Gottfried turned. "Nobody's supposed to be in the office but me. Go and tell them to get out and back to work." He expected Friedrich to immediately do as he was told, but instead he got a gentle shaking of his head in reply. Then the significance of what Friedrich had said started to penetrate. "But she should have gone back to work hours ago."
"Maybe she should have, but she didn't. Not that she hasn't been busy. You can actually see your desk now."
Horrified, Gottfried dropped the paper mold he was holding, not even noticing as it sank into the Hollander tank. "I'll never be able to find anything now."
"But I'm sure your Veronika could. She seemed real happy working away at your desk."
"Happy? Doing paper work?" Gottfried shook his head in disbelief. "Impossible."
Friedrich shrugged. "It takes all sorts to make a world. Some of them have to like paperwork. It's just your good luck Veronika is one of them."
"Yeah, maybe I should offer her a job."
Friedrich let out a sigh heavy with frustration. "I never should have told you that Catrin told me Veronika had turned down some guy in the office's offer of marriage."
"But you did tell me."
"And now you're scared that she'll say no if you ever get the nerve up to ask her."
Gottfried buried his hands in his work jacket pockets, where Friedrich couldn't see the tight fists he was making with them, and stared belligerently at his friend. "Wouldn't you be scared?"
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to take my time and do it right. First I'm going to ask Veronika if she'd like a permanent job at the mill, then, when the time's right, I'll ask her to marry me."
"I wash my hands of you," Friedrich said before stalking off.
Gottfried stared after Friedrich long after he'd disappeared into the far reaches of the mill. He couldn't help it that he was scared that Veronika wouldn't want to marry him. She had been trained at the Grantville Vo Tech, and was doing a Grantville GED part-time. The GED was almost the same as having a degree from a university like Jena or Erfurt. What did he have to offer a woman with her prospects? Just a mill, and not a very big one at that. With those thoughts running through his head, he headed for the office.
****
Veronika was a sight to behold, sitting comfortably in his chair, at his desk, calmly making entries in his accounts book. He waited until she put the pen she was using down-ink blots would have made a mess of all her good work, and Gottfried wasn't suicidal. Eventually she put down the pen, and looked up.
"How would you like to do that permanently?"
"Do what?"
"Would you like to come and work for me? Doing what you've been doing, but full time, on a salary."
For a bare moment the light went out of her eyes, to return almost as quickly as it disappeared. "Why are you offering me a job now?"
"You ran out on your job with the council to warn me that the newspapers might need more paper, and it's crossed my mind that you might find yourself in need of employment." He gestured towards the cleared desk. "You seem to enjoy office work, whereas I . . ."
"You don't," Veronika said. "Yes, I would like to work here full time."
"Good, good. Then let's walk down to the council and see if you still have a job to resign from, and collect your things."
"I might have to serve out a notice period," Veronika said as she rose to her feet.
"If you have to, you have to. Don't worry, the paperwork will still be there waiting."
"How can a girl turn down an offer like that?"
****
The walk to Saalfeld was pleasant, but not as pleasant as walking behind Veronika as she preceded Gottfried into the council building. Veronika didn't seem to have noticed that he'd dropped behind, so Gottfried dawdled a little, maximizing the time he could watch her swaying hips. All this meant he missed the reaction in the office when Veronika appeared. But he did manage to hear some of it.
". . . he won't marry you, you know," a voice Gottfried vaguely recognized said.
"Gottfried will too marry Veronika." That was Catrin, defending her friend to the end.
Gottfried waited a few seconds, just in case Veronika wanted to protest otherwise, before he pushed open the door. Catrin was facing down a man he recognized as the man who'd refused him his water discharge consent. Off to one side the man who had talked to him about coppice leases had a comforting arm around Veronika. That didn't bother him, because the man was obviously old enough to be her father.
He took in the scene before him in an instant, and said the first thing that came to mind. "Come on, Veronika. If we hurry, we can get the banns posted before the pastor at Saint Johan's leaves for lunch."
Catrin squealed and threw her arms around Veronika. Stephan Wachter slipped free of Veronika and walked up to Gottfried and offered him his hand. "Congratulations. You couldn't have picked a better woman to marry."
Gottfried shook the man's hand, but he was watching Nikolaus, who had an enormous sneer on his face. Their eyes met for a moment, and Nikolaus stalked off. He glanced over to Veronika, who seemed to be coming out of her shock. He had to act fast, before she started to think. Gottfried peeled her free of Catrin. "Come on, girl, let's get a move on." He dragged her out of the office and towards Saint Johan's.
Outside the council building Veronika stopped. "You don't have to marry me."
Gottfried put on his best wounded puppy impression. "You don't want to marry me?"
Veronika dropped her head. "I didn't say that."
That was close enough for Gottfried. He reached out and pulled her close, so that her face was buried into his chest. He held her like that for a while, savoring the warmth of her body snuggled up against him. Eventually he tipped up her chin. "So it's agreed, we go to Saint Johan's and post the banns?"
"That's not a very romantic proposal." She giggled. "What's Catrin going to say when I describe how you asked me to marry you?"
"She'll be most disillusioned, won't she?" Gottfried gazed into Veronika's eyes. "Of course, she's also going to ask if we kissed, isn't she?"
"Yes."
"Then we shouldn't disappoint her." Veronika obviously agreed, because she threaded her arms around his neck. He lowered his lips to her's and . . .
The Arrow
Willem Krause watched the Las Vegas Belle fly over and the left side of his mouth lifted in his patented half-grin. He was a charming fellow. Which was something he both knew and worked at. Krause worked at everything. Very little had come easy to him. His title was real enough, but mostly meaningless. He made his living as a mercenary soldier. He watched and as he watched, he formed a new goal. The goal of my life, he thought. He would gain an airplane-buy one, or build, or steal one, to take him where he wanted to go and turn him into a whole scout company all by himself. With an airplane, he could sell his services anywhere. Anywhere at all. To Krause it was obvious just from seeing the airplane fly, that aircraft would be of immense value in war even if they could never fire a shot. He watched the plane for another moment, then turned away. He had things to do. And he needed to be in Saxony to get the money to do them with.
****
"It's true, Elector," Willem Krause said. "I saw the airplane fly with my own eyes."
John George of Saxony asked for another beer-as was his custom, by dumping what was left of his present beer on the head of his servant. It was a boring old joke a hundred years before the Ring of Fire. But Willem smiled as though it was the freshest of wit. "They," he said, referring to airplanes, "will be world-changing, Elector. But I don't think the up-timers know it."