I guess it was about the third day after I first met Marie that I realized that I was in love with her. When I helped her that first day when she hurt her ankle, well, it was because she was pretty, and vulnerable, and I just wanted to help. Then, it was just pleasant to be with a girl again, and able to forget about the war and about the army, at least for a few hours. I didn't have any thoughts beyond the moment. I'm not superstitious, but somehow thinking about the future or making plans for it was tempting fate. I'm not the only one who feels that way, and you'd be surprised by what the boys carry for "luck".

That day was a perfect summer's day, and Marie and I walked further into the country than we had previously. She raced me to the top of a small hill, sore ankle and all (I've wondered since just how much she hurt her ankle that day). She still had a lot of little girl in her. I couldn't help looking over towards our lines, and she must have noticed my face clouding over. We sat down and had the bit of rations I'd brought in my haversack. Then I spread out my tunic and lay down for a rest.

I musn't have been quite asleep, because I felt her fingers running through my hair, and I peered through my eyelashes to see Marie's face above me, with an expression of complete and utter happiness on it.

Then she kissed me.

It wasn't a hard kiss, as she was trying not to wake me, but it was full on the lips, and I could sense the passion behind it.

Now I've kissed and been kissed before, and it wasn't a little girl's kiss, nor was it a "Thank you for a lovely evening, goodnight" kiss, not was it like the goodbye kiss I got at the train station from my girlfriend, who married the brush salesman a month after I reached England.

It was the kiss of a young woman who was in love and delirious with happiness.

I shammed sleep for a minute more before "waking". I hoped she wasn't close enough to hear my pulse racing.

That kiss stayed with me.

It helped as I remembered her crying as we marched out of the village.

It helped when I took one in the leg and it took an hour for the stretcherbearers to find me. (No, it wasn't a Blighty – I wouldn't have wanted one.)

It even warmed me when we were in six inches of water in our trench.