He'd told the reporter that his reaction was, "damn the Krauts." Attacking the hospital, attacking the synagogue, killing Mayor Dreeson and Reverend Wiley.
It was all the fault of the Krauts. Just like the vote about moving the capital of the State of Thuringia-Franconia to Bamberg.
For which he had received an official reprimand. Representatives of the USE Fire Marshall's Office should not say such things for publication.
"That's how Stannard would have it. Sure. 'The Krauts are our allies. The Krauts are our fellow citizens. The Krauts are our friends.' Talk about a party line. Talk about being expected to hew to the party line."
So here he was, driving back into Grantville in the fire department's pickup truck that he used on out of town assignments, and practically the first thing he saw was Lenore, coming out of the administration building, standing in the street, talking to one of them. A man. A young man. A Kraut. For a married woman, going to work was nothing but a chance to find men and a chance at extracurricular sex.
He would take care of that this evening.
Lenore saw Bryant looking at her as he passed. She remembered what she had promised, turned, and went back to the office.
"Almost everyone in the office is a woman," Lenore said. "Count them, Bryant."
"The Americans are mainly women. But that guy was a Kraut. This is where we came in, I think."
"His name is Nicolas Moser. He's married to Mrs. Dreeson's niece, I think. Or her first husband's niece. They have a baby; she's a few months old."
"Which is probably why he's looking for something on the side. I remember what it was like for us when Weshelle was that age."
"You're making things up. That's what it amounts to. You're looking for excuses to blame me for things that don't exist. I was congratulating him on his promotion. That's all."
"I'm not about to forget that someone was there before me. Since you did that, what's to say that there won't be someone there next to me, too? Especially being out of town so much. With the way your family collects Krauts."
"Stop using that word. It's derogatory. Like the 'N-word' was. I read that interview you gave and I know that Steve Matheny issued a statement repudiating it. Not just Archie Stannard. Clara doesn't deserve it. Neither does Katerina or Gertrude. They're . . . they're family now. Not aliens. Family. Almost family, at least, for Katerina and Gertrude."
Bryant started to get up and come toward her.
She moved. "Stay right there."
He was startled enough by her tone of voice that he sat back down.
She opened a drawer. He wouldn't have been surprised if she was dumb enough to pull a knife or something on him. She wouldn't get very far with that. She was tall for a woman, granted, but not unusually strong. It was very easy to turn a knife on the person holding it and create an unfortunate accident.
Instead, it was a little plastic tube.
She took off the top, turned the base, and set it on the kitchen table in front of him. "Do you know what that is?"
He shook his head.
"What it was was Chandra's cover stick. Probably the last one in Grantville. I used it in February. To cover the marks. To cover for you."
She leaned against the sink.
"I'm not going to do that again. We're married. I'm not going to argue the point right now, whether I gave up the right to 'don't want' when I said 'I do.' Maybe so, maybe not. I've been thinking about it. But one thing is sure. Look into that tube. It's empty. There isn't any more. I used it up. If you hit me while you're here this time, I'm going out into the street with the bruises showing. And if you try hitting me where it doesn't show, I'm going down to the emergency room at Leahy and strip."
"You can't do that."
"Oh, yes. She can," a voice behind him said. "And she will. Other people will go with her to make sure that she does."
He turned around. His sister Lola was coming in from the enclosed back porch. He remembered very well how Lola had reacted when Latham Beckworth got a little on the side. He would be damned if he would ever have dreamed that Lenore would have told Lola.
Lola seemed to be reading his mind. "She didn't tell me. Faye Dashefsky did. Right after you left town this last time. Then Faye and I came down and confronted her. Got her to say what happened."
"She can," another voice said from the porch. "And she will. I still think that she should pick up Weshelle and walk out of this house with me. But if she will not leave you, if she believes herself bound by her vows, at least this time, you will not hit her. Or you will suffer consequences."