War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 290

Chapter 9: Richard

R

ichard stepped from the train that had taken them as far as Mindelheim and helped Katrina down onto the platform. “From here on we have to walk. It’s less than ten kilometers to Kleindorf.”

“After walking several hundred kilometers across half of Europe, I’m sure I can manage another ten.” Katrina smiled and once again he thought how lucky he was to have found her. He couldn’t have wished for a better partner.

“What’s your aunt’s last name?” Katrina asked, wringing her hands.

“Why?” He glanced at her, taking in her frail body, the headscarf that covered her short brown hair, and her beautiful brown eyes. It had been her eyes that had first captivated him.

“To address her, of course.” A sliver of irritation flashed across her face. “I can’t well greet her with ‘Aunt Lydia’, now can I?”

He stopped short and gave her a bewildered look. “I never really thought about that.”

“Of course not, you simply assume everyone will welcome me with open arms.”

“They will. Don’t you worry so much.” He pressed a kiss on her nose. “Lydia’s last name is Meier. You’ll see; she can’t do anything but love you.”

“How can you be so sure? The German people have been indoctrinated to hate the Slavs for more than fifteen years. Why do you think your aunt will accept a Polish woman into her family?”

“Because I love you. And she loves me,” Richard said, not really understanding why she worried so much.

“Shouldn’t we at least find a pay phone and give her a warning that we are coming?”

Richard laughed out loud and pointed at the railway building lying in rubble. “Suit yourself. The chances of finding a working pay phone are less than slim.”

She looked around and nodded.

“Come on, sweetheart. It’ll all be fine. You’ll see.” He took her hand into his and gently pulled her forward down the road leading away from the small town of Mindelheim.

Already deep into summer, the sun burned down on them. She stopped and wiped sweat from her forehead. Cocking her head, she gazed at the ripe ears of wheat in a field and said, “The harvest hasn’t been brought in.”

“What do you mean? It’s not yet time.” Richard frowned.

She laughed at him, because clearly one year living on her farm hadn’t made a farmer out of him. “Back home we’d begin harvesting right now, but here we’re hundreds of miles further south and these crops look overly ripe.” She closed her hand around one of the ears and pulled, the grains staying in her hand. “See?”

Richard reached for some and shoved them into his mouth. “They’re still good.”

“But only until it rains the next time. If they aren’t harvested by then, all the produce will rot in the fields. What a shame.” With millions of people suffering from hunger it was akin to a crime not to harvest the fields.

“Not enough hands I guess,” Richard said and picked up the journey down the road. They walked in silence for a time until he pulled on her hand, hopping up and down like a small boy with a look of pure joy on his face.

“There is the farm. We have arrived!” He started forward, but she pulled him back.

“What if your aunt doesn’t like me? What if she doesn’t want me on the farm?” Her voice came across as a feeble whisper.

Richard hugged her close for a moment. “Stop worrying, sweetheart. Aunt Lydia is going to adore you. I promise.” He released her, took her hand and continued walking towards the main house. “Let’s see if anyone remains home.”

“No other way to find out than go and knock on the door.”

He held his breath as he knocked, but no one came to greet them. His heart crumbled at the possible meaning and he almost didn’t notice her hand squeezing his.

“They… they’ll probably be working in the fields. You know, a farmer is never sitting idly at home.”

Richard cast her a gaze full of doubt, but walked around the house into the vegetable garden. He froze as soon as he recognized the young woman hanging laundry up on the clothesline, and Katrina bumped into him.

“Ursula?” He quietly said her name.

His sister looked up. After several moments of incredulous amazement Ursula’s face lit up with recognition and she dropped the white shirt to the ground. Richard held out his arms and she flew into them.

“Richard! Oh, God. Richard! You’re alive!” Tears streamed down Ursula’s face as she hugged him again and again. “We thought we’d never see you again.”

“You look good,” he finally said, holding her at arm’s length.

Ursula was so overwhelmed with the joy of seeing her only brother that she still hadn’t noticed Katrina.

“Where’s Aunt Lydia?” he asked.

“She’s out in the fields with the older children. Oh, I have to go get her…”

“Wait. I want you to meet my fiancée.” Richard reached for Katrina’s hand and pulled her forward. “Ursula, this is Katrina Zdanek. Katrina, my sister, Ursula.”

Before Katrina could extend her hand, the cry of a child echoed from the house and Ursula hurried inside.

“Your sister hates me,” Katrina whispered to Richard, the discomfort evident on her visage.

“No, she’s just overwhelmed.”

Ursula returned a few minutes later with a teary-eyed infant in her arms. “This is my daughter, Eveline.”

“Your daughter? How old is she?” Richard bent down to look at the infant. He hadn’t even known his sister was pregnant.

“Evie is just over a year old.” Meanwhile two dirty-faced girls about two and three years old came around the corner of the house and, upon seeing the two strangers, clung to Ursula’s skirts.

“Are they yours, too?” Richard said with amazement in his voice.

“No,” Ursula laughed. “They are Lydia’s youngest. Maria and Rosa.” Then she said to the older one of the two girls, “Maria, quick, go and get your mother and the others. Tell them Richard is here.”

The little girl took off for the fields with feet flying.

“Come inside.

Where have you been? How did you get here? You must be hungry. Have you heard from Mutter?” Ursula interlaced her arm with Richard’s, and showered him with questions, not giving him the time to answer even one of them. “I can’t believe you’re back,” she uttered time and again.

They’d barely settled around the huge kitchen table when a voice cried from the back door of the house. “Richard! Good gracious!”

“Aunt Lydia. It’s been such a long time. You can’t imagine how happy I am to see you.” Richard hugged the older woman, almost choking on his emotions. She wasn’t his mother but seeing her and Ursula filled him with joy. Then he shook hands with each of the six children lined up behind her.

“You have grown a lot, Jörg,” he said, barely recognizing his oldest cousin.

“He’s twelve now and has done most of the work running the farm,” Lydia explained, before her glance fell upon Katrina. “And who’s this young lady?”

Richard could feel Katrina tense up and hurried to say, “She’s my fiancée, Katrina Zdanek.”

Lydia clasped Katrina’s hand and then smiled warmly at her. “You must be hungry. Ursula, help me get them some food.”

Once everyone was seated with a bowl of steaming soup in front of them, they caught up on each other’s struggles during the war. Richard glanced at Katrina, noting that the hot soup and the chitchat was easing her tension. She seemed content to listen to the conversation although she never said a word.

“Why aren’t the people working in the fields?” Richard asked.

Lydia’s face turned into a grimace. “No workers. All the men are dead, away or imprisoned… and since the war is over, we don’t even have the foreign workers to help.”

“We do what we can, but without diesel oil for the tractor a day’s work isn’t nearly sufficient. Furthermore, we have only the children and some women from town to help.” Jörg nodded at his smaller siblings, obviously counting himself as the only adult man on the farm.

“We’ll help,” Katrina offered, speaking up for the first time.

Lydia shook her head. “No, you just arrived here and must be exhausted from your journey.”

“Katrina is right. Her family owns a farm near Lodz and she’s well-versed in the ins and outs of farm work. She even taught me,” Richard said.

“You?” Aunt Lydia laughed. “The boy who wasn’t anywhere to be found whenever there was work to be done?”

Richard felt his ears heating with embarrassment. It was true. When his family had spent summer vacation with Aunt Lydia, he’d preferred to hide with a book in his hands in the barn while everyone else helped with the harvest.

To deflect attention from the misdeeds of his youth, he said, “Katrina not only knows about farm work, but she works miracles with her knowledge of medicinal herbs as well.”

“You do?” Ursula asked, visibly delighted. “There’s no medicine to be found even on the black market and the old doctor died last year.”

“My parents were healers and they taught me everything they know about using plants and herbs to treat many ailments. With the proper equipment I can make ointments, dressings and syrups. Ask Richard,” she said with a nervous little laugh. “I fed him with wild plants, berries and mushrooms for most of our escape through Poland and Czechoslovakia.”

A pensive expression came over Ursula’s face and then she asked, “Why did you even come here, if your family owns a farm in Poland? You’re obviously a Pole.”

Richard’s heart stopped beating for a moment, but the building tension quickly dissolved when Aunt Lydia took the lead.

“Isn’t it obvious, Ursula? Richard and Katrina are clearly in love.”