Chapter 56
FIFTY-SIX
MARGOT
Margot only had a small torch in her handbag, with a weak glow, but it was enough for Beatrice to lead them.
After a few minutes Joséphine had joined them, and the four of them, with Isabelle, hurried through the tunnels.
Margot’s feet slipped where the stone was wet, but she didn’t fall. Luck seemed to be with them at last.
Every heartbeat marked a moment passing, and Margot knew that time was tight. She could still hear planes passing overhead, and she wondered where that bomb had hit. It must’ve been somewhere in Cordeval.
She strained her ears to catch any sound of other people’s footsteps. Isabelle had picked up on their anxiety and her grizzling echoed in the tunnels. Margot tried to whisper comforting sounds to her, as quietly as she could.
Eventually, they reached an old door with a rusty bolt. It made a horrible grinding noise as they slid it across. Then, with Margot’s heart in her throat, they pushed open the door.
The beach lay before them, silvered in the moonlight. The waves whispered against the expanse of sand, which was gnarled with barbed wire and wooden posts set up by the Germans. A gun turret overlooked the beach, and Margot forced herself to look at it, but it was ominously silent.
Margot saw figures clustered against the shore, staring out to sea. In the sparse light, she realised it was Daniel and the escapees who’d hidden in her cellar. They looked so vulnerable standing there, exhausted but still full of hope as they waited for the boat that would take them to safety.
Margot gazed down at Isabelle in her basket. Her eyes were wide as she cooed up at the night sky. She was quiet now, as if she was fascinated by the stars. It’d been days since she’d last seen them, which was a long time for a baby who was only a few months old.
High above them, in the cloudless sky, planes soared across the face of the moon.
They were coming from England and, on the sea, Margot could see a boat coming towards the shore.
She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but not the humble little fishing vessel that was scudding atop the waves; it didn’t look like a rescue mission, but someone putting out on a fishing trip.
The air was tense with expectation. But they’d done it – they really had. There was no sign of the SS, who must’ve gone to ground to wait out the air raid. Daniel and his daughter would soon be heading for safety.
As they stepped out onto the sand, Theo touched Margot’s arm gently and whispered, ‘Please don’t be sad.’
Margot and Theo approached the waiting group, with Isabelle in the basket between them. She knew it was goodbye, and she just hoped that, once the war had ended, she’d be able to find Isabelle and see her again.
The little band of refugees waited on the edge of the shore, huddled together as the boat drew closer.
Among them she could see the old man and the little children, the desperate faces of those so close to safety, yet still with so much danger before they reached the sanctuary of the distant coast. Daniel was moving among them, patting a shoulder here, mussing the hair of a child there, but at the sight of Theo and Margot carrying his daughter with them he dashed across the beach towards them.
‘I was so worried—’ he began. Then he stooped to lift Isabelle from her basket and embrace her. ‘My girl,’ he whispered. ‘My angel.’
Isabelle cooed happily in her father’s arms, and Margot felt a pain as though her heart was breaking.
‘Take care, little Isabelle. You be a good girl for your daddy, won’t you?’ Margot whispered. As she did, Theo glanced towards the hulking machine gun bunker, then turned his attention to Daniel. For a moment, no more, a look passed between them, but nothing was said.
Margot suppressed a shiver. A man was lying dead inside that bunker now, but she felt no sympathy. He would’ve mown down Daniel and everyone on the beach, including the children, including even baby Isabelle, if he’d seen them.
‘I can’t leave,’ Daniel said suddenly, his eyes closed as he rested his cheek against Isabelle’s hair.
When he settled his gaze on Margot again, she saw unspilled tears swimming in his eyes.
‘There are so many people— they’re rounding people up every day.
Word came in today that there are three dozen people waiting for me to get them to the border in the north; I can’t abandon them. ’
Margot shook her head. ‘It’s not safe for you here – you need to get away from France with Isabelle.’ But even as she spoke, Margot knew that Daniel had made up his mind. He couldn’t wait out the war in England, knowing what was happening to ordinary people back home in France.
As she suppressed a sigh, she spotted them; two rowing boats that had been lowered from the fishing vessel.
Moment by moment, they were drawing closer to the shore.
The oars were only brushing the surface of the water, to make as little noise as possible.
A tall, broad-shouldered figure stood motionless in the bow of the first rowing boat, wearing the oilskin jacket of a French trawlerman.
A light sea breeze tousled his dark hair and moonlight caught his square jaw.
‘But what about Isabelle?’ Margot asked urgently. ‘She can’t stay here.’
‘Will you—’ Daniel began, clinging to his daughter. ‘Esther loved you, Margot. Would you go to England and care for our daughter until I can—’
‘Agent Corbeau!’ called the man in the rowing boat, introducing himself a little sharply.
This was the man who had sent the message regarding the changed pick-up time, then.
He jumped down into the surf and splashed up onto the beach.
‘This is not what we were expecting. What happened to seven souls?’ Then he let out a long sigh and told the refugees, ‘Sorry about the racket from upstairs, but we’re giving the Nazis what-for tonight.
’ Then he gestured to the rowing boats, where the sailors were already steadying the little vessels on the edge of the shore.
‘We’ll have you all safe in England before they even know you’re gone. ’
The group of desperate, frightened people began to make their way across the sand.
‘Daniel, what do you m—?’ Margot’s words were cut off by the roar of an engine.
Her heart filled with horror as she turned to follow the sound and saw a German tank rolling towards them across the beach, its headlights picking out the figures who now froze on the beach.
Sand was thrown up by its tracks as it made its merciless way towards them.
There was nowhere to hide.