The screeching tires and a screaming voice pierced the frosty night air.
"Eddy. Come on! Let's go. We need to be back on base in twenty minutes."
Standing in only his standard issue boxes and T-shirt, broad shoulders and muscular arms exposed; Eddy looked around the modest two-room cottage at the straw covered floor.
His eyes met those of the petite teen clearing the table of their meager meal of polenta and dried pork. Her dress was clean but tattered; a remnant of prosperity past. The garment served during the last months of her pregnancy. Tonight, it was cinched around her waist with a shawl.
"Wally, go. Go now, before I chicken out! Go!" was the answer to his buddy driving the jeep.
Eddy wrapped his muscular arms around the weeping girl. He drew her near and kissed her tenderly. "Shh. Amore mio. I'm staying."
He picked up the boy wrapped in a thin blanket and caressed his head. "We'll need some warmer clothes for him." The baby cooed at his father's touch. " Rosa, you and little Joey are my family. I love you," he whispered softly in her ear. To himself, he admitted his willingness to abandon all creature comforts, family, and country for this beautiful young girl and infant.
As Rosa melted into his embrace, the canvas-covered jeep sped away.
Twenty-one year old Eddy Kepler was now AWOL.