Page 42 of The Secrets We Left Behind
CHAPTER TWELVE
ELISE
“What are we going to do with all these people in our house?”
Elise sat next to her sister. They hadn’t even changed into their nightclothes yet, still sitting on the bed with a blanket draped between them, fretting over the situation downstairs. They’d made up the spare bed in the attic for Jack, but it had been impossible to carry him up the narrow staircase while he was still drifting in and out of consciousness, so they’d ended up leaving him downstairs. They’d given their parents’ larger bed to Cate, and Harry had insisted he was fine on the floor of the attic with an old mattress that had been propped against the wall. The attic had been her brother’s space; hot and stuffy as could be in summer, with barely enough air to breathe, but it had been his and he’d loved it ever since he’d moved up there as a teenager. It had been strange seeing another man in there, and stranger still making up the room that still smelt of her mother for Cate. They’d left it exactly as it had been when she’d died; perfume on the dresser, lipstick discarded beside it, and her purse and favorite shoes on the chair that faced the bed. It had seemed like an impossible job to move anything, although Elise often walked by the room and paused to drop someof the perfume to her wrist, so it would waft up to her and make her feel as if her mother were walking a step behind her all day.
Elise sighed, finally answering her sister’s question. “I don’t know. Honestly, for the first time in my life, I don’t know what to say.”
“What will happen if we’re caught? If our home is searched?” Addy asked. “What would they do to us? And do they even have the right to do that? It’s still our country, isn’t it?”
Elise took her hand, holding it gently as she listened to the rising hysteria in her sister’s voice. It was always this way; by the time Addy started to worry about something, Elise had already done her fair share of fretting and had come out the other side of it. Her sister acted impulsively and worried later, making them polar opposites in that respect, although she knew that it had been harder for Addy. Elise and Louis had had a different experience at her age; they’d been able to have fun and meet people, whereas Adelaide had been forced to stay largely at home with only her family for company.
“If anyone comes here, we keep them in the attic,” she said calmly. “We’re going to be absolutely fine, so long as we can find enough food for us all and keep Jack alive.” She cringed, wishing she hadn’t said that last part as Adelaide’s eyes widened.
“You think he might die? Did Cate say something to you?”
Elise felt like she was talking to someone much more than a few years younger than her. “No, she didn’t, but the color of his skin, the way his wound looked, it seemed obvious that it might be touch and go with him.” She had heard Cate talk about possible infection, and she didn’t need to be a nurse to know that that could kill him without access to the right medicine.
“What did you see out there? When you went looking for him?” Addy asked, her fingers worrying the frayed edge of theblanket. “How bad is it? Do you think there are any French soldiers fighting still? Did you come across any?”
Elise resisted the urge to tell her sister that she might be best asking her new admirer, and that there certainly weren’t any French soldiers around, but she knew she had to be more careful if she wanted to get Addy to talk. Her sister might be naïve sometimes, but she knew how to bottle things up and keep them inside if she needed to.
“I didn’t see anything, but we heard a lot,” Elise told her. She knew better than to shield her too much; she needed her to be afraid, to be on guard. “And from the sounds of it, the tides of war have very much turned against us, so I don’t think we’ll be seeing any friendly soldiers in the near future.”
Addy looked up at her. “Why do I have a feeling you’re keeping something from me?”
Elise stood and crossed the room, standing by the window and parting the curtains a little. She stared into the dark, unable to see anything, and at the same time seeing everything. She doubted she’d ever unsee the massacre they’d witnessed.
“How did that Nazi soldier know you by name?” Elise finally asked, not turning, trying to sound unfazed by what she was asking, not wanting to push too hard. She knew her sister, and it would only make her hold all her cards closer to her chest.
“I wouldn’t say he knows me as such,” Addy replied, but when Elise finally faced her, she could see the too-hot flush of her sister’s cheeks.
“I heard your exchange with him, that’s all. He clearly said your name and you used his Christian name in reply,” Elise continued, struggling to keep her voice on an even keel. “In fact, I believe he said it was good to see you again?” She sat, keeping more distance this time, the bed between them.
“He’s the one I handed Peter over to that day,” Addy finally said, raising her eyes.
Elise breathed deep. So her sister had managed to catch the eye of a high-ranking German soldier theone dayshe’d let her go out unchaperoned. Her voice defied her and she cleared her throat, trying not to stumble over her words. “I see.”
Addy started to cry then, and Elise forced herself to be kind, to be patient, when in fact all she wanted was to shake her sister’s shoulders and force some sense into her. Ever since she’d left her with Peter, ever since she’d chosen to help him surrender, Elise had known she needed to be more careful to keep a closer eye on her.
“Tell me, did it ever cross your mind that he might have been involved in the massacre we witnessed?” Elise asked.
“Of course it did,” Addy cried. “But if you’d seen how nice he was, I just don’t think he’s—”
“Of course he’s capable, Adelaide, he’s aNazi. He’s capable of every terrible thing you or I could imagine, so don’t pretend for a moment that he’s not.”
“You’re acting as if I did something wrong, but I only talked to him! That’s all.” Addy was wiping at her cheeks now, but Elise wasn’t going to comfort her. She couldn’t. There was a time and place for being sympathetic, and this was not it, even though it went against every fiber in her body not to care for her sister; but what she’d done in taking Peter was wrong.
“He’s going to want more from you than you might want to give, Addy. We need,you need, to be prepared.” Elise sighed. “Men like him take what they want, they don’t ask for it or sit around waiting. If he decidesyou’resomething he wants, then I don’t know how I can protect you.”
They sat, staring at one another a moment longer, silence heavy between them, Addy sniffing back tears of naivety.
“But Nazi soldier aside, we have two British men and a woman hiding in our house,” Elise said brusquely, not wanting to wallow in fear with her sister any longer. “We need a plan quickly, otherwise we could find ourselves on a fast-sinking ship.”
A soft knock at the door startled Elise and made Addy physically jump. Elise shot out a hand to steady her, feeling her pulse thumping at her wrist.
“It’s just me,” came a small voice.
