It was late November, one afternoon, as she walked home from the woods, singing to Phillip as she carried him in a sling Emanuelle had made her. He was almost asleep as she reached the front door of the château with a sigh, and stepped inside, and then she screamed as she saw him. It was William, standing there in his uniform, looking more handsome than ever. She rushed into his arms, and he held her, trying not to squash the baby. She quickly took off the sling and set him down gently. He had been startled by her scream and he was beginning to cry, but all she could think of now was William as he held her.
“I’ve missed you so…” Her words were muffled by his chest, and he held her so tightly, he almost hurt her.
“God, I’ve missed you too.” He pulled away from her then to see her. “You look wonderful again.” Thinner, but strong and well, and very healthy. “How beautiful you are,” he said, looking as though he wanted to devour her, and she laughed as she kissed him.
Emanuelle had heard them talking. She’d seen the duke when he arrived, and now she came to take the baby. He would want feeding soon, but at least she could free them from him for a little while, so Sarah could spend some time with her husband. They went upstairs hand in hand, talking and laughing, as she asked him a thousand questions about where he was going, where he had been, and where they would send him after advanced training. He had flown in the RAF before and had only needed an update on the new equipment. He was careful not to tell her what he knew. That they were sending him to Bomber Command, to fly Blenheim bombers. He didn’t want to worry her, and he made light of all of it. But he did tell her how seriously people were taking the war in England.
“They’re taking it seriously here too,” she explained. “There’s no one left except Henri and his friends and a bunch of old men, who are too weak to work. I’ve been doing everything myself, with Emanuelle and Henri. But I’ve almost finished the stables. Wait till you see them!” He had wanted half of them set up for the horses they would buy, and a few he wanted to bring over from England, and the rest of it was set up in small rooms for their staff, and bunks for some of the hands they might hire on a temporary basis. It was an excellent system, and the way they’d done it there was room for about forty or fifty men, and at least as many horses.
“It sounds like you don’t need me here at all.” He pretended to sound miffed. “Perhaps I should stay in England.”
“Don’t you dare!” She reached up and kissed him again, and as they entered their bedroom, he spun her around and kissed her so hard that she knew exactly how much he’d missed her.
He locked the door behind them and looked at her adoringly, as she began unbuttoning the jacket of his uniform, and he pulled off her heavy sweater. It was one of his own, and he tossed it halfway across the room as he looked at the full breasts and the waist that was so small again. It was difficult to believe she had ever had a baby.
“Sarah… you’re so beautiful…” He was almost speechless, and almost out of control. He had never wanted her as much, even on their first night together. They almost didn’t make it to the bed, but as they lay together there, they found each other quickly and well, and their longings exploded almost instantly as they gave in to their hunger.
“I’ve missed you so much …” she confessed. It had been so lonely without him.
“Not half as much as I’ve missed you,” he confided.
“How long can you stay?”
He hesitated, it seemed so little to him now, and at first it had seemed such a gift. “Three days. It’s not much, but it’ll have to do. I’m hoping to get back again around Christmas.” That was only a month away, and at least it would give her something to look forward to when he left. But right now, she couldn’t bear to think of him leaving.
They lay together on the bed for a long time, and then they heard Emanuelle with the baby outside their room, and Sarah put on a dressing gown and went to get him.
She brought Phillip back into the room, loudly demanding his dinner. And William smiled at him as he watched him eat hungrily, choking on the milk he was so anxious for, and making all kinds of funny little noises.
“His table manners are appalling, aren’t they?” William grinned.
“We’ll have to work on that,” Sarah said, switching him to the other breast. “He’s a terrible little pig. He wants to eat all the time.”
“It looks to me like he does. He’s three times the size he was when he was born, and I thought he was enormous then.”
“So did I,” Sarah said ruefully, and then William thought of something he had never thought of before, and he looked at her gently.
“Do you want me to be careful?” She shook her head as she smiled at him. She wanted to have lots more of his babies.
“Of course not, but I don’t think we need to worry about that yet anyway. I don’t think I can get pregnant while I’m nursing.”
“Then all the more fun,” he teased. They spent the next three days as they had their honeymoon, in bed most of the time. And in between times, she took him around the property to show him what she’d done in his absence. She had worked on a number of things, and he was very impressed when he saw the stables.
“You really are quite remarkable!” he praised. “I couldn’t have done this myself, certainly not without help from anyone. I don’t know how you did it!” She had spent many, many nights, hammering and sawing and pounding nails well after midnight, with little Phillip in a cradle next to her, bundled up in his blankets.
“I had nothing else to do.” She smiled. “With you gone, there isn’t much to do here.”
William glanced at his son with a rueful smile. “Wait till he starts getting into things. I have a feeling you’ll be kept extremely busy.”
“And what about you?” she asked sadly, as they walked back toward the château. Their three days had already passed, and he was leaving her in the morning. “When will you be home again? How does it look out in the big, bad world?”
“Pretty ugly.” He told her what they knew, or some of it, of what had happened in Warsaw. The ghetto, the pogroms, the mountains of bodies, even those of children who had fought and lost. It made her cry when he told her. There were tales from Germany that were pretty ugly too. There were fears that Hitler might make a move on the Low Countries, top, but he hadn’t so far, and they were keeping him at bay as best they could, but it wasn’t easy. “I’d like to think it’ll be over soon, but I just don’t know. Perhaps if we scare the little bastard enough, he’ll back off. But he seems pretty gutsy.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she said, looking anguished.
“Darling, nothing will, it would be such a dreadful embarrassment to them if anything happened to me. Believe me, the War Office will keep me wrapped up in cotton wool. It just gives the men a bit of heart to see someone like me dressed up in a uniform and playing the same games they are.” He was thirty-seven years old, and they were hardly going to use him in the front lines at this point.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. And I’ll be back over to see you before Christmas.” He was beginning to like the idea of her staying in France. Things seemed so frenzied and so frightening in England. And here, everything seemed so peaceful by comparison. It almost looked as though nothing had happened at all, except that there were no men visible anywhere, or at least no young ones, only children.
They spent their last night together in bed, and eventually Sarah slept in his arms. And William had to wake her when the baby cried for her. She had been in a deep, happy sleep. And after she fed the baby, they made love again. And William had to drag himself out of bed in the morning.