“Alicia thinks she’s in the family way,” Dorotéa announced.
“Oh, shit!” Clete blurted, and then asked, “Are you sure?”
Alicia bobbed her head and put her hand to her mouth.
“She thinks it happened that night at the Alvear,” Dorotéa said.
Clete had been married long enough to Dorotéa to understand what she was not saying: “If you hadn’t put them together in your apartment in the Alvear, you stupid man, this wouldn’t have happened.” And he had a selfish thought: My God, Claudia will kill me!
“Does your mother know?” Clete asked, realizing it was a stupid question even as the words left his mouth.
If Claudia knew about this, Alicia wouldn’t be here.
Alicia turned to look at him and shook her head. “Cletus, what am I going to do?” she asked plaintively.
“The first thing you’re not going to do is tell your mother,” he said, “until we work this out. Can you handle that?”
“Work this out”? What the hell am I talking about? This is a goddamn problem without a solution if I ever heard one.
Alicia nodded her head. “Will Peter be coming back, Cletus?” she then asked.
“For all we know, he may be on his way back right now,” Clete said.
On the other hand, they may have already stood him in front of a firing squad, or whatever those bastards do to a traitor, or someone they suspect might be.
“I wanted him to go to Brazil,” Alicia said, softly. “If he was in Brazil, I could have gone to him there.”
And if he had gone to Brazil, the Nazis would by now have shot his father.
“That wasn’t an option, honey,” Clete said gently.
“Can we find out when he’s coming back? If he’s coming back?”
“I’ll try,” he said.
German Embassy? Good afternoon. This is Major Cletus Frade of the OSS. I wonder if you’d be good enough to tell me if Major Hans-Peter von Wachtstein is coming back to Argentina? And if so, when can I expect to see him?
Welner! Can Welner help?
“Honey, is Father Welner coming today?”
“You think he could help?” Dorotéa replied. “I didn’t think of him.”
“I don’t want him to know,” Alicia said.
“He’s going to have to know eventually,” Clete said. “He can be trusted.” He turned to Dorotéa. “Is he coming, baby?”
“Of course,” Dorotéa said.
Alicia sobbed.
“If your mother sees you crying,” Clete said, “she’s going to wonder why.”
“Cletus is right, Alicia,” Dorotéa said. “You’re going to have to act as if nothing—”
“How can I do that?” Alicia challenged.
“We’ll work this out,” Clete said. “You’re just going to have to hang tight until we do.”