Charlie was missing in action, presumed dead.

Tears filled her eyes as Matron rose and came to comfort her, arms cocooning her, shushing her as she might a child as Cate cried.

“He went missing in the line of duty, a hero until the very end,” Matron murmured. “We will all pray for you tonight, my dear girl. I’ll send one of your friends to spend the rest of the evening with you, and of course Lilly has been notified too.”

Cate composed herself, the words from the telegram running on repeat over and over in her mind. He’d been missing for more than a week, presumed dead only weeks after being deployed. The day they’d arrived in Dunkirk, full of smiles, eating lunch in the sun, he’d probably already been killed. The one person who’d understood her, who’d seen what her life had been like after her father’s death, had known how damaged she could be sometimes.

All this time she’d been thinking about him, wondering where he was, whether he was looking up at the same star-filled night as her, and he’d most likely been gone.

She pulled herself from her memories and glanced over at Jack, his eyes shut, his full lips slightly parted as he shielded beneath the blanket alongside her. Jack had made her smile from the day he’d regained consciousness on her watch, and despite everything he’d been through, there had been a lightness within him, something that had given her hope all over again. After weeks and months of doing her job because it was her duty, routinely going through the motions with a numbness deep inside her, Jack had brought her back to life without even knowing it, his presence making her feel again. Which was why she’d never have fled the hospital that day without him. If he hadn’t agreed to come with her, she’d have been taken along with everyone else; she knew that as clearly as she knew her own name.

But now the man she’d have done anything to save was chattering and shaking from the cold, and as the sky continued to lighten, she realized that his shirt was covered in blood. A deep dark red stain that was spreading across the fabric right before her eyes.

Panic rose within her, its tentacles spreading through her body as she stared at his abdomen, knowing how serious his bleeding could be. If she didn’t help Jack soon . . . A cold chill settled over her as she steeled her jaw and fought the tears that threatened to spill. He could be dead by nightfall, and then she’d be alone, in a country she barely knew.

Gunfire echoed close by, followed by the roar of what she supposed could be a tank. It was one hell of a time to be surrounded by the enemy in the middle of a bloody battle.