Chapter Text
On the way to our upcoming Independence Day, our father took charge again, with our mother as his backup. Now that she had outgrown the role of the obedient housewife, it was astonishing to see how well the two teamed up.
For us siblings, it was Amy’s wide hearted, unconditional love that glued us together, like it had been before. She didn’t care whether Thomas was our real brother or not, she welcomed him wholeheartedly and did her best to make him feel at home.
Not only blood was thicker than water, but stronger than everything else.
&&&&&
On the evening before the event, I was typing the protocols of the day when my dad emerged from his office. It was still strange to see him at work without the black SS- uniform which had been a part of him for all my life though I liked his new suit and tie much more.
I was tired as we had worked overtime to get everything ready for a perfect celebration and found it hard to concentrate, supressing a yawn, fighting with the last pages. My father sent me an exhausted smile.
“Let’s go home, Jen”, he said, “leave it for tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. You’ve already done more than you were supposed to today.”
I shook my head. “It’s your speech, dad. I should better finish it.”
He went over to my desk to tousle my hair, being the only one who still was allowed to do so.
“I can improvise…”
“No way! Tomorrow, it counts, dad. I can’t guarantee that there are no typos, though.”
My father nodded, then sat down on my fellow worker’s chair, as groggy as me, while I increased my typing speed again to get over with this as soon as possible.
&&&&&
It had been a while since he had been alone with his daughter like this and unlike the last time the silence between them wasn’t awkward but content and comfortable.
John dozed away to the monotone clatter of Jenny’s typewriter, only the sharp “ping” on the end of each row prevented him from falling asleep.
‘So, it ends where it started…’, he thought, ‘with a ‘ping’ …’
His mind wandered back to the day he had left his daughter in the middle of the living room, sad and lost, an abyss between them too wide and deep to reach each other. How different that was now. The lonely, sullen girl had become a strong, independent woman with a boy at her side he was sure she had kissed already, smiling and laughing with her friends.
John’s fingers touched the note she had given him back then, her offer of peace that became his lucky charm and he realized that he had never thanked her for reaching out.
The clatter stopped. He opened his eyes to see Jenny taking last page out the typewriter and stacking everything to a neat pile on her desk.
She stretched herself.
“Ouch…I better take a hot shower at home, or I will be totally stiff tomorrow. Which would be no good at all for we are having a party after the official part. It may be the last dance for a long time, there may be war again, there may be hard times ahead, but this night will be ours.”
A mischievous sparkle appeared in her eyes. “You should see mum in her new petticoat, dad…so shockingly short…”
John blushed and his daughter giggled.
“You have a dirty mind, dad”, she mocked while she laid the papers into a folder that she handed out to him.
“Hmpf”, he grunted, stuffing it in his briefcase. Jenny laughed. John let snap the buckles close firmly.
“Thanks for your hard work, Jen”, he said, somewhat embarrassed, “the last time you gave me an important paperwork, it was a lot smaller…”
She looked up and grey-green eyes locked to grey-green eyes.
“It wasn’t less hard to write, though”, she answered after a brief pause.
“I know. I never thanked you for standing beside me when nobody else wanted to.”
“We never left your side, dad, not Amy and me. You just couldn’t see… I was angry, hurt, afraid and lost, so I screamed and kicked, but I always loved you.”
She took his hand in both of hers. “You gave me this, dad. You gave me tomorrow. I think, that’s far more than a thanks.”
“Seeing you smile again was worth the fight, shieldmaiden.”
&&&&
“Hearing you laugh again was worth mine.” I placed my hands on his shoulders, not leaving his eyes which showed no ice anymore. “You once said that no one will ever forgive you. That’s not true for I did, dad. I did.”
My father stared at me, stunned. Then he embraced me, his gaze getting aimless and glassy. I felt the bandage through his shirt as my arms glided around his neck and the memory of my fear that I might lose him hit me full force. Heros weren’t always bulletproof. We held each other in the dim light of my desk lamp while both of our cheeks were getting wet. Finally, things were as close to okay as they could be…
&&&&
The next day came up mild and sunny, the first springlike day after a couple of rainy, cold ones. I took it as a good omen.
We got up early, getting ready for what might be the biggest event of our lives. I helped Amy with her hairdo, mum was fixing Thomas’ tie, dad was in the bathroom, shaving. The only one seeming totally calm was Bridget, who made breakfast as if this was not a special day at all.
“Finished”, I said, “you look beautiful, little sister.”
“No, I don’t”, she complained, “I have a new pimple on my nose. Why do I always have a pimple when it’s important to look good?”
“Murphy’s law?” I suggested, “here, use my concealer.”
“Thanks, Jen!” She stepped over to the mirror and got her make-up ready.
“Have you seen my golden clip-ons with the pearl in the middle?” I heard mum from the bedroom.
“Main bathroom, shelf, mum! Together with the necklace you chose.” I fixed my bun and put the blue net with shiny rhinestones over it. Together with my dark red costume and the white blouse I looked very patriotic. Only the black lace boots reminded me of where we came from.
“Thanks, sweetheart!” The bathroom door opened, she nearly crashed into dad. “Sorry, John…”
He used the opportunity to lay his arm around her waist and kiss her.
“My lipstick…”, she protested but kissed him back, nonetheless.
“What a chaos!” Thomas sighed.
“Breakfast is ready”, Bridget stated calmly.
It became a quick one for us siblings had to leave early to prepare a surprise for our parents later. The time to sit obedient in the background was over. The future was ours.
&&&&
“Do you know what our kids are up to?” John asked Helen as they got ready for the parade towards the HQ where John was supposed to hold his speech and declare America’s freedom from the Nazi Reich. Helen shook her head, but he sensed that she was lying which made him even more curious. He didn’t dig into the matter further though as it was time to step into the car and to wave and smile at the waiting masses.
Though the security was massive, the city was buzzing with life.
John couldn’t help but compare the situation to the day that he became Reichsmarschall. Back then, a leaden severity had hung over the streets, seamed with soldiers and over Helen and him due to Thomas death. All he had done was holding himself upright and keep his composure with clenched teeth, praying that the show would be over soon, while Helen had tried to put on a good face on the matter, an attempt nobody had valued.
Today, the whole of New York seemed to be along their way, people cheering, waving little flags, not the original American, but one as close to it as possible.
He felt his wife’s hand on his and looked over to her from the corner of his eyes. She looked beautiful, not only because of her perfect dark blue costume, the little hat and her complicated hairdo with all kinds of hairclips and combs and whatever but because of her image as a woman who finally found her place in this world.
John envied her little for this, for he still felt somewhat out of place. He realized that he presented himself to the masses without hiding behind a uniform, which had been his armour for so long and which had justified almost everything, for the first time. It left him strangely defenceless and insecure, making him look even more forbidding than usual.
Helen pressed his fingers encouragingly.
“Relax”, she whispered, “everything had been checked 100000 times…”
He couldn’t help sending a loving glance and a half-smile. To his surprise, the crowd reacted with more cheers. Though his wife had told him that the propaganda had sold her as the brave woman who did not want to let her beloved husband’s heritage slip away while he had been out, he hadn’t believed that this fairy tale love story line had any impact. Obviously, it had.
Right as Helen rose their united hands in triumph, a familiar voice came over the loudspeakers that had been established on the rooftops for propaganda reasons during the Reich. Jenny.
“Good morning, America!” he heard her say, “This is our day of freedom! It has been a long way ‘til today and there is a long way up ahead, but THE FUTURE IS OURS! WE ARE NOT AFRAID! America, this is for you!”
Piano music set in. ‘She really is a politician…’, John thought but then, Amy’s voice filled the air, and he bit his lip not to lose it.
“Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
Her siblings joined her and the triumph and pride in their singing was overwhelming. Next to him, he heard Helen sing, hand on her heart, eyes sparkling, and felt her elbow in his waist. John swallowed, trying to find his voice, while he at least managed a shaky salute. So long…it had been so long…
'Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
The Resistance stepped in, then the Army. On the last verse, everyone was on it, even the people seaming their way.
By the time they reached the HQ, Helen was crying openly.
While the last notes of the long-missed anthem still hung in the air, John helped his wife from the car, and she closed in to place a quick kiss on cheek.
Throught the exploding noise of the crowd, he barely heard her breathe: “You did it, John…you really freed us…”
Hand in hand, they climbed up the stairs to the speaker’s desk. Helen wanted to take the usual step back towards the waiting children, but he shook his head and pulled her over to him, laying his arm around her waist.
After one last look, he turned to microphones and started his speech.
&&&&
The second part of the celebration was placed on a ship close to Liberty Island.
Blowing up the Reich’s statue there was Wyatt Price’s job, and he did it with a smug smile while the former Resistance was celebrating around him.
“To all freedom fighters out there: Never give up on hope, no matter how hopeless it seems. If we can do this, you can, too!”
With the explosion, he not only ended the German sovereignty but started a revolution everywhere in the Reich. Freedom was no longer to be controlled, tamed or supressed in this world.
John watched the scene on TV like everyone else in the HQ, recalling the night, which he stood on that ship with Himmler, cut to the quick by seeing Lady Liberty fall, by the final defeat that meant.
‘We will retrieve you, Lady of freedom’, he swore to himself, ‘you’ll get your place back as soon as possible. All the other symbols are destroyed, but you are made of copper and steal, you are not so easy to break…’
He knew it might take years to rebuild the last symbol of the old America, but it would take years to rebuild the USA, too, so there was no need to hurry. The two belonged together anyway.
Helen still by his side, he stepped over to the office window where he had overlooked the city so often before, taking in the prospect with the new flag waving everywhere and people, small like ants, throwing a party down in the streets. For the first time since the giant HQ tower had been build he liked what he saw.
Finally believing in his success, he was able to forgive himself.