Charlie Schneider made an effort to smile even though it was certain to be an unpleasant meeting.

What made her smile, albeit ironically, was the presence of the man in black standing benevolently to the rear.  He adjusted his clerical collar and smiled back.

“Just like her to bring a priest,” Charlie grumbled to herself as she crossed to greet the guests at the door.

The hostess noticed the apathetic young man standing just in front of the priest and gave him a kind look.  He didn’t pay any attention to her, and tugged uncomfortably at his suit coat.  Charlie’s pleasant expression melted away when she beheld the proud look of her visitor.

“Henriette.”

“Charlotte.”

“Welcome.”  The younger sister held out her arm to guide the small group down into her restaurant.  “Let’s go sit at a nice table.”

“Is there a table where the men can have lunch?  You and I need to speak privately.”

Charlie noted the emotionless quality to her sister’s voice, but still nodded.  She waved subtly and Luca strode over from the bar.  The waiter led the priest and the boy into the dining room while the sisters shared an uncomfortable silence on the carpeted stairs at the front of the restaurant.  Charlie did not miss her sister’s subtly raised and disapproving eyebrow.

“Why don’t we sit in the lounge?”  Charlie motioned again for her sister to step down into the restaurant.

She led her sister to a corner table in the empty section of the restaurant.  Part of her earlier instructions to her staff was to keep guests from sitting in the lounge.  Henriette and Charlie did not get along, and although Schneider’s had seen its share of outbursts, Charlie did not like to be responsible for those embarrassing moments.  The hasty phone message from her brother alerted her to the explosive potential of this visit.

“She’s going to Düsseldorf to see you, and you won’t believe what the problem is!”  Lars’ happy tone was punctuated by chuckles on the message.  “She asked me to join you all but I can’t get away from München until the end of the week.  Just wait until you hear her explain it!”

If Lars found their sister’s distress to be amusing then Charlie would need to be on her guard.  She wondered whether it would be appropriate to laugh in her sister’s face.

She took careful note of her sister.  Time had not been kind to the woman on the verge of sixty, and Charlie feared her skin might sag as badly as Henriette’s in time.  Her gray hair was nicely styled, so those who saw her would recognize her as a woman of means.  She wore a finely pressed woman’s suit, though its color did not suit the shades of makeup she meticulously painted on.  As always, the elder sister wore too much jewelry.  Though she was notoriously stingy with her money, her austerity was not reflected in the volume of gold chains and rings she wore.  The eyes of the younger sister narrowed considerably after a quick but thorough accounting of the pieces of their late mother’s jewels that were on display.

Henriette folded her hands on the table, proudly displaying a particularly sentimentally valuable family heirloom on her finger.  She whispered judgmentally, “Please tell me you aren’t carrying on with the help, Charlotte.  I saw the way he was looking at you.”

Charlie sighed.  For all of Henriette’s troubles, she was going to enjoy no small amount of pleasure from noting Charlie’s presumed flaws and deficiencies.

“Henriette, you’re imagining things.  I don’t fraternize with my staff,” she replied with a hint of annoyance.  “Lars told me you have having some sort of difficulty.”

“Charlotte, after all of these years apart you have no interest in having nice things to say?”  The elder sister sounded offended.  “You always were a gossip.”

The blonde sister stared back blankly.  Charlie was never a fan of her sister’s hypocrisy.

“Christel tells me that Olivia is no longer living here.”

“That’s right.  She left town a while back.  She’s determined to be an actress in America.”

“Thomas said they haven’t heard anything from her.  Have you?”

“No, but Olli and I don’t expect to.  She stole money from his business before she left.  She’s burned all her bridges in Düsseldorf.”

“She always was an impetuous girl.  Thomas indulged her too much, and Christel never was a disciplinarian.  It’s no wonder she was always getting herself into trouble.  Of course, a better influence here—”

“Dear sister, let’s stick to pleasantries, shall we?  Why do you need my help?”

Henriette was forced to hold her tongue when Linda delivered a tray of cut fresh fruit and small pastries.  Steaming cups of espresso were set in front of both women.

“Raspberry tarts!  You remembered!”

Henriette appeared to have lost her manners by gobbling up one of the tiny tarts in several quick bites.

The unexpected joy on her sister’s face gave Charlie some satisfaction.  She was going to extreme lengths to take away the possible ammunition her sister might have to report back unfavorably to their family in Meppen.  Charlie’s unmarried status was scandal enough at her age, let alone that she had taken lovers out of the sacrament of marriage, but those stories were well-worn.  The restaurateur felt it best to give her exacting and fussy elder no reason to complain, and no additional reason to judge.  Forget that raspberry tarts figured into a particularly unhappy childhood memory.

Charlie sipped her espresso and waited patiently for her sister to speak.

“What did Lars tell you when you spoke with him?”

“He only left a message, so I imagine he preferred that I hear it from you.”

“You saw the boy that came with Father Rudolf and me?”

Charlie nodded.

“He’s had a hard life.  He was raised mostly by his mother, and even she couldn’t bear with the responsibilities of raising him.  She had troubles.”

Henriette didn’t sound judgmental when she said the word, but there was a gossipy inflection to it.  Charlie was assured she would be provided every sordid detail.  The older sister reveled in discussing the unseemly circumstances of others’ lives.

“Such a shame,” Charlie said generically.

“It really is shameful.  The poor boy has been placed with many families in his short life after his mother got into trouble for neglecting him, and for not providing him what mothers ought.”

Charlie tried to mask her surprise.  She didn’t know her sister to act nobly, least of all to take in a troubled youth.

“Father Rudolf, Christof, pulled Max and me aside after mass last autumn to tell us the boy’s sad story.  He’s had difficulty with some of the families he’s been placed with before.  They said he was a bad seed, that he was unruly and undisciplined.  It was clear that no other families would have him, and he was due to be sent to an institution with other unfortunates.”

Charlie leaned in closer to hear more.  Despite all her sister’s unattractive qualities, one that could always be counted on was her devotion to the Church.  Her fealty to the Church hadn’t softened her attitudes toward the youngest siblings or even toward her own boys, but this was something new.  Olli would be intrigued.

“The mother led a low life of sin and degradation,” Henriette continued.

Charlie sat back in her chair, having newly discovered the flaw in the jewel she’d just been appreciating.

“She was an alcoholic.  She bore the poor boy out of wedlock.  She never had money to buy him decent clothes, to make him presentable.  She didn’t raise him in the Church.  Surely if she had known God, He would have shown her the way to raising him properly.  The sad thing didn’t find her faith again until near the end.”

“At least she found her way back,” Charlie added; a pat confirmation of her sister’s attitudes.

“It was clear he wasn’t going to be able to go back home to her, the social services wouldn’t allow it.  Her health was failing.  It was from the drinking.  She wanted him brought up in a good home, a God-fearing home rather that in some God-less institution.  Her pastor called Christof to see if anyone in our parish could take him in.  No one there would have him because they knew his history.”

“That’s how he came into your care?”

“Yes.  I would like to say that we were the first family Christof approached, but that is not the case.”

Charlie set down her fork, confused by the strange mixture of stubborn pride and humility in her sister’s story.

“The good Father hoped to find him a home with children of similar ages in our parish, but no one was able to take him in.”

Charlie nodded and broke off a corner of her croissant.  Placing the boy around children his own age should help him adjust to a normal family life.

“Then he remembered that Max and I raised two boys, even though the later years raising them were not without their particular difficulties.”

The eyes of the younger sister narrowed.  Olli and his life choices remained a sore subject with his mother.

“Fortunately, despite that…adversity, I had the Church to turn to for guidance.  I’ve been able to overcome my despair and the disappointment with both my boys.”

Charlie stopped chewing her bit of bread.  Her expression was emotionless.  She didn’t want to dignify her sister’s prejudices or give Henriette and reason to think that her failed relationships with her children were anyone’s fault other than hers.

Henriette noted her sister’s hard look and paused to sample another raspberry tart.

“Max and I discussed taking in the boy.  Raising a child is not easy, but he felt even though we are advanced in our years, we could provide him a stable and loving environment.  We have the means to do it.  We could do right by him and honor his mother’s dying wish.”

Charlie couldn’t resist a satisfied smile.  It was her husband’s idea to take in the boy, but Henriette was now appropriating that decision as theirs.  The blonde sister suspected her older sister fought against her husband up till the moment the boy was delivered to their doorstep.

Charlie liked Max and had great sympathy for him.

“How long ago was this?”

“It will be a year just after Christmas.  Christof made sure he was able to spend the holy holiday with his mother, since everyone feared it would be their last.  She passed away at the end of summer.”

“Did you go to the funeral with him?”

“We didn’t hear about her death until after her burial.  We were on summer holiday at our country house.  The poor soul is in a pauper’s grave, but we promised him we would buy a respectable head stone for her—one that he chose.”

Charlie frowned.  She suspected the worst about her sister; that Henriette learned of the mother’s death and didn’t tell them until they arrived back at home.  Henriette had a long history of attempting to manipulate the feelings of the people around her, especially those of her children.  Charlie would never know the truth, but the doubt surrounding her sister’s intentions remained, based on the long hurtful history they shared.

The elder sister paused her story to sip her espresso and nibble on a piece of fruit.  Charlie had questions, and she figured it best to ask them now instead of showing the bad judgment to interrupt Henriette.

“Henri,” Charlie began, stepping gingerly to the brink by using the old affectionate name for her sister.  “I appreciate that you would show charity for the poor boy by opening up your home to him.  It was a very good thing for you and Max to do.  But Lars said that you were having troubles.  He said that you were coming to me—in particular—for help.  I don’t understand the help you’re asking from me.”

Henriette looked sadly at her sister, and Charlie was moved.  That look was a sure sign that something was truly the matter.

“I—I’ve tried to be a good person.  I have my faults, Charlotte, I know.  I am a sinner just the same as all of God’s creations.  I tried to do right by both of my boys.  First Olli turned to his life of sin and abomination with that man all those years ago.  Now Markus doesn’t speak to me.  He claims that he’s too busy.”

Charlie didn’t know about Markus.  Like Olli—and especially since Olli moved to Düsseldorf to lead a life of abomination under Charlie’s tutelage, her youngest nephew was kept from her.  Henriette apparently didn’t want Charlie corrupting both her boys.

Henriette began to cry.  Charlie waved and Luca came to clear the used dishes from the table.  She handed her sister a fresh napkin to wipe her eyes.

“I don’t know what it is that I’m doing wrong.”

Charlie didn’t dare respond to that.

“But now—now I understand what those families meant when they said he was undisciplined.”

“What happened?”

Charlie was stunned by the bitterness of Henriette’s answer.

“I caught him…he’s just like Oliver.”

If Henriette hadn’t spoken with such anger, thus provoking Charlie’s anger, the younger sister might have laughed as Lars predicted.  She might have laughed at the irony of her sister’s situation.

Her present feelings were far from feeling any satisfaction with Henriette’s predicament.  Now she felt concerned for the boy.  Henriette had a lasting reputation of being disappointed by her family and of not forgiving them when they didn’t live up to her expectations.  This child, taken in as an act of charity and devotion to her church, was nothing to her.  He wasn’t blood; she didn’t have any real obligations to him.  Surely Max wouldn’t allow her to abandon the boy or send him back, but Henriette might try, claiming some other offense.

Charlie’s only wish was that her older sister wasn’t going to use this as an opportunity to dump the troubled boy on her, although she herself would most certainly provide a more supportive environment for him.

“Father Rudolf knew that Max and I had these troubles with Olli.  If he knew this, why would he put me through this again?”

“Or perhaps it’s because you have experience with these issues that he asked you to take in the boy.”

“That’s nonsense!  I agreed with Max so that I could prove to myself that I didn’t make any mistakes with Oliver.  It’s not my fault he turned out that way.  I wanted to know that I could be a good mother to a boy who turned out normal and loving!”

“That is a horrible thing to say!”

The older sister flashed an accusing look at Charlie.

“I can’t take this kind of disappointment again.  It’s not fair!”

Charlie threw her napkin angrily on the table and got up.  She wanted to walk away but also wanted to slap her sister.  There were so many things she wanted to say to the women across the table.  Most of all, Charlie needed to calm down first; there was the boy to think of.

“Excuse me,” Charlie said brusquely and walked over to the bar.

Henriette remained at the table, quietly crying.

Linda smiled conspiratorially as she passed a shot to Charlie.  The hostess returned to the table soon after with two more cups of espresso, and markedly more calm that when she left.  When she sat, Henriette began to speak, but Charlie interrupted her.

“There are some things you need to hear.  The only reason I am sitting her instead of tossing you out of my restaurant is because the boy needs my help.  Your attitude that his actions or his…his life are an insult to you is disgusting.  This is one of those moments that I am ashamed that you are my sister.  You cast your son away because you couldn’t abide his decisions and his life.  Olli is happy, and he has grown into a fine man.  You might be able to share his happiness if you didn’t choose to let your prejudices rule your life.”

Henriette tried to speak again, but Charlie held up a hand to silence her.

“The boy is Schwul.  Who cares?  Is he hurting anyone?”

“He is offending God!”

“No, the way you’re acting, you’re taking this as an offense against you.  It’s not.  It’s who he is, the same as your son.  He needs love and a stable home.  You need to love and accept him; the same that you need to do for your son.  The way you treated Olli is unforgivable.  The boy deserves a chance to be loved regardless of who he is, regardless of who he chooses to live his life with, just so long as he lives a good life.  If you think for a moment that you’re going to try to change him or toss him aside like you did Olli, I won’t let you.  I won’t let you abandon him.”

Henriette set down her napkin and folded her hands on her lap.

“When did I say that I was going to abandon him?  Abandoning him or tossing him out onto the streets would be a greater sin against God than that boy’s carnal sins.”

“Then you better not try to change him into something he’s not.”  Charlie’s anger was raw, despite being wrong about her sister’s intentions.

“One thing I’ve learned from raising my two boys is that the more you tell them not to do something, the more they want to do it.  I’ve made it clear to him that I find that sort of fornicating to be sinful, but I can’t change that.  All I can do is make sure he goes to church regularly and learns the correct path to God.”

Charlie didn’t believe her sister.

“I’m disappointed that he’s like Oliver in that way.  I find that entire lifestyle to be abhorrent.  And I certainly wouldn’t have come all this way to tell you about his preferences, I know that you probably think it’s funny that this boy would be that way.  I’m sure you think it’s a punishment.  If so, it’s a punishment for the way Mutter und Vater raised us, and for believing what I was taught by the Church.  I think you and Lars will probably have a good laugh over this.”

Henriette was right about her sister, as much as Charlie hated to admit it.

“I wouldn’t have told you that he’s that way if it wasn’t important.  That’s not why I need your help.”

Charlie was newly-curious.

“This is why.”

Henriette picked up her big purse from the floor and took out an envelope.  Charlie sensed hesitation before her older sister slid it across the table to her.

“It’s why I need Lars’ help too.  That came about a month ago.”

Charlie opened the envelope and pulled out its contents.  She paged though them slowly until she arrived at a photograph.

“I don’t know who this is, Henri.”

“Look on the back.”

Charlie turned over the photograph and read what was written there.  She looked again at the previous document.  She was confused.

“Is this—is this real?”

Henriette nodded.

“Now you understand why I need your help.”