I'm not sure how long she had been awake, but she answered immediately. "Yes."
I wished so hard to hold on to the moment—a moment when we would wake up face to face, forgetting about the world outside of the enclosed room.
Amelia's fingers traced a few of the scars along my cheek and eyebrow, studying me as I was studying her. "My face has been torn to shreds, and my arm is missing. I'm not a full person anymore," I told her, realizing that if the situation was different, she might not want to be with a man who looked like me.
She smiled in response, as if I was making a joke that wasn't based on truth. "You could look like a monster for all I care, and I'd still only see the beautiful man you are inside. I see what my heart sees—an amazing man."
Those words drew my lips to hers, and I held my girl as tightly as I could.
"What is your dream, sweetheart?" I needed to know, because I planned to fulfill all her wishes if we could find safety.
"I want to go to the United States. Maybe New York or Massachusetts … it has always been my dream," she said.
"That sounds like heaven," I told her. "That will be our plan, Amelia. We're going to have it all." For that moment, I honestly thought we would have everything we wanted. "And I will stand by your side as you become known across the world for your magnificent talent."
Amelia looked back and forth between my eyes with a look of hunger. When she moved in closer, her intentions became clear.
Even if I had known how much more pain the next few moments would eventually cause my heart, I would still choose the heartache over never experiencing that time with Amelia. I have this night—a night I made love to the love of my life. I won't ever forget.
"Amelia, you are everything worth fighting for," I muttered against her ear.
Approaching the Austrian border was bringing my greatest fears to fruition. Amelia clung to my arm, clearly terrified as well. Neither of us knew what would come of the escape. "Charlie, do you really think this is going to work?" she asked.
"We need to be curt with them and appear calm. If we don't look like we have something to worry about, they won't doubt our story." They would most definitely question our story, but I needed Amelia to remain complacent. It was most important.
Just before we descended the hill that would lead us to the country's border patrol, I stepped in front of Amelia and pressed my forehead to hers, sheltering Lucie between the two of us. I placed a kiss on the top of the baby's head and prayed that her innocence would always be intact. I hoped she would never remember a moment of the last year of her life. "I'll be her papa. I want to be that person for her," I told Amelia, looking her in the eyes, knowing she planned to be Lucie's mother. Could I fix these lives? My heart softened when I glanced down at Lucie and smiled.
"You are incredible, Charlie Crane," Amelia told me.
I didn't feel incredible. My people are the ones who killed Lucie's parents, leaving her orphaned and in a position where she had to escape a country just to live.
As we made our way closer to the guard's towers, I held Lucie tightly against my chest and kept my eyes set on Amelia, watching her expression change by the moment. I could so easily see forever in Amelia's eyes, but I worried that her forever simply could not be with me if we were all to survive.
I could see the thoughts bubbling in her head too.
"Charlie, how will we make it across Austria? Are we walking into another war zone?" Amelia asked.
The war was everywhere. Not one place was safe. I didn't want to scare her or lie, so I continued walking, shooing off Amelia's question.
"There's a train station just over the border. We're going to get on that train. I have some money saved up to get us to Zurich." I glanced over at Amelia as we continued to walk, noticing the apprehension written across her face. "Here," I said. "Take Lucie for a moment."
Amelia took Lucie and tightened the blanket around her small body, and I reached into my pocket, pulling out a handful of euros. "I want you to have enough, just in case," I told her.
"Just in case of what, Charlie?"
"In case you make it, and I don't," I said, trying not to choke on my words. "No more questions, okay?"
As we approached the gravel path that led to the watchtowers, a guard spotted us and walked in our direction. He was hardly in hearing range when he said, "Soldier, is everything okay?"
I had to lie, and I had to make my lie believable. "Yes, yes, we had some car trouble a couple of miles back, and my wife and I are on leave to go visit her family across the border. They plan to pick us up just inside the town." The words flowed effortlessly, almost believably so.
The guard inspected Amelia with a narrowed glance. "Your wife looks ill," he said.
I swallowed hard and looked over at the pale complexion on Amelia's face. "Oh, you know how it is in the springtime. I've had a terrible cold for a week, but it's passing now. I just hope our daughter doesn't catch it. A baby with a cold is not an enjoyable time," Amelia said, sounding believable and experienced. I was impressed with her fib.
"I see," the guard continued. "What is your name, soldier?"
I considered coming up with a false name, but the odds of that turning out better than the truth weren’t high. "Charlie Crane," I said, realizing that I was supposed to be on leave for a medical appointment today, and that appointment is not in Austria. Surely, it would take a bit to find that information out, though.
