Forever in Her Heart

Later that evening, Alfred found Anna on the back porch again.  "Anna, I have something important to tell you.  I'll be leaving tomorrow.  I'm going home.  I've been looking for a ride for days, and today was my lucky day.  I found an American soldier who's hauling supplies up north, and he said I was welcome to ride in the back of the truck.  I have to be up on the main street on the corner of St. Paul's Church early in the morning."  Anna sat silently, know this moment was inevitable.  
"I have to be there by seven o'clock.  Anna, I just can't miss this opportunity.  I have to go home while I have the chance.  It's been more than five years since I've seen my family, and I miss them and need to check on them.  I hope you understand that."  He seemed to be making an effort to convince himself as much as her.  
"Yes.  Yes, I do."  She thought how sad she'd be with him gone, but she did truly understand.  Home.  She wished she had a home and a family to go back to.
"Anna, come with me," Alfred pleaded.  "This will be our only chance.  Please.  I haven't even looked at another woman since I lost Camilla, and I certainly haven't been intimate with one."  He cupped Anna's quivering face in his hands.  
"I can't.  You just don't understand."
"Then tell me.  Make me understand."  Still cupping her face, he drew her even closer and kissed her tenderly, fully on her lips.  She jumped back as if scolding water had been splashed on her.  That moment was an epiphany for Alfred.  He wrapped his arms around her and held her.  Tears were running down her cheeks.  "Oh Anna, you've been raped, haven't you, and by a German soldier?"
"Not just by one German," she sobbed.
"Oh, Anna, I hurt for you, but it won't matter to me.  It doesn't change the fact that I want you to come with me.  We don't have to have anything but a friendship.  That's be enough for me and I hope for you too.  We'll see what happens from there.  Please come."
"Alfred, dear Alfred, I appreciate the offer so much, but you need to get on with your life and find someone you can love and have a family with.  I'm just not that person, and I refuse to hold you back.  Besides, I need to find my baby."
"You have a baby?" he whispered, dumbfounded.  "Is its father a Nazi?"
"Yes, I have a baby boy, but my husband was his father.  I don't know where he is.  They stole him form me when he was born.  He'd be nineteen months old now."
"Who stole him?  The Nazis?"
"Yes, they took him from me, and I need to find him."
Alfred wished he had killed more of the bastards.  "Come with me, and maybe I can help you look for him."
"No.  I absolutely refuse to ruin your life.  I want you to know, though, that I'll never forget you."
"Oh, Anna, precious Anna, if you change your mind, be on the front porch at six in the morning with your things packed."