Page 85 of Across Eternity

I tell her about his journey south and the fact that he never returned. Saying it aloud forces me to see just how bleak the situation is. He didn’t come home, which means he was caught somewhere, and being caught in his position is more likely to end in death than imprisonment. I shake my head, unable to face the idea of it. “I’ll know more tomorrow when I speak to his contact,” I conclude.

Marie sighs and nods her head. “If that fails,” she says, “Edouard may be able to make some inquiries.”

“So, apparently he’s still a priest?”

She flushes again. “He was going to leave the priesthood. But once the shelling started, people began depositing orphaned children here. Most could be sent safely to other parts of the country, but the Jewish ones could not, and had to remain.”

“They’re here?” I whisper. “Inside the church?”

She nods. “But we all leave in two weeks. Someone has found us a safe place outside the city.”

“And when that happens, Edouard will leave the priesthood?” I ask. I don’t really care whether or not they’re married—how could I, when Henri and I aren’t either? Living with someone isn’t considered risqué in my time, the way it is in hers. But I dislike the fact that he’s still a priest. Until I’ve seen him put Marie first—before priesthood, before God even—I will doubt him.

“He would already have left,” she says. “When I told him about the baby, the decision was made for him. But then the war started in earnest and I lost the baby and—” She stops, pressing her face into her hands. “It was my fault. The baby. It was all my fault.”

“That can’t be true.”

“It is,” she says. “I time traveled. I didn’t even think about it...you know how often I do it, and the baby was just gone when I landed. I suppose because he or she couldn’t travel with me.” She bends her face to her hands and begins to cry again.

It’s an aspect of pregnancy that never occurred to me until now: if males can’t time travel, what happens if you do it while you’re pregnant with one? But if that’s the case, how did Katrin escape while pregnant with my father?

“You couldn’t have known,” I whisper.

She nods, drying her eyes. “Once we leave here and are safe, we will try again.”

I sigh. “Marie...no place in France is safe. Not until the war is over. Where, exactly, are you going?”

“Chateau de Nanterre. To the west of Paris. We have someone working on getting the children forged papers, but until then I believe we’ll be well hidden.”

“Could your contact help get us papers as well?”

She shakes her head. “It’s a lengthy process. You might be better off asking Yvette. She’s the companion of a German colonel now. Very well-positioned. She could probably help you.”

“Why would Yvette help me?”

“She wants to see Cecelia. She’s helped Edouard get medical supplies and food when we were under attack. She isn’t entirely bad.”

I seriously doubt that, and allowing Yvette to see Cecelia seems like a bad idea. “You think she’d really help Lucien and Charlotte?” I ask.

Marie nods. “I know she is lazy and selfish, but she isn’t a monster. She liked Jeannette and she liked the children.”

“What if she tries to take Cece?”

Marie smiles. “The benefit of time travel is that we can undo what goes wrong, yes?”

I nod. But something about it just doesn’t sit well. I’d say the odds here are not in our favor.

44

SARAH

The next morning, I find Roche’s contact in a small room behind the café he directed me to, a room from another time. They use candles for light, a fireplace for heat.

Three men sit inside, all staring me down as I enter. One keeps his hand on his gun.

“I’m looking for my husband,” I say. “Henri Durand. You sent him off in early January to get three airmen to Spain. He should be home by now.”

The man closest to me sighs. “I’m sorry to tell you, madame, but they were taken near the base of the Pyrenees. They were last seen being held in Mirepoix.”