The Kingdom of Night (Book 3)

Ten - Memento Mori

Alice

I woke the morning of my day off with the prospect of a drive with Rory. No, not just a drive–a whole day just for ourselves. It was everything I could do to not tell the whole world. I loved a man, a wonderful, handsome, charming, selfless man. It was a distraction from everything else going on–Nazis parading about at all hours, preening themselves and shuttling thousands of starving people off to concentration camps, taking the best food and wine for themselves while leaving everyone else the leftovers, French police in collaboration with the Nazis. Travel was difficult, but somehow Rory managed it.

     He was waiting for me with a picnic basket in the back of his car when I finally went out to meet him in the lane. I didn't ask him where he'd managed to acquire one, and I didn't much care. Our time together was so valuable I could hardly think about anything else. 

     'So, ma'm, any more big secrets?' he said, glancing over at me once we'd left the village proper. The wind blowing over the windscreen tossed his dark hair in tangles into his eyes, and the smile on his face was so sweet I wanted to kiss his mouth and taste it. I could have, and a hunch told me he would have let me.

     'Not really, no.' I put a hand on his knee, and he put his hand over mine, rubbing my knuckles. My heart pounded against my ribs. 'Don't let's think about it just now.'

     'I'll pull them from you yet, ma'm,' he said, giving me a sly wink and a squeeze to my hand. 'Just you watch.'

     I blushed and looked away, but said nothing. He only kissed my fingers, very gently, before releasing my hand to drive.

     Our drive was slow until we left the village proper. A Nazi officer stopped us on the outskirts of town, asking for our papers. I kept them on my person at all times, because of how often I was asked for them. We stopped eventually, some distance outside Boulogne. He swerved off the road and made a hairpin turn, leaving me breathless but laughing when I found we did not go over the edge and plunge to our deaths.

     'I surely thought we were going to tip back there,' I said when we came to a stop and he had turned the motor off, reaching behind us for the picnic basket.

     'You know I never would have let that happen, ma'm. I couldn't lose you like that.' He whispered all of this seductively in my ear, his warm breath brushing against it making an unfamiliar warmth unfurl in my lower abdomen and a shudder run up my spine. 'How about that picnic now?'

     He'd really outdone himself this time, with wine, cheese, fresh fruit, and a special treat that I thought the war had done away with: chocolate cake.

     'Rory, you didn't.' I blushed, setting it down and simply looking at it.

     'Looks like I did, ma'm.' He smiled shyly at me. 'You'd be surprised what a man will do to win a girl.'

     I'm sure I would be, I thought, but I didn't say it. Trusting anyone in this climate was near impossible.

     After we'd eaten a little too much food and had a bit too much wine, it was clear we weren't about to be going anywhere anytime soon. Once we'd cleared the dishes, I stretched myself out in the sun on the blanket, shedding my jacket and those unbearable nylons that I'd dragged on for the occasion. Rory gawped at me for that, and, feeling bold, I tossed a coy wink at him. It seemed impossible once again that there was a war on, and hideous things were happening everywhere around us.

     'You like a little bit of rebellion, don't you, ma'm?' Rory smiled at me, his hair endearingly messy from the breeze and his necktie loose. 'No stockings for you?'