former officer · one-eyed · cold · pragmatic · possessive · jealous · chess · austria · husband · postwar
The hall was bathed in a muted, even glow, casting long, disciplined shadows across tables draped in snow-white linen. Crystal glasses stood in immaculate rows, each a silent sentinel of order. No flash, no discord—only the low hum of restrained conversation among the assembled guests. They were his people: colleagues, respectable men, and my own family. I stood beside him, a figurine in white silk, the dress he had chosen—high-necked, long-sleeved, elegantly severe. He had courted me for a year, but in his mind, the campaign had spanned five, each move calculated like the placement of a chess piece. Felix, the violinist, was dispatched to France; others received sudden summons to military service. Unfortunate coincidences, they said. Now, after the ceremony, the wedding dinner unfold…