La musique la ramène

5

While Adele, Louis and Maria were outside looking at the animals, I sat with Beniot in the kitchen and had a much needed catch up. He had been a very dear friend to me during the war years and after not seeing him for some time, it was nice to be in his presence.

"I have got to say, writing letters to you has been great-" He smiled. "But seeing you back home is a lot nicer."

"Well, don't count on it." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I will not be staying for very long."

"How is she?" Beniot asked, referring to Maria. Sighing I looked to the broken woman outside, trying her best to distract herself from the pain she was suffering.

"She is broken." I answered. "She is a very strong woman. But she just wants her husband back."

Maria had been putting on a brave face over the last couple of days. She was very determined to get Hans back and would do anything to do so. The hope of him being united with her once more, gave her the encouragement to carry on.

"You have to know it will not be easy?" Benoit sighed, looking very serious at me. "It will be dangerous and very difficult."

Taking a deep breath in, I looked to my friend and put a hand on his arm that was resting on the table.

"I am no stranger to any danger Benoit." I breathed out. "I just want to help my friend and I know you can help us."

"I have some contacts that will be useful." He nodded his head. "But it depends where he was taken too."

"That is what we don't know." I answered with a huff. "Surely your contact can find out?" Benoit ran a hand over his hair and sighed, shrugging his shoulders as he looked to me.

"I can write a letter to him as soon as, to ask him." He then stood up and got a piece of paper from the draw in the kitchen. "It is a shame really-"

"What is?" I asked, seeing the sadness in his eyes.

"Hans was a good lad-" He sighed, looking from the piece of paper and then to me. "Not like the rest of them."

"He is a very good man." I emphasised the 'is', not wanting Hans to be referred to in the past tense. Beniot nodded his head and began to write the letter, which I prayed would get to the man as soon as possible.

"Beniot, the market had no squash left, so I brought some marrow instead." I heard the familiar female voice say, as she came into the kitchen, not seeing me as she began put her coat away.

Turning around, Madeline stopped and looked at me. Tears came to our eyes and we said nothing but engulfed each other in one another arms. Crying hysterically, we hugged as tightly as we could.

"Oh my gosh!" She cried out. "What are you doing here?"

"It is a long story." I wiped under my eyes, as we pulled away from each other. "It is so good to see you Madeline."

"Oh it is so good to see you again." She grinned, grabbing a tissue and then handing a clean one to me. We both wiped away our tears, blowing our noses and then looking at her smiling husband as he watched us.

"Daddy!" I heard a small child squeal as they came running into the kitchen. Looking at the child, my heart dropped to the floor. The small child that I had once carried in my arms had grown up to a beautiful little girl.

She stopped and looked up to me, her big blue eyes piercing my soul as we looked to each other.

"Who are you?" She asked, looking up to her mum.

"This is Amelia." Madeline smiled, looking to me.

"Wow, haven't you grown." I gasped. "I held you many times when you were small baby. Has it really been that long?" I breathed out.

"6 years." Madeline answered, picking up her little girl and placing gentle kiss on her forehead. "Time has gone very quickly."

"Too quickly." I added.

Louis, Adele and Maria came in shortly after and we introduced to Madeline and her two girls. We all had dinner, caught up and reminisced over good times. We spoke for what seemed like hours and it was just beginning to get dark.

"We should get going and find a hotel to stay in." Louis breathed out a yawn, looking at his watch and seeing it was eight pm. "Is there any nearby?"

"I am sorry we could not have you here, there just is not enough room." Benoit sighed, standing up and brushing his trousers down.

"It is fine." Maria answered. "You are doing more than enough for us."

"There is one place that has recently turned into a bed and breakfast." Benoit looked to me with caution, which only made my heart beat extremely fast.

"Oh really?" Louis smiled with joy. "What is it called?"

"It is called Liberté." He added. I frowned slightly 'freedom', it seemed personal. As though someone had experienced it greatly and wanted to share that very emotion.

While the others were happy to leave immediately I did have one question to ask. Beniot tried not to give me eye contact and it only made me more inquisitive to why he was avoiding my eye contact.

"Since when was there a hotel in Bussy?" I shrugged, looking over to Beniot and Madeline. Madeline looked over to her husband, wanting him to answer my question. My hands became clammy as I rattled my brain.

A small part of me, wanted it to be him. I wanted him to own that hotel but I knew it would not be. He is probably far away from here. But if it was not going to be him, then who? The small ounce of hope, nuzzled its way into my heart and prayed it would be him.

"It is your ex mother in law."