Victor was beside the beehive when he noticed the lupines blooming. Marianne’s favorite flower. He picked a handful, and yellow pollen dusted his hands. He turned to wave the bunch of flowers in the air. When he called to Marianne a bee flew into his mouth. A single sting inside a person’s throat could kill him in an instant. Victor seemed to be choking, his arms waving above his head. Marianne ran to him, terrified. She pounded him on the back, and thankfully the bee flew out. They watched it rise into the sky, relieved and somewhat mystified. Was this what fate was? An instant in which you could lose everything or walk away unscathed? Victor let out a joyful shout, as if he was indestructible, but Marianne ran to the house to cry. People were so breakable and so easy to lose, especially now.

Victor came to her and kissed her, asking if his kisses tasted sweeter now that he’d had a honeybee in his mouth. He made a joke of it, but death had been close, an instant away. She wished he weren’t so young, maybe then it could last. They rarely discussed what would happen after the war, although Victor had spoken about plans to live on a kibbutz in Eretz Israel with his friends. He was excited about a new country and a new homeland. Imagine me with a camel, he’d said in a fit of laughter. He had asked her to go with him, but she had told him no, she could never leave this place. Now, in bed, he told her he had changed his mind about Israel. Instead, he would live with her here when the war was over, and help her with the farm. It was a dream, she knew, and she kissed him, again and again, not wanting to hear any more of what might or might not be. She knew what was between them was different for her than it was for him. He was in love with her, but she loved him, and that was more. Love was the thing that lasted, no matter where fate would take them.

In the morning, before he set off, he showed her how to shoot her father’s rifle. It came as no surprise to him that she was an excellent shot.

“A natural,” he declared. “You’re good at everything.” He kissed her for a long time. “Especially this.”