War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 86

Chapter 31

P

eter stood up when he saw her coming towards him, a smile on his tense face. Anna squinted her eyes at him, praying that he didn’t bear bad news. After their recent scare, she’d become so accustomed to reading every one of his expressions – and probably reading too much into them.

“Sweetheart.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lightly on the lips before he pulled out the chair for her. “What do you want to eat?”

“What do they have?” She let her eyes travel across the meager contents of the show window. She spied a brioche braid and pointed at it. “The

Hefezopf

looks good.”

Minutes later Peter returned to their small table in the corner of the bakery with two mugs of

Ersatzkaffee

, and a plate with two pieces of

Hefezopf

. Anna raised a brow as he almost spilled the coffee when setting it down.

Why is he so nervous? The Tretter incident is long forgotten.

“I need to tell you something,” he said as he took a seat beside her.

Anna nodded, a lump forming in her throat. Judging by the expression on his face she wouldn’t like his impending confession.

“It’s…I thought…there are still some things you don’t know about me,” he said, impaling a piece of brioche with his fork.

Fear grabbed at Anna’s heart. “Go on.”

He glanced around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and lowered his voice. “Please hear me out first? I didn’t tell you earlier, because…” He rubbed his beard. “…because I didn’t know how. But I don’t want any secrets between us, when…” He paused and glanced at her.

“You’re scaring me, Peter,” Anna whispered.

“It’s nothing to be scared of, it’s just…” He put a hand on hers as if to make sure she wouldn’t run away, took a deep breath, and then said, “I told you that after finishing school I’d had enough of the countryside and moved to Warsaw where I joined the Polish Army. But that wasn’t the only reason. I had met a girl during the summer and when she became pregnant we married, and I moved to Warsaw to live with her family.”

“You’re married?” Anna gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

“No. I’m widowed and…” His voice broke and now it was Anna who held onto his hand to make sure he wouldn’t run away.

“What happened?” she asked, her heart breaking for him.

“Her family…she…they were Jews. A few months before Hitler invaded, I sent Ludmila, our son Janusz, and Ludmila’s sister to live with my family on the farm, because I thought they would be safer there than alone in the capital.” He gazed at Anna with a sadness in his eyes she’d never seen before. “I never saw them again. After my escape to Britain, I received notice that all three had been interned in the Lodz Ghetto.”

“Lodz?” Anna hadn’t heard that name before.

“It’s been renamed Litzmannstadt after the invasion,” Peter explained and then continued. “A year later the British intelligence service found out that Ludmila had died in Lodz and Jan had been on one of the transports to the camp in Chelmno.”

Anna shuddered. Chelmno was high in the hierarchy of concentration camps, one of six camps located in occupied Poland designed as an ultimate destination for Jews. An orphaned child on its own had zero chance of surviving even a single week. “How old was your son?”

“Eight or nine.” Peter’s eyes became damp.

“I’m so sorry,” Anna said and busied herself with her brioche. So much grief in the world caused by a single man’s madness. A long silence ensued between them, where both of them were lost in thought.

“Anna.” His voice cut through her reflectiveness. “This part of my life is long over. But I wanted you to know about it, because I want to move forward, with you.” He gave her a nervous smile and made her stand up, before he bent on one knee and said, “Anna Klausen, I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me? Be my partner through these bad times and the good ones that will follow? Have my children? Be my helpmate in all areas of our lives?”

Anna wept tears of joy by the time he finished speaking, and couldn’t summon her voice to answer him. She nodded and then found herself scooped into his arms as he kissed her soundly right there in the back of the bakery. When he released her, the other patrons, mostly women, were clapping their hands and smiling at them.

“I will. I will. I’d never want to live a single day without you,” Anna declared, finding her voice again. Peter grinned at her with so much joy it swept her away.

“It’s not gold, but it’s a ring.” He chuckled as he pushed an antique silver ring with a blue stone on her finger.

“I love it because it’s a gift from you.” Anna kissed him and they left the bakery hand in hand. They caught the bus to her family’s place to tell Mutter and Ursula about the engagement.

“Anna, Peter, come in.” Mutter greeted them with a tired face. She had recently been forced to take up work in an ammunition factory.

“Mutter, you look exhausted, are you alright?” Anna asked as they moved into the kitchen, where she stopped short at the sight of a tall, honey-blonde, and very thin woman about her age.

“This is Sabine,” Mutter said, introducing them, “our bombed-out refugee. And this is my second daughter, Anna, and her boyfriend, Peter.”

Anna disliked the woman at first glance, but made an effort not to show it and gave her a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“The same to you,” Sabine answered and extended her hand to shake first hers, and then Peter’s. But not before giving them a once-over from head to toe.

“Where’s Ursula?” Anna asked her mother.

“Queuing for rations,” Mutter said, shrugging, “poor girl. So far along, and now the entire household rests on her shoulders. I would rather see her safe in the country with Lydia, but she insists that she’s needed here.”

Sabine perked up her ears, and Anna felt the hair on her neck stand on end.

“Frau Klausen,” Peter said, squeezing Anna’s hand. “In the absence of your husband, I would like to ask you for your daughter’s hand.”

Mutter plopped down on the kitchen chair and stared at both of them, and then she started to laugh uncontrollably for such a long time that Anna became scared. She hadn’t worked as nurse for quite a while, but she still knew the signs of a nervous breakdown.

“We’ll take my mother to her room,” she said with a side-glance at Sabine, who dutifully stepped out of the way.

When Anna closed the bedroom door behind them and Sabine was out of earshot, her mother stopped giggling and switched on the radio to a program with folks songs.

“I’m sorry. The last days have been dreadful. For the past decade the government has acknowledged the woman’s role at home and hearth, has encouraged us to bear and raise children, and now that they’ve sent our husbands and sons to war they force us to work in their ammunition factories. What kind of world is this?” Tears rolled down Mutter’s cheeks, which scared Anna even more, because she’d never seen her mother cry until this moment.

“You could get an exception from work on medical grounds,” Anna said.

“No. I will work alright.” Mutter squinted her eyes. “First Ursula gets pregnant from God knows whom and now you…you know that both of you will be sent to prison should anyone find out.”

“We won’t be able to legally marry,” Peter said. He would never get the documents needed for a marriage license with his false papers. And his true identity as a Pole having a relationship with a German woman would land him in a concentration camp faster than he could spell his name.

“We don’t need the Nazis’ approval, but we can be married in the sight of God,” Anna said.

“Don’t tell me you are in a delicate condition too.” Mutter glanced at Anna’s stomach.

“No. No.” Anna shook her head. “But I love Peter and want to be with him.”

“What if I say no?” Mutter said, her eyes darting from her daughter to Peter.

Peter bowed his head, “I would of course respect your wish, Frau Klausen. But I would try to change your mind.”

For a moment Anna’s heart was squeezed, but then she saw her mother smile.

“Don’t worry. I give you my blessing. Since none of my children will listen to me anymore, I can only hope you have more success in keeping Anna out of trouble.”

“Thank you, Frau Klausen. I will most certainly try,” Peter said with a chuckle.

A week

later Anna and Peter stood together in Pfarrer Bernau’s private office. Under the current circumstances, he had agreed to wed them in an illicit ceremony, giving their relationship God’s blessing.

Behind the happy couple stood Mutter with a solemn face, Ursula weeping a flood of joyful tears, and Anna’s youngest sister, Lotte. When Anna phoned her the news, Lotte had moved heaven and earth to receive a travel permit to assist at her

best friend’s

wedding.

“Things may seem difficult or impossible right now, but they won’t stay this way. The war will end and things will change for all of us. Meanwhile I am honored to unite this man Piotr Zdanek and the woman he has chosen to become his wife, Anna Klausen. Albeit not in the name of the Government, but in the name of God, He who matters most.”

They exchanged their vows and then the priest said with a twinkle in his eyes, “You may now kiss the bride.”

Peter swept her up in his arms and pressed a kiss on her lips, making her heart burst with unconditional love.