August 1945

Elizabeth waited with the rest of her family at the train station for Paul to arrive. The war had finally ended, and her friend had been released from the POW camp where he'd been held prisoner for the past year and a half.

At sixteen, Elizabeth had grown to be a graceful, willowy woman. She'd written to Paul faithfully for the entire time he'd been imprisoned, and he'd written back to her whenever he could. Her father had offered the young man a job at the saw mill when he was released, and now the entire family awaited his return to Walton's Mountain.

At last the train arrived, and Elizabeth watched with the others as the passengers got off. She recognized him as soon as she saw him. He looked a bit thinner and paler, but other than that, he hadn't changed much at all.

"Welcome back to Walton's Mountain!" John exclaimed with a wide, friendly grin as he shook the new arrival's hand.

"Thank you very much for offering me a place to stay, and employment," Paul replied. John had offered to let him stay in John-Boy's old bedroom until he could find a place of his own. "I am grateful for your offer of hospitality."

"We would never turn our backs on someone in need," Olivia told him. She'd recovered from tuberculosis and was once again living in the family home.

Paul greeted Jim-Bob and Erin and then turned to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth!" He took her hands and gazed into her eyes. "You're beautiful!" he said softly.

She blushed and looked down. "I kept all your letters," she said softly.

"I kept all yours too," he said. Quickly he retrieved one and showed it to her. It was the most recent one she'd written, right after Germany had surrendered. She'd felt awkward, unsure of what to say, while writing it. Although happy that the war had ended and that the Allies had won, she'd feared hurting Paul's feelings if she mentioned his own country's defeat, so she'd quickly skimmed over the subject.

"I read it over and over again on the train," Paul continued. "I couldn't wait to see the lovely lady who'd been writing to me all this time again."

Upon their arrival home, Paul was busy getting settled in for most of the afternoon. Elizabeth would have offered to help but was afraid of getting in the way.

Around the dinner table that evening, Paul was the center of attention, of course. Jim-Bob especially quizzed him on his experiences in the prison camp. Every so often, his eyes drifted to Elizabeth, and she got the feeling that he wanted to talk to her but didn't want to seem rude to the rest of the family.

After dinner the family sat in the living room and continued the conversation until it was time to go to bed. Elizabeth had a hard time falling asleep that night, knowing that instead of being thousands of miles away, Paul was in a bedroom right down the hall. As she hugged her pillow, she fantasized that she was hugging him instead.

The following morning, she slept in later than usual and had to wait to get into the bathroom. Assuming that either Jim-Bob or Erin was dawdling, she waited for what she thought was a reasonable amount of time before banging impatiently on the door. "Hurry up in there, will ya?' she shouted.

A moment later, the door opened and Paul stepped out. "I am sorry. I did not mean to inconvenience you."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Elizabeth stammered, her face beet red. "I didn't know it was you..."

But he'd already gone.

Mortified, she wondered how she'd get through the rest of the morning.