“Oh, but Monsieur -”
“You don’t have any, do you?”
By her silence she said no.
He fished out several banknotes, spread them on the table. Among them was the ticket for Berlin. “You’ll need the extra to go on to Münster.”
“So this is goodbye.”
He looked down at the table.
She thought he was about to lay his hand on the resignation paper, to keep it from her, when he looked up. “You look so different, now. Every bit as pretty as Mlle Miroux. I won’t soon forget you.”
She felt her loneliness looming in a crowd, then on the train, the passage of a bleak long ride to Berlin. “Will you miss me just a little?” she said.
He gathered her all into his eyes, as if she stood stock still for him to take her photograph.
“I wish there were some way I wouldn’t,” he said, and tucked the resignation paper under his blouse and shoved his billfold back into his pocket. He reached for his cap and began to slide out, then he was on his feet.
She got out and stood there while he stuffed the wallet back into his pocket. He thrust his hand out, she grasped it firmly and they shook.
“Well, goodbye,” he said in a cordial, not quite brittle tone.
“Who knows?” she said.
He smiled, then walked away and she watched him as he stopped to pay Maurice at the bar, then went on briskly and was reaching for the doorknob when his hand dropped, and he half turned. He smiled at her, she smiled back and lifted her hand to wave, but he’d gone out. The second jingle shook as the door shut, and a shadow hunkered, then hurled across the curtain. Tears seemed to come from nowhere, hot and blinding, making the lights swim in the movement of him going, and she was still as they spilled over and ran down like something that would keep her there a little longer, and she knew they were, just for that moment, not all for Kurt.
She didn’t want to go. She knew she had to, so Maurice could keep his date.
They were all down there, safe from hearing the whistling and the explosions outside, feeling the ground shudder, but when it stopped, there’d be the all clear. Somebody upstairs, waiting.
The lights behind the bar went out.
Maurice came hurriedly around, shoes clumping. He turned the ‘closed’ sign outward in the window and rang down the shades. He came over to her, wiping his hands on his apron. “Was there anything else, Madame?”
His eyes shone with the hope that she was through, and she could see his fear of being late by seconds for his rendezvous.
“If she loves you, Maurice, she won’t dock you for being late.”
“I’ve got my bike, Madame. That’ll get me there in no time.”
“Will you be taking her to the cinema? The dance hall?”
He shook his head. “No. We’ll just find some secret place and, you know…”
She got into her purse, peeled off 600 francs and pushed them across the table to him. “Here. A little something to light up that secret place of yours.”
“Oh no, Madame. I couldn’t -”
“If you don’t, I’ll never come back here, ever again. What would your uncle Philippe say to that?”
He picked up the money shyly. “You’re so kind, Madame.” He cocked his head at her. “You have an accent. Are you French?”
“Maybe not,” she said.
He shrugged. “I couldn’t place it. I just heard something.”
“Just for that I’m going to tell you I was born in Italy. You could say that, really, I’m Italian. A little German thrown in for flavor.”
“Ah, that explains it! May I add, your friend is a very lucky man.” He held a lovely smile on her.
“Thank you,” she said. “Well, let me get out of here so you can close up. You don’t want to keep that girl waiting too much longer. Goodnight, then, Maurice. Until next time.” The next time that she knew would never be.
“Au revoir, Madame.”
She walked straight to the door and went out under the jingle of the bell into the cool embrace of the night. Another light behind her in the shaded window went out. She turned down toward the Place Blanche. She wanted to walk a while before she hailed a taxi to get home in.
Peace fell in all around her, as if the stars up there, immoveable, had been released from prison, and you didn’t have to look over your shoulder anymore for the place where death would scream to earth. Maurice would soon be racing through the night toward a restless girl who was too beautiful, too much in love with him to be gone when he got there.
Geli took a breath of the cool air on her face. Where was he? Never to go out into the garden to admire her daffodils and irises, or see the sun so warm against a bright new stucco wall. He had never been hers to have. But she had him, and she always would, there under the menacing harmony of the bombers on their way to the fuel dumps, the bridges and the munition factories, and they were listening for the first bombs like their hearts were falling, too, for the last time.
Kind review Request
Dear Reader,
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Patrick T. Leahy
Further WW2 Historical Fiction
The Hidden Village. A Gripping and Unforgettable Story of Survival set in WW2 Holland by Imogen Matthews is available as Kindle ebook, audio and paperback (ISBN 9789492371256)
Wartime Holland. Who can you trust? Deep in the Veluwe woods lies a secret that frustrates the Germans. Convinced that Jews are hiding close by they can find no proof. The secret is Berkenhout, a purpose-built village of huts sheltering dozens of persecuted people.
Young tearaway Jan roams the woods looking for adventure and fallen pilots. His dream comes true when he stumbles across an American airman, Donald C. McDonald. But keeping him hidden sets off a disastrous chain of events. All it takes is one small fatal slip to change the course of all their lives for ever.
Hidden in the Shadows by Imogen Matthews is available as paperback (ISBN 9789493056305) and ebook
Hidden in the Shadows: An unforgettable WW2 novel
Escape from the hidden village is just the beginning. September 1944: The hidden village is finished. Stormed by the Nazis. Several are dead and dozens flee for their lives.
Among them is Wouter and his beloved Laura, though he hasn’t had a chance to tell her. Amid the chaos, they lose one another, and have no choice but to embark on a dangerous journey alone.
Laura is Jewish. She must rely on the kindness of others who hide her in attics and cellars, taking her further and further away from Wouter.
Wouter is torn between his need to find Laura and escape detection by the Nazis who want to hunt him down. Numerous tip-offs about Laura’s whereabouts come to nothing, but Wouter never gives up his desperate search.
Time is running out as cold sweeps in signaling the start of the Hunger Winter. Wouter’s search now becomes a battle for survival.
Where is Laura? Is she even alive?
Hidden in the Shadows is an unforgettable story of bravery and love, inspired by historical events.
A Quiet Genocide. The Untold Holocaust of Disabled Children in WW2 Germany by Glenn Bryant is available as paperback (ISBN 9789492371829) and as ebook
Germany, 1954. Jozef grows up in a happy household – so it seems. But his father Gerhard still harbours disturbing National Socialism ideals, while mother Catharina is quietly broken. She cannot feign happiness for much longer and rediscovers love elsewhere. Jozef is uncertain and alone. Who is he? Are Gerhard and Catharina his real parents?
A dark mystery gradually unfolds, revealing an inescapable truth the entire nation is afraid to confront. But Jozef is determined to find out about the past and a horror is finally unmasked which continues to question our idea of what, in the last hour, makes each of us human. A terrifying and heartbreaking story.
Mendelevski’s Box by Roger Swindells, is available as paperback (ISBN 9789493056107) and ebook
He searches for the address where he and his Jewish family were hidden prior to their arrest by the Nazis for anything tangible connected to his family, and for whoever betrayed them. Only after finding answers can he start to rebuild his life.
The Time Between: Love, loyalty and betrayal in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam by Bryna Hellmann-Gillson is available as paperback (ISBN 9789492371850) and as ebook
This historical novel depicts three young Jewish women, Pam, Jo and Hannah, and their family and friends during the physically, psychologically and morally difficult years of the German occupation, 1940-1945. They print illegal newspapers and false documents, hide Jewish children, commit sabotage and murder.
Their lives come together through Adrian, a young man risking his life in the resistance. He is Pam’s brother, Jo’s first infatuation and Hannah’s lover. “Isn’t this the between time?” he asks. “One day real life stopped, when the Germans came, and some day real life will start again.” For some of them, it did.
The Knife-Edge Path Page 23