Foxden Hotel (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 5) by Madalyn Morgan (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

worked me so hard. But I was wrong. He made me work because he did like me. I think he was a little in love with me even then. But whether he liked me or not was irrelevant. Mitch knew the work we’d be doing in France was dangerous and difficult - and if I was going to survive, I needed to be both physically and mentally strong. And thank God he did push me. I don’t think I’d be here today if he hadn’t.’

Shocked by what her younger sister was telling her, Bess caught her breath.

‘When we parachuted into France we were met by the sons of our friend, Edith Belland. They were part of the Resistance movement.’ Claire looked out of the window, her eyes full of sorrow, as if the memory of that time was too much to endure. ‘Mitch and I saw things that were so terrible, so inhumane, and--’ Falling silent she shook her head as if she was trying to shake the awful memories from her mind. ‘You see, when we were first in France - after the initial meeting with the Resistance - we only had each other. There was danger around every corner. We could have been caught, or killed, at any moment. We lived on our wits, and our emotions. For the most part our emotions had to be stifled, which only intensified the feelings we had for each other.

‘Our assignments with the Resistance were dangerous. While we worked with the cell we ate, drank and slept the job. The problem was, after each mission we had no way of letting off steam, no way of getting rid of our excess energy, or of blocking out what we had done and seen. Then, one night, Mitch and I were hiding from a German patrol in a hay loft. We’d seen them earlier, drunk and bragging about the girls they’d brought to the farm, so we stayed hidden in case they came back.

‘It was a freezing night. I couldn’t stop shivering. I’m not sure whether it was with fear or from the cold. Anyway, Mitch put his arms around me and we huddled together to keep warm. It was that night that the inevitable happened. Against the rules of the SOE, we gave in to our needs and made love.

‘As time went on, more and more Germans flooded into Gisoir, the town where we lived, and life became even more dangerous.’

Claire could no longer hold back her tears. ‘I’ll never forget the day Mitch was arrested by the Gestapo. I had to stand in the crowd and watch them beat him before they dragged him off to Gestapo Headquarters. I wanted to go to his defence, but Madame Belland’s youngest son stopped me - and thank God he did. If the German’s had arrested me and tortured me, I’m not sure I’d have been brave enough to withstand it. It was only the fear of putting the lives of every Resistance member in Gisoir in danger - and the members of several other cells that I’d worked with - that stopped me.’

‘What did you do?’ Bess asked.

‘Nothing. There wasn’t anything I could do.’ Claire wiped her tears. ‘No one knew Mitch and I were in love, so I buried my feelings deep inside and got on with the job I’d gone there to do.’

‘Good Lord, Claire, I knew you were doing dangerous work, from the letters your friend Eddie forwarded to me, but I knew nothing of this! And you had to endure it on your own.’

‘Edith Belland, who I lodged with, knew I loved Mitch. She was like a mother to me. I wouldn’t have got through the following years without her.’

‘And all that time, Mitch was in a prisoner of war camp?’

‘Yes. And he won’t talk about it.’

‘Do you remember, when we were little, Mam used to tell us to be quiet because Dad was having one of his turns? She used to say he’d been ill since he was invalided out of the Great War at the beginning of 1918.’

‘And we assumed it was because of the wound in his knee, where he’d been shot, that was making him grumpy.’

‘But it wasn’t that at all,’ Bess said. ‘Dad had shellshock.’

‘Overly protective one day and almost uncaring the next?’ Bess nodded. ‘For years Dad had awful mood swings,’ Claire said. ‘Like Mitch, normal one minute and angry the next - and for no reason.’

Bess took hold of Claire’s hand. ‘It sounds to me as if Mitch has shellshock.’

CHAPTER NINE.

Hand in hand, Ena and Aimee left the hotel by the back door. No sooner had they reached the cobbled courtyard, they saw Frank coming out of the stables. Aimee let go of Ena’s hand and ran to him. Putting on a look of surprise, Frank bent down and swept Aimee off her feet, swinging her round as if she was an aeroplane. When he put her down she shouted for more, and Frank picked her up again.

‘You are a pushover, Frank Donnelly.’ Ena called to him.

‘I know,’ he said, putting Aimee down and pretending to be out of breath.

Aimee put up her hand and Frank took hold of it. ‘What now?’ he said, as the child began pulling him towards the stables.

‘Please can I see Donnie the pony?’

‘I’ve just put him to bed,’ Frank said. Ena saw the smile on Aimee’s face disappear and her bottom lip begin to quiver. ‘Of course you can sweetheart. He won’t have settled yet.’ As Aimee skipped off ahead of him, Frank turned to Ena and winked.

Waving, Ena watched her brother-in-law and niece make their way to the stables.

‘Aimee has her uncle wrapped around her little finger, doesn’t she?’ Maeve said, suddenly at Ena’s elbow.

‘She certainly does. The poor chap was coming in after bedding