"Was it really all right?"
"It was perfect." He smile up at her and made her heart skip. "Thank you."
He'd let slip about it to the youngest lad, the one they called Chief, and the youngster had mentioned it when she asked if there was anything special she might fix for the Yank that ran the place. A soup made of pork and broth and sauerkraut he'd told her. It was something his mother had made when he was a child. He'd told him about it at Christmas…. She had to press for the details from the American herself. Being a bit shy it had taken her some time. He didn't really know how it was done, but, when he was young, he'd done a bit of the shopping so he knew all of the ingredients. She'd used her skill as a cook to put it together and tried it out on her husband, Alf. As soon as the Lieutenant could swallow more than just her plain broth, she'd made him up a pot.
"You're sure?" She twisted her apron in earnestness. "As you've been a bit under the weather I wanted to make something up that would tempt you."
Winnie reached out and took the dish from his hand. She took a peak and found the inside of the bowl glistening. If she hadn't been standing right there watching as he ate she might have thought he'd licked it out and then shinned it with his shirttail to get it as clean….but he'd mopped it out with the bit of bread she'd put on his plate.
"It was wonderful!" He told her in a voice that was still rough from his raw throat. "I don't suppose there's any more?"
She beamed back at him. "You just wait right there." Turning on her heel she trotted back to the kitchen for a refill.