She loves him, let's herself be loved by him, but when the night is over, and the morning sun shines through the curtains.
He is gone…
She reaches over to the spot where he sleeps, her mechanical arm unable to feel the heat, so she stuffs her face into it instead, stealing the warmth. He doesn't smell like she expects. He wears cologne and smells of bath soap. The Major never wore it, perhaps he didn't like it, or perhaps because he was in the War and there was no time for such simple things.
Violet frowns.
She shouldn't be thinking of the Major.
Not when…
"I brought you some tea?" She smiles up at the face of her lover.
"Thank you Dietfried."
"You're welcome."
They share the bed for the morning, drinking their tea, both their hair unbound, wild, and the air yet so calm and peaceful she forgets that he is there in the first place. Instead she keeps in the guilt at wondering if he pondered the ghost of his brother between them.
If he wondered what would have happened if his brother and her had returned.
Would he have ever made his intentions known, acted on them with his brother still alive?
Violet sips her tea.
"We have a busy day," Dietfried mumbles, "I probably won't see you till later."
"Okay."
"You are free to spend the day with my mother."
"Okay."
"I'll see you tonight," he kisses her cheek, and leaves the room, not a glance in her direction, not when the sun was shining so brightly.
The Day Dietfried was so different from the Night Dietfried.
Violet sighs, frustrated, horny, and upset with the bitterness she feels that her memories of the Major still press so strongly over her. A hammer that knocks into her everyday life and makes everything so much more difficult.
She sips, "damn."