She passed a folded piece of paper to one of the men, knowing it wouldn’t be worth their lives not to pass it on to him. And then she went to wait, by the same tree she’d sat under, Oscar trotting along beside her, her constant partner in crime.

She’d asked Wolfgang to meet her, said that she had to see him. She’d toyed with whether to go through with it or not, whether her ruse would be plausible, or if she was even going to go ahead with a ruse at all.

But in the end, there had been only one decision she could make.

“I can’t back down now,” she whispered to Oscar, bending to pick up her little dog and bury her face in his fur as she tried her hardest not to cry. “What’s done is done.” She just hoped her sister would forgive her for not having said goodbye before she left the house. She’d gone about everything the wrong way, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

It’s too late to change my mind, even if I want to.

“Adelaide!”

She turned at his call, and as he strode toward her it came naturally to her to open her arms to him. His eyes lit up, and he no longer seemed to hide from her, his smile wide and genuine as he held her against his chest. And just as it had felt natural to go to him, it also felt right to lift her face to his, expectantly, for the kiss she knew would follow.

“What a nice surprise. Is everything okay?”

She leant against him, fitting snugly under his arm. She still had Oscar’s leash looped around one wrist, and she smiled as Wolfgang reached down to pat him.

“Everything is fine,” she said. “I just hadn’t seen you in a few days and . . .” Lying hadn’t ever been something she was good at, and she decided to play embarrassed instead of continuing on. She held her tongue as they started to walk, heading for one of their favorite spots well away from sight.

“Adelaide, I have some news for you. We’re going to be moving on soon,” he told her, frowning as he met her gaze. “I know that will come as a shock, but I’ll make sure to come back and see you as often as I can. Perhaps if we end up in Paris, you can eventually come and join me?”

Her stomach lurched as she stared up at him, committing him to memory. She hadn’t been lying to Elise when she’d told her that she hadn’t forgotten what he’d done; the trouble was simply that the longer she spent in his company, the easier it was to make excuses or pretend it wasn’t even him at all.