“Adelaide!” she scolded. “You do not walk away from me like that!”
“Why not?” Addy asked, spinning around, her hands on her hips now. “Why can’t I choose to ignore you? And why are you choosing to believe Harry over me? You’re not my mother, and it wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter when he came calling for me!”
Her words stung, but Elise refused to acknowledge the hurt. “Well, if you don’t want me to be your mother, then you’d better start behaving like an adult, Adelaide.”
“Has it even occurred to you, even once, that maybe I’m acting the part?” she asked. “That maybe I decided that it would be more helpful to play along, to be the fun, flirty French girl with him?”
Elise’s breath was shuddering out of her. “No, Addy. I didn’t think that, because I know you too well, and that was not acting.” She moved around her sister, not letting her turn away, not giving her anywhere to go. “You’re starting to like him, I can see it. It’s written all over your face, and I need you to understand the truth before you get too close to him.”
“I’m not a child, Elise. I can handle this myself.”
“Well, just remember that it’s not just your life you’re playing with. We have three other people in this house who need us, who need this to be a safe place.” She didn’t remind Adelaide that it washerwho’d invited them in in the first place.
“I’m well aware of what’s at stake here,” Addy said, and Elise let her turn away this time. What was the point in fighting withher own sister? They’d only had one another for so long, and they’d barely ever raised their voices in anger, let alone argued.
“Just be careful,” Elise said. “He’s a very powerful, very dangerous man, and I don’t want you ending up as collateral damage.”
Addy shot her a sideways look, and Elise knew then that her sister was scared, even though she was going to great lengths not to admit it.
“It was him, Adelaide. I need you to see that.”
“You don’t know that!” Addy cried. “There are so many reasons why Harry could be wrong, I mean he might not have seen him properly, he’s traumatized about what happened and looking for someone to blame, he might have ...”
“That’s enough.” Elise shook her head. “Grow up, Addy. The fact that a man can be charming to a pretty girl doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of something terrible. Harry saw his face and he knows it was him. You can ask him yourself if you like.”
“I just ...” Addy whispered, staring out of the small kitchen window. “I just can’t believe that it could have been him. He told me that Peter is safe, that he came to no harm.”
Elise came to stand beside her then, sighing as Addy dropped her head to her shoulder. She slipped an arm around her waist, her sister’s naivety reminding her of how different they were.
“I’m telling you the truth, Addy. Harry has no reason to lie to us, and if you’d seen the way he reacted when he saw Wolfgang ...”
Addy shivered beside her.
“I don’t like the game you’re playing,” Elise whispered. “I can’t lose you, Addy. I can’t lose anyone else I love.”
Addy moved even closer to her. “Me neither.”
“Then promise me you’ll be careful, that you won’t ever stop remembering what he’s capable of, no matter how charming he is.”
The creak of floorboards on the stairs told Elise they weren’t alone any longer, and she dropped a quick kiss into her sister’s hair.
“I promise,” Addy murmured.
Elise only hoped it was a promise she could keep.
Elise stared at the mash that Adelaide put on the table, the bowl more attractive than the food inside. Once the war was over, she would make a solemn vow to never, ever eat another Jerusalem artichoke in her life again. But for now, they were better than nothing.
“Sorry, I’ve salted the mash to make it bearable, but we don’t have a lot to go around.”
“It’ll be fine,” Cate said brightly, as the four of them sat down to eat. The curtains were drawn, the doors were locked, and so Harry had decided to join them downstairs. Jack was still in bed upstairs, but he’d demanded that Cate eat with them before bringing a meal up to him.
Elise could almost pretend that they had friends over, the chairs around their table almost full again for once, but it was impossible to look at Harry and not remember what danger he was in. Or what he’d lived through to be sitting across from her.
“We used to think Jerusalem artichokes were animal food, or just for poor people,” Elise told Cate and Harry. “But now they’re one of the only things we can supplement our rations with.”
“Other than the black market,” Addy said as she served the mash for everyone. “Just don’t eat too much or it’ll give you a sore stomach.”
Cate nodded solemnly, which made Addy laugh.
