Page 123 of Daughters of Paris

Fleur sat up and took the glass. ‘I don’t know. Just a feeling inside me. I can’t explain it.’

Colette sat and held her hand. ‘I can. Someone you care about went through something horrible, and you’re worried it might happen again. But there really is no need to. He’ll be back by the end of the day. Unless, of course, it is a mission that lasts longer, or he stays out drinking and gets too drunk to find his way home. Or the car is impossible to fix.’

She was running out of ideas, but Fleur gave a ghost of a smile.

‘Thank you. I hope you’re right.’

‘Of course I am. You’ll see. He’ll call on you tomorrow.’

But Laurent did not call. Not the next morning, nor the next evening. Fleur walked around the house like a ghost, not even bothering to open the shop or conceal her worry from Sophie.

‘I can’t concentrate on anything. I just wish I knew what was happening.’

‘I understand,’ Colette said.

Her heart broke for Fleur It was as bad as when Sébastien had vanished. Worse, even, because then they had not expected to hear from him. Colette didn’t often pray and since the start of the war there had been precious little indication that God cared anything for the French, but now she lifted her eyes to the sky and prayed for an end to the war, a future for her daughter, and the safety of both their men.

It appeared at least one of her prayers had been answered when Laurent walked through the door of the bookshop a day later.

‘Hello, Colette, how is my favourite little girl? Is Fleur here?’

Colette held Louise up for him to kiss. ‘Surely she is your second favourite? Fleur should be the head of your list.’

‘She isn’t a little girl.’ He gave a half smile then his eyes grew serious. ‘Is Sophie upstairs or has she gone out?’

‘She’s shopping,’ Colette said.

‘I need to speak to Fleur. When I leave, will you check she is alright?’

Colette clutched his sleeve. ‘If you say anything to hurt her…’

‘I am afraid Iamgoing to, but it is beyond my control. If I could do otherwise I would.’ He stopped as his voice cracked and when his eyes met Colette’s she saw they were filled with pain.

‘I think I am about to break both our hearts.’

He walked past her towards the stairs. Colette watched him go, her whole being filled with foreboding.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Fleur was reading on the sofa when Laurent walked in.

‘Laurent, oh thank God!’

She threw down her book and ran across the room and into his waiting arms. He pulled her close, arms tight.

‘Oh, my darling, I thought you must have been arrested again, or worse.’

She began to sob as relief flowed out. He buried his lips into her hair, kissing her head, forehead, cheeks, and finally lips.

‘I couldn’t come before now. I have had no chance of getting away.’

‘But now you are here and that is all that matters,’ Fleur whispered. She pressed up against him, desperate to feel the heat of his body against hers. Prove that he was real and alive. ‘Where have you been? I got your message and thought about going to ask Elouard but I didn’t want to be a problem.’

‘No, you did the right thing to stay away. I was being debriefed by my superiors at a location out of the city. They wanted to know what had led up to my arrest and what precisely I told my captors. What happened to me after I was released. I felt at some points they were harder on me than the police!’

He grinned faintly to show he was joking, but his expression was weary. ‘They talked for a long time about the implications, and that is why I have come to see you.’

He looked into Fleur’s eyes. His expression and tone sent a chill down her back.

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