52.

~ Ariadne was waiting for Phillip at the small restaurant not far from her apartment. She felt so nervous. So scared to see the 16 year old boy who had abandoned her that summer five years ago.

Beth had offered to come with her. Had not wanted the stress of meeting her cousin again to hurt the baby. Ariadne told her she would be fine.

~ The pretty nurse fidgeted as she watched the clock. Phillip had written that he would be at the restaurant at 4 o'clock and he was late.

She didn't put together the man who walked into the restaurant as the same boy from that hot summer day. His hair was a dirty blond and he was too thin. His skin looked older then his 21 years. He looked more like he was in his mid thirties.

But his eyes, something in his eyes were the same.

"Ari-bell?" Phillip said as she burst into tears as and she hugged her cousin.

~ "After I came back to the house, everything was so crazy. My parents never even left their driveway. Their were people trying to get into the house. Looking for food and water. The traffic was so awful." He explained to her. The other patrons in the restaurant looking at the two of them speaking in very fast and easy French.

"What happened to them?" Ariadne asked. "I was told the police came for them."

He nodded.

"In the night. Mother tried to explain she wasn't Jewish. They took all of them in anyway." He told her.

"You got away?"

He nodded.

"I was in the back hallway and ran out through the garden. I hid with a family for a few days. I couldn't get out of France. The Nazis had take over. The family I was staying with allowed me to used the identity papers of their son who was killed on the front a few weeks before. I looked enough like him."

She nodded. With his blond hair and blue eyes, the Nazis must not have questioned him.

"I was sent to work for the Gestapo." He told her sadly. "They made all able bodied men build bunkers for them. I knew they had killed my family but what could I do?"

"Phillip, no one is judging you." She said taking his hand. Her cousin was no longer the boy she remembered. He was a haunted looking man now. Half starved and frightened.
"I was allowed to come to America on a work visa. One of the good things about this war, it taught me a lot about electricity and radio. I had to repair and install them. So now I have a good trade. I think that's the only reason I was allowed to come here after the American's liberated France." he laughed.

Ariadne said nothing. Her cousin, her only family, was in France while she and Arthur were there. Possibly only a few miles away.

"Ari-Bell." He said soberly wiping tears away from his bright blue eyes. "I'm so sorry for leaving you there on that road. I felt so bad about it. You can't imagine how happy I am to know that you're alive and doing so well." He said as he nodded to her large belly.

"You had to look out for your family." She said sadly.

"Yes, but I never should have left you." He told her. "How did you get out?"

"The students we were traveling with. We arrived at Dunkirk and a soldier helped me get to England. I trained as a nurse there. When the American's retook France, I was with them. I met this very nice Army office named Arthur. We got married and he sent me to America till he's home." She said shyly.

"War is over. He should be home soon." Phillip said nodding to the influx of people in the city since the war in Europe ended.

Ariadne shook her head.

"He was declared MIA a few months ago. I haven't had any news since then." She whispered.

Phillip looked heart broken.

"Ari-Bell, I'm so sorry." He said taking her hand. "We have to believe that he is alive till we are told otherwise." He said.

Ariadne laughed.

"You don't know for sure your parents are dead. Do you honestly believe their still alive?" She said almost hatefully.

Phillip looked sad for a moment. He was nothing at all like the boy she had rode bikes with that day. A boy trying so hard to be a man. Now, he was a man with almost no traces of the boy in him.

"I never saw them die. I'll never truly believe their gone." He whispered. "I'm just so grateful you're alive. It was so hard to come to this country all alone. To be alone in this world is a terrible thing, isn't it?"

She only gave him a faint smile.
"Ariadne, I'm so sorry for the way we treated you. Mother was so evil sometimes. She never treated you like the family you were. I never treated you like family." He said.

"It's alright, Phillip." She whispered.
"No it's not." He told her. "We have the chance to be a family and we're not going to lose each other. I won't leave you again." He promised as she started to cry.

~ Arthur was finally debriefed and he made his way to a bank of pay phones at the same hospital his pretty nurse had worked at. The building was haunted by the ghost of that dieing summer and cold fall.

Arthur dialed his mother's house. He was so excited to hear his wife's voice he realized he was fidgeting and biting his nails. The same habit he had when he was nervous. When he had first taken that pretty nurse out on a date to see Bambi.

The maid picked up and he didn't have long to wait till he heard his mother's voice.

"Arthur?" She cried. "Oh my boy! Is it really you?"

"Yes." He said holding back a laugh. "It's me. I'm alright."

"Oh, but I've been so worried about you. That girl told me you were missing and has refused to tell me anything else."

"That girl? Ariadne? Is she there? Put her on the phone." He asked. He could scarcely believe he was about to talk to her again. He tried to remember her voice as he smoothed down his shirt and hair. A foolish notion to look good in front of her even though they were on the phone.

"No, Arthur. She left." His mother said crisply.
"What? What do you mean? When will she be back?" He asked.

"Son, she's is not coming back." Lydia explained. "She decided to move in with Beth and I haven't heard from either one of them. She has been so difficult you see."

"Mother, wait. Where is she?" He barked feeling his anger and frustration rise.
"Arthur, listen to me. I'm not mad you got some girl in trouble. It was war time and you were lonely, I understand you tried to do the honorable thing. But I won't allow you to ruin your life over one mistake." Lydia said. "Linda has agreed to forgive you. I've already given her your grandmothers ring like we agreed before the war. If the baby is really yours, then she is willing to be it's mother.

"Mother." Arthur said sharply.

"That French girl trapped you, Arthur. I understand that. Just come home and we can get an annulment and you can marry Linda like you were meant to. You can forget this whole thing with her ever happened."

"Mother! Where is my wife?" Arthur shouted into the phone.

~ Arthur had to take a few moments to compose himself. His mother had told him his sister Beth and Ariadne had moved out of the family home over five months ago. That they hadn't told her where they went or told her any other news.

He knew his sister well enough to know she would have taken care of his wife as best she could and most likely, they had moved into a place together.

Never, had he imagined his mother to act like this. Her manners seemed to have changed from the loving but over protective parent she had been before. She was now hateful, spiteful and angry. She called his beloved Ariadne horrible things and accused her of being worse.

The war had changed her. Changed all of them.

He had heard in the worst way possible that his father had died over a year ago. He had wanted to talk to his father, his mother explaining about him becoming sick from the loss of his sons and dieing of grief. Jacob's death had hit him too hard. The old man losing the will to live.

"What's happened?" The general who was in charge of the American Army in Paris asked as Arthur stormed into his office.

The major's face was a violent rage. He had never felt so helpless and angry in his life.
"My father's dead. My wife is missing. I have to go home." Arthur told him.