Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George [8]
“Thank you,” Galen said doubtfully.
Reiner stepped aside so that Galen and Liesel could enter the house. Liesel led the way into a well-furnished sitting room and showed Galen to a chair by the hearth. A small fire burned in the grate, and the room was lit with oil lamps. Altogether it was a bright, pleasant room.
Galen set his pack on the floor and took the seat he had been offered. Reiner sat across from him, in a chair that was almost a throne, still raking Galen from head to toe with cold blue eyes. Liesel hurried out and came back a few minutes later with tea, seating herself on a plump little pink chair that had a sewing basket beside it.
Balancing the fine china cup and saucer he had been given on one callused hand, Galen grimly faced his uncle. This was more the welcome he had been expecting, but now that it had happened he was at a loss. How to prove who he was? He had never met these people and his mother had spoken only rarely of her family, who had not approved of her marriage.
Inspiration struck. “I have my father’s rifle,” he said. He put his tea on a small table and went to his pack. He had wrapped the weapon carefully in canvas against the weather, as was customary on long marches. The bayonet was sheathed and stowed away with the powder and shot. He did not intend to fire it ever again.
The weapon was old and worn, but carefully polished. The burled oak stock had been smoothed by his father’s hands, and then his own, until it had a mirror sheen. And carved into the butt was his father’s name.
He showed the rifle, and the name, to Reiner. Reiner handled the weapon expertly, but with a disdainful expression. He grunted and handed it back to Galen when he was done looking it over. “You might have simply stolen Karl’s rifle.”
“Reiner!” Liesel looked shocked.
“I also have this.” Galen rummaged around in his pack, putting his arm in up to the shoulder to take out a small pouch. In it were his parents’ wedding rings, simple bands of gold that could have belonged to anyone, and his mother’s locket and crucifix. He showed the locket to Reiner and Liesel. It had his mother’s initials on the back, and two pictures inside. One of his father, and the other of himself at age eight, holding his infant sister. The crucifix was small and silver, and had the date of his mother’s confirmation etched on one side.
Judging by the look on Reiner’s face, however, he still thought that Galen was nothing more than a very clever thief. Desperate, Galen racked his brain for other proofs of his identity.
“My mother said that I was named after her grandfather, Galen Haupt, who used to frighten you both by taking out his wooden teeth and hiding them under your pillow, Tante Liesel.” Galen thought of another story and blushed but decided to use it anyway. “And, sir, when you were first courting Tante Liesel, you used to slip into the kitchens and eat sweets, and you… were very… fat.” He finished in a rush. “Mother said she used to call you Roly-poly Reiner.” Galen put down his parents’ things and took a sip of tea, carefully not looking at stern, mustached Reiner Orm.
“So, you’re Karl and Renata’s son,” Reiner said, as if Galen had only just now showed up on his doorstep. He set his own tea aside. “Get some wine, why don’t you, Liesel? We should celebrate the arrival of our nephew.” He didn’t sound as if he took much pleasure in the idea.
“Indeed we should,” Liesel said with exasperation. She gave Galen a peck on the cheek as she passed him.
Reiner grunted. “I suppose you should meet your cousin. We have a daughter, Ulrike. Our son is dead.” He went to the door of the sitting room and roared, “Ulrike, come down here!”
Ulrike arrived at the same time as her mother, blinking dreamily. She was a pretty girl, about sixteen years of age, with a good figure and long blond hair. She smiled at Galen. “I’m sorry. I was reading a book.” She took a glass of wine from her mother without asking about the occasion.
“You’re always reading a book,” her father muttered.
“This is your cousin Galen,” Tante Liesel explained to Ulrike.