Experience Intrigue and Romance at the Dawn of World War II

Posted on Dec 26, 2017 Topic : Fiction

LONDON, 1938 - Amity Mitchell's comfortable life as a tutor to a young woman in England is about to change when she receives an urgent telegram from her brother, summoning her to Prague.

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Please visit me in Prague for the holiday. Need assistance with Jewish welfare work. Send date of your arrival. Room will be waiting for you at Hotel Evropa. STOP.

It was just like her brother to demand so much and send so little information. Did he expect her to drop everything and come? To buy a ticket and travel to a part of the world in crisis? What would Clark think about that? What about Celia? Amity couldn’t just leave the young woman behind, could she?

Then again, what was this Jewish welfare work? Surely it had to be important for her brother to send for her. Even without more information in the telegram, Amity understood the context behind her brother’s message. With the recent occupation of the Sudetenland, the Jews who’d lived in that part of Czechoslovakia had been pushed out of the newly annexed area, either by Nazi terror or Nazi threats. Were the streets of Prague now filled with refugee families? It would make sense if they were. But if that was the case, why had Andrew requested her? What could she offer in the face of Hun invaders?

Amity turned over the telegram in her hand, almost afraid to open it again and reread her brother’s request. she hated the thought of leaving Celia…and her father, Clark. Even though she worked to keep her relationship with her employer strictly professional, Amity looked forward to every moment she was with him, even ordinary ones.

He thinks of me as an employee and a friend, nothing more, Amity often told herself as she drifted to sleep at night. Yet was that the complete truth? There seemed to be a special connection whenever she met Clark’s gaze.

She took the telegram from the envelope, read it again, and then turned it over in her hands. What had Andrew meant by Jewish welfare work? If only he’d telephoned instead of sending this cryptic note.

Thirty minutes later she was sitting at the long dining room table across from Celia and to Clark’s right side. As she turned to look at Celia, Amity was surprised to see the smile on her face. Amity had told Celia about Andrew’s telegram, and after Celia urged her not to go because of the danger, she had decided to refuse Andrew’s invitation. But something in Celia’s gaze told her that Celia had changed her mind.

After salad and bread were served, Amity shared Andrew’s telegram with Clark. He was focused on her face, intent on every word, but Amity couldn’t quite read the emotions behind his narrow-gazed expression. Was it worry or fear he was feeling? Or was it bothersome to him that she’d be gone? Maybe a bit of both.

No one spoke as they finished their salads. Amity hoped Clark didn’t notice she could hardly swallow a bite. And then when their food had turned quite cold, Clark put down his fork and pushed back his plate.

“This is the last thing I expected myself to say tonight,” Clark said with a heavy sigh. “You see, the maid—who always knows every coming and going of the house—let it spill earlier that you were considering a Czechoslovakian holiday. Between that hour and now I’ve considered at least a dozen persuasive speeches that would talk you into forgetting that idea, but now I know to give even one of them would be to make my interests of greater concern than God’s.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure what your brother has in store for you with this Jewish welfare work, but Andrew has a good head on his shoulders. I am certain he wouldn’t ask his sister to come into a situation that is too dangerous. More than that, it seems God has been preparing your heart for a while.”

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What dangers await Amity in Prague and will she ever be reunited with Clark?