I’m going to have a sister-in-law. Christmas Day, Elise was over at our house for the opening of the presents. We had opened everything under the tree when Donald took a box out of his pocket. He crouched down next to Elise and handed it to her. To our surprise, it was a glittering diamond ring. Donald knelt on his knees and asked, “Elise, ever since Beth brought you into my life, I’ve realized what I’ve been missing. When we had a fight and Elizabeth reconciled us, it occurred to me just how much you mean to me. I never want to be apart from you again for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”

Elise just started sobbing and laughing at the same time. Her face was so beautiful when she was blushing. She hugged Donald like she’d never let him go. And over and over she kept repeating, “Yes, Donald, yes. I’ve waited for this moment since I was a young girl. I want to be with you forever.”

Then we all started crying and laughing, and eventually we all sat down and talked for a while. Donald and Elise were so lovely together on the couch. I wish Father could have been there to see us. He would have been so proud of the girl his son picked out.

David came by to see me today. He and I went out for tea at the bakery, as I am not allowed to have coffee, and afterward walked in the park. He held my hand and we talked about our families.

Mother allowed me to see David tonight, as it was Christmas eve, and he had a present for me. We went for a walk in the moonlight, near the park again. It was so peaceful and quiet with David. He slipped his arm around my waist as we walked over the grassy fields of the park. The first dewdrops were beginning to freeze, and they sparkled in the light of the rising moon which was peeking through the clouds. We had exchanged Christmas gifts back at my house so that we wouldn’t have to deal with that here. We came to a stop in one of the shadowy crevices. David pulled me closer to him, and I melted into him. A few light snowflakes began to filter to the ground, landing in our hair and on the tips of my nose and cheeks.

Suddenly, I thought of Father. I wished he could have been here to meet David. He and David would have gotten along splendidly. It would be another Christmas without Father. I leaned on David and sobbed until I didn’t have another tear to cry. I cried for all the radiant leaves Father hadn’t been able to see with me in the fall. Tears rolled down my cheeks for all the achievements and awards I had won, and he had not been there to see. David rocked me and stroked my hair and let me have my tears. He rested his cheek on top of my head, and he let me babble for my father. He didn’t try to convince me everything was going to be okay, because it wasn’t okay without Father. But he let me have my feelings, and he didn’t try to tell me they were wrong or that I shouldn’t cry any more. When I quieted a little, he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from my cheeks. He kissed my wet eyes and held me up as I collapsed in exhaustion.

When it was time to return home, he supported me until I could walk. At the doorstep, I finally spoke. “Thank you, David,” I said softly. I searched deep into his eyes.

“It will be okay, Beth. I’m here for you when you need me. My love is there for you.”

I talked to Donald today. It seems I’ve volunteered to fix quite a mess. I asked him his side of the story. He said basically the same thing as Elise. I was getting quite confused, so I asked, “If that’s all that happened, why are you avoiding her?”

Donald looked at me with eyes so full of pain that I was almost sorry I asked. “I love her. But she’s always speaking of Matt. I want to marry her; I love her that much. I don’t think she loves me. When I look at her out of the corner of my eye, she has a faraway look on her face, and she holds the ring Matt gave her before he left. She always looks so happy when she’s like that.”

“Donald, you have it all wrong. She loves you so much it hurts her to see you like this. She would do anything for you. When she’s thinking of Matt and she’s so happy, it’s because Matt helped her to find you. Matt told her that if he didn’t come back, she had to find someone else to love and marry. She is glad Matt told her that because she found you, and she loves you more than you can imagine. If you look into her eyes when she’s been crying, you can see all the joy in her face to love you. You make her happy. She’s dying to be with you, but you won’t go near her. Go talk to her. Tell her you love her. And if she doesn’t tell you the same, then she’s a liar and she doesn’t know how she feels.

Donald went to talk to her. He came back with his arm around her waist. Elise was blushing and smiling again, even though her eyes were still red from crying for him. Donald’s shirt had quite a few telltale tear-marks, but they both seemed quite happy and loving again. They both thanked me to the point I though they were going to bow down to me like some queen. Just seeing them so happy was retribution enough for untangling the whole sticky knot. I seem to be quite good at reconciling other people, just not myself.

Aunt Mary called today to confirm our fears that she would not be able to make it. She will be stuck at home all alone for Christmas this year. Uncle Fred died years ago from cancer, and Aunt Mary has been strong and carried on, but she has always been sad at Christmas, and she has always stayed with us. During the war we all needed each other even more, and Mother and Mary would stay up late at night talking about their husbands, and remembering all the happy times they had spent together. Mother and Aunt Mary just have a powerful will to live that cheers all those around them, no matter what terrible odds they face.

Today I snuck into Elise's house without her seeing me, and I caught her crying over Donald. I shut the door behind me as I walked into the room so that she would not just run past me without speaking.

“Come, Elise, it’s not natural for you and Donald to stay apart. What’s happened between you? And it’s Christmas, at that.”

Elise looked at me with eyes full of remorse. But she did not speak. She cried into her hands, and her face looked much like the dripping window pane before her. “Elise, you love him. I can see that in the way you cry and how much it hurts you to be apart. At night I watch Donald go through the same thing. I hear him sobbing into his pillow and saying your name over and over again.” Elise's sobbing slowed, and I could tell she was listening. “I can make things right between you two, but you must tell me what happened first.”

Elise took a deep breath and began slowly. “Donald was upset with me for putting myself out so much for his birthday. I told him I did it because I loved him, but he didn’t want me to deny myself anything because of him. I don’t really remember what happened after that except that Donald said he ‘couldn’t stand it any more’ and he left. I haven’t talked to him since then.” I gave Elise a hug and told her everything was going to be okay, and I’d have Donald come talk to her. She looked at me with eyes full of hope and love and wished me the best of luck.

I’m going to talk to Donald tomorrow. I hope that Elise's story is as deep as the fight goes. They love each other so much.

Marguerite and I talked about David and Bryan today. I asked her if he had kissed her yet. She said he hadn’t. I finally met Bryan. He is in the eleventh grade, so he’s one years older than her. He’s extremely shy.

David sits next to me in math now. We talk the whole class long about everything. With David, I can talk about Father, and I am not sad. He is the oldest in his family, and his father was not drafted, so he has not experienced any losses from the war. He feels the same way as Marguerite: he is positive that my father is still alive, and that he’ll come home someday soon.

Donald and Elise must have had a fight recently because Donald has been morose and uncommunicative, and Elise finds an excuse not to come to our house every time I invite her. She has not been tutoring me the last few days, either, and leaves notes on the door saying she is not home. I have caught glimpses of her once or twice through the curtains, and her eyes are swollen from bitter tears. I have a feeling I’ll have to be Cupid for them again. Mother has been doing quite well recently at work, and came home with an extra blouse as an early Christmas present for me.

I have been working overtime after school again recently in order to raise enough money to buy Christmas presents for the whole family and friends. I will buy something for Father, just like the last three years. I always buy him something, and I wrap it and hide it under my bed so that when he returns, he can have Christmas for all the years he was gone. I have a feeling Donald and Mother both do that, too, but none of us really talk about Christmas much.

We only have another week of school and then we have a vacation. All the children are celebrating the two weeks we have off, but David and I are rather sad because we don’t know how many times we will see each other over the break. I do believe I am in love with him. I think of him all hours of the day and night, and I am so happy.

I don’t believe Aunt Mary, Mother’s sister, will be visiting this Christmas because the snow is too thick on the road to travel here. It has been snowing nearby, but it has not snowed here yet. It never does. I wish we could have a white Christmas, but not as much as I wish for Father to return home.

It has been more than three months since the war ended, and nearly all the soldiers from our town are returned or dead. It is so sad to see so many widows in black during the Christmas season, but the grief is beginning to wear off, and, as Father said, the world has continued to spin through all of this.

Sometimes I think of the poor Jewish people for whose freedom Father fought. Life must be so sad for them. Many have lost nearly their whole family, and there are so many orphaned children. Yet they have hearts so strong, and an urge to live so powerful, that they refuse to break down and die, no matter how much they have endured. I wonder what the German civilians are doing, with a country in shambles that is taken over by so many foreign people who loot the city and rape the women. I am so glad I am safe in America.