White Rose Black Forest(81)

She’d been confined to the safety of the camp after he’d entered the hospital, hadn’t seen him since that day, and had only been informed by letter of the miracle of his survival. He’d sent letters thanking her for saving his life through the sheer force of her will, asserting over and over his promise to return to her, but somehow she still felt alone. She couldn’t bring herself to believe him, and the hope within her faded as the flow of correspondence between them dwindled to a trickle.

Night was drawing in, the light of day little more than a glow above the Black Forest in the distance. She hadn’t turned on the lamp in the corner. The room had darkened around her. There seemed no point in lighting a room she was about to leave. It was time. There was no avoiding it now. Her suitcase sat by her bed. She went to it and packed the last of her possessions. It was barely half-full as she closed it. She picked it up and in one hand felt the weight of what was left of her life.

She heard the soft sound of the bedroom door closing. “I told you I’d come back for you,” came the voice from behind her—a voice she’d heard only in her dreams these last months. She moved her hand to the lamp in the corner and flicked it on. Golden light enveloped the room, illuminating where John stood at the door, in full military dress, a bright line of medals across his chest. He took off his hat and put it under his arm. “I’ll never leave you again.”

“I’ll never let you,” she replied.

He came to her and took her in his arms, all other words lost in their embrace.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my wife, Jill, for her belief in me and for being my all-purpose sounding board. I want to thank my beta readers for their work in sifting through the rubble of my early drafts: Jack Layden, Shane Woods, Betsy Frimmer, Carol McDuell, Chris Menier, Jackie Kosbob, Nicola Hogan, Liz Guinan Havens, Morgan Leafe, and of course the beautiful Jill Dempsey. Thanks also to Dr. Liz Slanina and Dr. Derek Donegan for their technical help. Thanks to my fabulous agent, Byrd Leavell, and to my editors, Jenna Free, Erin Anastasia, and Will Champion, who made me laugh out loud many times with his colorful language in the edits. Thanks to Jodi Warshaw and Chris Werner, my fantastic editors at Lake Union, and all the staff there who are so friendly, responsive, and kind.

Thanks to my brother Brian for keeping me honest, and my brother Conor for helping to instill a love of all things historical in me. Thanks to my sister, Orla, for her constant support, and of course to my parents, Robert and Anne Dempsey, for making me this way. And thanks to my beautiful sons, Robbie and Sam. You are the keys to everything now and the main force driving me onward in my journey toward becoming the writer I one day hope to be.