As he held her, she felt complete, wanting to stay there next to him for the rest of her life. But Vivi knew she had to hold back, keep back everything she was feeling. She was his nurse, and she was also afraid to let anybody else in. She didn’t want anybody else to get hurt, especially someone she had such strong feelings for.
Feeling foolish for crying in front of him, she pulled away and took out her handkerchief, blew her nose and wiped her eyes.
‘I should get you in before it gets too cold,’ she informed him as he watched her intently. She looked down at him, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he pulled her down and kissed her gently on the lips. Just a friendly kiss that said, ‘We’re in this together and I understand.’ But it felt so incredible to Vivi. The things she’d known with her heart in her life to this point had been a mere shadow of the feeling she had now. As he pulled away, she looked into his eyes. She wanted to stay there for the rest of her life, there in the garden. Then something else suddenly hit her. Soon he would be going back to fight, and she would lose him to the war. The pain of losing him started to grip hold of her heart in a way she’d never known.
Vivi stood and started to wheel him back to the ward.
‘You’re a good nurse.’
‘As you can see, I am not a good nurse. I’m not supposed to kiss the patients.’
‘It is a great help for healing,’ he joked with her. ‘I’m beginning to feel better already.’
She smiled as she pushed the chair. As they headed to the ward, both her heart and her mind were in distress. So many feelings were coursing through her body, emotions she didn’t seem to have any control over. Immense joy mingled with the sadness of the impending loss. She felt overwhelmed with all of it.
Back in François’s room, Vivi helped him into his bed, and he squeezed her hand one more time before she left him to get on with her duties. The feeling of that touch lingered in her memory, and as she worked the rest of the afternoon, she would periodically look down at her hand and would remember his touch, wondering again where this would lead.
22
One morning, a couple of weeks after François had arrived, Vivi heard a commotion in the great hall, and when she went to find out what was being said, Marion told her something had been washed up on the beach, part of an aeroplane. As Vivi was finishing her shift for the night, she decided to walk down to the beach to watch the recovery effort. She hoped it might be her patient’s missing plane and would love to find something for François, something she could give him back of his personal belongings.
PC Tassker, the local constable, was there, along with the Home Guard and a small group of locals, all watching as the debris was gathered. Part of the fuselage had washed ashore, as had some of the cargo, a jacket and mission equipment, and finally a case was dragged up the beach. This created quite a stir amongst the onlookers. Tassker stepped forward.
‘Come on, everybody,’ he said in his official voice. ‘This is war business. I can’t have you all lingering around here. We have to wait until someone from the War Office comes down to look at all this.’
Everyone started protesting.
‘It won’t hurt just to take a peek inside,’ stated Vivi, eyeing the suitcase with anticipation. ‘I have a patient in the hospital, and he lost everything when his plane came down. If this wreckage is from that plane, then there may be important documents, pictures of his loved ones. You could at least take a peek.’
PC Tassker looked around nervously. The Home Guard were occupied close to the water, inspecting some more of the fuselage that was being brought up the beach.
‘You’ll be the death of me, Vivienne Hamilton,’ he said, blowing out air.
‘Come on, Henry,’ she implored. ‘Just a quick look?’
The policeman carefully snapped open the clasps and threw back the lid, and they both stood back in shock. Instead of civilian clothes, as she’d expected, and personal items, the first thing to greet them was a German army uniform. By the stripes and the flags on