Page 86 of Love in the Shadows

Nanny turned her attention to Schmidt. “Frau Neumann was planning an early night. She told me she had a headache. This is utterly devastating.” She rubbed her eyes, pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose into it.

Schmidt glared at Fabienne, then strode towards the cottage. “Let me inside.”

Fabienne followed and opened the door. “Frau Moreau is asleep with…” She stopped because he’d already gone up the stairs and woken her. He slammed a door.

Bénédicte cried.

Another door slammed and then another, until eventually he reappeared in the kitchen, his face twisted with rage. “What have you done with Frau Neumann?”

Fabienne shook her head. “I have done nothing. I was here, in the kitchen, and by the time I saw the fire, it was too late to go inside.”

He strode outside, searched the perimeter and returned to Nanny. “We will stay here tonight.”

Nanny shook her head and patted her cheek with the handkerchief. “I will not stay in that cottage and watch this house fall to the ground. I nursed Frau Neumann as a baby, then her son, and her daughter Astrid. All three of them are dead, and my heart is broken beyond repair. You will take me to a friend’s house, and you can sleep at the barracks.”

He straightened his back. “I insist that we stay here until we know for sure what has happened.”

Nanny took in a deep breath. “There is nothing to see here, Hauptmann Schmidt. They are not going to walk out from that inferno.” She pointed. “And they are not in the cottage, I assume.”

He shook his head.

“So, would you propose that we wait for how long exactly?” She puffed her chest out. “I have heard enough foolishness this evening. It grieves me deeply to say it, but they are gone, and tomorrow, so will we be. Now, take me away from this God forsaken place.”

He clicked his heels and strode back to the car.

Nanny glanced from Mamie to Fabienne, then watched Schmidt until he got into the car. “Take care of them both,” she said.

Fabienne blinked, though she was in no doubt as to what she had just heard.

Nanny sighed. “We will leave for Berlin in the morning, I will make sure of it.”

A tear slipped onto Fabienne’s cheek as Nanny was driven away.

Mamie squeezed her arm. “We did it.”

They had.

“I have to go,” Fabienne said, and ran.

***

Johanna lay against the bale of hay, watching the fire as the smell of burning wood filled her nostrils. Ash moved like snow across the sky. She felt alone and yet hopeful. She had dyed her hair, and it hung wet; her head tingled from the dye. She wondered about the house: the hundreds of years that it had stood, and the minutes it had taken to raise it to the ground, and the Pleyel grand piano that had produced such a pure sound that would no longer be heard. So much loss; too much.

The rustling sound outside the barn startled her from her musings. Her heart raced as she suddenly realised it could be German soldiers combing the woods. It was a ridiculous thought, since she was insignificant, not worthy of a search. She jumped to her feet, intending to hide, but before she could move Fabienne appeared in the opening.

Johanna’s heart slowed, the sight melting her. Sadness became relief, turned into joy, and tumbled into love, and then elation caused her to laugh uncontrollably. She’d left a world behind, but she’d gained a lifetime and a future for her daughter.

Fabienne grinned. “We did it.”

Johanna took Fabienne into her arms, tears streaming onto her cheeks, and kissed her hard. As she eased out of the kiss, Fabienne stared at her with such intensity she thought her heart might burst.

Fabienne ran her fingers lightly through Johanna’s dyed hair. “Brown suits you.”

“I want you to cut it short, so I can forget who I was.” When Fabienne picked up the scissors, took a small handful of hair and snipped close to Johanna’s neck, a shiver trembled through her. Fear or excitement, she couldn’t tell. With time, she would adjust fully to the new look, the new identity, the new life.

“I want to be with you tonight, Johanna.”

She turned and caressed Fabienne’s cheek. The emotion she saw in Fabienne’s eyes reflected her own; the sense of loss was strong, but it wasn’t just that. It was the start of a new beginning, and there was hope there too, and that was something she would hold onto until her last breath if she had to. “Juliette now,” she said. “Johanna died in that fire along with her daughter.”

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