“Yes, Alden, and thank you.”
“What are friends for?”
CHAPTER 65
Gilde went to Alden’s flat as soon as the sun rose. She rang the downstairs buzzer.
“Who is it?”
“Gilde.”
“I wasn’t expecting you until nine.”
“Do you want me to come back?”
“Of course not. I’ll buzz you up,” he said.
Her eyes were red and swollen with crying. Her hair was uncombed.
Alden looked like he had just tumbled out of bed, and Gilde was pretty sure that he had. His hair was standing up in every direction, and he had a flannel robe over his pajamas.
“I’m sorry to be such a pest.”
“You’re not a pest. Sit down, please. Here, hold Teddy, he’ll help,” Alden said, putting the teddy bear in Gilde’s arms. “Come on, Gilde, smile. It will be alright I’ll put up a pot of tea.”
She sat on the edge of the sofa with the bear on her lap.
“Here you go.” He put the tea cup in her hands. “Now, a good hot cup of tea, the strength you get from Teddy, and the support of a good friend, that’s me, and you’ll be just fine. I’m the doc and that’s what the doctor orders.” He smiled.
As soon as he sat down beside her and gave her the tea cup, she began to relax. It was the first time she’d felt at peace since she’d made the decision to terminate her pregnancy.
“Alright Now, let’s talk,” he said, taking one of her hands in his.
She sipped the tea and then put the cup on the coffee table. “I don’t think I can go through with this. I had a nightmare and I am afraid I am doing something terrible. Oh, Alden, I am really afraid. Do you think I am doing something terrible?”
“I would never judge you or anyone else, Gilde.”
“I’m so confused. All of a sudden everywhere I look I see children. I’ve always wanted a child. I am afraid that if I have an abortion God will punish me and I’ll never be able to have another child.”
“I don’t believe in a hateful God like that, Gilde.”
“I’m lost, Alden. I’m thinking about going to a home for unwed mothers and giving the baby up for adoption once it’s born.”
“Well, I think I might have a better suggestion,” he said and cleared his throat. “Why don’t we get married. You and I? As I told you before, you don’t have to love me the way I love you. I wouldn’t want you to tell me that you did unless it’s the way you really feel. But if you want to have the baby, I love you enough to marry you and we can raise the child together.”
“I’d feel like I was taking advantage of you.”
“Would you be? I don’t think so. We’re best friends. We’d have a great life together. I mean, if you don’t think you would be happy being married to me, just say so and you can live here until the baby’s born, and then if you don’t want the child you can give it up for adoption.”
Either way, if she had the baby she would have to drop out of nursing school. They would not allow her to attend pregnant. And, she did like Alden. He made her feel safe, and he made her laugh. They would probably do well as a couple. Her feelings for him weren’t the sweet emotions of young love she’d experienced with William, or the wild physical need she’d shared with Archie. The feelings she had for Alden were calmer, more relaxed. But she had to admit, she cared for him and appreciated him. He made her feel like nothing bad could ever happen to her as long as he was with her. And, he made it clear that he would always be there for her. She’d never had that kind of safety in her life.
“I’ll marry you,” Gilde said.
“You will?” His eyes brightened, and he looked very happy but surprised.
“I will,” she said, smiling. He looked so excited. And suddenly everything in the world seemed alright
CHAPTER 66
No married or pregnant women were allowed in the nurses training at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Gilde reread the rule book that she’d received when she first started the program at the hospital.
“I’m going to have to go to the office and drop out of nursing school.” Gilde sighed as she talked to Alden an hour after they were married in a civil ceremony.
They’d gone out for dinner to celebrate and were sitting at a corner table in a restaurant.
“Do you want me to go with you?” he asked. “I will if you want me to.”
“No, I should do this alone.”
“I guess it’s a good thing that we have that second bedroom. I don’t think we should move now. We’ll use it as a nursery.”
“Can we afford such a big apartment without me working?”
“We’ll manage. You don’t have to worry about anything, Gilde. Just leave it to me.” Alden smiled.
CHAPTER 67
Elias
Babs caught Elias in their bed with another woman and threw him out of the house, swearing she never wanted to see him again. He was dead drunk and fell asleep on the lawn in front of the building. The next day when he awoke he returned to the apartment. They fought, yelling at each other so loud that the upstairs neighbor called the police. But when the police came, Babs told them that everything was fine and that she and Elias would be quiet. Then she allowed Elias to come back home. They had angry passionate sex that night. Then to secretly punish him, she had a casual affair with an actor she met at an audition. It was a quick and meaningless hour of lust that only happened a handful of times. But Babs made sure to leave evidence of her infidelity all over the apartment. She wanted to hurt him. But when Elias realized Babs was cheating, he accused her of having been unfaithful all along.
They fought again. This time Elias hit her and they separated. He found a small apartment on the other side of town. But he missed her terribly and began taking the bus to the old neighborhood where they’d lived. He watched outside her apartment to see if he could catch a glimpse of her, but he couldn’t. Elias needed something to keep him going. He was drinking and obsessing about Babs. So, he decided to put in a request to the British intelligence agency for a more challenging job.
Elias, along with another male agent, was sent on a mission to rescue two important fellow agents who had been taken prisoner in Germany. During the mission, things went badly and Elias was shot and wounded. If it hadn’t been for the other agent he was working with, he would have bled to death. The bullet struck his upper arm and he had never felt such pain. With the help of his coworker he was able to get to the location of a private plane and return to a hospital in Britain.
“Is there anyone you would like us to notify?” the nurse who came into Elias’s room asked.
“Yes, my wife. Babs. Let me give you her number. Call her right away,” he said.
He gave the nurse the phone number. When she left he looked at his wound. If he’d been hit just a few inches to the right he would be dead right now. The near-death experience made him long to see Babs. They had a volatile relationship, but he loved her. He knew he did. All of the other women he was unfaithful with meant nothing to him. They were shields against the true depth of his emotions. If only he could explain this to Babs. If only he could be sure she was really in love with him, maybe he could stop it and allow her to be his one true love. But, hadn’t she just had an affair with another man, some actor, unsuccessful too? And wasn’t that proof enough that she was just like the others? Women were ruthless. They could break your heart and leave you without a thought.
Damn, he wished he could get a drink. But of course that was impossible in the hospital.
Babs would be here soon. He knew her. She would be a wreck when she heard he’d almost died. But that still didn’t keep her faithful. Well, maybe if he was real nice and asked her sweetly, she’d smuggle in a pint for him. That would help, at least for now.
CHAPTER 68
February 1945
Dr. Alden Thornbury had never been happier. He and Gilde were enjoying every step of her pregnancy. As soon as he signed the marriage license, Alden decided t
o put Archie out of his mind and out of their lives. From that day forward, in his mind the child that Gilde carried was his. The little one would bear his name and he would be a good father for the rest of his life. If it had taken a disastrous affair with Archie to make Gilde see that she would be happy with him, then all he could do was thank Archie. Because Alden was in love and all of his dreams seemed to be coming true.
For the first trimester of her pregnancy, Gilde couldn’t keep any food down. Alden tried everything, even pulling favors with patients who had friends on the black market to get food he thought Gilde might find more appealing. However, no matter what she ate, it had a strange metallic aftertaste and she vomited within a half hour. However, now that she was well into her second trimester she was hungry all the time. Not only was she able to eat, but she was able to eat more than she had ever eaten at one sitting than she’d ever eaten in her life. Her belly grew big and hard, and Alden loved to rub it or put his ear up against it and listen to the baby. Sometimes he talked or sang to the baby. Gilde often did the same. Again, Alden went to friends who were able to get him extra and appealing food through the black market. He loved delighting Gilde. And there was no question that he would do anything in his power to make her enjoy being his wife. He brought home small gifts of hair ribbons and occasionally soap or perfume. Gilde knew that these things were available on the black market, but the price was high and she wondered how Alden afforded all of it. But when she asked him, all he ever said was “Anything for you, my darling.”
Alden adored his young beautiful wife, and he was beginning to believe that she might be falling for him too. She laughed a lot and always seemed so happy. Sometimes, he wondered if he were just dreaming, but other times he was sure he saw something twinkle in her eyes when she looked at him. It was a special light and dare he say, loving look. But most of all, Alden was sure that he had not seen it there before they were married.
The first time they made love, on the night they were wed, he was nervous like a virgin girl. This was not because he hadn’t been with women before. He had, but they were only casual dates, and he had never wanted to please anyone as much as he’d wanted to please his wife. After they’d finished she’d breathed a sigh of contentment. Even now, when he thought of that sigh, he could still hear her in the darkness, and the sweet, tender sound of knowing that he’d satisfied her made him smile.
Until Alden and Gilde were wed, he’d willingly taken extra hours at the hospital without a thought. He loved his work, but he found that he loved his new wife more. And since his marriage, he’d changed. Now, from the time he left, no matter where he was going, until his key turned in the lock and he opened the door to their apartment and saw her lovely face, he longed to go home.
CHAPTER 69
1945
In her final trimester of pregnancy, Gilde was miserably uncomfortable. Her belly was so large she couldn’t find a comfortable position when she tried to sleep. And her breasts ached all the time. The baby lay on her bladder all night, and if she finally did fall asleep she’d wake up several times a night to urinate. On a rainy afternoon in the last week of April, when the sky was the color of burnt charcoal, Alden got off work early. It was a chilly day and he thought Gilde might enjoy something warm, so he brought home a pot of hot soup from the hospital cafeteria.
Gilde was surprised to see him.
“I missed you so much today that I took the afternoon off.”
“Just like that?”
“Sort of. I told them I wasn’t feeling well, and the head doc on duty let me go home. It’s been ten days since I had any time off.”
“Are you sick?” She was genuinely concerned.
“No, I’m fine, just wanted some time with you,” he said.
She was sitting on the sofa wrapped in a blanket reading one of his books.
“I brought soup. Let me get you a cup.”
He brought two cups of the steaming broth. “I raced all the way home so it wouldn’t get cold.”
She laughed. “We could have warmed it up.”
“I didn’t want you to feel like you had to do anything. I know how exhausted you are.”
“I can’t believe it’s almost over. A couple of months and the baby will be here.”
“Yes.” He smiled.
“You know, I have been meaning to ask you. Your family? Do they know that you and I are married? You’ve never mentioned them.” Gilde asked, “Have you told them anything?”
“You’re right. I haven’t mentioned my family,” Alden said. “And for a good reason. Do you remember when I told you that Archie was in for a hell of a fight with his folks if he married you? Well, my family and Archie’s family run in the same circles. He didn’t recognize me when I came to examine him because although we went to the same boarding school, he was the big popular athlete on campus. I was in the science lab, constantly studying. I knew, even then, that I wanted to be a doctor. The same way I knew from the first day I saw you that I wanted to marry you. I’m not an indecisive kind of man. I am not like Archie. I don’t care what my family thinks….”
“Do they know that we’re married?”
“Yes, I called and told them before we tied the knot.”
“And what did they say?”
“They disapproved. They had someone in mind who they thought would be the perfect wife for me. She’s a nice girl, rich, from a rich family, all the criteria they expect. But she wasn’t you. And I don’t love her. So, I told them, I was going to marry you. They could accept it or not, but either way, no matter what they did or said, it wasn’t going to change my mind.”
“They didn’t accept it,” she said as she took his hand and held it to her cheek. “You’re so cold.”
“Yes, it was freezing out there. But, no they didn’t accept it. And, quite frankly, I don’t care. I love you and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
She curled into him and he held her close, taking in the fragrance of her freshly washed hair.
“I love it when you use the special soap I got you to wash your hair.”
“It smells like lavender. I love it too, but I try to save it.”
“Well, you don’t have to. Things are looking very good for us as far as the war goes. Russia is advancing towards Berlin. Soon it’ll be all over. The Allies will be victorious and I’ll be able to get you plenty of soap.”
His arms encircled her while she rested in the embrace.
He felt the fire stirring in his loins. “I’d love to carry you into the bedroom and make love to you for the rest of the day. But, I don’t think it’s safe for the baby.”
“Hmmm,” she said, disappointed. She would have loved to spend a relaxing and sensuous afternoon with him, but she knew he was right. “I know. We’ll have to wait.”
“That will only make our lovemaking sweeter when we can be together. I love you so much, Gilde. I don’t care about anything else. I used to think that my job would be my whole life. I’d be a doctor. Probably never marry. But even if I did, I never dreamed that life could be this blissful.”
“Alden.” She took his hand from around her waist and put it to her lips. Kissing it gently. “I realized something....”
“What.”
“I love you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I really love you.”
He turned her around and kissed her. Then he cuddled her in his arms and gave silent thanks to God.
CHAPTER 70
At the end of April, two days after Gilde declared her love for Alden, making him the happiest man alive, the US forces liberated Dachau concentration camp. The atrocities they found behind the barbed wire fence stunned the world. Piles of dead skeletal bodies, thousands of starving, tortured people. Many of them were Jewish. When Gilde read about it in the paper all she could think of was her family. Were any of those she loved among the dead?
CHAPTER 71
Then on April 30 Adolf Hitler and his wife of a few hours, Eva Braun, committed s
uicide in his underground bunker, the Wolf’s Lair, in Poland. Before Hitler died, he saddled Admiral Donitz with the responsibility of handling the mess he’d made of Germany. Hitler insisted that Donitz continue to fight to the end. However, the Nazi surrender had begun.
On May 7, 1945 in a city in France, Germany signed the document of surrender. Then late on the evening of May 8th, the fighting stopped. The following day, at Stalin’s insistence, another signing of surrender took place in Berlin.
The Allies rejoiced. After six bitter years of sacrifice, war, and death, they had finally destroyed Hitler and his terrible Third Reich.
CHAPTER 72
June 1945
Gilde awakened early at around four o’clock on the morning of June 16th, 1945 with slight cramping. Alden lay deep in sleep beside her. The baby is coming, she thought. My baby is going to be born into a peaceful world. A world without Nazi rule. The pains were a half hour apart and not very strong. She’d let Alden sleep for a little while. How wonderful it would be to go home to Germany and see her parents, her sister, Lotti and Lev again. Or would it? Once she found out the truth, who was alive, who was dead, who was injured, she could no longer delude herself that everything would be okay. She would have to face and accept whatever awaited her. In a way, she was relieved that they couldn’t get into Germany yet; however, she’d already decided that as soon as the borders opened, even though she was afraid of what she might find, she was going. It had been so long since she’d allowed herself to even dream of the day when she could be reunited with her family. She’d stifled that wish long ago because it seemed like the war might never end. Very soon now, she would be able to go back to Germany, to her childhood home. But sadly, she could never really recapture the lost years….
Watch Over My Child: Book Three in the Michal's Destiny Series Page 21
