The Life That I Have

Chapter 29

Anya had finished telling her story. Almost. She hadn't yet explained about the mysterious baby, who had not yet featured in the story at all, or even about her relationship with Rudi. How she would say, she couldn't imagine.

  She knew the question would come soon, as it did.

  "And... the baby?" Miss Haycock said slowly. "It's just that I see you're wearing an engagement ring."

  Anya gulped. Now she was faced with a dilemma. She could tell the truth and be called a traitor (and then God knows what would happen) or she could lie and say it was just a Frenchman.

  "It was just someone I met in the Maquis," she lied, gritting her teeth.

Marilyne was desperately hollowing out a half-loaf of bread. She was in a hurry, and kept on making silly mistakes. This time, she ripped the side of the loaf open. In her frustration, Marilyne threw the bread at the opposite wall, causing everything, including her and everything around her, to be showered in crumbs. Seething, she began work on the next loaf.

  She had almost perfected its hollowness, when Alexander entered.

  "Oh, by the way, Jean-Marc suggests you only hollow out enough for the note, so there won't be too much weight difference."

  Marilyne froze. For a moment...

  Before he knew it, Alex had a perfectly hollow half-loaf of bread sailing towards his head. His training kicking in, he dodged it just in time.

  "WHY DON'T YOU BLOODY DO IT?!" Marilyne screamed. Alex decided it was time to make a hasty exit.

  Marilyne sighed, and picked up another loaf and began to hollow out a narrow slit inside it.

Anya studied the newsagent window. There it was, the thing she had been looking for– 'Room to rent, with bathroom'. It was in the poorer area of London, which suited Anya because it was cheap.

  "Get snapped up, that will," a lady standing beside her said. "So many people bombed out, it's hard to find anywhere."

  That decided her. Anya almost sprinted into the sop, and asked if she could borrow the telephone.

Back at the castle, the Maquis were putting the finishing touches to their plans.

  "So, is everyone clear?" Jean-Marc asked, finally. All the gathering nodded.

  Suddenly, someone pushed their way forward until they were facing Jean-Marc.

  "No," he said cooly.

  Jean-Marc tried to stay expressionless.

  "What don't you understand? Anyway, you're not involved in the rescue."

  The man smirked.

  "What I don't understand is why we are wasting all this effort on a German. He's not one of us!"

  Jean-Marc groaned inwardly.

  "And what do you consider to be 'one of us'?" he enquired.

  "Well, people like Gilles, Marilyne and Dominique."

  "Alright, let's take it from there, then. So, Dominique you say. What about Anya?"

  "Well, yes, Anya too," the man said suspiciously, knowing Jean-Marc was playing a trick on him.

  "And what do you expect the Maquis to do if say– your wife and children got caught?"

  The man shrugged.

  "Try to help them."

  Jean-Marc gave a satisfied smile.

  "Exactly. Rudi is Anya's fiancé, and the father of her child. She's 'one of us', you say, so why can't we help her family?"

  The man looked like he was about to say something for a moment, but stopped at the last second.

  "Exactly," Jean-Marc said triumphantly. As the man left the room rather hastily, Marilyne suppressed a laugh. Jean-Marc was unbreakable.

  Or so she thought.

Mrs Brent was amazed how pleased Anya seemed with the room. Her with her posh voice, would be likely to turn her nose up at the room. But not this girl.

  It was true, Anya was pleased with the room. Compared to the cave, it would be like living in The Ritz hotel. And it was cheap.

  Mrs Brent was a kindly lady, but you might not always guess it. She was also very nosy. She usually didn't care the slightest about the questions she asked, she just wanted to know.

  "You... married then?" she asked slyly.

  Anya sighed.

  "Engaged," she said with a forced smile.

  "Oh, away fighting is he?"

  "Yes– well– he's in the RAF," Anya lied. She hated lying, but wasn't really that far from the truth. After all, Rudi had been in the Luftwaffe...

It was dark now, but Marilyne and Gilles where cycling along the windy lanes, guided by the moonlight. Soon, they had nearly reached the town. When they were almost there, Gilles stopped and indicated to Marilyne to do the same.

  "Why are we stopped?" she asked, whispering, although there was no-one about.

  "Curfew. We'll have to leave the bikes here. It'll be easier to avoid the police on foot."

  Marilyne started walking, a little embarrassed. Why hadn't she thought of that?

  They walked briskly but quietly through the cobblestone streets, occasionally dashing into the shadows when they heard any footsteps. The closest they were to getting caught was when they were about one street away from their destination.

  Marilyne had stopped to adjust her shoe, when Gilles suddenly grabbed her, and thrust her into a dark alcove. He did it so suddenly and roughly, she gave a small yelp, which only resulted in Gilles holding her mouth with his hand.

  The footsteps were getting closer, closer, until Marilyne could make out the man's shadow.

  "For God's sake, don't move," Gilles whispered so quietly that for a moment, Marilyne wasn't sure he had actually said anything.

  She could see the man now, silhouetted in the moonlight, slowly turning around. Suddenly, a beam of light appeared. The policeman had switched on his torch and was lighting up all the dark alleyway and shadows, like a searchlight.

  "Oh, no, no..." Marilyne whispered under her breath. She shut her eyes tightly, expecting to hear an angry shout any second. But, it never came. What came was the sound of footsteps, gradually getting further and further away.

  Gilles could feel Marilyne relax as she let out the breath she had been holding in for so long.

  "You alright?" he asked when he was sure the policeman was well out of earshot.

  "No thanks to you," she replied, a touch of annoyance in her tone, which Gilles decided to ignore.

  When they at last reached the house they needed, Gilles rapped on the door. It was quickly opened by Laurent, who ushered them in and quickly shut the door behind them.

  "It's on," was all the explanation needed.