War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 296

Chapter 15: Ursula

U

rsula noticed that Katrina was not her usual upbeat self. The news about her looming repatriation to Poland had put a damper on Katrina’s spirits. Since her brother didn’t possess the good sense to do the one thing to keep Katrina by his side, Ursula decided to take the matter into her own hands.

She waited for Evie to take her nap and then sought out Katrina. She found her in the herb garden – a new addition to the vegetable garden that provided all kinds of medicinal plants for Katrina to make her medicines.

“You have done fantastic work with this,” Ursula said.

“It’s only the beginning. There’s so much more I want to do next year…” Katrina’s voice trailed off and worry entered her eyes.

Ursula grabbed the opportunity with both hands and didn’t beat about the bush. “About that. Why don’t you and Richard get married? Wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

And the other ‘problem’ you’re hiding from us,

she thought with a glance at Katrina’s rounded belly.

Katrina cast her eyes downward and murmured something Ursula couldn’t hear.

“What did you say?”

“We aren’t getting married because he hasn’t asked me.”

Ursula frowned. That was typical of her withdrawn bookworm of a brother, although she had gotten the impression that he’d changed during his time away from home. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Please, don’t,” Katrina whispered.

“No worries. I won’t tell him we had a chat. Leave that up to me, will you?”

Katrina sighed and nodded. And Ursula remembered how she’d waited for her deceased husband’s proposal. She’d been walking on eggshells for weeks.

Ursula returned to the house to find her brother on the side of the barn chopping wood for the stove. “Richard?”

“What’s up?” He swiped the sweat from his forehead and Ursula couldn’t help but notice how much her younger brother had matured these past years. When he’d left for the front, he’d still looked like the schoolboy he was, but now the war had turned him into a man. His face had lost the softness; harsh life wisdom was etched into it. His shoulders had broadened and he’d grown considerably, towering more than a head above her.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

He eyed her suspiciously, but nodded and swung the axe into the log, leaving it stuck there, before he turned around and said with a grin, “Am I in trouble?”

“Perhaps.” Ursula returned his grin. Back in their childhood she, as the oldest child, had always been the one to help her mother keep the others in line. Ursula herself had never once been in trouble, never done anything inappropriate or against the wishes of her mother. Which couldn’t be said about her three younger siblings. Most notably wildcat Lotte, who’d never once been

out

of trouble, and bookworm Richard, whose main talent had been to disappear from sight when he smelled work.

She considered for a moment how to best break this delicate matter to him. Unfortunately, she didn’t find a diplomatic or subtle way, so she went straight to the point. “Do you love Katrina?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Do you?”

“You know I do.” He pursed his lips and she could see his patience was hanging by a thin thread.

“Then why haven’t you asked her to marry you?”

“What…? That’s none of your business, Ursula.” He turned and yanked the axe from the log. He looked like a medieval warrior, smeared face and grim expression included.

She had to suppress a laugh and stepped between him and the log. “It’s just… I’m worried about her.” His expression softened. “Wouldn’t getting married get rid of the looming threat of her repatriation to Poland?”

“I guess it would, but…” He sighed, weighing the axe in his hands. A frown wrinkled his forehead as he continued, “I asked her, almost a year ago, but we couldn’t marry for my lack of papers.”

“You have papers now.”

“Hmm… right. But I don’t want to pressure her. She wants her brothers present at the wedding, but we don’t even know whether they survived the war, let alone where they are.”

“You’re daft. If you don’t ask her again right now, you may not get the chance to. Apply some common sense. Marry now; celebrate later.”

“Won’t she be horribly disappointed?” Richard asked.

Ursula thought back to her own wedding. It had been the most peculiar ceremony, with a tin helmet taking the place of the groom. But she would have been more disappointed never to have been married to Andreas. “Trust me. She won’t. Not if she loves you.”

A beautiful smile lit up his entire face, bringing back some of the boyish gleam as he handed her the axe and said, “I’ll ask her right now. How do I look?”

“Deeply in love,” she answered, disregarding his sweaty, dirty and smelly appearance. Katrina wouldn’t mind.

As he dashed off, she had to think of Tom. She still had no news of him. Didn’t even know if he had survived the war and had no idea how to make investigations. A deep sadness settled over her soul and though she pasted a smile upon her face when others were around, every day that passed threatened to push her into depression.