Always and Forever by Cynthia Freeman Read Free Book Online

because this was another working day in Hamburg. Phil’s magazine had arranged for living quarters for him, but most evenings he found his way to the group’s littered, overcrowded flat.
    “That damp, dark basement isn’t fit for a rotten-tempered dog,” he was complaining in the dining room, “but what the hell, I only sleep there.”
    “How’s the assignment going?” David asked.
    “It’s coming along,” Phil said. “I’m taking a million photographs, and I’ll have to sort out what’s strong enough for the layout.”
    “What’s your bribery for today?” one of the men asked. Each night he arrived with some item in short supply. He had an uncanny talent for dealing on the black market.
    “Chocolate bars, that’s what,” he said in triumph. “And wait till I make my side trip to Paris,” he gloated. “Am I going to be popular with the women when I get back! Even in wartime, I’ll bet the French kept on making perfumes.”
    Phil was popular with the women here in the flat, Kathy thought while they settled about the dining table—actually two tables shoved together to accommodate the group. They acted as though he was Clark Gable in person. Sometimes he had a way of looking at her that was disconcerting.
    “How did you get chocolate bars?” Rhoda demanded. “Let’s see them.”
    “You don’t believe me, hunh?” Grinning, he pulled a batch of chocolate bars from his pocket. “Eight of ’em. We’ll break—them up in squares and share.”
    Kathy pretended to be unaware of Phil’s thigh pressing against hers under the table. He wasn’t even conscious of it, she told herself, they were just so crowded together.
    “I wish to hell I could be in Paris for that International Women’s Congress,” Claire, their psychiatric social worker, said wistfully. “I hear they’re coming from all over the world.”
    “Women have to make themselves heard.” Kathy was ever conscious of the need for women to stand up for their rights. “Did you know that until a few days ago French women were denied cigarette rations? Only men are allowed to smoke.” Her voice was scathing.
    “You don’t smoke,” David teased.
    “No,” Kathy acknowledged, “but I don’t want some man—in this case Marshal Pétain—saying men can but women can’t.”
    “I have a hankering to make a run to Paris while I’m over here,” Phil said casually. “I was with the American troops that liberated Paris. Wow, did we get a warm welcome!”
    “The international trains are running again,” Brian conceded, “but it’s a long haul these days. From Paris to Nuremberg is thirty hours, sitting up all the way.”
    “I’m trying for a flight,” Phil shrugged. “That’s the only way to go now.”
    “This is not prime flying time,” Brian cautioned. “The weather is bad. Too many mountains and too many mist-producing rivers.”
    “When a plane seat becomes available I’ll take it. How about you, David? Come along with me, just for a couple of days? You’re not afraid of flying in bad weather?”
    “I’m not afraid,” David said quietly. “But I’m needed here. Doctors are in short supply.”
    “If you do go,” Rhoda said, “bring me back a bottle of Chanel No. 5. That may be the closest I’ll ever get to Paris.”
    It was weird, Kathy thought, the way the girls in their group were attracted to Phil and not just because he’d been with the First Army when it liberated Paris. Girls back home must have been throwing themselves at him before the war. David must have had plenty of girls after him, too, she told herself defensively. Yet he had a way of retreating into the background when Phil was around.
    So many times she’d thought David was about to talk about their future, and each time he’d retreated. There were moments when he seemed about to take her into his arms—and she wanted that so much—but each time he backed away. The ghosts of the past had not yet been put to rest.
    Knowing her interest in