Page 70 of The Secrets We Left Behind
“There’s a big difference between Harry and Wolfgang, so please don’t compare them,” Elise snapped. “But you’re right, I was with Harry, and I should have been keeping an eye on you instead.”
Adelaide shook her head. “No, you shouldn’t. Because I’m capable of making decisions for myself.”
Elise seemed to chew her words over, silently reaching for her and putting an arm around her. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I was just worried. I promised myself I wasn’t going to be angry with you when you got home, but I wasn’t sure if youwerecoming back. I didn’t know what had happened to you and I started jumping to all sorts of conclusions.”
Adelaide grimaced, the weight of what she’d done hitting her as her sister spoke. “I’m so sorry, I should have left a note.” She’d been so fixated on seeing Wolfgang, she hadn’t thought for a second about how worried her sister might be.
“Addy, we have something for you when you’ve finished eating,” Cate said, interrupting them as she stood.
In the corner of the room, on the bedside table, was a cake, with a single candle placed in the center. Adelaide gasped, looking from Cate to Elise. She hadn’t had cake in almost a year!
“Who did this for me?” she asked, pushing up to her knees as Cate brought it over and put it in front of her.
“Your sister,” Cate said. “She’s been saving the ingredients for weeks, from what I can gather.”
“Oh, Elise, thank you so much.”
“Happy birthday, little sister,” Elise said, her smile appearing strained. “The eggs from your commander meant I could make Mama’s recipe, so I hope I’ve done her proud.”
Addy hadn’t expected Elise to do anything special for her birthday, not with everything going on, but to know that she’d been planning it for weeks and saving precious flour and sugar? Tears pricked her eyes as Cate leant forward and struck a match, and all four of them sang for her, their voices low and husky.
Adelaide looked at Harry, then Jack, and finally Cate, before blowing out her candle and shutting her eyes. She saw the attic as it used to be, saw her brother lying on the bed, throwing a pillow at her as she crept in to annoy him, saw her sister sitting at the top of the stairs, calling to their mother below. She could see Mama with her apron on, singing in the kitchen, and her father sleeping on the sofa, Oscar curled on his over-sized belly.
“Make a wish, Addy,” Elise whispered beside her.
Adelaide shut her eyes even tighter, her head spinning.I wish we could go back to normal, that this war was over for good.It was a stupid wish, one a child might make and expect to come true, but it was the only thing she could think to ask for.
“To many more birthdays to come,” Elise murmured, kissing her head as Cate cut the cake and put it on to plates.
Adelaide took the first plate, her fingers closing over the dainty little fork. It had been a long time since they’d indulged in cake orused their mama’s best china and cutlery. Once, cakes had been as commonplace as cheese and beautiful baguettes, but now they were as rare as hens’ teeth and she savored every bite.
When she finally looked up, licking every last morsel from her fork and seeing all the others do the same, she noticed the way that Harry was looking at her sister. The animosity was long gone, and had been replaced by an almost-protective gaze that was impossible to miss. Maybe that was why he’d been so curt with her before—he was cross with her on Elise’s behalf.
“So let’s run through this again,” Jack said. “The more we go through it, the more likely we are to be successful.”
“Even making it to the beach is going to be difficult,” Harry said, setting his plate down, her birthday celebration well and truly over as the discussion turned more serious. “Can you pass me the map?”
Jack grunted as he leant forward, clearly in some degree of pain still.
“So by my calculations, we need to walk all night, find somewhere to hide during the day, then resume our walk again the next night,” Harry said. “Elise?”
“Yes, but I think we need to allow some time for anything unexpected. What happens if we have to hide from a patrol or we have to change course?”
“Well, we can’t leave too early, because we’ve nowhere to hide, but I agree. We work in an hour in case something unforeseen happens.”
“What happens if you miss this boat?” Addy asked.
It was Cate who answered her. “We have to somehow make it back here safely again without anyone seeing two British soldiers, and then wait another month for the next new moon.”
“And even then, they might not take you,” Elise added. “Imagine the volume of people they’re trying to smuggle in alldirections! I don’t think you’ll have the luxury of another shot, unless we make it to more formal evacuations planned for much further down the coast.”
“Will you leave in the dark?” Addy asked, her pulse starting to race as she realized what she was going to have to do.
“Dusk,” Harry said, still studying the map. “Although it’s hard to say where we’ll end up staying after the first full night of walking. I want us to cover as much ground as possible in the first eight hours, so I’m suggesting we leave before nightfall. Which means getting out of this house and Le Paradis under Nazi noses.”
Adelaide looked at her sister. “I’ll distract Wolfgang,” she said. “I’ll find a way to keep them away from the house to give you all time to leave.”
“Absolutely not!” Elise cried.
