“You look very handsome, Corporal Bailey.”
“I see you still haven’t gotten your eyes checked,” he said, then he held out a bouquet of violets. “These are for you.”
She clutched the flowers to her heart. “Thank you. They’re lovely. Please come in while I put them in a vase,” she said, stepping back.
Her mother was all smiles as she greeted Jerry. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Corporal.” Her gaze flickered to the fresh bandage on his cheek, and Adele realized that she should have given her a warning, not of Jerry’s scars, which her mother already knew about, but of his new injury.
“Just a scratch,” Jerry said good-naturedly, noting her gaze. “I’ve endured much worse, as you can see. This is your daughter’s handiwork, by the way.”
Adele’s cheeks warmed with the compliment, though he exaggerated. They both knew it was the doctor’s work. Still, she kept quiet, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.
“She wrote to me about you. Lots of things.”
“Maman!” Adele said.
Her mother paid no mind to her embarrassment, and really, Adele didn’t mind that she’d said it. It was true, after all. “Adele said you were a tunneller. I cannot imagine. You were very brave to serve as you did.”
Jerry was saved from responding by the entrance of Guillaume. He hung his hat on the hook and asked, “Who has the nice Ford in the driveway?”
“Guillaume,” Adele said as he turned to face them. “I’d like you to meet—”
“Well, well!” Guillaume said, holding out his hand. Adele stared at the two, taking in their twin expressions of surprise. “Ça va bien, Monsieur Bailey? What’s this? Looks like you went a round or two. Glad to see you made it out of the ring.”
Jerry’s smile was warm. “It is nice to formally meet you, Guillaume.”
“You know each other?” Adele asked.
Guillaume chuckled, his gaze holding Jerry’s for a beat longer than it had to. “Ah,oui! I helped him out with a few cars. Nothing special.”
“I’d beg to differ,” Jerry said, a funny little smile on his face. “You’re the best at what you do.”
Confused by their furtive glances, Adele turned to her mother for an explanation, but she just shrugged.
“Guillaume, Monsieur Bailey is the courageous soldier Adele met overseas.”
“Is he? Then I feel I know you better already. It’s a small world, is it not?”
“As far as I’m concerned, your daughter is the courageous one,” Jerry told her mother.
Maman beamed, but Adele could tell by her pinking cheeks that tears were coming. Any talk about Adele’s part in the war made her emotional.
“We’re very proud.”
“The doctors and nurses put their lives on the line just like we did,” he said, “but at least we were armed and trained. All they had were bandages and scalpels. When I was laid up in the hospital, we saw some pretty heavy action. Adele and the other doctors and nurses never flinched, never panicked. Everybody was running for safety, but they ranintothe shelling, making sure we all got out. Your daughter’s a very brave woman.”
“We did our duty. Like you,” Adele said quietly.
“I didn’t want her to go,” her mother said, her eyes shining. Her handsclasped tightly together. “I couldn’t imagine losing her. But her heart was set on it.”
Adele had never gone into detail about the dangers she’d faced, wishing to spare her mother, and she could see it had affected her. Hearing it from Jerry somehow made it sound better than if she’d had to describe it.
“I promised I would come back. You know I always keep my promises.”
“She has always been that way,” Guillaume told Jerry. “Brave.Compatissant.Like her father.”
Her heart squeezed.
“I can see that,” Jerry said, watching her.
