Lassone family in America, should I ever travel so far.”
“Baltimore, Major. The Lassone family of Baltimore. You won’t forget?”
“No, I won’t forget. Baltimore.”
Edward stepped forward, extending a hand. Max grasped it.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Max.”
“No need. I did what I had to do.”
But Edward shook his head. “No, you did more than that, and I’m grateful. I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life.”
Then he put his arm around Isa again and started to lead her away.
Though he barely let himself a moment ago, Max looked at Genny fully now and couldn’t take his eyes from her. If Edward spoke again, or if Isa made a last farewell, he did not hear them.
“Genny.”
“Max.”
“I cannot go with you; you know that.”
“But you can’t go back. You mustn’t.”
“No, not yet. But when I can. Somehow.”
“And in the meantime?”
He once again looked toward the distant border. “I’m a traitor, Genny. A traitor to Germany.”
“But you aren’t! You fought against injustice. You did what you thought was right.”
He stiffened. “I shot at men wearing my own uniform.”
“Yes! To save us—all of us! How could you have done anything else?”
“I could have stayed. I should have.”
“And been arrested yourself.”
He would have admitted that was what he deserved but knew she would only challenge that, too.
“It won’t be easy, going off on your own,” Genny said. Somehow he knew she wasn’t referring just to facing the German army again, but to all the rest. To Käethe. To his own disappointment over all he’d once served and believed in.
“I’m not sure life is supposed to be easy, Genny. After a life of ease, one might be surprised to find God’s there at all.”
She nodded, tears catching light in the corners of her eyes, a tremulous, brave smile on her lips. She’d never been lovelier.
“Genny,” he whispered, “there is much left unsaid between us. But it must be this way. I shall have to return home eventually. Or send for Käethe. I don’t know which, subject to what charges I may face.” He attempted a smile but felt only half his mouth obey. “I suppose that depends on who wins, doesn’t it?” He touched Genny’s chin with his thumb, looking at her intently. “I admire you greatly. I hold you dear. I’ll not say more because I’m not free to do so. I ask only one thing.”
She said nothing, gazing at him.
“That if I am ever free, I have your permission to find you.”
She offered a laugh that sounded more like a sigh, nodding her consent. “Max, I won’t ever forgive you if you don’t find me. Promise me that you will.”
He nodded, then placed a kiss on her forehead, not daring anything more.
He knew he would have to walk away because it was he who couldn’t have her, he who wasn’t free. He who needed to settle and mourn not only this, but the death of his allegiance to the country of his birth. Time alone could resolve all of that.
He took one step back, then offered a smile. He’d never had a confident smile, and this one wasn’t any different.
But it was all he had to give just then, and he preferred her memory of him to be that and not the sorrow that made such a smile so difficult. Leaning upon the makeshift crutch, he turned and walked steadily away.
He could not look back.
* * *
This war reveals the utter failure of such a notion as armed peace. Man has yet to discover a way to prevent war.
La Libre Belgique
* * *
Epilogue
Armistice Signed, End of the War! November 11, 1918
* * *
Isa Kirkland sat in the front parlor of her parents’ grand home, amid the noise of an end-of-the-war party. Celebrations had erupted all over Baltimore but none more festive than her mother’s. Perhaps few participants elsewhere had as much to be grateful for as Isa and her family.
But that wasn’t the only reason this was one party Isa welcomed. Her parents had spent more time in the last year with Isa and Charles than away from them, ignoring countless social obligations. Even now, with guests still pouring in and filling the many rooms of their elegant home, the family stayed intact here, in the smallest parlor of the house.
Across the room were her brother, Charles, and his wife, Julitte, Charles in concentrated discussion with Edward. Genny and Jonah were here too. Jonah was nearly as tall as Isa these days. And the newest addition to their family, a son recently