Chapter 67

That night, Jake and Delilah celebrated his treatment’s approval with a marathon.  He didn’t get to take charge on too many occasions, but he also knew that his wife was trying to congratulate him in her special way.

The next morning, they checked out of their hotel room in Berlin again and took their rental to Poland so that they could tour Auschwitz.  The drive took a couple of days, but they got to Poland in no problem.  When they did finally get to the camp, Jake had to deal with a LOT on ignorant people.  There was on in particular that nearly caused Jake to lose his temper.  Jake was usually very calm and level headed.  It’s what made it possible to be a doctor.  But, there were a few things that you didn’t say or do with Jacob Draiman.  One of those was insult the people he was descended from.  He was proud to be ¾ Jewish and ¼ Irish.  When ignorant people opened their mouths about either of those two races, Jake was the first to put them in their place.

After they came out of the gas chamber, Jake was studying the ground they were walking on.  Delilah smiled at him softly.  “What’s going through your mind, Jakey?”

“My great- grandmother crawled on this ground to escape that room”, he said softly.  He had knelt to gently touch the ground with his fingertips.

From behind them, a gruff voice said, “What a load of shit!”

Jake stood up straight and looked at the man.  “Excuse me?” he said.

“I said that this is a load of shit.  The Holocaust never happened.”

Jake’s eyes grew wide as he started at the man.  “You do realize that you’re saying that in the wrong place to the wrong person, don’t you?”

“What are you, a Jew sympathizer?”

“No”, Jake said as he pulled his Star of David from under his shirt.  “I’m a Jew, you piece of shit.  The ground you’re standing on contains the bones of my ancestors.  My father’s maternal grandmother crawled on this ground to keep from having to go into that room.”  He pointed at the gas chamber.

“Well, I have to give it to that Hitler fella, then.  He had a pretty good idea trying to eradicate such a bunch of useless people.”

“Useless?” Jake said, his hands starting to shake.  “The Jews were useless because they could manage their money?  No, Hitler was crazy and what saddest about the entire thing is that he himself was HALF JEWISH.”

“Uppity Jew”, the guy said to Jake.

“Uppity?” he said as he looked at the nearest cop from the corner of his eye.  He saw the guy give a slight nod and walk away, shouting at some of the other tourists to stop messing around in one of the structures.  “What exactly is it that you do for a living, sir?”

“I work construction”, the guy drawled.

“And I’m a fucking doctor who knows exactly how many pounds of pressure it takes to snap the human neck.  And, something tells me that the cops around here wouldn’t stop me from putting your worthless ass in one of the mass graves that litters this property.”

Delilah saw a certain look in her husband’s eyes.  She’d seen the exact same look in her father in law’s eyes the night that Kendal nearly got his head taken off by Maddie with a shovel because he slapped her.  Jake was about to sink into a place that was very dark and she doubted that she would be able to bring him out of it as easily as she had after Kendal had dislocated his jaw.  She took his hand and started pulling him away from the ignorant man who had no sense of decorum or respect for the dead.  “Come on, baby.  There are two other camps here to look at and I’m starting to get a little hungry.”

Jake went with her compliantly.  He wanted to take the guys head off of his shoulders but the last thing he needed to do was end up in a Polish prison for murder.  After she’d managed to drag Jake a few yards away, the man said, “What are you going to do now, boy?  Looks like the woman has you in check.”

Jake pulled them to a stop and turned to look at the man.  “No, she’s keeping me from killing you.  You owe her a little bit of gratitude.  So, I hope your ignorant redneck ass has a GREAT fucking day and that you rot in hell.”  He turned back to his wife and put his arm around her shoulders.  “Come on, baby.  Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Gladly”, she said with a relieved smile.

His arm pulled her as close to him as it could and he pressed a kiss to her temple.  “Do we want to look at the other two camps or just go find some place to eat lunch?”

“Let’s go eat some lunch and come back.  This way, Mr. Redneck back there might possibly be gone.”

He nodded.  “Sounds good to me.  Let’s get the fuck out of here.  My sugar’s getting low, anyway.”  They went toward the gate and spoke to one of the police there.  They were able to leave to go get some lunch and return without having to pay admission again.  It was very kind of them.  The officer told them that he’d heard everything that the ignorant American had said and he wouldn’t have gotten in trouble for beating the hell out of the guy.  They hated it when people like him came to visit the camp because they always upset some Jew that had come to see just what kind of struggle their ancestors had gone through.

When they got out to the car, Delilah asked for the keys.  “I honestly don’t think you’re in any kind of shape to drive, baby.”

He nodded and handed her the keys to let her drive.  He was keeping his mouth shut until they were away from the former Nazi death camp known as Auschwitz.  He was still angry at the words that the ignorant mother fucker had said about his mother and father’s people- his people.  Silence was better at this point because he knew that if he spoke, he’d upset himself enough to turn around and go back in the gates so that he could beat the guy’s face in.

And so, as his wife drove, he sat in the passenger seat and softly sang a familiar tune as he stared out the window.  “All that I have left inside is a soul that’s filled with pride; I tell you, Never Again.  Their depraved society didn’t end up killing me; scream with me, Never Again.  For the countless souls who died, their voices fill this night; sing with me, Never Again.  They aren’t lost you see, for the truth will live in me; believe me, Never Again”.

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Every camp and the Holocaust museum was exactly the same; some ignorant person would say something and Jake would come close to losing his temper.  Delilah would have to drag him away from the people for him to calm down.  There was actually a point at Dachau and Belsen where he almost called his parents to have the ignorant fucker try telling his them that there was no such thing as the Holocaust.  As he reached for his phone, Delilah would wrap her arm through his and started pulling him away.

He was never upset about her pulling him away from the situation.  It gave him to opportunity to calm down a little bit and get his composure.  He was grateful to her for knowing when he needed to be forced to walk away.  It was a trait that his mother had not only with his father, but with all of her bull headed Jews.

As they walked the Holocaust museum in Berlin, Jake actually played “Never Again” on his phone to let everyone know that he was proud to be who and what he was.  It was soft, but anyone that stood close enough to him knew that he was a Jew and that he would never allow the memory of the suffering that his people went through to be forgotten.

And every night when they would get back to their hotel room, she would let him vent his frustrations by making the sex a little rougher than normal.  She didn’t mind.  She wanted him to be the calm man she knew him to be and being around the ignorant tended to take the calm right out of him.  She knew that.

And when they returned the car in Berlin in the morning, they would get on a train to Frankfurt and fly into Paris.  They could both use a break from the walk down history lane.  Paris was going to be romance and alone time, and making sweet love rather than having rough sex.  Cafés, crepes, and good coffee in the morning; beautiful lights and scenes that make a young couple like them, or a couple that had been together for years like his parents, fall in love all over again.  He was going to be sure to tell his parents to go to Paris when his mother retired.  It would do them some good.

As they prepared to leave Paris to go to Madrid, Delilah started feeling sick.  “Honey, I think we need to go back home.  I’m not feeling so hot.”

“What’s the matter, love?” he asked her.

“I’ve been feeling sick at odd times and having short bouts of vertigo.  I think we need to go home.  I’m sure we can bring Miri out here sometime later.”

“If you feel like you need to go home, then I’ll book the flight from Paris to DIA.  How does that sound?”

“Sounds good, baby.  I’m going to lie down for a little while.  Come join me when you’re done?”

“I’ll be there shortly, babe.  I’m going to get these tickets real fast.”

“Do you mind if we don’t have marital relations tonight?”

“No, baby”, he chuckled.  “I’m happy just holding you tonight.  Go lie down, I’ll be right there.”  He pulled out his laptop and made the purchase, then sent his parents an email to let them know that they were going to come home sooner than he’d planned because Lilah wasn’t feeling well.  When he went to lie down, he smile softly at the sight of the sleeping beauty on the bed as she slept.  He climbed quietly into bed with her and wrapped his arms around her.  His phone buzzed on the night stand as she rolled to lay her head on his chest.  He grabbed it to answer the call.  “Hello?” he whispered.

“Hey son”, Brie said.  “Dad and I just your email.  Why are you coming home so soon?”

“Delilah’s feeling sick and been having bouts of vertigo.  As I was about to buy the tickets for Madrid, she asked me if we could come home instead.”

“Ah.  I see.  You think those dreams have come true?”

“The ones where I get her pregnant on our honeymoon?” he asked with a quiet laugh.

“Yeah.”

“I think so, yeah.  Speaking of, what, if anything did you find?”

“I found that I did, in fact, have an older brother that I was never told about.  His name was Ira.”

“Ira?  Grandma getting Grandpa to name a boy that must have taken a LOT of convincing.”

“I’m sure it did.  Your grandfather wasn’t the biggest fan of the IRA.  He thought there were better ways of going about the objective they were trying to obtain.  It’s why his parents brought him and the rest of his siblings to the US so long ago.”

“So, anyway, Ira, huh?  What happened that you never knew about him?”

“I was about four months old when he passed away.  He had really bad pneumonia.”

“Hmm.  I know it’s a long shot, Mom, but do you think that maybe this is Uncle Ira’s way of reminding people that he needs a memorial of some sort as well?”

“Or it could also be that your little boy is going to be your Uncle Ira reincarnated; I really couldn’t tell you, son.  All I know is that your dreams are scary accurate.”

He chuckled.  “Kinda like yours are?”

She laughed.  “Touché, Jake.”  She sighed.  “I’m still coming to grips with the fact that I was lied to my entire life and that I was told that it was just Uncle Matt and me.”

“I’m sure that Grandmother and Grandfather had a good reason for it, Mom.”

“Stop sounding like your father, Jacob.  That’s what he keeps saying.”

“Well, he’s right now.  I know it’s not often that it happens, but it does happen.  At least you know the truth now, Mom.”

“Again, stop sounding like your father.”

“I can’t help it.  If he’s right, he’s right”, he laughed softly.

“I know.  I’m just being a touch childish.  I think I’ve earned it putting up with the ten of you kids.”

“Perhaps.”

“So, you two will be home tomorrow, right?”

“Yep.  That was the plan tomorrow or the next day.”

“Alright.  You two get some rest and we’ll see you soon.  Your father and I will more than likely pick you guys up so that you can see your daughter.  Like your father told you a few weeks ago, she’s already walking in her own.”

“At eight months?  Whoa.  Yeah, I passed on the over achiever gene to little angel.”

“So it seems, my son.”

“Give her a kiss for Mama and me please?”

“Of course, Daddy.  Gramma will give the little angel a kiss for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.  I’m gonna try to get some sleep now.  I’m pretty tired.  The last two weeks have been trying.”

“You can tell us all about on the drive home.”

“I had planned on it, Mom.  Believe me.  I’m sure you and Dad will want to hear the bull shit I dealt with at camps.”

“Oh, yeah, you had better believe that.  Get some sleep, Jake, and we’ll see you tomorrow.  Anymore strange dreams, be sure to let me know.  Got it?”

“You’ll be among the first to know, Mom.  Believe me.  Night, Mom.”

“Good night, Jacob.”

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He heard the wind blowing and smelled salt and rain on the air.  He looked around and found that he was surrounded by fields of green.  “Ireland”, he thought.  He made his way slowly through the fields, he looked at the skies.  They were dark and gray, threatening to break loose at anytime.  “Jacob!”he heard.  It was a man’s voice with a heavy Irish accent.  He was being called to.  He searched around him for the person calling to him.  “Jacob!” he heard again. 

As the skies let go, he found the man calling to him.  He knew his face instantly even though he’d never met him face to face.  “Grandfather”, he said with a smile.

“Hello, my grandson.  It’s a shame I never had to chance to meet you before I passed.  I did watch you grow up, though, and I knew that you had gotten the same gift I passed to your mother the moment you had your first vision as a child.”

Jake smiled.  “I’ve wanted to know you my entire life, Granddad.  Why haven’t you at least been close?”

“Oh, but I have, grandson.  I was the one steadying your hand when it started shaking as you learned to fire a rifle at your father’s instruction.  I’m the Irish Pride you felt swell inside you as you looked over the country side while you visited my homeland.”

He nodded.  “Grandfather, I have to know; why did you never tell Mom about little Ira?”

Mitchell Cartwright grimaced.  “About that, grandson; you and your bride are correct about me in that I’m a very proud man and losing a child- a son no less- was a very painful experience for all of us, your grandmother and Uncle Matthew included.  After my son Ira passed on, we wanted to make it as if he never existed.  Any records of him were put away, pictures hidden or burned.  There are a few surviving pictures in the boxes that your mother went digging through to find the truth about your unknown uncle.”

“Where is this inspiration to name my son after Uncle Ira coming from, Granddad?”

“From ME, Jacob.  It’s time for me to purge my soul.  I’ve been keeping this from everyone for far too long.  There is no more asylum living this lie.  It’s time to come clean so that I can finally escape this limbo hell that I’ve created for myself.”  He motioned to the fields surrounding them.  “At first, seeing the rolling hills that I once played in as a boy was a form of comfort, but now I need to move on and go be with your grandmother and my sons.  It’s time for me to cross over.”

“So, I need to name my boy Ira Benjamin, correct?”

“Yes, Jacob.  Your father and his brother are both very good men and naming your son after your Uncle Ira and your Uncle Ben would be very fitting.”

Jake nodded.  “Yes, Granddad.  I understand.  I will.”

“Good bye now, Jake, my boy.  I’ll continue to watch over you and your family.  Give your mother my love, would you?”

“I will, Grandfather, though I think you should do it yourself.  Mom deserves answers about this.”

“You’re right, Jacob.  I’ll go see your mother and tell her why.  Good bye, my grandson.”

“Good bye, Granddad.”

Jake shot up right in the bed, panting.  He couldn’t catch his breath to save his life.  Through the open blinds he could see that Paris, France was getting a little wet.  “Holy Mother of GOD!” he said.  “Did that REALLY just happen?”  He peeled his arm from underneath his wife and went to the bathroom to wash off the sweat that covered his body.  “Oh, this is going to be a LONG night.  I can already feel it.  One ghost of family past, two to go.”

---------------

“Ireland, I’m coming home, I can see your rolling fields of green and fences made of stone, I am reaching out, won’t you take my hand, I’m coming home, Ireland.”  She walked into the old thatch hut that sat in the middle of the field of shamrocks as she heard the familiar tune.  “Father always was a Garth Brooks fan”, she thought.

As she opened the door, her eyes searched for her father.  She saw him sitting in his favorite chair in the corner of the room.  When he saw her, he sang the opening to the song that had been playing.  “They say mother earth is breathing, with each wave that finds the shore.”

She picked up the next part of the verse.  “Her soul rises in the evening for to open twilight’s door.  Her eyes are the stars in heaven, watching ore’ us all the while, and her heart it is in Ireland, deep within the emerald isle”, she sang as tears filled her eyes.  “PAPA!” she cried and threw her arms around his neck.

“My Irian.  How have you been, my beautiful girl?”

“I’ve been fine, Papa.  I did end up inheriting your back problems after all and had to have it operated on, but other than that, nothing too much has happened other than I discovered that I had a brother you and Mama never told me about.”

“I know, Nicole.  I should never have kept that from you.  I’m a very proud man, you know this.  My pride got in the way and is keeping me from being with my family on the other side.  This is a limbo that I created to comfort me.”

“Why, Papa?  Why did you, and Mama, and Matty, keep that from me?  What were you protecting me from?”

“We were trying to protect you from that pain of never knowing your brother.”

“Papa, it was pneumonia.  He got sick.  Children get sick.”

“But, Ira DIED, Irian.”

“And you blame yourself, Papa?”

“Yes!”

“Papa, you can’t keep blaming yourself for Ira’s death, and you and Mama NEVER should have hidden his existence from me.  I’ve never even seen a picture of him.”

“There are pictures that your mother wouldn’t let me burn in those boxes that have the family history.  When Jacob gets home from his trip sit down with him, his wife and my son in law and got through them.  Hell, get all of the kids involved if it will make it easier.  Find the pictures and finally see what your mother and I hid from you all these years.  I am very sorry, my Nikki girl.  I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

She smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks.  “I forgive you, Papa.  I can’t stay mad.  I just wanted to know why I was never told.”

“I understand, baby girl.  I’ll always love you, my girl.”

“I know, Papa.  I’ll always love you too.”

“Tell that husband of yours that he’s very impressive.  He’s done a marvelous job with raising ten children.  He’s a far better man than I am.”

“I’m sure he’ll disagree with you there, but I’ll be sure to pass on the message.”

“And that boy of yours, Jacob, he’s got a bright future ahead of him and he’s just as good a man as his father.  I wish Malachai had listened more closely to what David was trying to teach him.”

“He’s getting the message now.  He’s a hard headed Irishman like his grandpapa.”

“I know.  Irian, my girl, I must be going now.  I’ve tarried too long.  I love you.  You’re my little girl and you always will be; no matter if you’re 5 or 58.”

“I love you too, Papa.”

Brie shot up straight in the bed with an audible gasp.  “What the FUCK?” she asked out loud, her hand over her heart.

David stirred and woke up.  “What’s wrong, love?”

“The weirdest dream ever.”

He pushed himself up to a seated position.  “What did you dream about?”

“My father.”  She looked at him, her eyes unsure and haunted.  “He never told me about Ira because of foolish pride.”

“What else?”

“He’s still impressed by you.  Said you’re a better man than he is.”

“How might that be?”

“Our children.  He also told me that there are pictures of the brother I never knew amongst the boxes of the Cartwright- Tuchman genealogy.”

“When Jake and Delilah get home we can get the kids together to look for them.  It might give you some closure in this?”

“That’s what Papa said to do.  Get the kids together to dig through the boxes.”

He nodded as he pulled her into the safety of his arms.  “Ok, here’s a strange question.  Were you singing at all in your dream?”

“Yeah, why?”

“’Her soul rises in the evening for to open twilight’s door’?”

“Papa’s favorite song for the longest time was ‘Ireland’ by Garth Brooks.”

“So, that’s where that’s from?”

“Yeah.”

“What, if anything, did he say about the kids?”

“He only named two specifically and that was Jake and Malachai.  He said that Jacob’s as good a man as you are and that he wished that Malachai had paid more attention.”

“Malachai’s a good man, but the poor boy’s still battling issues with Jason.”

“I know, David.  I wanted to explain that but he had to leave.”

He sighed.  “I wonder if Jacob’s gotten a visitation tonight from your father?”

“There’s only one way to find out for sure and that’s to call him.  I’m sure that if he has that he won’t be sleeping.”

David reached over to his bedside table and grabbed his phone.  “Let’s find out, then, shall we?”