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

Thrilled at last to have her WAAF papers, Claire tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter. ‘What?’

‘Congratulations, Leading Aircraftwoman Dudley.’

Claire’s heart sank. ‘Promotion, and I’m not even there,’ she said, attempting a joke to cover her disappointment. ‘Manders is getting soft in her old age.’ She returned the letter to its envelope. ‘Where are my papers? And where’s Frédéric?’

‘Frédéric couldn’t get away. Some last minute Resistance thing came up’, Eddie said, ‘but he sent this.’

Claire unfolded a second sheet of paper to reveal a pencil sketch of Aimée. ‘My daughter,’ she said, moving closer to Eddie so she could see the sketch.

‘I know. I met her. André and Thérèse were part of my reception committee. They took me to Édith’s – who, by the way, sends her love. Aimée is beautiful, Claire, like her mummy.’

 ‘I don’t know about that, but she is beautiful,’ Claire said, her voice cracking with emotion. She cleared her throat. ‘Now, tell me about you?’

‘Well, I came top of the class in combat and firearms.’

‘Firearms?’

‘Yes,’ Eddie laughed. ‘I’m aristocracy darling, remember. I could shoot with the best of Daddy’s cronies before I went up to Oxford.’

‘And how long have you been working for the colonel?’

‘Since the autumn of forty-three, but this is my first drop. I’ve been sitting by the telephone, watching the full moon come and go for months. I was back at Coltishall when you requested your papers, so the FO suggested I took them down to London. The day I arrived I was briefed on the drop, and a couple of days later I was parachuted into France.’

Claire looked at Eddie expectantly. ‘So where are they? Obviously you couldn’t risk travelling with the uniform, but you’ve brought my papers, haven’t you?’

Eddie shook her head. ‘Sorry, Dudley, the colonel has them. My orders are to take you back to London for a debriefing.’

‘But the colonel said Paris was nice at this time of year, which meant he’d given me permission to look for Mitch.’

 ‘You still can, when you come back. Sorry, Dudley, but you don’t have a choice. Colonel Smith is miffed with you for not keeping in touch, so you’d better not ruffle his feathers further by sending me home on my own.’

‘Oh well,’ Claire said, overwhelmed by a feeling of defeat, ‘without my WAAF uniform and papers the Americans won’t take me anyway.’

‘The Americans? Take you where?’

‘To find Mitch. The Americans and Canadians are gearing up to go into prisons and POW camps to get their citizens out. I had an appointment with them next week, but without my papers to prove I was – am – with the WAAF they wouldn’t take me. Since forty-two, when Hitler ordered all Allied commandos, agents, the Resistance – anyone who was not wearing a full uniform – to be killed without trial, the military has become very strict.’ Claire put her head in her hands.

At that moment Antoinette brought in a tray with a pot of coffee, cups, saucers, plates and a cake. She placed them on an elegant but unpolished and distressed occasional table between the settee and armchairs. ‘Let me know if you need anything else.’

Claire thanked her and asked her to join them, but Antoinette said she would first prepare a bedroom for Edwina and would be back shortly. Claire poured the coffee, handed a cup to Eddie, and sliced the cake. Eddie’s eyes lit up. ‘I’m pleased you met Aimée. How is she?’

‘She is darling and Édith is in her element looking after her.’

‘Spoiling her, no doubt,’ Claire said, fighting back her tears. ‘And André and Thérèse? You said they were part of your reception committee. Are they well?’

‘Yes. They are staying with Édith.’

‘Staying with Édith? Why?’

‘Oh … I don’t know. It’s a temporary thing, I think.’ Eddie took a sip of her coffee.

‘Eddie? I know when you’re hiding something. What is it?’

‘Nothing. They didn’t say why they were staying at Édith’s. I mean, they wouldn’t, would they? They don’t know me--’

‘I’m sorry to grill you. It’s just that Édith has been like a mother to me – and Aimée adores her. André is like a big brother, and Frédéric...’ Claire laughed. ‘When I first met Frédéric I think he was sweet on me. Then he met a local girl, Monique, and fell head over heels in love. He talked about her all the time, wrote her endless letters-- Poor Frédéric. He thought – well, everyone did – that Monique was visiting her grandmother near Tours, but she never got there. Mitch and I found her at the farm, dead. She’d been killed by German soldiers.’

Eddie grimaced and shook her head slowly. ‘Poor girl… And poor Frédéric.’

‘He doesn’t know how Monique died, thank goodness. It would kill him if he knew she’d been raped and murdered. I’m sorry,’ Claire said, ‘let’s talk about something more cheerful.’

‘No need to apologise. I know the Belland family mean a lot to you. You mean a lot to them too.’ Eddie laughed. ‘Aimée is a real little French mademoiselle.’ Claire listened to what Eddie told her about her daughter, laughing one minute and crying the next. ‘They are looking forward to you going home to Gisoir. When do you think that will be?’ Eddie asked.

‘I’ve nothing to stay for in Paris now, so the sooner the better. I’d rather spend the time I have left in France with Aimée.’

At that moment Antoinette popped her head round the door. ‘Your room is ready, Edwina.’

‘Thank you, Antoinette, I’ll take Eddie up. She is lovely,’ Claire said when Antoinette had gone. ‘She’s the wife of the professor I stayed