The joyous sounds of caroling had died down, and Elizabeth knew that it was almost time for her older brother to take Paul away to face the consequences of his actions. When the young man had arrived unexpectedly at her family's Christmas celebration, bearing a small, undecorated tree and a tale of Martin Luther, she'd been enchanted with not only his good looks but also his gentle, mild demeanor. But a war was waging, one in which Paul was on the wrong side.

"Wait!" she cried as her uniform-clad brother stepped outside with their uninvited guest. Two pairs of eyes turned to stare at her in surprise.

"Does he really have to go to prison?" she asked her brother.

"It's all right," Paul said bravely. "One day the war will be over, and I'll be free again."

"But who knows when that will ever be!" Although she'd only just met the young man, she was genuinely concerned for him. She'd heard horror stories about the way prisoners of war were treated.

"It's Elizabeth, right?" Paul smiled. "It won't be long, and I'll write to you, if you'd like."

"Oh, yes, I would like!" she exclaimed.

He laughed indulgently. She wrote her address down for him, and he pocketed it with a wave farewell.

After he'd left, she felt foolish. He was a grown man, a young one, granted, but grown nonetheless, while she was still a school girl. What did he think of her now? She must have come across as some kind of lovesick puppy. Would he really write to her? Or would he just laugh the whole thing off?

She thought about him every single day for the remainder of the Christmas vacation. When the spring term started, she walked to school with Aimee Godsey like she usually did.

"Why are you so quiet?" Aimee asked her.

"I met this guy," Elizabeth told her. "His name's Paul, and he's German, but you'd never guess it. When he was young, his family lived here in the United States for a long time, so he sounds just like us when he talks. He escaped from a POW camp and was hiding in the woods close to our house. Jeffrey found him and invited him over for Christmas. After that, my brother took him back to the POW camp."

"So you're in love with a German?" Elizabeth could hear the disapproval in her friend's voice.

"I only just met him," she replied. "But I really like him a lot, and I hope to see him again some day."

"I can't believe that with all the American soldiers around, you'd actually fall for a German," Aimee snorted.

"He's a really nice guy," Elizabeth argued. "If you'd met him, you'd like him, too."

"Oh, I seriously doubt that."

Elizabeth was soon so involved in school work that she'd pushed Paul to the back of her mind. In January her niece, Virginia, was born. She went to the hospital to meet the baby, and as she held the warm, soft bundle and looked into the unfocused dark blue eyes, she wondered whether she'd ever be a mother herself. For some reason that made her think of Paul, and she felt an unfamiliar pang inside.

A few days later it finally came. Her first letter from Paul.