“You never told me that,” Camille said.

“It’s not a pleasant thing to revisit, but I’m telling you now because I want you and Julie to feel you can trust what I have to say.”

“What were you bullied about?” Julie asked.

“A bully does not need a reason. There are things that will never change, and one of these things is the cruelty that can take over a group of teenagers.”

Julie pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Papi. I know you didn’t deserve it.”

“And I know the same about you.” He gently brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “You are so very beautiful, my sweet.”

Camille smiled past the lump in her throat. Their love had always been so strong and pure. He’d taken care of Julie while Camille worked, teaching her French and his favorite cooking techniques. He was the one who had taught her to kick a soccer ball and sing his old favorite songs.

“Tell us, Papa,” Camille said quietly.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and studying the ground. After a few moments, he looked up and said, “I was bullied all through my youth, even when I was too young to understand what was happening.”

“Why you, Papi?” asked Julie.

“Because of who I was,” he told her. “Because of who my father was.”

“The mayor of the town, isn’t that what you said?” Julie asked. “Did he die fighting? Was he a war hero?”

Henry regarded her with an expression Camille had never seen on her father’s face. “My father was no hero,” he said, his voice low, nearly breaking. “At the end of the war, he was shot as a collaborator.”

“Oh my God,” Camille said, reeling. “You never told me that.”

“It would not exactly be a source of pride, now, would it? Not a story I want to share, that I am the son of a Nazi collaborator. I grew up in a village where my father was regarded as a monster.”

Camille’s stomach clenched. “Papa—really?”

He nodded, his expression strained. “This is a secret I’ve held in all my life. There is this shame our family has been carrying around for decades. I never told you because I didn’t want you or Julie to be tainted by it.”

Camille tried to get her head around this revelation. “So your father was a collaborator. Meaning he threw in with the Nazis during the war.”

“Yes. According to all who knew him, he was quite a tyrannical one at that. When the Nazis moved in, he ingratiated himself with them. He persecuted Jews and betrayed resistance fighters. He allowed the town to be turned into a slave state for the Germans. Nearly every family in Bellerive suffered—and many died—because of Didier Palomar. Upon liberation by the Allies, the épuration sauvage took place—a period of savage revenge. Palomar was tied to a stake and shot while his pregnant wife looked on.”