Page 56 of The Girl with a Secret
“I just finishing speaking with Colonel Kendrick,” she explained, and then, not knowing if she should have admitted even that much, she shut her mouth abruptly.
“I went to look for you, back when you first disappeared,” Peter told her. “I was so worried! The Rosenbaums told me you’d been taken away to be interned, but they didn’t know where.” His mouth twisted. “It was because of your father and his wretched activities, I suppose.”
A bitter edge corroded his voice, and Rosa swallowed. Now was hardly the time to admit her whole part in the business, and yet Peter’s words, as well as his tone, reminded her that not everyone was as pragmatic or understanding as Colonel Kendrick.
“I was interned,” she acknowledged carefully. “On the Isle of Man, in the north.”
“I can’t believe it.” Peter briefly gripped her shoulders again before dropping his hands as he gave her an abashed smile. “I’m sorry. I’m overwrought. It’s just… I thought I might never see you again. The Rosenbaums couldn’t tell me anything. They’ve kept your things, by the way. They were very concerned for all of you.”
“That’s very kind of them.” Rosa paused before admitting, “I thought I might never see you again, either. It… it distressed me terribly, Peter.”
He smiled a little at that, and she felt her heart skip another beat. She really had missed him, more than she’d been willing to admit even to herself… and he’d clearly missed her! The thought was, in its own way, intoxicating.
“Are you busy now?” he asked. “Could you spare the time for a cup of tea in the canteen?”
Rosa nodded. She still felt jumbled up inside, but she was so very glad to see Peter. “That would be wonderful,” she told him. “I’m meant to find out where I’m staying, but I suppose that can wait.”
“Good, because there’s so much we need to catch up on.”
Peter led her through a warren of corridors back to a big, comfortable kitchen with a scarred and well-used butcher’s block and massive cooking range at one end and a long trestle table at the other. Several Welsh dressers lined the walls, filled with blue and white crockery. Peter guided her to the table and then went to fetch cups of tea. The cook, the aforementionedMrs. Gibbins, Rosa supposed, was elbow deep in flour. She gave her a quick, distracted smile of welcome as Rosa sank into a chair.
She felt as if her whole world had tilted, upended,scattered… and she was still coming to grips with how to feel about it all. And nowPeter… Peter here. It was truly incredible to her that they would have found each other again, and in such a place as this.
“Here we are,” Peter announced, returning with cups of tea. “Milky and sweet as you like it.”
“Where did you get the sugar?” she exclaimed, only for Peter to tap the side of his nose knowingly.
“We’re vital to the war effort now, don’t you know. Rationing isn’t quite as severe here as it might have been where you were—where was it, again?”
“The Isle of Man.” Rosa took a sip of the hot tea, savoring its sweetness.
“I’m so sorry,” Peter said quietly as he sat down opposite her, cradling his good hand around his own cup. “You didn’t deserve that.”
Again, Rosa felt the need to come clean, and again she recognized that now was not the time. “It wasn’t so bad really,” she told him. “I was able to take classes in all sorts of subjects, and there was a wonderful library. We had quite a bit of freedom. I helped with the kindergarten, and my mother set up her own dressmaking business.” She felt a surprising pang of nostalgia for the life they’d both made at Rushen, such as it had been. She’d been beginning to find her place there, and now she was somewhere entirely new and strange. At least here, she told herself, she’d be able to help with the war effort.
“Still,” Peter persisted, “to come to this country and be treated so… It’s unconscionable, really.”
Rosa shrugged, more pragmatic now than she’d been back at the camp. “It’s a war.”
He reached over to clasp her hand with his good one. “I admire your attitude.” He paused, his hand still on hers. “I… really missed you, Rosa.”
She smiled at him, laying her other hand on top of his. “I missed you, too.”
“I mean…” He swallowed, glancing down at their hands. “Ireallymissed you.”
Rosa’s heart stuttered in her chest. Was he implying what she thought he was? It felt like too much, on top of everything else she’d learned that day. She wasn’t ready to process it all, to figure out how she wanted to respond, and yet she also knew she was pleased.
“I’m glad we’ve found each other again,” she said, and Peter nodded, removing his hand from between hers.
“I am, as well.”
They lapsed into a short silence as they sipped their tea, and then Rosa asked, “Have you been here long? I don’t know much about this place, only what Colonel Kendrick told me, but it does seem very secretive.”
“It is, rather. I’ve been here for three months. They recruited quite a few Jewish émigrés, for our German. Do you know what you’ll be doing?”
“Translation.” She hoped she was allowed to admit that much.
Peter gave a quick nod. “And that’s probably all you should say about it, I imagine. They don’t like us talking amongst ourselves… some of the typists and things think we’re a supply depot, although…” He lowered his voice. “It’s rather hard to hide the prisoners. You see them about, taking the air. They’re given quite a lot of freedom here.”
