yard was a series of familiar shapesâwell-tended apple trees stood protectively between the front door and the rose-and-vine-covered stone wall, beyond which lay the road to town and acres and acres of fields, studded here and there with thickets of narrow-trunked trees. Off to the right was the deeper woods where she and Antoine had often sneaked off to be alone when they were younger.
Antoine.
Isabelle.
Where were they? Was he at the front? Was she walking from Paris?
Donât think about it.
She needed to do something. Gardening. Keep her mind on something else.
After retrieving her worn gardening gloves and stepping into the boots by the door, she made her way to the garden positioned on a flat patch of land between the shed and the barn. Potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli, peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes grew in its carefully tended beds. On the hillside between the garden and the barn were the berriesâraspberries and blackberries in carefully contained rows. She knelt down in the rich, black dirt and began pulling weeds.
Early summer was usually a time of promise. Certainly, things could go wrong in this most ardent season, but if one remained steady and calm and didnât shirk the all-important duties of weeding and thinning, the plants could be guided and tamed. Vianne always made sure that the beds were precisely organized and tended with a firm yet gentle hand. Even more important than what she gave her garden was what it gave her. In it, she found a sense of calm.
She became aware of something wrong slowly, in pieces. First, there was a sound that didnât belong, a vibration, a thudding, and then a murmur. The odors came next: something wholly at odds with her sweet garden smell, something acrid and sharp that made her think of decay.
Vianne wiped her forehead, aware that she was smearing black dirt across her skin, and stood up. Tucking her dirty gloves in the gaping hip pockets of her pants, she rose to her feet and moved toward her gate. Before she reached it, a trio of women appeared, as if sculpted out of the shadows. They stood clumped together in the road just behind her gate. An old woman, dressed in rags, held the others close to herâa young woman with a babe-in-arms and a teenaged girl who held an empty birdcage in one hand and a shovel in the other. Each looked glassy-eyed and feverish; the young mother was clearly trembling. Their faces were dripping with sweat, their eyes were filled with defeat. The old woman held out dirty, empty hands. âCan you spare some water?â she asked, but even as she asked her the question, she looked unconvinced. Beaten.
Vianne opened the gate. âOf course. Would you like to come in? Sit down, perhaps?â
The old woman shook her head. âWe are ahead of them. Thereâs nothing for those in the back.â
Vianne didnât know what the woman meant, but it didnât matter. She could see that the women were suffering from exhaustion and hunger. âJust a moment.â She went into the house and packed them some bread and raw carrots and a small bit of cheese. All that she had to spare. She filled a wine bottle with water and returned, offering them the provisions. âItâs not much,â she said.
âIt is more than weâve had since Tours,â the young woman said in a toneless voice.
âYou were in Tours?â Vianne asked.
âDrink, Sabine,â the old woman said, holding the water to the girlâs lips.
Vianne was about to ask about Isabelle when the old woman said sharply, âTheyâre here.â
The young mother made a moaning sound and tightened her hold on the baby, who was so quietâand his tiny fist so blueâthat Vianne gasped.
The baby was dead.
Vianne knew about the kind of talon grief that wouldnât let go; she had fallen into the fathomless gray that warped a mind and made a mother keep holding on long after hope was