The Glassblower(120)
He laughed at her confusion. “Just because a family has money, that doesn’t rule out the daughters working! We’re quite used to women in America earning their own money. Sophie has never let her husband stop her from working. She doesn’t even need the money; her husband is a rich man himself.” Sophie was the only sister who was married.
“But who looks after the housekeeping? And who takes care of the children?” she asked. Steven had already mentioned that he was the proud uncle of twins.
“The staff,” he replied. “Sophie has no time for the housekeeping. She spends quite a few hours every week doing charity work, looking after the children of poor immigrants.”
The things they got up to in America! Ruth shook her head in confusion.
“And why is it that the only son in your family is working for another firm?”
“I’ll never learn as much anywhere else as I will under Woolworth’s wing! My father expects me to join him in the family business eventually of course. But at the moment I have the good fortune to be able to watch two great business minds at work at once, and I cherish the hope that one day I may be a passable businessman myself.”
Ruth sighed. “It all sounds so exciting! When I think of life in my little village . . .”
“What kind of businesswoman talks like that?” he asked, his eyes sparkling. “You and your sisters are trailblazers.”
She looked at him skeptically.
“Look at what you just did,” he insisted. “You got yourself a deal with one of the biggest chain stores in America. You’re your own boss; you work in an industry that up till now had been exclusively the domain of men—my God, that’s what I call entrepreneurial! Believe me, you’re building yourselves a grand future here.”
Ruth’s thoughts turned to home, where Johanna was lying in bed humiliated and robbed of her honor. Where Marie was hoping to be able to sell even a single bauble. Where her own daughter would grow up without a father or any brothers and sisters and with only her mother to turn to. She took Steven’s hand again and smiled painfully.
“If only I could see things your way. But what you call entrepreneurial, we call bitter necessity.”
As they walked on she plucked a flower from one of the many wild rose bushes, a blossom that had just opened. She breathed deeply, drinking in all she could of the barely perceptible scent. Then she looked up.
“When I was a girl, I used to greet every new day that came. As soon as I opened my eyes I would wonder what lay ahead of me. Every morning I used to think that there were pleasant surprises in store. I never even wanted to consider that life had its dark side too. And Father used to encourage me in my beliefs. He only ever wanted the best for me. And for Johanna and Marie as well, of course.” She shrugged in resignation. “How I wish I could still think the same way!”
19
“You did what?” Johanna’s eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets. Flabbergasted, she stared at the sheet of paper that Ruth was holding out to her.
“I went to Sonneberg and showed Marie’s baubles to Mr. Woolworth,” Ruth repeated. Ruth laughed and Wanda gurgled happily in her arms.
Marie laughed even more loudly than Ruth and Wanda together, and she hopped up and down like a child.
“Don’t you understand? The American wants to buy six thousand baubles from us. Six thousand! I can’t quite believe it myself, not yet.” She snatched the contract from Johanna’s hand. “But here it is, in black and white!”
Johanna suddenly felt ashamed of herself. She had been upstairs in bed day in and day out, as though she were suffering from some dreadful disease. Wallowing in self-pity like a great crybaby. While outside, life had gone on like a giddily spinning top.
Ruth had been to see Woolworth? That Woolworth?
A contract for six thousand baubles?
“And there I was, silly goose, thinking you’d gone to meet Thomas!” She felt even more stupid just thinking about it. “So that’s why you didn’t go to work today!” she added, turning to Marie. “You wanted to wait for Ruth to come back with her news.”
Ruth and Marie exchanged knowing glances. They both looked about fit to burst with self-importance.
Johanna looked at Ruth as though seeing her sister for the first time.
“The things you get up to!” she said, swinging both legs out of bed. She felt dizzy from the movement. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know whether I would have dared.”
“But the truth is that you’re the businesswoman among us,” Ruth said, looking at her with unmistakable pride.
Once she was on her feet Johanna didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Ruth and Marie were leaning in the doorway and looking at her as though they were expecting her to crawl right back into bed.