Resistance

Write a Romantic story or poem about a secret rendezous at a wishing well.

Marie slipped silently out the window and clutched at the frame. She dangled briefly from her fingertips before dropping to the ground below. When her mischievous sister, Hilda, had turned fourteen, their parents had moved her to an upstairs room. Marie they never worried about, Marie was the good one. Marie was sneaking out.

She pulled her jacket tighter around her. No one would believe that along with her developing body, her interest in boys had changed. She had always been straight, boyish in appearance. Even her hair was cut short. She was the tomboy, the tree climber. When other ten year olds had been fantasizing about boyfriends and kisses, she was fishing with the guys. When the guys started dating, they never asked her, and she never seemed to care. It was ironic. Before she had become a nurse, Hilda was wild, but never adventurous. She broke the rules simply because they were there. Marie portrayed the wholesome image, but she loved a challenge. She climbed higher than any boy, and would be the first to jump from the barn roof. But skinned knees were easily covered, and she was a model student with perfect attendance, so no one would ever believe she would sneak out.

Marie hurried through the back yard. If anyone looked out the window, they’d see her easily. She glanced back at the house. She saw her parent’s bedroom curtain move, but no alarm was raised.

After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the forest and slipped gratefully into the trees. There was no path, but she had played in these woods her entire childhood and didn’t worry about losing her way. She worried instead about meeting someone else. Stories of soldiers who preyed on young women were spread throughout the town, and she knew they often watched her house, thanks to her father’s prominent position. Her father, of course, never showed any sign of acting against their wishes. He was the soul of discretion, though he wished it could be otherwise.

“If only I could get a message out!” he burst out once. “But they are everywhere, they watch everything.”

“They don’t watch Eloise and Phillippe,” Hilda had snickered. “Those two have been sneaking off for months, and no one cares.”

That, of course, was when Marie had gotten an idea.

Five minutes after she entered the forest, she reached a clearing. In the center was a small well. A nearby cottage sat in disrepair, having housed no one in almost twenty years. Jon sat on the well wall.

Tall and lean, he was fifteen, one year her senior. They had been best friends growing up. Seeing him, she was suddenly shy.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” he said softly. “I thought maybe you were too nervous.” Behind them, she could hear a branch snap.

She smiled. “A little. Scared, even.” They laughed. Then she stepped toward him, and he reached for her. They shared their first kiss, soft and lingering, their arms wrapped around one another.

“Cold?” he asked after awhile.

She shivered. “It’s chilly out.”

He tucked her hands in his jacket pockets. “That should fix that,” he said. Another kiss. Then, regretfully, “I guess we should go now.”

Months passed, with the two of them sneaking out to hold hands and kiss. One evening, while slipping into the woods, Marie was stopped by a soldier.

“Where are you going?” he barked. She jumped, startled, having not seen him.

“I, um, to….” She stammered.

“Yes, yes.” He waved his hand. “You are the young lover, no? Off to meet with your boyfriend. What do you do in that abandoned cottage?” He sneered. Marie blushed.

“There was a man here,” he announced suddenly. “Have you seen him?”

“Only my friend, sir,” she whispered.

He pointed his gun directly at her. “Do not lie to me, young lady. If I find out you know anything about this stranger, this enemy, I will shoot you, your lover, and both of your families.”

Marie nodded, terrified. Her hands crumpled around a piece of paper in her jacket pocket. “I don’t….yes sir….no sir….” she stammered.

The soldier laughed, then waved her by. “Go on, go see your love.”

She started past him, then looked back. “You…you aren’t going to tell my parents, are you?” she asked, looking worried. The soldier laughed. She continued on, still shaking. When she got to the well, she collapsed into Jon’s arms, in tears.

“Marie, darling, what happened?” he asked, concerned. She told him. “Oh, you poor thing!” He held her close to him. That evening, he walked her home.

Not long after that, several soldiers banged down their door and searched the house while Marie and her family huddled in the kitchen. “It will be okay,” her father reassured. Hilda was as white as a sheet.

Soon the captain stormed in and dumped out the box of bandages and other nursing supplies on the kitchen table. “What are these?” he demanded.

“Sir, my daughter is a nurse,” Marie’s father explained, gesturing at Hilda. “And we are, after all, in a war.”

“She does not need so many,” the soldier barked. “Who has she been treating?”

“She works at the hospital,” her father pointed out. “And we keep extras on hand. Suppose our village were attacked and your men needed help? Would you want us to have to run to the hospital to fetch you extra bandages?”

The captain looked at him suspiciously. “These show signs of recent use,” he pointed out. “And there has been no battle.”

“Of course. She trades with the hospital, brining home soiled or worn out bandages, which the three of them clean and repair.”

The captain relaxed slightly. “I suppose. But if we ever find evidence of treasonous activity….” He let the words hang in the air. The soldiers left.

“This war,” Marie’s mother said sadly. “I cannot wait until it is over.” She looked at her husband. “Already the girls are growing up to fast. Hilda, only seventeen, with so much blood and death. And Marie, our little girl, fifteen and already ….” She sighed.

“Don’t worry, Mama,” Marie told her, hugging her. “You and Papa always told us that we must each do our part.”

Her mother smiled. “Yes, but I’m more concerned about your heart. I know you are trying to hide it from us, but I fear you are already in love.” She looked at the ceiling. Marie blushed.

“Oh, mother,” she said.

She was right, though, Marie was in love. Perhaps she didn’t realize it until her mother put it into words, but once it was said, it could not be taken back. She found herself dreaming of blond hair, green eyes. She loved to listen to him talk about how much he loved his home, and hated when he talked about fighting, or even dying, to do what was right.

“What if you are injured?” she asked him one day. They were in a tiny, closet-sized room in Marie’s house.

“If that is the way God wants it,” he said, “then so be it. But I could not just stay home and allow this monster to consume the world.”

Two tears fell from her cheek. “I would die if anything happened to you,” she confessed shyly. “I don’t think I could bear it.”

“I will come back for you, Marie,” he promised. “And, if it is what you want, we will be married.” There was a question in his voice.

“Yes! Yes!” She hugged him tightly.

He did come back when the war ended, this time with a ring and a formal proposal. But Marie didn’t need a ring, she only needed him alive and safe. This time, he came through the front door and sat in the living room, without hiding.

Jon came over as soon as he heard. “Thomas!” He strode into the house and gave the man he once helped rescue a giant hug.

“Jon! How are you?!”

“Fantastic, Thomas, fantastic!” Jon gave a huge grin. “So I hear you’re going to make an honest woman out of Marie, here! It’s about time!”

Her father snorted. “You should have seen her moping after you left, Thomas. It’s a good thing Jon was the one who took you back to the American soldiers or the Germans would surely have been suspicious.” He whooped. “You didn’t tell me that when I saved your life that night you would be taking my youngest daughter in return!” The whole family grinned.

Thomas grew serious. “I cannot thank you enough, sir,” he said. “I confess, I was terrified when I crashed into that tree. I was so worried the Germans would find me. If it hadn’t been for you, and for your family taking me in and nursing me back to health, I would never have made it, I know.”

“Well, I have to confess, it wasn’t the best time to bring home a houseguest. Thank goodness Hilda was a nurse, or you surely wouldn’t have recovered!”

“And thank goodness Marie and Jon were already slipping messages out,” Thomas said softly. “Or I would never have escaped.” He leaned over and kissed Marie.

The two were married in the woods, near the tree where Marie’s father had found Thomas dangling from his parachute, unconscious. And though Jon made the customary best-man toast afterwards, Thomas also added one. He raised his glass. “To Jon and Marie, who saved my life so I could come back to France to marry the woman I love.”

wordcount: 1,591