Page 54 of The Secrets We Left Behind
“He must have been acting on orders, like all soldiers do,” Addy said. “There’s no other explanation for it.”
Harry’s words were as chilled as ice. “No, Adelaide, that’s not right. Acting on orders would have been allowing my men to surrender and taking us prisoners of war. He gave the order,hechose to shoot us like ducks in a barrel and in doing so, violated the Geneva Convention.”
Adelaide had tears shining in her eyes, but Elise didn’t jump in to her defense. It was a fair point, and one that her sister needed to understand. She needed her to realize what this man was capable of.
“I have no intention of falling in love with the man, honestly!” Addy muttered.
“Good,” Harry replied. “So long as you keep your head straight, perhaps your little stunt with him could prove useful.”
“I’m not going to warn you again, Harry. My sister is not, and will never be, a pawn to be used for anyone’s advantage.”
“I think your sister has already pointed out that she’ll be the one deciding what she will and won’t be doing,” he replied curtly.
Elise glared at him, wondering how she could have felt so warmly toward him just evenings ago, and so frosty now. It was like he was ready to throw Addy to the wolves if he needed to. “Cate and I will travel to Lille as soon as the fighting ceases and things settle down,” she finally said. “We have little knowledge of what’s going on outside our own village, but there is a friend of my father’s there who I can call on. I would trust him with my life, so I know we’d be safe visiting him and asking questions.”
“Shouldn’t I go with you?” Adelaide asked.
Elise didn’t even turn to look at her, keeping her gaze on Harry. “I thought I’d already made it clear that I don’t want you in any danger?” She stuck her fork into the artichoke mash and forced it down, hating every bite but knowing she needed to eat.
“Elise,” Cate said quietly, picking up her bowl and cutlery. “Would you help me to clear the table?”
Elise scooped up the last of the mash, swallowing it down and then lifting her bowl from the table. “Of course.”
She followed Cate out of the room, both of them placing their bowls and cutlery in the sink. It was funny, because she’d always felt closer to her siblings than to anyone else in the world, but she found herself drawn toward Cate now. It was nice, in a way, to have another woman to talk to.
“I think you’re right to be cautious,” Cate said, her voice low as they stood facing the window, shoulder to shoulder at the sink. “That night I came here, honestly, it was like that commander didn’t even see me, he only had eyes for your sister. And the way he was staring at her made me feel uncomfortable.”
“So you agree with me?” Elise asked. “You don’t think I’m being overprotective?”
“Overprotective? We’re talking about your sister getting involved with a Nazi! A Nazi who gave the order to massacre almost a hundred men who were trying to surrender,” Cate whispered. “You have every right to be upset.”
Elise squeezed her eyes shut. She’d promised her mother that she’d look after Adelaide, that she wouldn’t let any harm come to her, and she’d barely managed a year of keeping her safe. “So what do we do, then?” she eventually asked.
“Honestly? I don’t have the answer to that, but if you’re thinking of forbidding her from seeing him, I wouldn’t. Imagine how quickly his affections could change if she turned him down?”
Elise groaned. “I should never have let her go today, should I?”
“Maybe not, but what’s done is done. And I don’t see that you really had a choice in the matter.” Cate sighed. “It doesn’t exactly make it easy with Harry encouraging her, either.”
“I just don’t like being this person, telling her what she can and can’t do, being the one in charge when—”
“You feel like you don’t even know what you’re doing, and yet you have to figure out how to manage someone else as well.”
Elise stared at her. “That’s exactly how I feel. Like I’m suddenly the head of the family, even though I never wanted to be and I don’t have any training for the job.”
Cate nodded. “It’s how I felt when I started nursing. There were so many expectations, so much I was responsible for even though I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning.”
“So how did you get through it?”
“I think we all just do the best we can, the only way we know how,” Cate said wistfully. “Somehow, in the end, we figure it out along the way. And I can tell you’ll be just fine, you’re already the head of this family whether you want to be or not.”
“I suppose I feel sorry for Addy in a way, it’s like she’s been robbed of those fun years, meeting boys and having fun with friends her own age. So much has been going on and my parents became very protective of her as soon as there was even a whisper of war.”
“What are you two gossiping about in here?” Adelaide’s warm, sweet voice put an end to their conversation, and Elise turned and took the dishes her sister was carrying. That was one thing she had to give her sister credit for; she never held grudges, and was always perfectly happy to move on and forget any harsh words that had been said.
“Nothing important,” Elise replied, wishing she could bundle Addy in a big hug and keep her safe from the world forever.
“I wanted to know if Elise had any spare sanitary items. I didn’t want to ask in front of Harry, and I’ve had some bad cramping,”Cate said, smiling at Elise as she turned. “And then we got carried away whispering about how handsome Harry is. I think your sister likes him.”
