Women Of Courage: Daisies Are Forever Part 24

"But people have cars and jobs and plenty of food to eat. When I was growing up, there was never enough for me or my many brothers and sisters. I never want to live that way again."

"I understand. I hope you succeed. If you'd like to learn English, I could help with that."

She flashed her best before-the-war smile. "Thank you." She leaned into him, touched his cheek, and placed a feathery-light kiss on his lips.

And then the door sc.r.a.ped open.

Gisela stood on the threshold.

TWENTY-TWO.

Gisela stood in the doorway, a dark silhouette against the light from the window. Mitch heard her sharp intake of breath, saw her cover her mouth, watched her turn and flee from the room.

"Gisela. Stop. Wait." He rose from his position on the sickbed.

Audra pulled him down. "Let her go. She needs to calm down."

He tugged his wrist free. "Nein. I have to tell her."

"Tell her what? It was an innocent flirtation."

"She is my wife."

"She isn't." Audra narrowed her eyes. "You lied about being a German officer. You hid your British ident.i.ty. What else have you been fibbing about?"

"How do you know?"

"Kurt knows. He heard Gisela talking to her mother. What is your real name?"

The situation just became very dangerous. "I think it's best you don't know." What would they do with that information?

He'd worry about that later. Right now he wanted to find Gisela. Had this crazy urge to locate her. This war would separate them, but he still wanted to find her. He stood once more.

"Bitte, Josep, don't go."

Had Audra lost her mind? "I have to." He ran out of the room and checked the rest of the apartment. Gisela was nowhere to be found.

Where might she have gone? She wouldn't leave the children alone.

Audra stopped him in the living room. "You will make things worse if you go after her now. She will be angry with you. I tell you, waiting a little while will be good. Let her come back when she is ready."

Audra clung to his arm as Kurt entered from the kitchen. "What is the matter?"

"She"-Mitch glared-"kissed me. And drove Gisela away."

Kurt's stone-like face was difficult to read. Was it shock, surprise, or glee Mitch saw in the other man's eyes? "She is a beautiful woman."

"Where did Gisela go?"

"I didn't see her leave, only heard the door shut. I thought perhaps the doctor had come."

"I have to find her." Mitch tore himself from Audra's clutches and left the apartment as fast as possible.

But when he got to the bottom of the stairs, he didn't know which way to go. Did she head outside?

He knocked on the door of the first-floor flat. Perhaps she had gone to visit Bettina and Katya. An older woman, rather stooped, her hands shaking, answered his knock. He recognized her from the air-raid shelter.

"Have you seen Frulein Cramer?"

"Nein, nein. She is missing?"

He didn't want to concern this woman. "She is upset about the girls being sick. I wanted to check on her."

"Dearie, who is at the door? Is it Jean-Claude? If so, do let him in."

The woman shook her head, a few gray curls escaping from her pins. "That woman believes we are in Paris. I don't know why she thinks that."

"She is confused. They both are. Play along with the game. You'll have fun."

"She speaks to me in French." The woman held her hands high. "I don't speak French."

Mitch needed to hurry. If Gisela had gone out, by this time she would be far down the street. Perhaps even around the corner.

"If you see Frulein Cramer, bitte, tell her Josep is looking for her. Danke."

He turned away and rushed to the street before the old woman closed the door. He gazed to his left and right. No sign of her. No telling where she might have gone.

He struck off to his left, stepping around rubble. No cars rumbled past on the street and very few bicycles. Most people walked. A few blocks down ran a streetcar line, but the tracks had suffered damage and the cars didn't operate on a set schedule, according to Gisela.

If she had gotten on the tram, he would never find her. He walked around the block, hoping to spy the pretty pink sweater she had been wearing this morning. He missed her easily identifiable green scarf.

No sign of her. No one frequented the cafes, the tables pulled inside for the winter. With all of the air raids, he doubted anyone had sat at the tables for a while.

He continued his circuit around the block but saw no sign of her. Without her, his heart was hollow.

Had that thought crossed his mind? How much he missed her when she was not with him?

Impossible. She was like a pebble at the bottom of his shoe.

Besides, a romance between a British soldier and a German woman would be frowned upon for sure. His chaps would call it fraternizing with the enemy.

Then again, she was also American. Did that make a difference?

What did matter were the stirrings in his heart, unlike anything he had ever known. Most others in his platoon had girls back home. Even in the POW camp, they had received letters from their sweethearts.

His letters came from his mother and sister. No girl had ever caught his eye or held his attention for very long. He'd been too busy with rugby and cricket with his mates. And, strange as it was after having known Gisela for but a few weeks, she intrigued him. Perhaps this was what war did to you, made you realize what was important. Then again, he'd never known anyone as beautiful or as special as Gisela.

He searched the neighborhood for a good fifteen minutes without sighting her. Dragging his feet, he made his way back to the apartment.

He entered the lobby and stood with his hands on his hips for a minute or two, trying to think where else she might be, when he heard a soft mewing from below. Like a kitten crying.

He dashed down the wooden steps. Sure enough, on the bed in the far corner of the dark and damp shelter sat Gisela. She covered her face and cried a pitiful, heart-breaking cry.

Ten strides took him to her side. Not wanting to startle her, he settled himself beside her on the mattress. She continued her soft weeping. Her tears wrenched his gut. He pulled her close to him, but she didn't stop.

"Gisela."

Now she looked up, straight into his eyes. Unshed tears dangled on her golden lashes. "You came."

"Yes."

All of his senses were heightened-the pink of her sweater more vibrant, the moldy odor of the bas.e.m.e.nt more pungent, the cold of the bunker more intense. "I'm sorry."

"It's not about that."

"It's not?"

She sniffled. "Not entirely. If you are supposed to be my husband, you shouldn't have been kissing her."

"She kissed me." Though it sounded like he was making excuses, it was the truth. "And they know we aren't married. And that I'm British."

"How?"

"They heard you talking to your mum."

Her last tear fell. "I did this. What if they tell? Now you have no choice but to leave."

His heart leapt like it might jump from his chest. "Not until the girls are well."

"Does it all ever get to be too much for you?"

"What?"

"For years, our lives have been in constant danger. We run from one place to another, never safe. I ran away from Heide and Lotta. Then Ella entrusted her precious children to me, and Herr Holtzmann died, leaving me to care for his senile sisters. Now the girls are sick. How much more does the Lord expect me to bear?"

Her tears were for more than the incident with Audra. What answer did he have?

"Will the Lord forgive me for all the wrong?" She gazed at him with such expectation in her eyes.

"You have done nothing wrong."

"So many have depended on me."

He gave her a sideways hug and she leaned on his shoulder. "You have your mum to help you, and you have me. I don't think you want Kurt's or Audra's help."

She chuckled just a little under her breath. "No. Not if she's going to be kissing you."

"You aren't in this alone." He pulled away from her and caressed her cheek. "We will do it, you and I. We will get it right this time."

"Atone for our past mistakes?"

Could they? Could he? He'd made enough of them.

Above them, the lobby door opened.

Gisela wiped away her tears on her sweater's sleeve. The pink fuzz tickled her nose. "I think the doctor is here."

Mitch led her upstairs, and they caught up with Mutti and Dr. Liebenstraum at the apartment door as the old man was removing his thin black coat.

He smiled when he saw Gisela and kissed her on the cheek with his chapped lips. "My, my, you have grown up. What a fine young lady. You had a harrowing experience, I hear. Glad to know you are safe and sound."

"Good to see you, Dr. Liebenstraum. Bitte, tell me the girls will recover."

He laughed, his neat white mustache stretching wide. "Let me first examine them. Then I can give you my prognosis." He retrieved his doctor's bag from the davenport.

How stupid of her. She wanted to hear the news, to know if the kinder would survive; yet every nerve stood at attention, prepared for the worst.

Mutti led the way to the sickroom. If possible, the girls appeared even paler than when Gisela saw them before.

All this time, Mitch had been right behind them, and now he stood at her shoulder. He declared his intention of staying here, at least for the time being. Together. His presence comforted her.

The doctor opened his black bag and rummaged through it. Mutti must have filled him in on the details of the kinders' symptoms because he asked no questions. Instead, he pulled out a thermometer and took their temperatures while feeling their pulses. He listened to the girls' hearts and to their chests and palpated their stomachs.

The doctor hung his stethoscope around his neck and stepped back. Gisela rocked forward on her feet. He ran his fingers through his thinning gray hair. "Just a cold. They need rest and in a day or two, they will be fine."

Gisela rubbed the back of her neck. "Are you sure that is all? Don't you have to run tests?" She had been right. Dr. Liebenstraum was too old. They needed another opinion.

"Even if I had the ability to right now, I wouldn't. It is nothing serious. Their lungs are clear and their fevers aren't that high. Fluids and aspirin are my prescription."

Gisela's head began to pound. "We should have moved far from those sick children on the train."

The old doctor shook his wizened head. "No harm done. In no time, they will be bouncing around like little girls do."

"Danke, Doctor." Gisela forced herself to unclench her hands.

He snapped shut his bag. "I will be back in a couple of days to check on them. In the meantime, if there is any change in their condition, let me know." He wagged his finger at her. "But I don't expect there to be. Stop worrying so much."

How could she? People died when they were entrusted to her. Too many people around her had died.

Mutti left to show the man to the door.

"How will I tell Ella that her children became sick?"