Page 60 of The Secrets We Left Behind
“He told you something important?” Elise asked.
Addy nodded. “I know you hate him, Harry, but I’m just not so sure it could have been him. I mean, he’s told me twice now that Peter has received treatment for his wounds. Would he do that for him if he was capable of such things?”
Harry glared at her with such anger, such coldness, that she wrapped her arms around herself.
“I know you think he did something dreadful to your men, Harry, but today, being with him, it made me realize that we’re all the same. We’re just people who end up fighting for our country and the people we love. He’s a brother and a son, and his mother and sister want him back as much as we want our loved ones home.”
“Onlywedon’t murder in cold blood,” Harry muttered. “They’re barbarians, Adelaide. I don’t think they’re like us at all. And what’s to say he’s not stringing you along about Peter?”
Maybe he was right and she was being naïve, but it was hard for her to make sense of it all. Tears swam in her vision then, but she didn’t want to acknowledge them in case Elise saw.
“Tell us what he said.” Elise was looking worried.
Adelaide noticed that her sister was angled away from Harry, not looking at him and certainly not appearing overly friendly.
“He said that the British soldiers are gone, evacuated from the beach at Dunkirk in their thousands,” she said. “And he alsotold me ...” Addy took a deep breath as Elise and Harry seemed to hang on her every word. “He also said that the German army is here to stay, that they’re expecting to occupy our country, and that our government will turn France over to Hitler within days.” Adelaide couldn’t hold her tears back then; they fell rapidly down her cheeks. “The French army has as good as surrendered, and there’s no other country coming to save us, which means our alliance with Wolfgang could mean everything to us. He might be able to keep us safe.”
“He told you he’d keep us safe?” Elise asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Harry went quiet before turning and walking straight back upstairs. “I’ll go and tell Jack the news. But Adelaide?”
She waited for him to speak, saw the anger in him as he balled his fists at his side.
“Using this Nazi is one thing, but don’t forget who he is. Every single man in my regiment had a family, too. They were all sons, husbands, brothers and sweethearts. They were men who deserved better than to be slaughtered while their own captain held a white goddamn flag.” Tears were glistening in Harry’s eyes now, his pain so real and raw that Adelaide felt a fool. “That man you’re flirting with? One day he’ll be called to answer for what he did, because as long as I survive, I will never forget. Never.”
As he left, Elise opened her arms and hugged her, holding her tight as Addy cried into her hair, her body shaking. Was she being naïve to think Wolfgang wasn’t capable of murdering Harry’s friends in cold blood? Or was she right, and Harry just wanted to blame him because he wore the same uniform as the man who’d given the order that day?
“We’re going to be fine, Addy, I promise you,” Elise whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry I’ve been so short-tempered with you, I just hate sitting at home, worried about whether you’re safe or not.Whether you’ll even make it back home. But I trust you. There’s no way someone as sweet as you would ever fall for a monster like Wolfgang.”
Addy clung to her sister, hating that they’d been pulling apart the last few days, and hoping desperately that Elise would never find out how butterflies danced in her stomach whenever she was with the man they all hated. “When I’m with him, it’s hard to see that he’s a monster. I know he is, of course I do, but ...” But what? She liked the attention? She liked the way he looked? She liked the way she felt special when she was with him? It all sounded pathetic, even to her own ears, now. “It’s hard to remember that when he’s so different with me.”
“Men can be like chameleons sometimes,” Elise murmured. “He’s probably well versed at being charming when he has to be, and maybe you’ll never see the other side of him, but you need to remember how quickly things could escalate if he ever finds out what we’ve done. He could go from sweetheart to monster before you have so much as a whisper of warning.”
Addy breathed in the scent of her sister and stole her warmth, still folded into her arms. And not for the first time, she wished their mother were still alive, so Elise could just be her sister instead of having to be the one in charge.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CATE
“I can see her coming along the path.”
Cate was waiting for Elise to return, anxiously packing some supplies they might need along the way for their little trip. She wasn’t sure yet where they were going, but she’d wrapped some dried fruit and a slice of bread, and filled a container with water. Then she’d added in a flashlight in case they didn’t make it home before dark.
“You’re all jittery,” Jack said, sitting up in bed. “You’ve been making me dizzy with all that pacing.”
Cate laughed. “Sorry. I just had this strange feeling that she wasn’t going to come back.”
“It’s not unusual to feel that way, Cate,” Jack said somberly. “There are enemy soldiers stationed everywhere around here, and fighting could break out anywhere. There could still be pockets of British soldiers waiting to take a stand.”
Cate didn’t tell him that she firmly believed any of those pockets would have been found and killed by now.
“Promise me you’ll be careful?” he asked.
“If you promise me to keep resting while I’m gone,” she replied.
“What, did you think I might leave the house for a stroll or take Adelaide to a dance, perhaps?”
