No Greater Love - Eris Field Page 0,30

he tried to imagine Janan’s proud, graceful body moving around the room. No. He had to have a home of his own. No matter how big this house was, he could never bring Janan to live here in his mother’s house. Somehow he would find a house of his own, a canal house in Leiden. It would have a view of the Nun’s Bridge and University Buildings. He would take her to all his favorite places and Janan would learn to love Leiden.

He gritted his teeth as he remembered his mother’s insistence after his father died that he give up his apartment near the University of Leiden and move back home so that she would not be alone. Twelve years, he thought. He had lived in his mother’s home for twelve years. A home that had no mark of him and that would eventually be Crispin’s. A dull anger crept through him as he remembered his younger brother’s, Dirk’s, response when he had suggested that it was time for him to come home. He could still hear his brother’s careless words, “Why? She depends on you and you have no one else in your life.”

“You seem troubled, my dear,” his mother said as she walked into the drawing room. “Is something worrying you?”

He studied her dispassionately before answering. She was still an attractive woman in an icily perfect way. Her gray Chanel-style suit accentuated with a colorful scarf, her hair carefully styled, and her makeup subtly perfect. Why had she never remarried? What was holding her frozen in time? “I think I’ll go to the States, to see Carl.” He would convince Janan that he loved her more than life itself. He would beg her to marry him, to come back with him. He paused in his dreaming. What about Carl? Would she be willing to leave Carl to manage on his own? Not likely, but together they could help Carl move into his old home. He felt alive, free as he waited for his mother’s protest. She would caution against it. He paused, running her possible objections through his mind. His health status was too fragile. He was not yet in remission. He might get an infection. If he relapsed, he would not have his own team of doctors to care for him. Which reason would she use this time?

“Carl Ahern?” She paused with a frown on her face. “He contacted me several months ago but I haven’t heard from him recently.”

Pieter tried to keep his voice noncommittal. “I don’t remember you mentioning it.”

“You were in the hospital and very ill.”

“What did he say?” Pieter forced the words out.

“He asked about his house in Leiden as I remember. You know that I have been working on restoring his family home to him.” She pressed her beautifully kept hands to each side of her forehead. “It was not an easy case. The Germans had not confiscated it.” She shook her head. “It would have been easier in a way if they had but his mother’s younger sister who was married to a Dutchman had been allowed to live in it. I thought that it would be clear-cut after she died, but her son insisted that his mother had lived there for over 70 years and he had been born there. He felt strongly that he and his wife should be allowed to continue to live there.” She sighed. “They do not want to leave. I tried to explain that the house belongs to Carl. He is the oldest son. But you know, the German occupation . . . all the Dutch people suffered, not just the Dutch-Jews. And now there are these problems with retributions and the Holocaust Assets Issue. So many opinions. Some want the money to be distributed to Dutch-Jewish Institutions. Some want it to go for International Humanitarian Needs and some want it to go only to the survivors.”

“How could it not go to the survivors?” Pieter asked indignantly. “Those fathers did not go without and save every penny to pay insurance premiums for the international good. They did it for their children in case anything happened to them.”

“The issue of the Holocaust Assets is causing so much trouble for everyone.” She raised her voice. “And now, in addition to the money needed to pay retributions, there are all those refugees pouring into our country expecting us to provide everything for them.”

Pieter was outraged by his mother’s callousness but he managed to control his temper. “Yes, everyone