War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 300

Chapter 19: Ursula

A

loud knock on the front door startled Ursula. The only ones who knocked were the American soldiers. Usually they drove recklessly in their shiny jeeps and she could hear them from miles away. But today she hadn’t heard a vehicle come down the road.

She dried her hands on her apron and walked over to open the front door. The knock came again, softer this time, and she wondered who it could be. The visitor certainly didn’t follow the pattern of the occupiers, but who else would knock on their door?

Not the neighbors, who came in through the backyard. Definitely not the people who lived on the farm. Her heart sped up. Maybe Lydia’s husband Peter had returned from captivity. It was a possibility. Her feet rushed to open the door and for a moment she froze in shock.

The man standing outside wore a uniform, but it wasn’t the familiar khaki-green one of the Americans, nor a Wehrmacht uniform in

feldgrau

. It was RAF-blue.

The moment she locked eyes with him, her knees gave out beneath her. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he caught her in his arms, preventing her from crashing to the floor.

“Ursula, are you alright?” he whispered, pressing her against his chest.

Tears spilled from her cheeks and she couldn’t utter a single word if her life depended on it. She regained control over her legs and snuggled against him, her tears wetting his uniform jacket.

After what seemed to be an eternity, she looked up at the face she’d dreamed about every single day for two long years and traced a finger down his cheek. Finally she found her voice again. “Tom. You’re here.”

“I’m here.” His green eyes shone bright, making her heart sing.

“I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“Definitely not. You can’t imagine how much I missed you.” His voice was deep, slightly choked with emotion, and incredibly soft. His words transcended the gap of time, and she felt as if mere days had passed since their last encounter, not two years.

“How did you find me?” she whispered. Her eyes riveted to his, she forgot about anything except her love for him.

“I’m stationed in Berlin and Anna told me.”

“Anna… so she’s fine?”

“She, her husband, your mother, your nephew.”

“Oh, my God. I still can’t believe you found me.” More tears spilled down her face. His eyes became impossibly soft and he leaned down to kiss her.

Ursula closed her eyes as sensation rushed through her body. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, clinging onto him, returning the kiss, while laughing and crying all at once.

“What in the hell is going on here?” Richard’s angry voice interrupted their happy reunion.

She broke the kiss, the heated flush on her cheeks turning into embarrassment. Kissing a man in public, the way she’d done, wasn’t the way a decent woman behaved.

“Get away from her,” Richard demanded, taking a menacing step towards Tom.

The perplexed look in Tom’s eyes showed confusion, hurt… and fear. “Is he… your…?”

“Brother. I’m her brother and you have no business kissing her.” Richard stepped between Ursula and Tom and scrutinized Tom’s blue uniform. “You don’t even have business being here, since you obviously are a Tommy.”

“Richard. Please… it’s not what it looks like.”

“It isn’t? I could see quite well how you threw yourself at this man. What did he promise you in return?” Ursula had never seen her brother so livid and she feared he’d strangle Tom with his bare hands.

“Nothing but my undying love.” Tom had found his voice again and sidestepped Richard to put an arm around Ursula’s shoulders, while sending a threatening stare toward her brother. She felt like a zookeeper in the cage with two growling lions about to tear each other apart.

“Here you are, can you…?” Katrina came round the corner from the herbal garden and stopped mid-sentence. She quickly assessed the explosive situation and put her arm around Richard’s waist.

At least now we’re two zookeepers with the lions,

Ursula thought, sending her sister-in-law a relieved glance before she explained. “This is Flying Officer Tom Westlake. He’s the man I fell in love with two years ago. And this is my brother Richard Klausen and his wife Katrina.”

Richard squinted his eyes. “Flying Officer, eh? A Tommy pilot?”

“Actually it’s Squadron Leader,” Tom said with an apologetic grin toward Ursula. “I’ve been promoted since returning to England.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re an enemy soldier,” Richard stubbornly insisted.

“Look who’s talking,” Katrina said. “The man who fell in love with a woman from an inferior race and abandoned his army because he hated what they were doing.”

“That’s different.” Richard pouted. Although the tension was slowly leaving his body, Ursula sensed that he wasn’t convinced yet. “This man in his ritzy RAF uniform is only here to take advantage of my sister.”

“You can’t know that. In fact, I believe he wouldn’t have made the long journey from the British sector all the way here if he didn’t have true feelings for Ursula.” After Katrina’s wise words, Ursula wanted to kiss her for her mediation.

She decided to take off the edge by changing the topic. “Tom brought news from Berlin. He’s visited Anna and Mutter and they’re alive and well.”

Richard gave a growl, but didn’t say a word.

“Would you like to come inside and have something to drink?” Katrina asked.

“I’d love to, thank you.” Tom glanced around, making sure there weren’t any people around who might see him, and followed them inside. He greedily drank a glass of water in the kitchen and then unpacked several things from his kitbag that Ursula hadn’t seen in months. A full kilo of sugar, a bar of chocolate and real tea.

She gave him another – modest – kiss on his cheek, in spite of Richard’s dark stare, when suddenly a nagging fear crawled into her bones. She smiled it away and helped Katrina set the table for four.

Lydia had taken the older children to the nearby forest searching for mushrooms and wouldn’t return until dusk. The younger children swept the barn under Matilde’s supervision. Ursula deliberately focused her attention on the here and now, the tension between the two men still resembling a tinderbox waiting to explode.

Katrina managed to distract them with chit-chat and questions about Berlin. Soon, Richard relaxed, but still eyed his sister’s improper suitor with suspicion. Ursula couldn’t even blame him for it, because she knew everything about how inappropriate, impossible, and illegal her love for Tom was.

Because of the Nazis’ ban on any and all relations between Aryan women and foreigners it had been illegal when she fell in love with him. And it had stayed illegal even after the tides had turned, because the new powers had installed anti-fraternization policies.

So deep was her concentration that she didn’t hear the patter of small feet. Moments later the door opened and Matilde peeked her head inside, a deliciously dirty Evie in her tow.

“Mami!” Evie rushed toward Ursula, a frightened-to-death frog in her hand.

“I’m sorry, she…” Matilde swallowed at the sight of the uniformed soldier in the kitchen and backed out immediately, leaving Evie behind.

Ursula wished for the earth to swallow her whole. She’d sought for a less daunting way to introduce Tom to his daughter.

“You… have a daughter?” Tom stammered.

Ursula wanted to explain, but since no words left her mouth, she simply nodded. An uncomfortable silence ensued and only Evie wasn’t fazed in the least at the drama unfolding in the sunlit kitchen. The frog had escaped the captivity of her hands and she chased him across the room, giggling and yelling in the process. Since she’d only taken her first steps several weeks ago, the frog was immensely better suited for the race, which she didn’t seem to mind in the least.

“I’d better go. Thank you for your hospitality.” Tom jumped up as if stung by an adder and grabbed his kitbag lying in the corner.

“Wait!” Ursula yelled. “Please…” He turned around and the bottomless hurt in his green eyes slashed her heart into pieces. The time for breaking the news gently and privately had passed and the only thing that might mend the situation was blurting out the truth. “She’s your daughter.”

“What?” three voices said in unison and Ursula felt the stares of three pairs of eyes on her.

“No wonder you didn’t tell anyone who the father was,” Richard said. “This is—”

“Don’t,” Katrina silenced him. From the corner of her eyes Ursula noticed how her sister-in-law pushed Richard in the direction of the hallway, picking up Evie on her way.

When they were alone, she gave Tom a pleading look. He sunk back on his chair and asked with a trembling lip, “Is it true? I have a daughter?”

She couldn’t hold his disbelief against him; it was a lot to cope with after just having met her again. Ursula sat down beside him and took his trembling hand into hers. “Can’t you see it? She has your eyes.”

“But how?”

“Don’t you remember the night before you left Germany?” She smiled, although his words had wounded her soul deep within. How could he not remember, when she’d been reliving those precious few hours over and over again?

“Of course, how could I ever forget, but… we did it only that one time. I never expected…” He choked on the emotion.

“Neither did I.” She swallowed. “You can’t imagine how scared I was.”

“And rightly so. If anyone had found out…” A frown wrinkled his forehead. “You couldn’t even tell your family, you poor thing.” He reached out to caress her cheeks. “My poor darling, I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been there for you.”

“Anna is the only person who knew – and now Richard and Katrina.”

“Anna didn’t tell me a word.”

Ursula bit her bottom lip and then giggled, as the tension left her body. “What did you expect? She was sworn to secrecy and she’d catch hell if she’d be the one to deliver the message.”

“Can I? I mean can I talk to her?”

“I’d love for you to get to know her.” Ursula had dreamed of this moment, but now she wasn’t sure how to best handle it. In her fantasies interfering regulations and laws had never been featured. “Although, maybe… maybe we shouldn’t tell her just yet.”

His face fell and she put a hand on his arm. “It would make everything more difficult for all of us if the wrong people got wind of it.” She in particular thought about some of the turned ex-Nazis who’d delight in ratting her and Tom out to the authorities just to gather some goodwill for themselves.

Tom nodded with a stern expression that showed just how much he hated the secretiveness. “What’s her name?”

“Eveline, but we call her Evie. I wanted a name that sounds well both in English and in German.” Her cheeks heated up, but her anxiety was unfounded, since Tom beamed like a floodlight and finally kissed her again.

“I love you and I’m sure I’ll love our daughter,” he whispered into her ear.

Ursula’s heart melted the same way her body melted into his arms. After a minute she broke away and said, “Let’s go and find Evie.” They found their daughter playing in the yard with her cousins.

“Evie, come here!” Ursula called out and when the little one came rushing toward her, her heart warmed the way it always did when watching her daughter. But this time it was even better, because for the first time since the child was born, her father was standing by Ursula’s side. “This is Tom. He’s… a good friend. Can you say hello to him?”

Evie nodded and waved with her little hands, not too pleased that she’d been interrupted in her play. But when Tom lifted her into his arms and threw her into the air, she squealed with delight. The cautious mother in Ursula wanted to step in and tell him this was too dangerous for a one-year-old, but seeing the happiness on both faces, she bit her tongue and stood by – although not without watching with an eagle’s eyes and preparing herself to jump forward in case he let the child drop.

Tom didn’t drop his daughter and during the next hour the two of them became best friends. Ursula’s heart dropped into her shoes when she saw Aunt Lydia and the older children walking down the road toward the farm.

Caught up in Tom’s return she’d totally forgotten her chores and hadn’t even prepared supper for the family. She rushed into the kitchen where she bumped into her sister-in-law setting the table.

“No need to worry; I’ve got you covered,” Katrina said. And for the second time that day Ursula wanted to kiss the other woman. She’d never forget what Katrina had done for her.

With mixed feelings, she stepped out into the yard where the rest of the family had just arrived. Tom had been wiser this time around and she saw him walking out of sight with Evie in his arms. That would give her some much-needed time to prepare her aunt for the news.

“Look what we found,” Aunt Lydia proudly showed off their porcini harvest.

“So many?” Ursula eyed the baskets full with the precious mushrooms. “We can dry some and keep them for winter.”

“Exactly my thoughts,” Lydia replied.

When she wanted to step inside the house, Ursula held her back. “Can I speak to you for a minute?”

Lydia raised an eyebrow, but nodded and handed her basket over to one of her children. “Get that inside, will you?” Then she turned toward Ursula again, her face suddenly tense as if she knew what was coming.

“It… I never told you…” Ursula had no idea how to break the news.

“Are you in… trouble… again?”

“Oh no,” Ursula hurried to say. “But… Evie’s father is here.”

Aunt Lydia’s head jerked up.

“But you can’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?”

“Please. Promise you’ll keep your composure—”

“Why would I have a fit? Is he some kind of criminal or lunatic?” Lydia pursed her lips, looking at her niece with that strict stare she used to shut her children up.

“He’s…” Ursula writhed like a trapped snake “He’s a British pilot.”

“Good lord! And he’s here? On my farm?”

“Yes. Please, will you not report him?”

Aunt Lydia shook her head in disgust. “You don’t actually expect me to go to the Amis and tell on him? How could you think such a thing? Does your mother know?”

“No.”

“So where is this soldier of yours?” Lydia seemed to take the news surprisingly well. Maybe because she herself had left home at sixteen to run away with her now-husband, the son of a farmer – and a suitor her parents didn’t approve of.

“Follow me,” Ursula said and walked around the corner where Tom was playing with Evie in the grass. “Tom, this is my aunt, Lydia Meier.”

Tom stood and dusted off his uniform before he said almost without an accent, “Tom Westlake. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Frau Meier, and I’m sorry if I am inconveniencing you.”

Aunt Lydia smiled and extended her hand. “Herr Westlake. I see you already made friends with your daughter.”

“Isn’t she adorable?” Tom beamed with pride.

“She definitely is. But you shouldn’t be seen here with that uniform of yours. Better come inside.” She frowned and then added, “We have a refugee family living with us, and we can’t be sure how they will react. Neither can we trust the children to keep a secret, so I’ll introduce you as an acquaintance of my husband from before the war.”

Ursula sat

on tenterhooks throughout the supper, trying her best not to glance in Tom’s direction, for fear she’d betray her feelings for him. With the Hansen family sharing supper with them she really couldn’t afford to raise suspicions.

As they finished eating, Tom winked at Ursula and said, “I should take my leave; many thanks for your hospitality, Frau Meier.” He walked over to the corner and picked up his kitbag.

“Wait, Herr Westlake, I’ll show you to the main street,” Ursula said and hurried after him. On her way out she almost tripped over Katrina, who’d gotten up as well and whispered into her ear, “Take your time. I’ll take care of Evie.”

That woman really had earned Ursula’s undying gratitude today. Slipping into her shoes, Ursula caught Tom staring at her with unabated hunger. His desperation to be alone with her undeniable in his gaze.

They walked down the path, careful not to touch each other as long as they were within sight of anyone looking from the house. Just before they reached the fork in the road that lead to the barn, Ursula grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her.

“Where are we going?” he asked with a chuckle.

“To a place where we can talk. In private,” she replied, although talking wasn’t foremost in her mind. She closed the doors of the barn behind them and led him up the stairs to the hayloft.

Tom dropped backward into the hay, taking her with him. She struggled for a few moments, but he wouldn’t let her go, pressing hot kisses on her mouth. “I missed you so much. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again,” he whispered between crushing her lips with his.

They were frantic for each other and Tom wasted no time in showing her everything they had missed by being apart. He made love to her. It wasn’t a soft, gentle coming together, but hard and quick and filled with so much emotion, they were both left panting for breath afterwards.

“I have to go. I should find a place in town for the night,” Tom said as they snuggled against each other.

“Please, don’t go. We have so much to catch up on,” she begged.

“If anyone sees me here…” She could tell he was wavering in his determination.

“We’ll sneak into the house after dark.”

“I have to return to Munich in the morning and catch my flight back to Berlin.”

“You flew here?” Up until now she hadn’t given thought to how he’d managed to come all the way down to the south.

Tom chuckled and nudged her nose. “What did you think? That I came on foot? I’m a pilot.”

“So you came with your own plane?” She had never traveled by air and wondered whether he might take her one day. A day in the future when their love wouldn’t be illegal anymore.

“Of course not.” He caressed her naked shoulder. “I’m not allowed to fly into the American zone, but I have a pilot friend from over there. He offered me a ride.”

“You caught a ride on a military aircraft, like normal people do on a bus?”

He surprised her with his full belly laugh. “I like the way you laugh,” she said. In the short time they’d been together two years ago they’d both been under constant pressure and this was the first time she heard his laughter. It endeared him even more to her.

“You… what?” He shook his head.

“Yes. It’s so refreshing, as if you didn’t have a care in the world.”

“I don’t. Not when I’m with you.”

Ursula wanted to be as carefree as he was, but she couldn’t shake off the worries attacking her. It squeezed her heart not to know.

Night fell and hand in hand they snuck into the house, tip-toeing upstairs into the room she shared with Evie. The child was fast asleep and once again Ursula was reminded that she was deeply indebted to her sister-in-law. She kissed Evie’s cheek and Tom followed suit.

“She’s so beautiful,” he said. “I still can’t quite believe that I found not only you, but also a daughter I didn’t even know existed.”

In the wee hours of the morning, after making love throughout the night, she finally asked the question she’d been avoiding, “When will I see you again?”

Tom smoothed her hair back. “I don’t know.”

Ursula sighed. Her brain understood, but that didn’t make it any easier. To lose him again, after one short day, seemed unbearable.

“I’ll keep in touch. Your sister’s husband, he works for us. I can give him a letter for you.”

“A letter?” The idea of holding something that belonged to him in her hands brightened her spirits. “Can you send me a photograph, too?”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea.” He kissed her. “I’ll find a way to see you again. I promise.”

Dawn sent the first streams of light through the window and with great reluctance she pushed him away. “You have to leave.”

“I know.” Tom didn’t move, not until they heard steps on the stairs.

“That’ll be Aunt Lydia heating the stove. In less than half an hour everyone will be up.”

“I love you, sweetheart.” With the tender words he sneaked out of her room.

Moments later she watched his dark silhouette walk down the road toward the main street until it vanished from her sight. It shredded her heart to pieces.