he knew so much he could be trusted. Vivi wouldn’t give out anything classified, places or agents, but she was so desperate to make a connection.
‘I was also working in Paris,’ she informed him in a whisper. ‘I was a wireless operator for a while before there was…’ She stopped to collect herself. ‘A tragedy.’
He nodded, observing her closely. ‘You are very fortunate that you made it out alive. I know the cost to the operatives has been…’ He faltered too, choosing his words carefully. ‘The cost of life there has been high in F-section.’
She nodded, relieved to finally talk to someone else about it. Since his arrival she had grown to really like this man, and once this door was open, he too appeared to need to unburden himself.
Vivi talked about her time in France before the war, and he spoke about his family in the Alsace region and how he’d grown up on a farm. As he spoke about the vineyards that his family still owned and the love he had for it all, it affirmed to her once again why they were fighting this war – to protect people like François.
‘Why did you join the Resistance?’ she asked him one evening, as she was reapplying his bandages.
He looked desolate. ‘My brother,’ he whispered. ‘My brother was killed. He was the one. The one who was supposed to take over the vineyard. He was taller, smarter, brighter than me. He was the most obvious choice, and he loved working alongside my father. But he was killed by a German soldier over the price of our wine, just slaughtered there in front of my mother. I wasn’t there,’ he continued sadly. ‘But I will not rest until these animals are defeated.’
He became agitated as he spoke, shifting his weight in the bed, trying to find a comfortable position.
‘My father and sister have been devastated ever since and my mother has barely spoken. If Marcel had gone off to war and been granted a hero’s death, that would have been one thing, but to be killed in his own vineyard over a ridiculous dispute… I will never get over the senselessness of it all. I left my family then and journeyed to Paris to see what I could do. Since then I have joined Prosper and I’ve been working undercover.’
As she nursed him they often talked about the people they knew in Prosper and the people that she missed. So many, he had informed her, had gone missing or were killed. She found herself being drawn to his gentle and easy spirit, though he seemed agitated, clearly wanting to get back into the fight.
One day she decided to ask him for the help she so desperately needed. ‘There was a family I lived with, and the day I left Paris I didn’t have time to check on them. I have great concerns for their safety. Is there any way when you go back you can check for me?’
‘Write their names down,’ he told her. ‘I will memorise them then I can check for you and get back to you with their well-being.’
She hesitated for only a moment, studying his face for any sign of distrust, but his blue eyes conveyed nothing but a desire to help. Quickly, she wrote their names and the address.
‘How long do you think it will be before I can leave?’ he asked. ‘I need to get back. There is important war work to do.’
‘Soon.’ She smiled. ‘We have to wait for your leg to set properly and you still have a few injuries that we are taking care of. We need to watch for infection. I understand your desire, but we need to make sure that you’re in one piece before you go back to work.’
‘Is there any news of my aircraft?’ he asked cautiously.
Vivi shook her head. ‘There wasn’t ever any wreckage recovered. And the pilot has not been found.’
He nodded his head, but Vivi noted there was something more. Something more than him just asking. She could see it in the intensity of his expression and wondered what it could be.
21
As François started to get well, Vivi was able to take him out onto the grounds of the manor more often, and as the weather began to turn warmer, she would wheel him out to the spring garden where tulips and daffodils were starting to push through the dark, frozen ground. If it was warm enough, they would sit out there and talk