Page 6 of The Secrets We Left Behind
A loud rumbling seemed to reverberate through the chateau then, rattling the roof, and Cate pulled her hand away and hurried to the front door to look out. As the other nurses fled to gather their things, most with an embarrassed backward glance to her, and the rest of the orderlies and doctors followed, a convoy of ambulances and lorries rolling in an unexpected group down the road started to pull up, more than she’d ever seen all at once. Dust rose in the air, the light rain not yet enough to dampen the ground, and she held up her hand to stop the grit getting in her eyes.
“Cate, you can’t stay. I won’t let you.” Lilly was suddenly behind her, linking their arms as if to force her to move.
“I’m staying,” she said firmly. “Those orderlies, so many of them have families at home waiting for them, and I’m not going to leave and make one of them have to stay in my place.”
Lilly shook her head, jutting her chin up defiantly. “Then I’m not leaving, either.”
Cate took her in her arms and held her tight. “Yes, you are. Your mother needs to have at least one of you safe, Lil. You need to go home.” She took a deep breath, remembering the way they’d held one another when they’d received the news about Charlie.Missing presumed dead. Which meant the pair of them had never, ever stopped hoping, even if that hope had started to dwindle of late.
Lilly had always been so cheerful, so happy and full of life, but Cate could only see pain in her eyes now. It was like they’d both made a silent pact not to talk about Charlie or even think about him after receiving the news, as a desperate way of coping, simply to make it through each day. It never got any easier, but they’d at least always had one another. Until now. “Cate,please. Don’t make me leave you. I can’t go home without you.”
Cate took a deep, shuddering breath before she let Lilly go. “You can, and you will.”
Lilly’s eyes searched hers before she finally pulled away. “You promise me you’ll make it home, Cate. Promise me.”
Cate knew better than to make a promise she couldn’t keep, but she could see that Lilly wasn’t going to leave if she didn’t. “I promise.”
Lilly pressed a hasty kiss to her cheek before backing away. “You come home, you hear me? Or I’ll come back looking for you myself.”
Cate watched her go, feeling like time wasn’t moving as she stared at her friend. They’d been through so much together, and Cate knew it might be the last time they ever saw one another again. Her fingers found the ring at her throat, and she clutched it, taking comfort in her link to the past.
But there was no time left to stare and wallow in sadness, as the front door to the chateau was thrust open for the first ambulance, and she watched as the first stretchers were carried out.So this is what defeat looks like, Cate thought as a procession of orderlies started running inside with men in all stages of death and injury. Her stomach, which had been so strong despite all she’d seen and done, lurched at the sight of the injured soldiers; before, they’d been patching them up to go home, but these poor men were either going to die or end up prisoners of war, and she didn’t know which was worse. The smell of defeat was as heavy in the air as the metallic tang of blood that immediately filled her nostrils.
She ran inside after them, no longer thinking about what was to come, what her fate might be. Her job was to ease the discomfort of these men as best she could, and that’s what she was going to do until her very last breath.
She’d see Lilly before she left; right now she had lives to save.
So much for the last supper we all had planned for the evening, downstairs in the cellar with a few bottles of the chateau’s finest wine.
CHAPTER THREE
ELISE
LEPARADIS, FRANCE, MAY1940
Elise reached for her sister and pulled her closer, slipping her arm around her shoulders. They both stared down at the basic white cross that marked their father’s grave. She instinctively touched Adelaide’s hair, her fingers brushing against the long tendrils that fell down her back.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” Adelaide whispered, and Elise dropped her cheek to her sister’s head. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing away the tears, refusing to break down when she was trying to be strong for the both of them.
It was only months ago that they’d all gathered together, under the tree that now marked their family’s small graveyard. Her father had sat, surrounded by them all, the smile on his face bright enough to power the sun itself, as her mother had poured wine for lunch.
“The Germans will never defeat the might of the French army,” he boasted. “The French and British forces will annihilate them, just you wait and see.”
Elise exchanged glances with her mother, stifling her smile at how certain Father was about their success. She saw the familiar twinkle in her mother’s eye, knowing that she too thought he was overconfident. But it didn’t seem to matter. The sun was shining, they had a feast spread out on the table to enjoy, and the wine was crisp and delicious. And while her father might be prone to exaggeration, they all believed they would win the war. Defeat seemed unlikely, if not outright impossible.
“How are you feeling?” she asked her brother, Louis. “Are you nervous?”
“He’ll be fine!” her father announced, slapping him on the back. “Our strong boy’s going to do our country proud, aren’t you, son?”
She laughed along with her brother as he flexed his bicep, passing him more cheese and slapping at her sister’s hand when she tried to take some of it.
“You leave it for Louis, we don’t know what he’ll be eating when he leaves here.”
The next day they waved him off, so certain that he’d be home before Christmas. Their fearless, handsome, fun-loving brother.
She swallowed, as if she could somehow force the memories down, bury them deep inside her so she never had to think about them again.
So much could happen so quickly. Now it was just the two of them. Louis had been dead within weeks of leaving home, their mother had died of what Elise guessed could have been a broken heart, and their father had succumbed to influenza only months after that beautiful lunch under a perfect, cloudless sky. The last day before everything she knew had changed forever.
