Chapter Thirty Six

3rd April, 1945

"George, I can't see a goddamn thing."

"Well I can't let you look because it'll ruin the surprise," George answered, carefully guiding Evelyn along the narrow path.

"I hate surprises," Evelyn grumbled petulantly.

"That's the biggest lie I've ever heard," George snorted. "Look, we're nearly there, ok? There's a step coming up ahead, just be caref-"

"-Ow!" Evelyn hissed as her ankle bone met with the very step George had been talking about. She gritted her teeth as the pain radiated around her foot, in the same manner that an arm tingles when the funny bones gets hurt.

"Are you alright?" George asked.

"I'll survive," she glared, not that George could see it given that his sweaty hands were over her eyes. I swear to God, you better have washed those hands, George. She shuddered, dreading to think what germs might currently be wriggling all over her face.

"Ok, now watch out, we're just gonna go through this door. Nice and steady, that's it. We're almost there," George led her through an open door way. "Alright, are you ready to see your surprise now?"

George removed his hands and Evelyn didn't bother to conceal her disappointment at seeing Liebgott, Babe and Eugene stood in front of her with excited smiles on their faces. She glanced around the room noticing nothing exciting or even remotely out of the ordinary. It was just an office. Fairly dark, a little dusty. She couldn't understand what the big fuss was all about.

"This is my surprise?" she frowned. "You just dragged me half way across camp, where I nearly broke my neck about a hundred times because of your shitty directions, all for this?"

"Nice to see you too," Liebgott smirked, walking towards her and pulling her close to him.

"Sorry," she grinned. "I'm of course happy to see you guys, but I literally saw you all at breakfast this mornin'. In fact, I spend almost every wakin' hour with you all. So you understand why I'm a bit let down by this so called surprise. Where even are we, anyway?"

"Nixon's office," Eugene answered. "I told him that I needed a quiet space for a while, and he was very obliging."

"Why would you do that?" Evelyn asked.

"Oh don't you just love that adorable face she pulls when she doesn't know something? Sometimes I love to wind her up just so I can see that little nose all scrunched up," George chuckled at her confusion.

"Fuck off," she stuck up her middle finger at him. "Can someone please tell me what the fuck we're all doin' in Nixon's office? Cos I can think of better things to do with my day than stand around here with you lot."

"Well perhaps if you hadn't have walked in here and straight away acted like such a mega bitch, we could have told you sooner," Babe raised an eyebrow at her. "Congratulations on becomin' a Mommy."

And just the like parting of the red sea, Eugene, Babe and George separated to reveal Nixon's desk laden with all kinds of food and drink.

"It's not much but it's the best we could do," Eugene smiled.

"What is all this?" Evelyn gasped, looking around at them all in awe.

"It's a party, you dolt," Babe rolled his eyes.

"For me?"

"No, for the king of England," George tutted. "Of course for you. Our favourite girl is having a baby, so we felt the need for a celebration. And also to show that we're the perfect godfather candidates."

"And we even managed to find some music for the occasion," Babe grinned, heading over to the small record player in the corner of the office.

"I don't know what to say," she said, smiling as Glen Miller began playing. "You guys are the sweetest. Did you know about this?"

"Yeah," Joe smiled, kissing her soundly on the lips. "They told me this morning. Apparently they planned it last night. They did good, huh?"

"That they did," she agreed, snaking her arms around Lieb's neck and kissing him back. "I still can't believe this is happenin'. We're havin' a baby."

"I know," Lieb grinned, his hand rubbing her flat stomach. "I couldn't stop smiling this morning during training. I swear Speirs thought there was something wrong with me. Even when he gave me an extra fifty sit ups, I smiled the whole way through them."

"And lucky old me didn't have to do any trainin' whatsoever," she smirked. "Although, thinkin' about it, I would have preferred that to the copious amounts of paperwork Eugene left for me."

"Well, I'm glad Doc's managed to convince Speirs to let you off training for a few days. You and that little thing in there need to take it easy, even if that means you're filling out piles of paperwork as tall as you."

"Slave driver," she kissed him again, not caring that the others were watching. It was so nice to be able to just behave like a normal couple, and not have to sneak around to steal a moment together no one could see.

"Ok, now stop all that lovey dovey crap and get over here before I'm sick," George beckoned them over. "You wouldn't believe the challenge it's been keeping Heffron away from all this food, so you better come and get some before he gets his mitts on it."

Evelyn's stomach rumbled loudly as her eyes scanned the various goods on offer. She was so hungry, and luckily any morning sickness she got seemed to start to dissipate around lunchtime, so she was ready and eager to tuck in.

"You think you've got enough there?" George asked, as she piled her plate high with bread, cheese, potatoes, meat, vegetables, anything she could see.

"Hey, I'm eatin' for two now," she grinned. "Also it's my party so I think I can eat what I want. How did you even get all of this stuff anyway?"

"That's for me to know," George tapped the side of his nose.

"You bribed one of the cooks with some lucky strikes, didn't you?"

"Threw in a box of Hershey bars too," he smirked.

"I love you George," she kissed his cheek. "I love all of you guys actually. And I don't know what I would do without any of you."

"You're our friend, and we would do anything for you," George smiled sincerely. "Now everyone, get yourselves a drink so we can make a toast."

Babe had managed to commandeer a crate of cola, so they each took a bottle and waited for George to speak again.

"Oh, am I the one actually making the toast?" he frowned. "I just thought I'd get us all quiet and that one of you two were gonna actually do it."

"Fine, I'll do it," Liebgott rolled his eyes. "Um, firstly I would like to say thank you for this little gathering. It means a lot to me as well as to Evelyn. And secondly, I would like to thank Evelyn because she's given me the best gift ever and made me the happiest man alive. She's gonna be an amazing Mom and our kid is lucky to have her."

"To Evelyn," Babe raised his bottle. He couldn't deny that Liebgott's words hurt him a little, but it only took one look at the joy on Evelyn's face to remind him that she had a good guy in Liebgott.

"To Evelyn," they chorused.

"Well isn't this cosy?" a voice spoke suddenly, stopping the merriment in its tracks.

They all stood to attention, barely moving a muscle as Speirs stepped through the doorway. He eyed them all one by one, taking notice of the plates of food and bottles of cola. Babe hurriedly turned off the record player before resuming his position at attention.

"You seem to have recovered from the mysterious illness that rendered you unable to partake in training this morning," Speirs narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Evelyn.

"Well it comes and goes, Sir," she said innocently.

"Hmm," Speirs didn't conceal his disbelief. "Tomorrow you've all been given a reprieve from training, so that should give you another day to make sure that you're completely recovered. I'll expect to see you at training after that."

"I'm sure I'll be fine by then, Sir," she nodded. Usually, she would make some sort of wise ass remark that would draw a reluctant grin from their CO, but even she knew not to push the boundaries of respect when they were in front of other people.

"Does Captain Nixon know about the party taking place in his office?" Speirs asked.

"He does, Sir," Eugene answered.

"We were, uh, havin' a small celebration for Evelyn's birthday," Babe stammered.

"Her birthday's in September, you idiot," George tutted and rolled his eyes, completely oblivious to the fact that Babe was merely trying to think of an plausible excuse under pressure. "Call yourself a friend?" he snorted, shaking his head.

"We're celebratin' early," Babe said through gritted teeth.

"We are?" George frowns. And then suddenly realisation dawned. "We are! Yeah, we didn't celebrate last year and who knows where we'll be this year, so we thought we'd do it now."

"Yeah, you know how girls get when nobody makes a fuss of their birthdays. Especially Evelyn. She has a tendency to get irate over anythin' and everythin'," Babe tittered, ignoring the deathly Guarnere glare cast his way.

"That is true," Speirs smirked, enjoying the irritation on Evelyn's face. Although not as much as he was enjoying the elaborate tale being spun right before his eyes. He didn't know what on earth was going on, but if he was being honest, they weren't causing anyone any harm so he wasn't overly bothered. But he did get a kick out of giving them all the heebie jeebies.

"Is that cake I see?" he peered over at the table.

"Oh yeah," Babe nodded furiously. "You want some, Sir? George quick, get the Captain some cake."

"Oh sure," George hurriedly reached for a plate, almost dropping it in his haste.

"Is that cheese I see as well?"

"You want some of that too?" George plonked some cheese on the plate.

"Maybe a little of that smoked sausage if there's any going spare?" Speirs asked.

"Plenty spare, Sir. In fact, why don't I just give you a little bit of everything?" George answered, piling Speirs' plate so high that the mountain of food threatened to topple over. "Here you go, Sir."

Speirs took the plate with a nod, biting on his cheek to hold back the grin threatening to split across his face.

"I reckon I might need something to wash all this down with as well," Speirs frowned.

"Here, take a drink too," Babe thrust a bottle into his hand.

"Very good of you," Speirs smirked. "Carry on then."

As soon as his boot steps disappeared into the far distance, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Do you think he knew?" Evelyn looked around with a grimace on her face. "What we were really doin' I mean?"

"Not unless the guy has the ability to read minds," Liebgott chortled. "I think we're safe."

"How can you be so calm about this?" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Even if he doesn't know about the baby, he must know we're all up to something. Dumb and dumber over there weren't exactly very convincin'."

"Hey, I thought we thought we acted stupendously," George said indignantly.

"I wouldn't be holdin' out for an Oscar anytime soon, George," Evelyn glared. "Seriously Joe, I have this awful feelin' he's gonna be watchin' our every move until he figures out what's goin' on."

"I think you're being slightly dramatic," Joe put his hands on her shoulders.

"Nothing new there," George muttered.

"Evelyn, I think Liebgott is right," Babe said. "Don't look so surprised. It's a miracle, I know. If Speirs was suspicious, he would have flat out interrogated us until he got what he was looking for. And he knows that we would all have caved in a second because the guy is scary as fuck."

"You honestly think that Speirs believed the ridiculous excuse that you two idiots came up with?"

"Well no," Babe admitted. "But he probably just thought it was somethin' minor, like we'd stolen a bunch of food from the kitchens and were just hidin' out to eat it all without anyone knowin'."

"Heffron does have a point," Eugene agreed. "I don't think you've got anything to worry about."

"I guess," she shrugged, wishing she was as confident as the rest of them.

"Now enjoy the rest of your party will you, and stop fussing," Liebgott cupped her cheek and smiled down her. "I'll even share my slice of cake with you."

"You're too good to me."

…...

It was the middle of the night. Evelyn and Joe were outside at their secret little spot, happy that this time spent together was much different from their last visit there.

The camp was quiet and in the distance, an owl hooted. The air was still and the content. As they lay down, looking up at the stars above them in the clear night sky, they spoke in a murmured hush.

"…So my Mom caught me tryin' to stick all the pieces back together, and she had that look in her eye. You know the one that all Moms have, where you know they're gonna smack you so hard that you won't be able to sit for a week. Anyway, just as she's about lose her mind, Bill comes saunterin' in and takes the blame. He tells my Mom that he tried to pin it on me cos he didn't wanna get in trouble but in the end he couldn't do it to me. Needless to say, she was furious and poor Bill genuinely couldn't sit down to eat dinner for about three days."

"You must miss him?" Liebgott asked, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb as it lay clasped within his own.

"Yeah," Evelyn nodded. "He's arrogant and over protective, and annoyin' as hell, but he's the best brother in the world. I often wish I was back home to help him through losin' his leg and learnin' to walk again with a prosthesis. It must be so hard for him. Well, I know it is because he admitted it when I saw him in the hospital before he got shipped out. He was so deflated and not the confident person I was used to. I guess it didn't help that he had a letter in his hands that he knew might cause me to never want to speak to him ever again."

"I won't lie when I say I'm often still shocked that you forgave him so easily."

"Me too," she admitted with a wry smile. "Maybe if he had told me before Bastogne, I would have reacted differently."

"How do you think he'll react to the baby?" Liebgott asked.

"I have no idea," Evelyn answered turning her head to look at him. Liebgott raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Yeah ok, that's a lie. He'll be mad and he'll yell because we're not married and because, well, let's face it, you're probably not his first choice for me."

"That's an understatement," Lieb snorted. "If my name was Babe and I hailed from South Philly, he would be all over me like a fly on shit."

"Shut up," Evelyn pinched him on the stomach. "Truthfully though, once he's done bein' mad, he'll hug me and apologise for bein' such a moron, and tell me that he'll help me in any way he can. Also, he'll proclaim himself the best uncle the kid'll ever have. And finally, he'll calm down my parents. He'll kiss my Mom and tell her she's gonna be the prettiest Nonna the world has ever seen, and that people will say she looks too young to be a Nonna. He's always had the gift of the gab has Bill. Then he'll work on my Dad and persuade him that it's a good thing me and you aint married because then me and the baby will still be Guarnere's and he won't have the trauma of givin' his baby girl away. What do you think your family will say? I can't imagine your Dad will be too happy. Not after the way he reacted when your sister got pregant."

"Yeah, that was a real pickle," Liebgott chuckled. "Somehow I don't think my Pop will be half as bothered about it as he was with my sister. Especially not now that he's really taken to the role of Opa like a duck to water according to my sister's letters. And as for my Mom? Well, she'll be so happy she'll cry. And she'll be elated to have another daughter. And I'm just warning you now, she will make such a fuss of you and feed you food constantly. She'll smother you so much that you will want to scream."

"She sounds so much like my own Mom. Must be a European thing."

"If you think about it, Austria and Italy are right next door to one another. It's not so strange that they should have some similarities."

"True," Evelyn nodded. "Will you do me one favour when the baby is here? Will you promise to speak to it in German? My Mom and Dad never taught is Italian and I really wish they had."

"Of course," Lieb smiled. "I was kind of planning on it anyway."

"Good," she nodded. She sighed. Her mind began to wander to what awaited her back home. She couldn't deny that she was nervous about dealing with her family when she returned. She just didn't want them to be disappointed with her. She couldn't bare that.

"Turn that frown upset down," Liebgott said, sensing where her thoughts were.

"Sorry," she said. "I was just thinkin' about what it'll be like when I arrive back in Philly, knocked up and unmarried. I keep thinkin' that I aint bothered, but I guess there's just a little bit of me that worries about what people will say. Especially that cow bag, Mrs Gomez, next door."

"Yeah, but as soon as we've gotten back home and told both our families about the baby, I'm coming back to Philly to marry you. You know that right?"

"I know," she smiled timidly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well you've never actually asked me outright. You've just kind of mentioned it."

"Sure I have," Liebgott's brows furrowed together as he tried to recall their previous conversations regarding marriage and the baby. "Well ok, maybe I haven't. But I mean it," he turned onto his side to face her and cupped her cheek. His other hand took hers. "Evelyn Guarnere, I wanna marry you. Not just because of the baby we're having together, but because I love you. I love you like the really fat kid in my street loves eating."

"Joe!" she gasped. "That's really mean."

"But true," he assured her. "The kid is like eight and the size of a house. Or maybe two. And I don't think I've ever seen him without food in his chubby little hand. But you're distracting me now from what I was saying. Ev, I love you more than anything in this whole entire world. You're beautiful and sweet and funny- well, sometimes- and nothing would make me happier than spending every day waking up next to you for the rest of our lives. I want to share the highs and lows of life with you, and I want to take my last breath when I'm old and grey knowing that I had the best life with you. So what do you say? Will you marry me and make me even happier than I already am?"

"Yes," Evelyn whispered, joyful tears pricking at her eyes. "I love you and I would love to be your wife."

With a smile Liebgott leaned down and kissed her, before pulling back to admire her. His fingers traced her face, running over every contour, memorising them. His thumb ran across her lips before he ducked down to kiss her once more. His tongue forced its way into her mouth to dance with her own. As the stars shone in the sky above their heads, for Evelyn and Liebgott there was nothing else in that moment. No war. No worries. Just them and their love. And the promise of a joyful future together.