War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 330

Chapter 49: Ursula

Berlin, March 1947

T

he small, relatively new and plain church had weathered the war without much damage, except for the broken stained glass windows that had been replaced with simple transparent ones. The outside had been painted in hundreds of hours of work with white color during the last year, and it shone in the spring sun.

Ursula grabbed the hand of Anna, her bridesmaid, as she knocked on the door of the attached rectory and waited for the priest to open it. Pfarrer Bernau wasn’t any more, but his successor was progressive enough to marry a Catholic woman to an Anglican man. It wasn’t officially condoned by the Vatican, but the pope was far away.

She fondly thought about Pfarrer Bernau, who’d helped her through difficult times of inner torment when she hadn’t known what was right and what was wrong. During the Nazi era, morals had been swept upside down and she had struggled with what she did best: follow the law and obey like any good citizen.

The door opened, and the young priest asked her inside. Just as he was about to close the door behind the two sisters, Lotte dashed across the lawn.

“Glad you could make it.” Ursula smiled. Nothing would dampen her mood today, not even her tardy sister.

“Sorry, I’m late, but Evie and I had to…” Lotte caught her breath and jumped up the stairs with the broadest grin. “It’s a surprise, actually.”

Inside they went through the instructions one last time and then the priest left them alone to change into his sacramental vestments.

Suddenly the air in the room cooled off and a shudder racked her body and she asked her sister, “What if he changes his mind?”

“The priest? He’s just going to change,” Lotte said, still catching her breath.

“No, Tom.”

“Tom?” Anna shook her head. “After waiting for you four years and jumping through a thousand hoops? Why on earth would he change his mind just when you’re finally about to walk down the aisle?”

“You have nothing to worry about. That man is so head over heels in love with you, he’ll never change his mind,” Lotte added.

Ursula knew they were right, but after all the hardships, the red tape, the waiting, the fighting, the enmities, the shaming, the despair… she simply was at the end of her strength and wouldn’t be able to survive another setback.

“By the way, neither of you can change your minds at this point. We just came from the registry office where you signed your legal vows. This here…” Lotte pointed at the door leading into the church. “…this is only the romantic add-on.”

Anna laughed, but Ursula felt the uncertainty rising in her heart and shook her head. “The registry office, that was only some piece of paper. Something for the government. But this here feels like the real wedding…Do you think I’m doing the right thing?” she asked, thinking of the many judgmental looks and remarks she’d had to endure from compatriots. The shameful names strangers had showered her and Evie with. The open hostility on the streets. The way the neighbors looked away when they saw her.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Lotte gasped.

“She’s just nervous,” Anna said. “Every bride is nervous at her wedding.”

“No. Yes. Maybe. I mean, I do love him with every fiber of my soul, but I hate to be the cause of wagging tongues.”

“They’ll get over it. It’s not like you’re the only one to fall in love with a British soldier,” Anna said.

“In ten years nobody will care two hoots about it,” Lotte added.

“In ten years?” Ursula almost broke out in tears, unsure whether she could withstand the constant broadsides for that long.

Anna stared at Lotte and took Ursula’s hand. “It’ll change once you get to live with Tom.”

Ursula nodded. She was eagerly looking forward to that bit. Living together like a real family, eating meals together, saying goodbye with a kiss in the morning, waiting for Tom to return after work. Cooking his meals. Seeing him read a book to Evie before bedtime. Sharing the bed every night and waking up in each other’s arms every morning. That’s what she’d been dreaming about for such a long time.

Happiness hovered just at the end of her fingertips. She simply had to gather her courage around her like a cloak and take it.

“Come on. You don’t want to keep your groom waiting,” Anna said and helped her to drape the hat with the veil across her hair and face.

There wasn’t a mirror in the anteroom to check her appearance one last time, but both her sisters assured her that she looked amazing in the smart cream business costume. She’d chosen it with the notion that she’d be able to wear it as a Sunday dress after the wedding.

Anna had tortured her with rollers and the curling iron for hours to put Ursula’s golden hair into an elegant updo hairstyle with single corkscrew curls hanging down from her temples. She’d even

found

a brand new nacre-colored eye shadow and matching lipstick.

“You look amazing,” Lotte said and handed her the long cream gloves, the only piece of extravagance in the bride’s outfit. The three sisters left the rectory to enter the church through the main door.

Mutter was already waiting for them with Evie holding her hand. Evie looked adorable in her new dress, embellished with light blue ribbons made from pieces of parachute silk Tom had brought them. Her golden hair shone like a halo as the sunlight hit it.

“Everyone is already inside, and Richard is waiting for you,” Mutter said. “I wish your father could be here with us.” Her father had been too fragile to make the long journey to Berlin, but Mutter, Richard and Katrina plus their two children had arrived yesterday. In the absence of her father, it would be Richard’s privilege to giver her away to her new husband.

“Are you ready?” Mutter asked, apparently quite nervous herself.

“I am.” Ursula turned to walk toward Richard, but her mother held her back.

“I…it was hard for me to understand how you could fall in love with one of

them

.” Mutter looked up at the sky that had been filled with deadly bombers for so many years. “But all I want is for you to be happy. And Tom seems like a decent man.”

“Thank you, Mutter.” A burden lifted from Ursula’s heart. While her mother had made her peace with Tom, she’d never actually said anything nice about him before. So far, her acceptance of him had been rooted in the fact that having an English son-in-law was the lesser evil to having a single mother for a daughter.

Lotte took Evie by the hand and walked away. Ursula’s eyes followed her daughter and she noticed the basket swinging in her hand. A smile crossed her lips. So that was the big surprise and the reason why Lotte had been late.

Anna and Ursula approached Richard, who looked quite smart in the black suit he’d borrowed from his father. It brought memories of old times when they’d still been children.

“Ready, sister?” Richard grinned as he held out his arm for her.

First were Lotte and Evie. Evie’s eyes danced with excitement as her tiny hands scattered the wild flowers she and Lotte had picked earlier with great diligence.

Next came Ursula on Richard’s arm, followed by Anna. When the door to the church opened and she stepped inside, she involuntarily gasped.

Apart from her family – Tom’s parents had refused to travel to Berlin – the church was filled not only with friends, but also with a huge number of British soldiers who looked quite dashing in their dress uniforms.

For a moment she went dizzy, but only until she caught Tom’s eye; he was waiting for her in front of the altar, accompanied by his best man, William Huntley.

Tom was by far the most handsome of all the good-looking men in the church. His eyes never wavered from his bride and the love she saw shining in his eyes whisked all her doubts and sorrows away. As long as he loved her, she’d overcome all the harassment and struggle thrown her way.

She reached Tom and he took her hand, giving it a good squeeze and whispering, “You look gorgeous.”

Ursula blinked. She wouldn’t succumb to tears, not even happy ones, because she feared for her makeup.

The priest began the ceremony and she focused her attention on him, blocking out the muffled noises of crying in the first rows. Why did everyone cry at a wedding?

“Will you, Tom Westlake, take this woman, Ursula Hermann, to be your lawful wife? Will you love, cherish and protect her, from this day forward, in good times and in bad times, in sickness and health, until death do you part?”

Tom’s gaze took her breath away and she barely heard his answer “I will” through the rushing in her ears. He slipped a golden wedding band with a tiny diamond ring on her ring finger, and suddenly all her nerves were gone. This was the culmination of a love story that should never have happened, but persisted through all odds, hardships and obstacles.

“Will you, Ursula Hermann, take this man, Tom Westlake to be your lawful husband? Will you love, cherish and care for him, from this day forward, in good times and in bad times, in sickness and health, until death do you part?”

“I will.” She put the simple golden wedding band on his ring finger.

“Hereby I declare you wife and husband in the name of God. May your marriage be prosperous, fruitful and full of joy,” the priest said and then added with a smile, “You may now kiss the bride.”

Tom pressed a sweet kiss against her lips and murmured, “You’ll get the real one once we’re alone.”

Ursula’s cheeks heated and she hoped that the onlookers assumed it was because of the excitement of the wedding ceremony. Together they walked out of the church, an unprecedented lightness making her hover a few inches above the floor.

The couple received congratulations from every guest. Ursula did her best to remember the names of Tom’s comrades, until she widened her eyes in shock at the sight of a familiar face.

He must have noticed her reaction, because he said with a grin, “Not to worry, I’m not here to arrest you.”

“Hey, Ken, don’t scare my wife.” Tom shook hands with the MP who’d arrested them both more than a year ago. “If it weren’t for you, we probably wouldn’t be here.”

It was true. Ursula didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t been so exceptionally understanding and kind.

“Thank you,” she told him. “We will always be indebted to you. How can we ever return the favor?”

“Come and visit us when you’re in London,” Ken said.

“You leaving us?” Tom asked.

“Yes. I’m finally going home. Can’t wait to see my darlings every day.” Ken beamed with delight and Ursula certainly could relate to the feeling. She leaned against Tom for a moment, relishing the fact that she was now his wife. Finally.