Page 109 of All We Thought We Knew

“It’s you.”

My eyes roamed the canvas, taking in the beautiful, intricate details. A red scarf around the girl’s neck. Dark hair untamed, blowing in the breeze.

“Remember the story of the day I first met you?”

I nodded, my gaze fixed on the child in the portrait. “I was riding Midnight Pride.”

He sat next to me. “I figure the horse is a combination of Midnight Pride and Moonlight, but the girl is exactly how I remember you.”

I turned to face him, stunned, seeing him—reallyseeinghim—for the first time, my heart unexpectedly but wonderfully blown wide open. “I love you, Nash McCallum,” I said, laughing and crying at the same time. “I think I always have.”

“I love you too, Mattie. I think I always have.”

I kissed him then. Passionately. Completely.

With more love than I dreamed possible.

THIRTY-FOUR:AVA

CAMP FORREST, TENNESSEE

AUGUST 1945

Loud, raucous celebrating continued for days after Japan surrendered.

The Camp Forrest band marched down streets while military personnel and civilians alike waved American flags and cheered. Guns and even cannons went off, the sound of freedom rather than war. Only the German POWs who remained in camp wore solemn expressions, their fate, and the fate of their country, unknown.

I could hardly believe the war was over. While I cheered along with everyone else, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to Gunther now. Would he finally be released and finish his studies? Or would he be sent back to Germany?

I hadn’t heard from him in over a year. When I didn’t receive a response to my last two letters, I stopped writing to him. I had noway to know if he was still interned at Fort Lincoln or if he’d been transferred to a different camp. When the war in Europe ended, ships once again were free to sail the Atlantic without fear of attack from enemy U-boats. Almost immediately, the government began deporting German POWs and enemy aliens by the thousands, including some from Camp Forrest, shipping the men back to their war-torn fatherland.

I heaved a sigh.

I needed to forget Gunther Schneider. We didn’t have a future together. There was no point dwelling on it.

On Saturday afternoon, Gertrude found me in the kitchen brewing a pitcher of iced tea. Her eyes took in my dress and styled hair. “You going out with Colonel Foster?”

“He’s coming here,” I said.

Hew and I had begun seeing each other socially after the night I accompanied him to the dinner party. I’d wanted to take things slow, and he’d complied. I’d never invited him to the farm before, mainly because there wasn’t much privacy with three women living in one house.

But Ivy Lee moved out two days ago. Her colonel was transferred as soon as the war ended, bidding her a hasty farewell. He long ago revealed he was married, but he refused to leave his wife, as he’d promised, which left Ivy Lee in a rage. She’d stormed into the house, packed her belongings, and torn out of the yard a half hour later, bound for California. Gertrude wasn’t as upset as I thought she would be, considering how close the two women had become.

“Even though the war is over, I’m surprised she’s leaving her top secret job before Camp Forrest is decommissioned,” I said as we watched Ivy Lee’s car disappear in a cloud of dust.

A sheepish look crossed Gertrude’s face. “I guess I can tell you now.”

“Tell me what?”

“Ivy Lee didn’t have an important job. Not like yours. She worked in the laundry facility.”

My mouth gaped. “The laundry?”

We’d both burst into laughter.

Gertrude made herself scarce when Hew arrived. We sat on the porch swing and sipped tea, talking about the atomic bomb, the devastation to countries around the world, the sadness over the millions of lost lives.

Hew set his glass on the small table beside the swing and reached for my hand.