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Louis takes a breath. “I’m to travel to Bayeux. I’ll be met there. They need my draughtsman skills, my architect’s eye, to outline the bunkers and German positions along the coast. I’m to map them.” He pauses. “Nothing was said explicitly, but I can only guess that an invasion is being planned. If I can provide details of the German fortifications, it will help the Allies. That’s my guess. Why else would they ask me to enter the lion’s den?”

“If you’re right, if the Germans fear an invasion is coming, the whole area will be crawling with soldiers. How can you possibly get close enough to see their defenses?” Andrée’s voice rises, panic creeping in.

“We don’t know how close I can get. Or if I can get close enough to report back accurately. But I must try.”

He looks at them both.

“Tell me you understand.”

Silence. Heavy. Suffocating.

“Is anyone from their cell going with you?” Tina finally asks.

“Yes, their leader.”

“Do you know his name?” Andrée asks.

“I do, but I’m not going to tell you. I know we’ve always said there will be no secrets between us. However, in this instance, I’m breaking my promise.”

Andrée understands. If she doesn’t know the name, she can’t be forced to reveal it.

“What if something happens to you? How will we know?” Tina fails to keep the quiver from her voice.

Louis reaches across the table, takes her hands. “How about we believe I will be coming home?”

“What do we tell Josie?”

“The same thing we’ve always told her. I’m going away to help bring about the end of the war. She’s never asked for more information. She won’t this time.”

“What is your cover story? Do you have papers?” Andrée asks, already thinking like a Resistance operative.

“I’ll be traveling on forged papers under a false name. I’ll carry nothing that identifies me. Should something happen to me, there will be no trail back to you or to our home. Your safety was my one requirement for accepting the mission.”

Tina’s eyes fill with tears. “Your one request was for our safety—not yours.”

“Always yours,” he says simply.

The next morning, Josie learns that Grand-Père will be going away for a few days. As predicted, she asks no questions. She’s learned not to. She hugs him tightly before she leaves for school. Blows him a kiss from the doorway. With a beautiful smile, she mouths the words “I love you.”

As soon as the door closes behind Josie, Louis goes to his bedroom to change. He wanted Josie to see him as she sees him every day, in a smart shirt and trousers. Her professional and respectable Grand-Père.

When he walks back into the living room, he is dressed in worn trousers and scuffed shoes, a blue work shirt frayed at the collar. He looks like a laborer or a farmer. Like someone easy to ignore.

“Those trousers definitely don’t fit you anymore,” Tina says, her voice catching. She undoes his belt, pulls it a notch or two tighter. The weight he’s lost!

“I thought I had a cap somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it.”

“I’ll look,” Tina says, heading to the bedroom. She needs a moment, just a minute, to compose herself.

With the located cloth cap placed just so on his head, Louis wraps his arms around Andrée and Tina. “You know I’ll be careful. I will come home.”

Andrée struggles to get the words out. “How . . . how long do you think you’ll be gone?”

“What you’re really asking is how long you should wait before you start worrying.”

“Oh no, husband. We started worrying the second you told us you were going on this mission.”

Louis laughs quietly, but it’s a hollow sound.