Free Northern Girl by Fadette Marie Marcelle Cripps Page B

Maman was smiling at last.
    ‘Oh, just girls’ stuff, Maman, nothing very important,’ Madeleine reassured her.
    ‘Come then, let’s eat!’ Maman beckoned them into the kitchen, while Madeleine grabbed her sister’s arm, and whispered with some urgency, ‘We’ll talk about it later, OK?’
    Martine squeezed her hand in response.
    Madeleine planned to ambush Papa once he’d got home from work and had a rest, and beg him forpermission to go to the fair. In the meantime, her sisters were harder to persuade than she’d anticipated. They weren’t anywhere near as interested in going as she was. All they wanted to do was unpack and relax. Eventually, however, she won them over by offering to do any sewing they wanted for a month. All they had to do was accompany her to the fair for two hours. And even then, only if Papa agreed!
    She’d have promised anything at the time, she so badly needed excitement and noise to distract her from traumatic memories. Even though the Germans were long gone, she still woke every night in a cold sweat, imagining she could hear the sound of one particular soldier’s boots clanking across the tiled kitchen floor towards her bedroom.

Chapter 6
Marck, France
Friday, 22 June 1945
    The day his daughters came back from Boulogne, Papa hurried to finish his work early. He was late for lunch, and, tantalized by the aroma of coffee, he headed straight for the kitchen, where Martine was grinding a batch of coffee beans so vigorously that she didn’t hear him come in.
    Smiling to himself, he playfully crept up on her. When he tapped her on the shoulder her shriek of surprise was so loud that it brought the whole family in from the garden, where they were waiting in the warm sunshine in wondrous anticipation of Martine’s promised cup of real coffee, made with proper coffee beans! It was a luxury they had all missed badly during the war years. Simone had somehow managed to get hold of the beans in Boulogne, and no one asked too many questions about how she’d done it.
    Maman, Simone and Madeleine rushed into thekitchen, only to find Martine and Papa laughing and embracing. Simone squealed with delight at the sight of Papa and rushed to hug him, too. With unashamed pride, he pulled both daughters in close, and joked, ‘At last! Maybe Maman will let me sleep again, now that we’re all safely back together.’ Then, as if resigned to the situation, he shrugged and added, ‘Until she finds something else to worry about, of course!’
    Madeleine, watching, couldn’t help thinking how lucky she and her family were to have come through the war alive. They all ought to make the most of their lives now, she thought. And, seeing Papa in such a good mood, she decided to start on her own behalf at once. ‘Papa, there is something I want to ask you,’ she said.
    Hearing her pleading tone, Papa realized she was going to beg for something she had less chance of getting from Maman. ‘Yes, ma fille ?’
    ‘Can we three girls go to the fair this afternoon?’
    Papa glanced at his other two daughters and, seeing the reluctance on their faces, said, ‘Do your sisters really want to go, or have you talked them into it?’
    Madeleine was about to protest, but Papa held up his hand, and continued, ‘After all, they’ve only just got home, and I’m sure they have lots of other things they want to do.’
    Madeleine looked at her sisters for help.
    Martine said, ‘Well, you’re right, Papa, we do have other plans, but we told Madeleine that if you agreed to it we would take her to the fair for two hours.’
    ‘See, Papa, it’s fine,’ Madeleine said with undisguisedexcitement. Then, looking encouragingly at Simone she said, ‘You want to go, too, don’t you, Simone?’ Before Simone could answer, Madeleine, her eyebrows raised in mock anticipation, leaned towards her and confided in a whisper, ‘I’m sure there’ll be lots of interesting new people there!’
    Papa, realizing they’d already planned