A new day dawned. Jonathan and Alexandra got up and got dressed.
Last night they had made love again, even more passionate and more intense than their first time and early this morning after waking up, they had made love again. With each time, the familiarity and passion between them had grown, and their fears and insecurities made no difference anymore.
Both realized that from this day on, everything would change for them; nothing would ever be the same: not the lake, not the forest, not this cabin, Gotham, the light … NOTHING would ever be the same. Jonathan and Alexandra didn't know what the future held for them, but they promised each other that they would only be together now.
The sun was shining bright when Jonathan and Alexandra finally opened the cabin door. The storm had passed by. Leaves and bushes were lying all over around, some boughs were bent over, a tree near the cabin had toppled over. What a miracle that the cabin hadn't been damaged!
They put everything back in order, leaving everything in the cabin as it had been before and packed up their books, the blankets and the towels into a sea-bag they had found in the cabin. They agreed to launder the used stuff and bring it back. As their watch and cell-phone weren't working anymore, Jonathan and Alexandra only could guess what the time was. It was possibly noon already and their parents had to be sick worrying about them. Jonathan closed the door, kissed Alexandra and then they started to head home to the Wentzler's house, to Alexandra's house.
On their way home Jonathan and Alexandra wondered how to tell their parents they were a couple now. How would they react? Probably they would not understand how serious the two of them were. They were both very young, no doubt, but Having the good fortune of loving someone as much as you only have once in your life' was Jonathan's comment – their age wouldn't make a difference.
They passed by a small glade and then crossed the small footbridge leading to Alexandra's home. From there, they could already see her house. Both stopped and Alexandra gazed at Jonathan. She was nervous now. Jonathan touched her hand and held it firmly.
"We
will make it..", he whispered. Alexandra sighed and kissed him. She
looked again towards the house, gripped Jonathan's hand and said in
a firm voice:
"Well then.. attack!" Jonathan smiled and they
started moving again.
"You know,", Jonathan said, "maybe it won't get so bad at all, I mean…"
Suddenly he noticed that Alexandra wasn't listening to him. She had stopped and was staring at the house. It was as if she had seen a ghost.
"What's wrong?", Jonathan asked, annoyed, but Alexandra didn't respond.
Then he looked over at the house too and saw Alexandra's family at the entrance. He noticed two black cars and three men and a woman. From their outfits they seemed to be Government officials. Alexandra's father was arguing with the woman and gesticulating wildly. Jonathan heard him talking in German. Two of the men went into the house, returning with suitcases, bags and other items. They put them in the trunks of the waiting cars and returned to the house to come out again with things to pack. Alexandra's little brother Martin was sitting on the veranda with a teddy bear in his hand. His eyes were red and he seemed to have been crying. The third man was standing next to him, Alexandra's mother between them, arguing with the man. She was trying to get him away from Martin. He looked like he was about to grab the boy and put him in the car. Jonathan and Alexandra glanced at each other and then walked over to the house. At first, nobody noticed them approaching.
"Papa, Mama!", Alexandra shouted in German. "What's going on here?"
The adults stopped arguing immediately and turned to look at them.
"My God, Alexandra! Jonathan!", her father yelled and ran towards them. "Where, in heavens name, have you been! We have been going crazy worrying about you!"
He was talking in English, because he knew Jonathan wouldn't understand German. Alexandra's mother was walking down from the veranda with Martin.
"Jonathan's mom has been calling for hours! Where have you two been?", she shouted and touched Alexandra on the shoulder.
She noticed her daughter was holding Jonathan's hand, but she didn't say anything.
"We were in the small cabin at the edge of the forest, near the lake", Jonathan explained. "The storm got very bad and Alexandra's cellular phone wasn't working. We had no choice but to wait until the storm was over."
"I'm sorry, we didn't want to worry you, but it would have been too dangerous..", Alexandra started but her father interrupted her.
"It's okay, dear. You both did the right thing."
His worried, even disgruntled, look disappeared and everybody sighed in relief, but then her parents' faces darkened again.