The priest saw me coming and crossed himself.
“It’s today,” I blurted out. “That is, could it be today? Could it be now?”
He asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’d never been so sure of anything in my life!”
“Very well. If you fetch the groom and his witness, I’ll bring Mr. Novak.”
I was in the saddle in one swift movement, then freewheeling crazily down the slope from the church out onto the road. A car coming from Mankendorf swerved to miss me, almost flying off the road, and I wobbled furiously, most afraid the bottle would be smashed. The driver yelled, “You idiot, you could have been killed!” before he squealed away.
This shocked me into carefulness, and I looked all around me as I pedaled hard. Everything was so beautiful—the greens of the trees and the fields, the singing of the birds, the mountains in the distance.
I reached the field where the working party was harvesting sugar beets. At the sight of me approaching, Bill let out a groan and clutched his cheek. “Ow! It’s that bleedin’ tooth again. I was awake all night with it. It’s going to have to come out.”
As I laid down my bicycle and approached, I heard Harry chime in, “I’ve got one playing merry hell too.”
Herr Weber scoffed, “Crying like a couple of babies at a little toothache. What fuss would they make having them pulled out?”
I studied Bill and Harry. “That might be the best thing.”
“The quickest way to have them back to work,” said Herr Weber.
“My mother can’t take them. She’s gone to her sister’s, and I haven’t really got time today,” I said crossly, “but I suppose I could fit it in if I leave the pigs till later.” I bent and pulled the bottle of plum brandy from my bicycle basket, saying, “Oh, Mother said I was to bring you this, Herr Weber.”
I held it to my chest as I looked at an imaginary watch. “I’d have to take them now or leave it till another day. The dentist closes at twelve.”
Bill groaned, a bit too dramatically, and Herr Weber looked carefully at me for a second or two. I tried to appear nonchalant and slightly irritated at the same time, which was tricky.
Finally, he held out his hand for the bottle and waved us away. “Go on, then. Soonest there and soonest back.”
“That’s just what I always say.” I beamed at him.
I turned to Bill and Harry. “Come!” I ordered strictly, in English. “I have not the whole of day.”
They exchanged a smirk, out of sight of Herr Weber, who was busy hiding his bottle.
I pushed my bike, and they walked beside me toward the village and the church. As soon as we were out of sight of the guard, we began to laugh.
“Did you see his face?” asked Bill.
I laughed aloud. “You such bad actors.”
“You’ll never be able to believe a word she says,” Harry remarked. “I couldn’t credit the barefaced way she lied to him.”
“And she’s so bossy,” agreed Bill. “Are you going to be like that when you’re my wife?”
At the words “my wife,” my heart jumped in my chest.
Harry asked, “Do they have to promise to obey here?”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “I promise obey!”
“That’ll be the day,” said Bill, raising his eyebrows.
We all laughed again and turned onto the hill toward the church, which towered above us from this approach. Bill looked up at it, and his pace slowed.
“Did you bring the ring?” Harry asked me.
I touch my chest. “Yes. I have.”
Bill stopped, and I thought, Oh, no, he’s changed his mind, but he shifted from foot to foot and said, “Look, Izzy—give us a mo, Harry—are you sure about this? Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
Harry turned aside to examine a section of tree bark.
I was nodding furiously, trying to read Bill’s eyes, to understand if he still loved me. “Yes, yes. I know. I want.”
He smiled, that mercurial smile, which lifted his whole face, and I relaxed, but only a fraction.
“And you?” I asked. “You want?”
But now his face was smiling all over. “Oh, yes, I want very much.”
Harry turned. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled. I thought I was out of a job.”
We leaned my bike behind the church and entered its cool darkness. The priest hurried forward to meet us and to lock the door behind us. The organ was playing softly, which meant Mr. Novak was already here.
I unbuttoned my coat and laid it on the back pew.
Harry whistled appreciatively, and Bill said, “You look so beautiful.”
I couldn’t stop grinning. “Excuse,” I said, turning from them to extract the ring from my bra.
We approached the altar steps. The organ stopped, and Mr. Novak appeared.
He looked anxiously at me and asked in Czech, “Are you really sure you are doing the right thing? It may be many years before you can be together.”
“Yes!” I insisted. “Yes, please help us. The prisoners might be taken away at any time.”
“And if you are married, he’ll come back for you one day.” He smiled. “Very well. It’s what your father would have done, so I’ll give you away in his name.”
Mr. Novak stayed close to us on the altar steps, translating every sentence for Bill, who nodded constantly to show he understood. Some of the words were difficult and specialized, but Mr. Novak translated so unhesitatingly that I could tell he’d been practicing. How can I thank him? I thought.
Before I knew it, we were at the point of saying of each other’s names and making promises. Bill looked steadily into my eyes as he said, “I do.” And when it was my turn, I made my promises in Czech for myself, and in English for Bill.
“Dělám. I do.”
My grandmother’s ring, now cool from lying on the Bible, was pushed onto my finger by Bill. It was a little loose. I held it on tightly with the neighboring fingers and felt the strangeness of it.
“You are man and wife,” said the priest, and it was done. I was married to Bill! I was Mrs. King!
Bill kissed me, and I had to push him away, laughing. He threw his arms around Harry, who pumped his hand up and down.
The priest congratulated me stiffly and moved away.
“I’m so grateful to you,” I said to Mr. Novak. “We’re so grateful to you. You could never know how much.”
He softened a little. “You’ve always been an adventurer, Izabela, just like your father. I hope your parents will forgive me when they see you together, after the war. I’m sorry your father isn’t here to see how beautiful you look.”
He shook Bill’s hand. “Be good to her,” he said. “If I ever hear you’ve been unkind to her, I will regret my part in this day.”
“Never, sir,” said Bill. “Never in my life, I swear.” And his face shone with such joy that nobody could have failed to believe him.
I turned to Mr. Novak. “Could you get a message—”
But he cut across me, holding up his hand for silence, as if this was something he’d anticipated, and his voice was clear and oddly loud. “Nobody in the village has any contact with them. You must know that.”