1968

Chapter Twenty-Six: July 24th, 1968

Jack's point of view:

Fate likes to fuck with me. That is just what it is. To prove this, we have a little, eighteen year old woman named Rebekka Kästner. No, she didn't effect me, not really anyway. It was just the familiarity of her name, and the fact that it was probably about to ruin my best friend's life. Max has it in for him, we all know that now. To think I was convinced it was all over for him.

"Are you two alright?" Hilda asked as she took my hand in hers. Although her touch usually had me calm, this was a horse of a different colour. The only reason I was losing control was because of Max.

"What's your father's name?" I asked, sort of ignoring Hilda. Rebekka was in awe of the awkwardness that built up in a matter of seconds. Molly was just as confused as everyone else at the table. My God, poor Molly.

"I don't know, I've never met him," she replied.

"Oh my God---I'm sorry about that," Max said, his eyes going down. We would definitely need to talk about it.

Dinner ended and Max and I excused ourselves. We went into the study and I shut the door behind me. "Holy shit on an unholy brick. What am I gonna do now?" Max asked as he leaned against the wall, his hands covering his eyes like a hopeless child.

"I'm not sure," I said. Just then, the door swung open and Lorelei appeared out of nowhere.

"Hello, I would like to know what in the hell came over you two? What was that?!" She asked, frantic and her gasket clearly blown. She hated not being in the know of important matters like this, especially when it had anything to do with someone she cared about or knew personally.

"Nothing," Max said coyly. What he didn't know was that there was no hiding anything from Lorelei. She had that from me, I was man enough to admit that was from my side of the family and not Hilda's.

"Don't do that. People who have nothing on their mind don't to the spitting and the choking and the 'oh my God'. So tell me, what is it about Rebekka that gets to you?" She asked. You see? There was no getting past her. I admired it most of the time but right now it was a little less than desirable.

"You don't need to know. It doesn't concern you," I replied. She scoffed and shook her head. She crossed her arms along her chest and began to walk out of the room.

"Fine. I'll just let Molly know she should be careful where she steps," she replied. I couldn't deny, the girl really knew how to play the game. That didn't effect me but Max's face went pale when she used this against him. I knew she'd make the perfect soldier in any war that involved blackmail or sabotage, which was probably every modern war.

"Alright fine! Shut the door, make sure no one will hear you," Max gave in. My mind really had to push me not to laugh when I heard this. Lorelei went to the door and shut it behind her, going up to us and searching for answers. This was the time when I also stopped laughing.

"Look, we don't know Rebekka. It's her mother that we know. Gisela Kästner," I replied. Saying that name brought me some memories back, lord almighty. I wished that I could just forget about that time, not because of Gisela and Max, but because of the shape that I was in. Hilda knew about it, but I took care to spare her the worst of details.

"Alright, so you know her mother. That isn't really gasp-worthy. Definitely not spit-out-food worthy. So there has to be something else," Lorelei replied. I took to the background now, knowing this would turn into a conversation between her and Max, not so much me.

"There is. Gisela and I met back when the war was starting. By way I mean World War Two. Jack and I were sent to Germany to do some intel on the likes of what it was. America wasn't in the war at the time, so we had to be careful. Gisela was the one to make sure we had everything we needed. She associated with a bunch of other armies as well. America, England, hell, even Germany. She didn't pick a side, which was why she and I were kind of doomed," Max explained. I crossed my arms and watched as Lorelei sat there, listening intently like it was a school lesson.