Paris at First Light: Completely gripping and emotional World War II historical fiction (WW2 Resistance Series) by Amanda Lees

Author:Amanda Lees [Lees, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781803146843
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2022-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-FIVE

He led us to a cottage on the beach side of town, driving with the verve he must have shown as a soldier. We pulled up alongside him as he began to knock on the cottage door, the only sign of life in the place a solitary light in an upstairs window. More lights blazed as whoever lived there descended and flung the door open.

‘What the hell are you doing here at this time, my friend?’

The old man who appeared looked dishevelled, a dressing gown wrapped around him as if he’d emerged from the bathtub.

‘My apologies, but these people here are looking for two adults and two children who apparently came ashore early this morning in a dinghy. You’re always out early. Did you see them? Or a foreign fishing boat at anchor?’

The old man peered at us and pulled the dressing gown tighter around him. The legs that poked out from underneath were spindly, the slippers he wore tattered, his toes visible in places. ‘You’d better come in.’

Inside the cottage, an elderly woman, presumably his wife, sat sewing by the fire. She jumped up as we entered, her cheeks scarlet with embarrassment.

‘Mon Dieu. You never said we were having guests. Monsieur, madame, please excuse the mess. I was not expecting anyone.’

‘It is I who should apologise, madame, for dropping in on you like this unannounced,’ I said. She reminded me a little of my grandmother; she had the same kindly countenance.

She continued to flutter, her fingers plucking nervously at her pinafore.

The young fisherman took a step forward. ‘Don’t upset yourself, Éliane. My friends here worked with the Resistance in the south. They fought there, just as I did.’

At that, the two older people visibly relaxed.

‘Why didn’t you say?’ said the old man. ‘Come, sit down. Have a brandy. It’s cold out there. You need to warm up.’

‘You’re very kind,’ I said. ‘But we need to find the people from the dinghy as quickly as possible, before anyone can harm them.’

The old man looked at me more closely. ‘These people mean a lot to you?’

‘A great deal.’

‘It was not I who saw them but a couple of the other fishermen who were out that side of the bay. They watched the dinghy leave the fishing boat and then row to shore. They thought it odd because we don’t normally have foreign boats out there these days.’

‘Do you know where they went after they came ashore?’

‘I do,’ piped up the old woman. ‘I was talking this morning to my friend who runs the bakery near the beach. They’re always there baking from 5 a.m. and it wasn’t too long after that she saw them go past – a woman, two children and the man who was with them. She thought it strange because the man had his arm tight around the woman, as if he was almost dragging her along, but assumed it was because she was not well or something.’

I tried to swallow but there was nothing there, just the constrictor that was once more wrapping itself around my throat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.