Page 22 of The Secrets We Left Behind
Addy could tell from the gentleness of her sister’s words that she expected her to be upset about it. But if she were entirely honest, it was something she’d already thought about. Peter had terrified her when he’d kept insisting he be allowed to surrender, muttering like he was actually demented, the whites of his eyes flashing the moment he’d gained consciousness. How could they help him if he didn’t want to be helped?
“What if we do, though, and then he tells them what we did? About Harry?”
Elise sighed. “I know, I’ve thought of that, too. But short of knocking him over the head or shooting him myself and buryinghim in the garden, I don’t see what our other options are if he still feels that way next week, or next month even. And we can’t exactly keep him hidden if he doesn’t want to be here, he’ll jeopardize our safety either way.”
Addy shut her eyes, wishing they didn’t have to consider something so horrid. “What’s going to happen to us? If we’re found out?” she asked. “What would the Germans actually do to us?”
Elise caught her hand. “Listen carefully to me, Addy. If we’re discovered, we say that we helped them because they were on our doorstep in the middle of the night and we felt vulnerable as two women here alone. We feared for our safety. As long as we both stick to the same story, we’ll be fine.”
“You’re certain that will work?” She couldn’t tell if her sister was simply trying to make her feel better.
“We’re two young women on our own who were put in an impossible situation. We simply say that we were scared, and we weren’t able to physically restrain two men with brute force, or defend ourselves against them.”
Addy laughed, despite it all. “Maybe not, but after seeing you in action today, I think you would actually do it if you had to. I was actually pretty impressed with you.”
Elise laughed back, and within seconds they were both laughing hard, heads bent together. It had been an awful day, but laughing made Addy feel so much better, even if only for a few minutes.
“I can’t believe I took a bullet out of a man,” Elise said, head in her hands as she groaned. “Somehow I just did it.”
“I can’t believe any of what you did! All I managed was to scrub the doorstep. Honestly, I would have fainted if I’d had to so much as touch either of their wounds.”
After a few minutes, as Addy sank down in the pillows and felt her breathing start to slow, Elise whispered to her.
“So we’re agreed then?” she asked, her voice somber now, not a trace of humor left. “We look after them as best we can, but if we’re discovered, we stick to our story?”
“Yes,” Addy whispered back. “We’re agreed.”
She’d saved injured birds and found stray cats all her life, not to mention rescuing Oscar as a puppy from a farmer who was about to drown him in a sack with rocks. So it shouldn’t have surprised her sister when she’d been so insistent on saving the two men. They would do their best, but if they were discovered, they needed to save themselves and plead for understanding.
“I’m really proud of you, Addy.”
Addy should have told Elise how proud she was of her, too, but instead she just let her draw her close and hold her, almost able to imagine it was her mother holding her, instead of her big sister.
The next morning, after waking up snuggled tight to Elise, Addy rose and quickly got dressed. She roused her sister, not used to being the first up, which told her that the events of the night before must have really taken a toll on her.
Thump.
She cringed. It was a very weird feeling hearing noises downstairs, knowing that they were being made by men; men who were essentially strangers to them. As their family had slowly become smaller, she’d grown used to it being just the two of them, and that also meant having a very quiet house most of the time.
Oscar had already jumped off the bed to go down and investigate, and Adelaide pulled on a thick woolen cardigan as she waited for Elise to drag herself out of bed.
“What time is it?” Elise croaked.
“Seven,” she replied. “And it sounds like there’s a large animal downstairs, so I think we need to get down there.”
Elise groaned, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed and rubbing at her head. Adelaide decided to leave her and go down on her own, although the second she stepped into the living room, she wished she’d waited for her sister so she wasn’t alone.
“Oh Lord,” she muttered, as she surveyed the room.
Somehow Peter had dragged himself almost to the front door, his broken leg outstretched and with the makeshift wooden splint miraculously still attached. There was a small trail of blood, which she supposed must have come from another wound under his shirt that they hadn’t yet found, because his leg hadn’t been a source of blood despite it having a horrendous injury.
“What does he think he’s doing?” Addy asked, horrified as she moved closer to Harry.
“Apparently he’s going to surrender,” Harry said, shaking his head as he stared at his friend in what she imagined was disbelief. “I’ve tried to talk sense into him, but he won’t listen.”
“Is there anything I could say?” Adelaide asked.
“Honestly, he’s just so fixated on trying to surrender again. Other than tying him to a chair—”
