War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 363

Epilogue

One month later

J

ohann looked at the beautiful woman standing before him and he repeated the words the priest had just recited. He’d all but given up hope of marrying her, but now he stood in the church filled with friends and relatives.

“I will love you forever and I promise to protect, care, defend, and stand by you no matter what may come. In sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

Lotte smiled at him and listened while the priest gave her the words to say. She repeated them to him, her voice cracking with the depth of her emotion as she uttered the final, “Till death do us part.”

“I’m pleased to pronounce you husband and wife. Your love for one another has sustained you through many trials and yet you have remained true to one another. A love like yours is surely blessed from above and it gives me great pleasure to wish you the first of many congratulations on your wedding.”

Johann looked at the priest and raised a brow. “Now may I kiss my bride?”

The priest smiled as those gathered to witness the momentous event chuckled behind them. “Yes, you may kiss your bride, and may you continue to kiss her for years to come.”

Johann pulled Lotte into his arms and slowly lowered his lips to hers. He kissed her with all of the passion burning in his heart and felt her melt in his arms as she wrapped her slender arms around his neck and held on.

He’d been on cloud nine since his return, although he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night, panic-stricken that it was all but a dream and he was back in Russia.

But looking at her sweet face always grounded him in the new reality, one that was so different from the last decade. He still had difficulties coping and adapting. Sometimes he felt like a time traveler who’d been catapulted into the future. And other times he felt like a useless burden, a millstone around Lotte’s neck.

Lotte went to work every day and he… stayed home. Unsure what to do with his life. The profession of a soldier wasn’t exactly in demand right now and to tell the truth he was ready to exchange the rifle for a civilian career. Just what? Slave worker wasn’t exactly a recommendation either.

Thankfully, Lotte earned enough for both of them. She had urged him to take care of himself first, taking all the time he needed to adapt to life in freedom and decide on his career. But it undermined his sense of honor that he couldn’t provide for her.

Johann finally released his new wife when the priest tapped him on the shoulder, “Son, remember this is a church.”

Lotte flushed bright red and Johann grinned at her.

Life was good.

*** The End ***