China Blue (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 3) by Madalyn Morgan (top 100 novels of all time TXT) 📕

Several men, having heard the dialogue, burst into laughter. But the SS officer, unaware or uninterested, got into his car and a second later was driven away. Claire glared at them, but they continued to joke crudely. ‘Ouch! Very well, husband,’ she shouted. ‘Not so tight, you’re hurting me.’

Frédéric Belland relaxed his grip. ‘Be quiet, Claire,’ he whispered. ‘Do not attract attention. It is too late. You can do nothing to help Alain now.’ Emotionally drained, with tears streaming down her face, Claire let Frédéric lead her away. At the end of the road she looked back. Alain and the Germans were gone. The crowd had dispersed. The square was empty.

‘Is there something between you and Alain, Claire? Something perhaps that has developed since you were last in France?’

‘I don’t know what you mean. Mitch – Alain – is my partner. I look on him as a brother.’

‘In the square you looked on him as a lover. You cannot fool me. I know love.’ Claire tutted and ran on ahead. Frédéric caught up with her. ‘Since you were last here I too have found love. The way you looked at Alain is the way my beautiful Monique looks at me.’

‘I’m pleased you’ve found love, Frédéric, and I’m sure Monique is beautiful, but stop this nonsense about Alain and me and tell me what happened at the farm.’

Walking through the cobbled streets of the old town, Frédéric told Claire that the first farmhouse to be burned was Thérèse’s parents’ home. ‘Thérèse was visiting them when German soldiers arrived. They beat up her father and turned Thérèse and her mother out of the house. Then they set fire to it.’

‘What about the animals?’

‘They loaded them into trucks and took them away. They didn’t set fire to the barn, but they took the machinery. Theirs was the first farm, but it was not the last.’

Claire put her hand on Frédéric’s arm. ‘When did you lose your farm?’

‘One week later. We had moved Mother out by then. She did not want to leave, but André is very persuasive. Being the oldest son, she does what he says. She doesn’t even ask me. A know-it-all, that is André. But,’ Frédéric admitted, ‘on this occasion he was right.’

Ever since Claire had known the Belland brothers there had been friction between them. Their relationship reminded her of hers with her sister Ena. When they were children they argued about anything and everything; it almost became a game. She thought of her younger sister now with love, pleased that she had chosen a safe way to help the war effort by working in a factory, instead of joining the armed forces. She brought her focus back to Frédéric. ‘Your brother is just looking after you.’

‘Huh!’ Frédéric grunted.

‘I don’t know how your mother puts up with you two,’ Claire said, smiling up at Frédéric. When she and Alain first stayed with Édith and her sons, Claire was sure Frédéric had a crush on her. He would blush when she spoke to him and look shyly at her from under long black eyelashes. She looked at him now. He didn’t blush. ‘So tell me about your new sweetheart. Are you serious about each other?’

‘Yes. We are engaged. I haven’t bought her a ring yet, but I asked her to marry me and she has said yes.’

‘The ring isn’t important. It’s the commitment that matters,’ Claire said. Why hadn’t she told Mitch how she felt about him in London, or even last night, when she had the chance?

‘Are you thinking about Alain?’ Frédéric asked.

‘Alain? No! Well yes, of course, but at that moment I was thinking about your mother,’ she lied. ‘Wondering how she is managing away from the farm.’

‘You will find out in one minute. We are almost there.’

Leaving the wide road behind them, they turned into a narrow avenue and Claire saw Édith Belland waving from a door in a wall at the back of a terraced house. She ran to her. ‘Édith!’ she cried, falling into her friend’s arms.

‘What is it, my dear? Why the tears?’ Édith Belland wrapped her arms around Claire tightly. Then she held her at arm’s length and searched her face. ‘Come,’ she said, looking left and right before leading Claire through the door and across a small yard with outhouses on the right. ‘Where is Alain?’ she asked, once they were in the house.

‘The Germans stopped and questioned him and--’

‘They’ve taken him to headquarters, Mama.’

‘When? How? What time was this? Did he see Jacques, before…?’

‘Yes,’ Claire said. ‘We arranged to meet in the café on the square after he’d been to Jacques. We were going to look for you when we’d had lunch. Alain said if Jacques didn’t know where you were, he was going to ask around.’

‘We haven’t told Jacques. We haven’t told anyone. We thought if no one knew no one could be forced to tell. Oh Claire…’ Édith Belland put her head in her hands. ‘The silly boy should have known we would have found you.’ She looked up at Frédéric. ‘Go to your brother. Tell him Claire is here and she is safe. Then tell him what has happened to Alain. And be careful!’ she shouted as Frédéric left.

‘I am so sorry you’ve lost the farm, Édith,’ Claire said when they were alone.

‘The farm? It was the dream of my late husband. Once he had gone and the children were grown…’ She threw her hands in the air and shrugged. ‘Besides, it is still there. The Germans had no intention of destroying it. They could have burned it to the ground, but no!’ she said, shaking her head vehemently. ‘The pathetic incendiary device they threw through the kitchen window was a warning. When they realised we had