It was a sad day for her when they left Fraulein Anna. Meredith wanted her to come to New York with them, but Anna was engaged to a young German by then who had lost an arm in the war, and they were getting married in a few months. His parents owned a bakery, and when the McKenzies left, she was going to work with them. Germany was slowly rebuilding, although signs of the war had remained. The country was still suffering, but they were trying to recover as best they could. Bombed-out buildings had been cleared away, and the Americans were helping them to rebuild.
Their time in Germany had been more pleasant than they had expected. They had taken several short trips to Paris, vacationed in Italy, and been to London a number of times, where the British were rebuilding too. There was an aura of new life after the war, and Europe felt more like home to her than the States. Meredith did everything she could to convince her parents to stay. She didn’t want to go back to her old all-girls school in New York, with the nuns. She wanted to live in Europe, but Robert had a law firm he wanted to return to and a life to go home to, and he and Janet agreed that they wanted their children to grow up as Americans in the States. And a great honor had just been bestowed on Robert’s father. He had been appointed to the Supreme Court by President Truman and confirmed by the Senate. The whole family was thrilled. Bill had been appointed to replace a justice who had passed away a month before, after serving for nearly a decade. It was time for Robert to become active in the firm now, no matter how much Merrie had come to love living in Germany.
Anna accompanied them to the Tempelhof military airport in Berlin, and she and the children cried when they left each other. Meredith felt as though she was going to a foreign country, not her own. They had gone back to visit only once in the four years they had been away. Robert’s parents had come to see them in Nuremberg every year. Her grandfather had promised Meredith in a letter that she could visit him at the Supreme Court and attend his swearing-in, which was going to be exciting for her.
As they left Germany, Robert felt a surge of pride for what he’d accomplished at the war crimes trials. It was what he was most proud of in his life so far, and he left the country feeling he had done something to try to help Germany recover from what they had suffered at the hands of Hitler’s government. And he had been treated with gratitude and respect everywhere he went. Now he was going back to a much quieter life at the family law firm in New York, helping his clients to plan their estates and investments. But he was ready for peacetime and an ordinary existence with his wife and two children. He was looking forward to civilian life. His commission was due to end as soon as they got back to New York. The war was finally and truly over for him now, after seven years. Only Meredith was deeply distressed to be leaving, and hardly said a word on the flight home.
Adelaide was waiting for them at the apartment when they got there, faithful as ever. She had aged a little in the past four years, and was a little rounder, but she held her arms open wide to Merrie. And after feeling shy and hesitating for only a second, Merrie slipped into them as though she had never left.
“Come to Addie, baby,” she cooed to her as she hugged her, and Meredith smiled, remembering all the warm hugs she’d had from her over the years. “And look who’s all grown up.” Meredith’s body had started to change, and she’d grown taller. She’d had her dark hair cut in Germany in a stylish pageboy that made her look older. Her long legs made her seem like a young colt. “I missed you, baby,” Adelaide said to Merrie and smiled warmly. She’d made sandwiches for them, after the long flight, and a plate of cookies. Alex gobbled them up and watched her with interest, and thanked her in German.
“English, Alex,” his mother reminded him, and they all smiled. He looked confused for a minute and then said “Thank you,” and looked around for Anna, and started to cry for her when he didn’t see her. He didn’t know Adelaide as Merrie did, and had only seen her during his one visit to New York. Meredith put her little brother to bed that night and tucked him in. Her parents were talking quietly downstairs about all the things they had to do now to settle back into their New York life. Listening to them, Merrie was homesick for Germany. She missed speaking German and her friends of the past four years, their Park Avenue apartment and the city no longer felt like home to her. She was a stranger here now.
Her parents didn’t see it, but Adelaide did, and so did Meredith’s grandfather, when her grandparents came to visit the next day. She had a decidedly European style about her that made her seem more grown up and sophisticated, and she was a very pretty girl.
“Does it feel strange to be back?” her grandfather asked her directly. He hated pretense and fakery and always cut to the chase. He was observant and knew her well, although he hadn’t seen a lot of her in recent years.
“Very,” she responded honestly. “This doesn’t feel like home anymore. I miss Germany.” He nodded as though that seemed reasonable to him, while both her parents looked surprised.
“That makes sense. You’re a citizen of the world now. You’ll go back and visit. You could do a junior year abroad when you’re in college.” That seemed like a lifetime away to her. “But first, I want you to come to my swearing-in and visit me at the Supreme Court. It’s an exciting place. We make some very important decisions,” he told her and she nodded. “I’m very honored by the appointment.”
“And we’re so proud of you, Grampa,” she said, smiling at him.
“And slightly ashamed,” Robert teased his father. Robert was a staunch Republican, as was Janet, and his father was a Democrat. “You couldn’t switch parties and wait to be appointed by a Republican president, Dad? What am I going to tell my friends?”
“That they’re damn lucky to have me there, to keep people like you from dragging our country back into the Dark Ages. It’s a new world out there, Bobby, we have to move ahead with the times. Right, Merrie?” He turned to his granddaughter and she smiled. “You know why I’m there, don’t you?”
She looked puzzled for a moment. “To make decisions about how the laws should be applied?” she said hesitantly, and he nodded.
“Yes. But I’m there to fight the good fight. To defend the people who need it and protect people from being discriminated against, or being abused by bad laws. You always have to fight the good fight, Meredith. That’s what you’re going to do one day,” he said, putting an arm around her, and she smiled up at him. He was still her hero, and even more so now. Her father looked slightly exasperated. His father was always trying to turn her into a freedom fighter, even while she was still a child.
“You never change, do you, Dad?” Robert said, and his father laughed.
“On the contrary. My new job is all about change. The country is leaping forward, Robert, on every front. And we have to grow with it. I predict that we’re going to see more change in this country in the next twenty years than we’ve ever seen before. And I’m going to be part of it. It doesn’t get more exciting than that.”