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I t was a peaceful Saturday afternoon at Jack’s flat. Lizzie rested her head on his bare chest, and their limbs lay tangled in the sheet on his big bed after hours of passionate lovemaking. Her cheeks were still flushed, and she basked in the afterglow.

‘When did you tell your parents you’ll be home?’ Jack asked, his deep voice gravelly in her ear.

‘I said I wouldn’t be home. Thought I’d spend tonight here with you if that’s alright?’ Lizzie snaked her fingers over his chest. ‘You haven’t got plans, have you? Sorry, I didn’t think to check first.’

‘You never have to check. You could move in right now, as far as I’m concerned. I hate it when you’re not here, you know that.’ Jack twirled a lock of Lizzie’s chestnut hair around his thumb as he pondered the curious ways of love. ‘It’s strange because I used to enjoy living alone.’

Lizzie studied his face. ‘You were impenetrable when we first met. I never would have imagined in a million years that we would be together like this. Remember how opposed you were to me joining the SOE?’

Jack released a dramatic sigh. ‘Not this again. How many times do I have to explain that I was merely concerned for your safety?’

‘Hmm, let me see.’ Lizzie raised her eyes to the ceiling and counted on her fingers as if she were trying to figure it out. ‘Until the end of days should do it,’ she announced, throwing him an impish grin.

‘You’ve got it, then. I will spend every day making up to you for the error of my ways. If it means I get to be with you like this forever, then it’s worth swallowing my foolish pride.’

‘Did you think you would always be a bachelor?’ Lizzie probed, not quite ready to let the line of questioning go.

Jack rubbed his dark stubble. ‘I was married to the job. Although I suppose the truth is, I never met the right woman. Not until you came along and beguiled me with your argumentative style of interrogation!’

Jack tickled Lizzie’s side, and she squealed as she wriggled and soon, they were kissing again and forgot the serious talk about how they met and fell in love.

As dusk descended, Jack handed her a cup of tea and Lizzie thought about her family at Regent’s Park.

That morning, she told her mother she had to go into work and would be on the night shift, so she’d catch some sleep at the office and be home on Sunday.

Ma rarely questioned her long hours, although Lizzie sometimes wondered that she didn’t think it strange her daughter was called to do so many night shifts in the office.

But as everyone worked long hours for the war effort, and Lizzie was a FANY, she tried to make it seem normal.

Her father never questioned her comings and goings because he knew the truth about her work, which relieved some of the burden of her secret life.

When her mother did suspect something wasn’t quite as it should be, he would expertly lead her off the scent and wink at Lizzie.

‘I don’t like lying to Ma,’ she murmured against Jack’s chest when he slotted back into the spot next to her. ‘But it’s that or never stay over with you. I can hardly say you’re my lover, can I? She’d be appalled by my wanton behaviour.’

He stroked her hair, and the touch of his comforting large hand calmed her anxious thoughts.

Jack always made her feel safe.

‘I know, my love,’ his voice soothed, washing away her worries. ‘Although you’ve chosen the wrong line of work if you want to avoid lying. The Official Secrets Act means we lie for a living, or had you not noticed?’

‘At least I won’t need to lie to them when we’re in Toulouse,’ she said. ‘I know you think it’s strange I’m so excited for us to go undercover, but that’s one of the main reasons. I live an undercover life here, anyway.’

Jack laughed. ‘We’ll have to lie to everyone in Toulouse. And there was me thinking, you were so keen because you can’t wait to share my bed at night and ravage my body at every opportunity.’

‘You’re not wrong. I can’t think of anything more wonderful than falling asleep and waking up in your arms,’ Lizzie said dreamily, her voice overflowing with tenderness.

‘Just as well you’re staying here tonight, then,’ he said, tightening his arm around her shoulders.

‘Talking of lies, we need to create a solid cover story for me to tell my family. Have you given it any thought?’ Lizzie asked.

Jack shifted, pulling Lizzie up the bed slightly as he repositioned himself against the headboard and lit a cigarette.

‘I have.’

‘Why am I not in the least surprised? Go on, then. Fill me in. What’s the plan?’

‘I was thinking you could be called away urgently by the FANYs.’

‘What branch?’

Jack’s deep voice reverberated. ‘We’ll make something up.

It’s a great cover story. Your father knows better than to look for you, and if your mother tries, she won’t find any information about the non-existent office.

You can say you’re working on war records.

It’s not unlikely the government would keep the exact location under wraps, given the scale and intensity of the bombing around the country. ’

Lizzie nodded. ‘Nowhere’s safe. They blitzed Liverpool to smithereens.’

‘Yes, it got a terrible hammering.’

‘Alright, so we’ll go with that. I’ll start thinking about how to break it to my mother. Val said we need to prepare to stay for as long as we can maintain our cover, so we may be there a few months, unless something goes wrong.’

‘That sounds about right. We don’t know what awaits us over there.

By the sounds of it, the Gaullists are recruiting new Resistance members like wildfire and building networks, but we have very little going on.

’ Jack disentangled himself from Lizzie’s warm body.

‘I’m going to shave. Tell your parents you may be gone a while, and you will write.

We’ll have Val arrange to send postcards from you like when you were in Paris. ’

‘It sounds reasonable enough,’ Lizzie said.

‘What would have been considered immodest behaviour for an unmarried woman before the war—me being posted across the country on a work assignment—is now just business as usual in wartime. As horrendous as this war is, ironically, it’s given women freedom from being chained to the hearth. ’

‘Wait until you see the chateau. I promise I won’t chain you to the hearth, though. You’ll love it.’

Lizzie sucked in her breath and raised her head to search his eyes. ‘You never said anything about a chateau …’

‘Didn’t I?’

‘No, you didn’t.’

‘What chateau is this?’

‘It’s my uncle’s. I haven’t been there for years. Henry and I used to help him in the vineyards when we were boys.’

‘Vineyards! Gosh, here you go, being a dark horse again. Who forgets to mention they have an uncle ensconced in a chateau with vineyards in the South of France?’

Jack chuckled. ‘He’s far from ensconced. Trust me, it’s a lot of work and not as fancy as it sounds. And don’t forget there’s a war on.’

‘How many other secrets are you keeping from me?’ Lizzie asked as she peered at him.

‘It wasn’t intentional. It just never came up.

Even my mother hasn’t seen Uncle Luc in years.

She was talking about her brother only the other day.

It’s a shame I won’t be able to tell her we’ll be staying with him.

We used to see a lot of him, but after my father died, my mother stopped taking us there in the summers and he’s not the type to come here.

He dislikes the English. Says we have no style. ’

‘That’s too bad. With us going there, I mean. How did he take it?’

‘Hard to say.’

Lizzie narrowed her eyes. ‘He doesn’t know yet, does he?’

Jack shook his head. ‘No. In fairness, I only found out myself the other day. I had no intention of going anywhere near Toulouse until Val said we must build networks in Vichy ready for the Allied invasion.’

‘What if he’s not on our side, given his dislike of the English?’

‘Oh, he’ll be on our side.’

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘Because he dislikes the Germans even more! France fought against them in the Great War too, remember.’

Lizzie said, ‘He sounds like quite a handful.’

‘He’s a character, alright.’

‘What exactly is the situation with the Vichy region? You’ll have to explain it to me, so I understand it properly. I know it’s the part of France that’s not occupied by the Nazis, but I don’t completely understand who is ruling what and why.’

‘They call it the Free Zone . It’s far from free, as you’ll see, but it’s ruled by the Vichy French administration, who are German collaborators.’

‘Hannah is in the South of France, isn’t she?’

‘Apparently so, but I haven’t received a message from her in over a month. Who knows where she is and what she’s up to, by now? Taking out enemies at any opportunity, I’d say, if I had to guess.’

‘Will we try and see her when we’re there?’ Lizzie asked.

‘It all depends. Not if it risks blowing our cover. We’re better establishing separate networks in different regions, rather than putting all our eggs in one basket.’

Lizzie sighed.

‘What’s wrong?’ Jack asked, his deep voice tender.

‘Nothing. I miss Hannah, that’s all.’

‘It’s understandable. You two went through an intense time together in Paris. Hopefully, we’ll hear from her before we leave and can see her at some point.’

Lizzie’s spirits lifted at the thought of being reunited with the courageous Resistance leader. ‘And what of Henry? Have they been in touch recently, do you know?’

‘Henry is still flying a lot. My mother spoke to him last week and says he claims to be well but sounds fatigued. Then again, she always says that. There were some whispers last week that we may be nearing the end of the Blitz. Word has it Hitler’s lost his appetite for it. Tired of us bombing in retaliation.’

‘Thank God for that. It seems to have been going on forever. I’ve grown used to the sounds of bombs dropping and running for shelter at all hours. It’s hard to imagine what life will be like when this war is over.’

Jack said, ‘That’s another good thing about going to Toulouse. It’s not being pounded by the Luftwaffe.

Anyway, enough of this war talk for now, my darling. I’ve got other plans for us before we go to dinner.’

‘Have you, now?’ Lizzie said, a teasing lilt in her voice, as she caressed his firm muscular body and surrendered to his kisses, shivering beneath his touch.