Page 104 of All We Thought We Knew
I studied him as he placed a teabag in the cup and poured hot water over it. So many questions spun across my mind.
Why had he let Mark and me believe he was our father? Why not tell us the truth? Wouldn’t it have been easier than pretending?
He carried the cup to the table and slumped into a chair. He looked beat.
“I’ll go to the hospital with you in the morning,” I said.
He met my gaze and nodded. “That would be good.”
Nash and Jake returned, and I bid them all good night. It wasn’t long before I heard Dad come upstairs and close his bedroom door with a soft click. After twenty-something years of marriage, it must be hard to suddenly find yourself all alone.
I rolled onto my side. Tears trickled down my cheek onto the pillow.
How I wished I could turn back time. I’d keep Mark from going to Vietnam, and I’d make Mama see a doctor much sooner than she had. I’d ask Dad questions about his family, and I’d spend time with Granny Gertrude. We’d be a family, but without the secrets, pain, and grief we found ourselves living through now.
My body shook with silent sobs and deep, soul-wrenching regret.
Like a little lost child, I cried myself to sleep.
THIRTY-TWO:GUNTHER
FORT LINCOLN, NORTH DAKOTA
JULY 1944
Gunther stood at the entrance to the hospital and checked his watch for the umpteenth time.
It was nearly noon.
Dr. Lipp had promised to come by after he and his family attended a Sunday morning church service in town to check on Dr. Sonnenberg. That the American doctor would come to the camp on his day off, rather than leave his patient in the care of Dr. Ludwig, spoke of the man’s concern for his Jewish colleague. He’d performed emergency surgery on Dr. Sonnenberg to stop internal bleeding the night of the beating, but the injured man remained in critical condition in the weeks following. Now a fever had spiked during the night, and Gunther feared infection.
He returned to the small room at the end of the hall where Dr.Sonnenberg had been since the beating. The older mansuffered broken bones during the assault, and his body refused to heal. While Mr. McCoy had the men responsible locked in solitary confinement for thirty days, Gunther didn’t believe the punishment severe enough. The sailors should be arrested by the local authorities and tried for attempted murder in a court of law.
“Dr. Sonnenberg?” Gunther said softly.
The older man’s eyes fluttered open. “I told you to get some rest,” he said, his voice rough from disuse.
“I’ll rest when you are better.” Gunther settled in the chair next to the bed, noticing that his professor shivered despite the warmth of the room and layers of blankets. “Dr. Lipp will be here soon. You need antibiotics, but no one is willing to administer them without his or Dr. Ludwig’s approval. As usual, that clown is sleeping off a night at the canteen and is of no use.” He didn’t confess he’d tried to sneak a vial of penicillin out of the locked medicine cabinet earlier, but Nurse Roe caught him. She understood his dilemma, but there were rules in place they must follow.
Dr. Sonnenberg grimaced. “I’m afraid it is too late for me,” he said, his gaze unwavering. “I can feel my body shutting down.”
“I won’t listen to that kind of talk. Dr. Lipp is coming, and he’ll know what to do.”
“If you recall,” Dr. Sonnenberg said with a weak smile, “I am a doctor too.”
Gunther raised his brow. “And do you let your patients diagnose themselves?”
His mentor chuckled, then groaned. After a time, he said, “I’ve been thinking about what Paul wrote in his letter to his friend, Timothy, declaring the time for his departure from this world was at hand.”
Gunther knew the passage. They’d read it together and had a lively discussion about what Paul meant when he said he’dfought a good fight. “He told Timothy he’d finished his course and had kept the faith.”
Dr. Sonnenberg’s brow furrowed. “Yes, that is the part that confuses me. He was Jewish, as am I, yet the faith he spoke of was not the beliefs he’d been taught from boyhood but were those of a new religion. A belief in Jesus of Nazareth as the long-awaited One.” He sighed. “I admit I do not feel the peace Paul experienced when I contemplate the end of my life.”
“Then do not do so,” Gunther said. “Let us focus on getting you strong and well, then we can discuss the mysteries of life and death while we wait for this infernal war to end.”
Dr. Lipp arrived soon after their discussion. He conducted a thorough examination, ending with a grim expression on his face.
“You need not say it, Dr. Lipp,” Dr. Sonnenberg said. “I know.”
