so excited to meet you!” Greta hugged Anna hard and then pulled back to look at her. “Alex has been like a madman these last few weeks. I am so glad you are finally here.” Greta had a bright smile and laughing blue eyes the same color as Alex’s. She was quite a few inches taller than Anna and her blonde hair was long and hung down her back. She was beautiful.

“Where are the others?” Wilhelm asked.

Greta rolled her eyes. “Upstairs. Gretchen did not want to come down.”

Alex rolled his eyes as well, which made Greta laugh.

Greta’s eyes glinted with mischief the same way Kurt’s did. “Komm, gehen wir. Let us go make Gretchen miserable.”

Ilsa frowned and shook her head. “Greta, that is not nice.”

Alex laughed. “In a few minutes. I want to show Anna something first.”

Greta stuck out her lip and pouted prettily.

“Just a few minutes, I promise. I haven’t seen Anna in months.”

“Oh, alright. I have been looking forward to this for days.” She cheerfully bounded away and disappeared up the stairs, along with Wilhelm and Ilsa.

“What has she been looking forward to?” Anna asked.

Alex sighed. “She loves tormenting Gretchen. Mostly because it’s easy to do.” Anna frowned in confusion, and Alex scrunched his mouth. “Gretchen...” He sighed. “Gretchen’s had a thing for me in the past. When I came home, she was delighted, but when I spoke of you, she became very jealous.”

“Isn’t she Kurt’s wife?”

“Ja, which is even worse, because Kurt spoke highly of you, too. If she’s rude to you, I apologize in advance. She can be... difficult. But I don’t want you to feel unwelcome.” He turned to her. “You have just as much a right to be here as she does. Don’t let her intimidate you.”

Anna nodded and gave a timid smile. “I’ll try.”

“Komm mit mir. I want to show you the garden.”

“It’s really a garden?”

Alex smiled and pulled Anna across the hall and through an archway into a two-story high room filled with all sorts of greenery. She felt as if she’d been transported outdoors. Colorful flowers filled the room with delicious scents. A rose garden bloomed in the corner with more colors of roses than Anna thought possible. All in the midst of the German winter. “Oh, Alex, it’s beautiful!”

Alex pointed up. “The ceiling is glass, but it’s covered in snow right now.”

Anna smiled, imagining how beautiful the garden would look with daylight streaming through the glass panes.

Alex led her to a wooden bench in a small alcove and they sat next to each other. “Anna, I know when we were in California, you asked me some questions that I couldn’t answer. I will answer your questions now, and anything else you ask me. I won’t hold anything back.”

Anna tilted her head, curious. “Why?”

“Because I want you to trust me. I know when I couldn’t answer, I hurt you.” He took her hand. “I don’t want to hide anything from you anymore.”

He was talking about when he went out of town for his business trip. Anna chewed her lip. What could he have done that needed such an elaborate set-up?

“You asked me what I was doing and where I was going. To understand what I did, I need to tell you a little about my history.” Alex took a deep breath and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring across the room. “I’ve always had a fascination with the military. I suppose all boys go through that phase, but I was obsessed. I read everything I could about the subject. When I was thirteen, I told Vati that I wanted to go into the army. He... said no, very loudly.”

Alex chuckled and Anna smiled.

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