“I want to know everything.” She folded her arms over her chest as they walked into the shade of a building, the wind pushing at her clothes and hair as they strode toward the water. “Why did they send you?”
“Not all favors are given for free.”
Ava considered him. She would never have been allowed to take on so dangerous a task. But then, she was a woman, often underestimated in a field dominated by men. If she had been a man, would that still happen? Would accompanying Sarah and Noah have even been an option?
“It was not supposed to take as long as it did.” James led her under the massive arch, built where the old royal palace formerly resided, to commemorate the reconstruction of Lisbon after that fateful earthquake.
Questions of James’s involvement were swept away immediately by more important details. “What happened to delay you?” she asked.
The square was large and open, overlooking the Tagus River. What few people did linger nearby were well out of earshot. James glanced about still before continuing. “The Nazi aggression in France has grown. Despite what the Germans say in the newspapers, they see the defeat coming. Apparently, the loss of Corsica sent a shock wave through France, encouraging the Resistance in their efforts and leaving the Germans redoubling their determination to hold on to their occupation.”
His eyes searched the horizon, over the choppy surface of the water before them. “They have been hunting the Resistance down without mercy, especially the Maquis who were our main contacts. There were several times we had to find our own way after bands of Maquis were eliminated. We shielded Noah from as much as we could. I believe he’s young enough to recover, but I couldn’t always protect Sarah from the things she saw…”
“James.” Ava put her hand to his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
He turned his haunted stare toward her. “I would do it again to ensure their safety. If left there, they would surely have been found out and sent to one of those camps.”
Ava wanted to pull him toward her and hug away his hurt, but there was a part of her afraid that if she did, she would never be able to let him go.
James sighed and walked closer to the water. Foamy, white-tipped waves lapped at a set of stone stairs that descended into the tidal depths where two columns rose from the river, a place where royals once docked to visit the palace.
“The papers we’d arranged for did not come through,” James continued. “We believe the men supposed to deliver them were captured, which meant they might potentially talk under torture. The lack of papers and possibility of our plans being leaked forced us to change our path, which took us over the snow-covered mountains where France and Spain meet. It took many days with little food and low temperatures. But we are here.”
There was more to the story, an odyssey beneath the simple gloss, one rife with tragedy that left sadness in his sparkling gaze. Someday she might hear additional details, but for now, the solemnity of his demeanor quieted her need for information. He had succeeded in bringing Sarah and Noah to Lisbon and had himself returned safely.
“Sarah is trying to get to her husband in America,” James said. “He left before Paris fell, and they received only one letter from him with the address where he is staying. They have not been able to send him a letter since.”
Ava opened her mouth to offer to post one for them when James withdrew an envelope, his lips quirking up in that familiar grin. “I presumed you would offer.” He handed her the envelope, an address in New Jersey written across it.
“I’ll ensure this gets to him,” Ava promised. “And I’ll have them in America with him in no time.”
While she knew she could fulfill her vow to mail the letter, the latter part of her promise would be far trickier. But after everything Sarah and Noah had suffered through, she refused to let them down.
TWENTY-TWO