Page 14 of Hearts of Resistance
Rose nodded and hugged her sister-in-law back. Right now her grief was raw, but she was determined to stay strong. She had a baby on the way, a child that needed all of her strength and love. She wasn’t ready to tell her brother about it just yet, wanting to keep the secret for herself a little while longer.
‘I didn’t want to bring this up right away,’ Charlotte said as she settled into a chair in the kitchen and Rose set about making coffee, ‘but, Rose, we’re only here for a night now.’
Rose glanced up as her brother came into the room. ‘You came all this way for a night?’ she asked. Paris was over six hours away and they’d mentioned coming for a week.
She watched the pair exchange glances and then it was her brother who spoke. ‘Rose, I’m not sure how much you’re aware of, but there’s an underground network of sorts operating in this area,’ he said.
Rose spooned coffee into the pot. ‘I’m not so naive that I don’t know about the Resistance.’ But it did surprise her to know they were so active near her home.
Charlotte laughed. ‘I told your brother exactly that on our way here.’
She swapped glances with her sister-in-law. There was a reason she liked Charlotte so much.
‘Were you aware that your husband—’
‘Was funding them?’ Rose finished, smiling. ‘Yes, Seb, I was.’
Sebastian looked speechless for a moment. ‘Well, did you know it was me who asked him for the funding in the first place?’
This time he had her. ‘No. I didn’t. He wouldn’t have wanted to risk mentioning you, perhaps? But I’m aware of all his...businessdealings.’
‘You’ve unwittingly ended up in a dangerous area, Rose. I just wanted to warn you that there are covert operations happening around here. We’re passing through, legitimately able to say we’re here to visit my grieving sister, but we might well be disappearing after this for some time.’
Rose’s hand shook as she reached for the kettle. She couldn’t stand the idea of losing her brother so soon after her husband.
‘I see.’ She took them their coffee and sat down across from Charlotte. Sebastian joined them.
‘Peter was very clear that he didn’t want you involved in any part of this,’ Sebastian said.
‘He would hate to think you were in danger,’ Charlotte added.
When Rose’s hand instinctively fell to her stomach and she looked up at Charlotte, she realised how easily she’d just given up her secret. Rose shook her head and Charlotte nodded. It seemed the other woman understood that it wasn’t something she wanted to share.
‘You’ll be gone in the morning?’ she asked.
‘Very early in the morning, before dawn,’ Charlotte replied.
‘We’d best make the most of it then,’ Rose said, forcing a smile. She looked between them, remembering the first time she’d met Charlotte. Even then, she could tell her brother was in love, and the fact the two of them were working undercover together told her that her first instincts about the other woman had been right. If only their parents were still alive; they’d have loved their daughter-in-law. They were used to their own daughter being confident and abreast of world affairs, and their mother would have appreciated that in her son’s choice of wife.
‘You’ll be fine here on your own?’ Sebastian asked.
‘Of course. And if there is anything, anything at all, you or your fellow...’ – she struggled to find the right words – ‘freedom fighterswant or need, you’re to ask me. I’d like to do whatever I can. It’s not an empty offer, either. You’re to call on me for anything, be it money or any other assistance. I want to help.’
Rose reached out and touched his hand. She might be pregnant, but if there was anything she could do to help, her resolve to be of use hadn’t wavered. In fact, after losing Peter, she wondered if she was starting to feel more determined than ever to do something useful, so that his death and thousands more hadn’t been for nothing.
Sebastian nodded and held up his cup. ‘Perhaps after this we should move on to something stronger, then.’
Rose laughed, standing and heading for their little cellar. She was certain Peter would have something suitable tucked away. ‘I remember another time we said the exact same thing.’
‘The day we all figured out what that bastard Hitler was doing,’ Charlotte called out. ‘I don’t care what happens to me, but if I can help stop him, I’ll do anything.’
Rose leaned against the wall in the cellar, her eyes shut, remembering as if it was yesterday the day she’d gone to meet Sebastian and his journalist friends once Peter had left for work. It must have been six years ago, but the memory was crystal clear.
She entered, scanning the café until she saw a table of four in the corner, heads bent together as they talked. He didn’t see her as she walked towards him, but she was surprised to see that one of the other three was a woman.
‘Sebastian,’ she said, after waiting for him to look up.
‘Rose!’ He stood and gave her a big hug before pulling back to kiss her cheeks twice and then twice again. ‘You look wonderful.’
