Only the Beautiful

Helen arrives in Santa Rosa a week later and takes a taxi to the vineyard. She watches the countryside slip by and contemplates her homecoming; she has been gone for 17 years. She thinks about the steps that led her to Europe: wanting to visit faraway places, loving children, and despising the idea of an office job. Because she did not want to become a teacher, she dropped out of college after three years and became a nanny to a family that returned to their home in England. She followed them back to London and continued to work as a nanny for European families.

Now, as she arrives at the vineyard, Celine greets her. They discuss Celine’s son and his new bride-to-be, until eventually Helen comments on Celine’s solitude. Celine comments that the maid had been let go, and Helen asks about Rosie. At first Celine avoids the issue, and Helen realizes for the first time that Rosie was the maid who was dismissed. The conversation shifts to Truman’s death, but Celine doesn’t want to talk about it, and Helen drops the conversation.

A few days later, on Christmas Eve, Celine and Helen talk again, and Celine reveals that Helen’s presence is painful to her because it reminds her of Truman, a fact she utters “with a tone of revulsion, not sorrow” (224). Celine reveals that Truman betrayed her by getting Rosie pregnant; she admits that she has been angry and heartbroken ever since. Rosie offers her condolences and asks about the child; Celine speculates that Rosie was probably also sterilized at the institution to which she was sent. Celine ends the conversation by telling Helen to leave the next day, but Helen is now resolved to discover what has happened to Rosie and her child.

The narrative shifts to an earlier time frame that occurred eight years ago, when Helen was living in Vienna and working for the Maier family as their nanny. The Maiers’ youngest child, Brigitta, was born with many physical disabilities and needs constant care due to her serious developmental delays and obstacles. Helen loves Brigitta and the Maier family. Helen has never experienced an enduring romance, even after having three serious relationships, but her longing for a family is fulfilled by the families she works for, especially the Maier children.

However, Austria is becoming a dangerous place for many different people. Johannes and Martine, the Maier parents, often discuss the problems and issues of the day, especially since Johannes is an officer in the newly reformed military. Martine, his wife, asks about the news she has heard about the German campaign to sterilize anyone they determine to be unsuitable for bearing children. “There was talk at the sewing circle today that people who aren’t perfect are being sterilized” (233), Martine inquires, worried about the implications for their own daughter. Johannes tells her not to worry, and Helen wonders just who could possibly be qualified to determine whether a person is worthy or not.

The narrative returns to the present moment. The morning after Helen learns of Rosie’s history with Celine and Truman, she snoops around Celine’s house to discover where Rosie was sent, then takes a taxi to a hotel in Santa Rosa. Helen plans to call local friends of hers—the Petraki family—for help in finding a place to stay for a while. She visits a church to pray, then calls on her friends, Lila and George. They eagerly invite her to stay with them as long as she likes.

Helen shares all that has occurred and outlines her new mission to find Rosie. Her friends know exactly where to find the institution to which Rosie was sent and confirm the rumors that the doctors there have been sterilizing patients. Helen is stunned to learn that the practices she thought she had left behind in Nazi-ruled Europe are being carried out in America as well. She and the Petrakis discuss California’s involvement in the eugenics movement, and Helen makes plans to visit the place where Rosie was sent.

The narrative shifts back in time to May of 1940. Helen and Brigitta are at home in Vienna, planning to head to Brigitta’s school, when the doorbell rings, and a woman from the health department inquires about Brigitta’s health and care at home. Helen is taken off-guard by the woman’s sudden appearance and is terrified that her answers might inadvertently cause the family harm, given the Nazi regime’s pattern of singling out children with disabilities, genetic abnormalities, and health problems. Helen does everything in her power to convince the visitor that Brigitta is healthy, happy, and well cared for. The health visitor seems content with Helen’s responses and leaves shortly thereafter, but Helen conceals the visit from Martine, who has been extremely worried ever since the recent rumors about sterilization have begun circulating.

The narrative returns to the present moment. Helen arrives at the front gate of the Sonoma State Home for the Infirm and tells the attendant that she is here to inquire about a former patient. She is permitted to speak with Dr. Townsend, who remembers Rosie immediately. Dr. Townsend informs Helen that he has no idea where Rosie is and refuses to divulge any personal information about her.

Helen persists in trying to glean more information and eventually engages in a heated argument with the doctor about why Rosie was admitted in the first place. She is horrified when the doctor confirms her suspicions that Rosie has been sterilized. Helen storms out of the office, but not before Stuart Townsend stops her and gives her the name and address of the hotel in Petaluma where Rosie was working. Before Helen leaves, he asks her to pass along his apologies for his part in Rosie’s detention. He reveals that Rosie’s daughter, whom she was forced to give up, is named Amaryllis.

The narrative shifts back in time to Helen’s experiences in Austria. One week after the health visitor’s appearance, Martine bursts into the house and tells Helen to pack suitcases. She plans to take Brigitta away to Innsbruck to hide with her parents. Martine has discovered that local children are being taken from their families after being visited by a health investigator, and she fears that Brigitta is next. Helen reveals that the health visitor has already visited, and Martine panics and rushes to Brigitta’s school.

Helen follows closely behind, and when they arrive, they discover that they are too late; Brigitta and several other children have already been taken to a hospital in the town of Penzing. Martine is too distraught to act, but Helen rushes to the Am Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital in the next town only to discover that Brigitta has indeed been admitted. However, she is unable to visit the girl because she is not her blood relation or legal guardian.

The narrative returns to the present moment. Sitting in her car in the Sonoma institution’s parking lot, Helen is stunned into silence. She grieves for her past failure to help Brigitta. She is also shocked to discover the name of Rosie’s daughter, and as her narrative states, “I suddenly feel connected to Rosie by a thin but luminous thread: the amaryllis. The bond is new and loose but real. As real as the link we already share as mother and aunt to the same child” (277-78). Less than an hour later, Helen arrives at the hotel in Petaluma. Nobody there knows what happened to Rosie, but they tell Helen that Rosie quit four years ago, and nobody has seen her since.

Helen leaves her phone number behind in case anyone can forward more information, and she returns to the home of the Petrakis. In the following days, she contacts Eunice Grissom at the county social offices. They have a conversation about what was done to Rosie, and Helen is furious about the whole matter, especially since she knows that Rosie wanted to keep her child. Helen tries to get Celine to sign an affidavit affirming Truman’s paternity, but Celine refuses and hangs up on her. Finally, Helen receives good news. Stuart Townsend calls and tells Helen that Amaryllis was taken to the Fairbrook Children’s Home in Oakland.