I've Heard That Song Before

Epilogue: 1945 to 1949

The war ended.

Matthew and everyone was fine,

VE Day was celebrated as well as it could be.

When VJ Day came, Amelia found herself meekly celebrating with everyone else.

She headed back home to the US when Matthew decided to go back.

"Hey, if you want to go see them, this is Lew's parents home address. I bet they'd love to meet you."

She paused. The ship was going to stop in New York, her planned stop, and then go on to Canada.

"I think I might."

 

Jason and Anne Baudin met their daughter in law with smiles.

They loved their grandchildren right away. Amelia didn't have the heart to tell them that they weren't Lewis's.

But she supposed her saving grace was that Lewis had been nearly as pale haired as Ivan, so they just assumed that Anna Victory took after her father Lewis.

She helped the family out wherever she could, and decided that this was where she wanted to live. The land felt right, somehow. They helped her build her own little house, and she worked where she could. A few men seemed interested in her, but she turned them down.

One day, when the twins were about four, she heard Alex's voice from through the window.

"Momma, there's a man here to see you."

She shrugged. Probably Matthew, or Arthur. She'd heard rumors that he was pretty wealthy even during the war.

But when she stepped outside, the man at the end of the walk was neither of those individuals.

He stood tall, and she could see the difference.

She walked to the gate, and then slowly opened it.

He looked at her, years of sadness on his face.

"How...?" She asked, stunned.

His silver hair blew softly on the wind, and his violet eyes were the same ones she remembered.

"I was shot. I was back to England before they brought you out to Normandy. I earned money for a passage to the US, and then spent a while there earning money for the train north."

His accent was fainter than it had been all those years ago, and his English seemed better overall.

She finally asked. "Would you like to come in?"

"Da."

 

The twins stared at him. The only men they'd ever seen their mother let into the house before were Grandpa Jason and Uncle Matthew.

Ivan looked at them back, studying them as much as they were studying him.

"I have tea or coffee if you want a hot drink, or there's lemonade in the fridge..."

Ivan turns back to her. "Just water. I don't want to trouble you."

She gets him a glass of water, and finds that he and the children are locked in a staring contest again.

"Alex, Anna, if you keep making that face, your faces will freeze."

"But mom..."

"No if, ands, or buts, young man."

Alex sighs, and then loudly states "I'm going outside to play with the puppy."

Anna follows.

Once they're absolutely certain that the children are gone, Ivan speaks. "Are they..."