Watching Fritz

Chapter Fifteen

A few minutes before four, after David had finished assisting Maria arrange her curls, she rose and did a slow turn to show off her hair and gown. "How do I look?"

"More beautiful every day." He shuddered lightly, then put on his lounge suit jacket and motioned to the door. "Come, let's go down and celebrate." They walked along the hallway and knocked on Rachel's door. "We're ready."

"Another minute," came a voice in the room.

Two minutes later, Bethia greeted them at the bottom of the stairs with glasses of wine; then she led them into the drawing room to the cheering of the assembled crowd. After toasts were proposed and drunk to, the group stood chatting and enjoying the atmosphere while two young women made alternating visits with trays of hot hors-d'oeuvres.

"He's the same chef we had the night before you left for Oxford, isn't he?" Maria said as she took another miniature quiche from an offered platter. "I recognise these."

"Yes, and we also used him for our Saint-Barbara's dinner three weeks ago."

"You told me about that. It was to celebrate the tunnel, wasn't it?"

David nodded, then tilted his head toward the centre of the room. "We should wade into the crowd and be sociable again for a while."

Nearly an hour later, when they were alone again, Maria giggled, then shook her head. "I wonder what the virgins go through at gatherings such as this. Long receptions, speeches and toasting, then drawn-out well-wishes from each while she and her groom simply want to go to bed and..."

She paused when a man approached and asked David, "So, tell me, mate. Where's a bloke find a fine Sheila like this?"

Maria snorted a laugh, then covered her mouth as she quickly regained her composure. "Sorry. You must be Manny. David has told me about your Australian accent and turn of phrase. So what's a bleauk and what's a sheelah?

"It's what we call guys and gals. Like you're a Sheila, and he's a bloke." Manny took another drink of wine. "I just wanted to know where he found you, so I can go look there."

"That's very sweet of you to say." She studied him for a moment, then continued, "A handsome young fellow like you should have no difficulty finding a woman anywhere."

David chuckled. "Probably not a good idea, though, to search where I found Maria. We met in Germany as I was escaping and evading capture." He shook his head. "But as superbly as it has turned out, I see it now as a foolish move. I so easily could have had my cover blown and been captured."

He paused and looked at Manny as he thought. "It's also risky for you to become closely involved with a woman in this part of Switzerland. The majority of the people here support the Germans or are sympathetic with them, and you risk being fingered and detained. It would be much better to look in the French sector."

"But I don't speak the frog's lingo; only strine and kraut. How can I woo a Sheila if I can't talk to her?"

"Most speak both French and German in the central part of the country, and the farther south and west you go, the stronger the support for the French and for us."

Manny nodded as his eyes continued to roam over Maria. "Strewth, mate. You sure found a looker." He shook his head. "I need to go outside and cool off."

After Manny had left, David said, "I haven't previously thought about this, but they've been here for over two months now with no break. They've seen no women except Tante and your mother, and Georg made it obvious your mother was taken. At least those with Swiss papers were able to travel and look, even if it was only in the German markets and gasthausen. But the other seven couldn't even look and daydream."

"Men do that? Look at women and dream."

"I used to. I don't need to anymore. You're far more..." He paused as a bell rang.

After Bethia got everyone's attention, she said, "Dinner is nearly ready. Let's all head in, find our place cards and take our seats."

They moved into the dining room, and the twenty of them found their places around the outer periphery of five tables which had been arranged in a horseshoe pattern. Bethia stood behind her chair in the centre of the head table, flanked by a pair of newly-weds on each side.

She remained standing, telling everyone to be seated, and once they had settled, she said, "What a splendid group this is, and how blessed we are to have two weddings to celebrate. Over the past months, I've had the delightful pleasure of watching the bonds between these two couples deepen." She raised her glass. "Here's to everything continuing to come together."