pain of what they had discovered through their bodies. But the second time was slower, gentle, more thoughtful, and as she looked up into his hypnotic blue eyes, it felt right, soulful and meaningful. When they were both spent, she lay in his arms, her eyes closed, enjoying the closeness of him.
‘I didn’t mean to do that,’ Alex whispered as he gently kissed her neck.
‘Neither did I,’ said Sophie, laughing. ‘But it feels good, doesn’t it?’
They both laughed then. And she allowed herself to enjoy the moment. She wasn’t sure if it meant anything, and she didn’t care. Sophie just wanted to continue feeling safe and warm in his arms.
After they’d showered and he’d gone back to his room, they met later for dinner and didn’t talk about it. It was as if they both wanted to preserve the preciousness of the experience without analysing it or trying to work out what it all meant. But there was something she needed to say, to tell him, because if this was going to be something, Sophie needed him to know she wasn’t ready for a relationship.
He was talking about the last time he had been in Berlin when suddenly she blurted it out.
‘I just broke up with my boyfriend and I wanted you to know that. I’m really raw, Alex. What we just had was lovely, but I have to be honest with you. I’m not sure I have it in me for anything more at this moment in my life. I’m still really smarting from that last relationship.’
He held her hand and she shook her head in response and he seemed to sense she didn’t want to say anything further. He stroked his thumb across the back of her hand in gentle reassurance.
‘Take all the time with us that you need. And if this is supposed to be anything more, it will happen in its own way, in the right place and time. Until then, I think we should just enjoy what it is right now. But I must tell you, Sophie, you’re the most amazing woman I’ve met in a long time. I feel so free with you, more myself than I’ve felt with anyone. You are so easy to be with.’
She smiled then and covered his hand. ‘I feel the same way.’
If only her heart was free, she thought. If only she still wasn’t in so much pain, wasn’t grieving Emily and now the end of her relationship. Since Emily’s death she hadn’t wanted to open her heart again, though something inside her told her someone like Alex would be the perfect person to explore that experience with at the right time. She just wasn’t ready for anything more right now.
Just then, her phone chimed with an email. She scrolled down. It was from the desk clerk of the archives office they had visited that day. He claimed he had a message for her. She called him straight back, and he spoke in the same hushed tone as before.
‘I have something that might interest you. After you left, I was putting away the files and entering them into our database when something came up. There is a woman who now lives in Berlin who has put a note on these files about those specific war offices, saying that she was there during that time and is open to being contacted. I believe she may still be alive. Would you like her address and phone number?’
Sophie was surprised. ‘Yes, I would!’
‘It seems her father was part of the same office you enquired about, and that she may have met or had some time with either of your relatives. She is very elderly, so I wouldn’t expect much. But I thought you might want to know.’
Sophie wrote down the phone number and told Alex what the clerk had said. She called the number straight away. It was early evening, seven o’clock, and a woman answered the phone. She didn’t seem to be able to speak English, so Sophie handed the phone across to Alex.
He spoke with the woman briefly, then wrote down something on a napkin. When he hung up the phone, he told Sophie what they had said.
‘The woman I spoke to is the granddaughter of the woman in the file, Elsa Strauss, who worked in the offices with Marcus and Sophie when she was a girl. Elsa would visit her father there, who also worked for the Germans. She – Elsa – has agreed to see both of