Germany is now determined to force England to make peace by every means of power. It would be a good thing if the Duke were to keep himself prepared for further developments. In such case, Germany would be willing to cooperate most closely with the Duke and to clear the way for any desire expressed by you. The direction in which these wishes tend is quite obvious and meets with our complete understanding.
“The Nazis were eager to keep the Windsors in Europe to see how things developed with England but Sir Walter was kind enough to travel to Lisbon and explain to the Duke that Prime Minister Churchill was ready to court-martial him if he didn’t leave for Nassau immediately. The Germans intended to use you as a valid reason for the Windsors to stay, until I stepped in and had you released.”
“Mrs. Bedaux is in on it too. Everything she did for me was to help make me Wallis’s pawn.” Amelia wished a bomb would fall on the building and blow them and the papers to hell so she didn’t have to face this. It was like the morning the lawyers had laid Jackson’s crimes out to her in their office, destroying all of Jackson’s excuses and lies and her hope that the prosecutors had been wrong. The veil had been pulled from her eyes and she’d seen everything with horrifying clarity, as she did today, and nothing afterward had been the same. “I thought Wallis had learned her lesson, that she hated Britain because of what’d happened, the way I used to complain to Aunt Bessie about everyone who’d been mean to me. I didn’t think she’d do something like this. If I’d known, I would’ve done something to stop it. But I did know. I heard what she told Mrs. Bedaux about the Ardennes. How many people are suffering because of it?”
He clasped her hands in his. “There’s nothing you could’ve done to prevent the invasion. The Duke and Duchess weren’t the only ones feeding information about the defenses to the Germans, but you telling me allowed me to tip off people to keep a better eye on them.”
Another awful truth began to dawn on her and she slid her hands out of his. “You were spying on me the whole time, weren’t you, using me to get information on the Windsors?”
“I didn’t need you to gather information. The Duke wasn’t exactly subtle in his admiration of Herr Hitler.”
“But you still used me to do it. That’s why you helped with the deposition. Did you have Mr. Carlton tell the prosecutors not to order me home so you could keep me in Europe?”
He sat back against the sofa. “I didn’t but my superiors did.”
Amelia jumped to her feet and paced the room. “I thought you were helping me because you cared but you were using me like all the others.”
“That’s not true. In the beginning I followed orders to make contact with you, but the more I got to know you the more I began to like and admire you.” He stood before her, forcing her to stop and look at him and the sincerity in his blue eyes. “I love you, Amelia, I do, and I was in a panic when you didn’t turn up here. I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to find you. When Susan told me the Germans had you, I used every contact I had, pulled all the strings I could to get you out.”
“You lied to me.”
“Not about wanting to be with you, but this is bigger than us, and no matter what my feelings or yours, I have a duty to my country to do everything I can to protect it and Americans in France. You’d do the same if you were in my shoes.”
“I don’t know what I’d do anymore. Theodore was right, I can’t judge anyone and look what it’s cost me. I have nothing real, and no one because I’m a naive fool.”
“You’re a caring person who tries to see the best in the people she loves. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Isn’t there? My job is gone, along with most of my things. The people I relied on for experience and connections betrayed me. I can’t believe this is happening again.” Like Wallis, she’d learned nothing from her life experiences.
“You can’t expect things to be cut-and-dried in this crazy world. You can only take what chances you’re given to find happiness and joy. It’s all any of us can do.”
He was right. In a time when every maxim had been crushed by German tanks and plots, the old rules didn’t apply. He’d done his job as she’d done hers, and both of them had been caught in a situation out of their control. If she could think straight, if the world weren’t so dark, she might understand and sympathize with this but she couldn’t. All she could feel was another letdown, another failure by someone she’d loved and believed in, and she’d fallen for it because she’d wanted to be loved and useful, valued and important. Despite the couture clothes, the European polish and experience, she was still the overlooked debutante suckered in by anyone who’d give her a second look.
“I want to go home to America.” At least there weren’t bombs and plots in Baltimore.
“Susan and most of the unessential staff are being evacuated to London tomorrow. You can go with them and the office there will help you find passage home. Or you could join the Windsors in Nassau, and report to us about what they’re doing and stop them from undermining Britain, the last bastion of freedom in Europe.”
“You mean spy on them the way you spied on me?”
He ignored the dig, assuming the posture of an ambassadorial official, the one who’d first greeted her at the Hotel Meurice ages ago. “The Bahamas aren’t far enough away to keep the Windsors out of trouble, not with Axel Wenner-Gren there. He’s up to no good and he’ll draw them into whatever plot he’s hatching. He’s already arranged for payment to the Windsors from the Germans through a Swiss account. America plans to build air bases in The Bahamas and, along with the British, are worried about the Windsors feeding Mr. Wenner-Gren information about American naval movements. You couldn’t stop your cousin from causing trouble before but you can help stop her from doing whatever she’s planning now.”
“You mean have my revenge.” She’d seen what it had done to Wallis and she no longer wanted to be anything like her.
“It isn’t revenge, but a way to keep bad people from doing more awful things. Charles Bedaux is already overseeing the takeover of Jewish factories, and word is, he’s leaving for Africa to help the Vichy government build oil lines. You can’t stop him, but you can help stop others.”
“By living another lie. I won’t do it again. Wallis can go to the devil for all I care, and you can go with her.”
Chapter Twenty-One
London, September 7, 1940
Four-forty. Over an hour to go before Amelia was off work for the day.
“You have a hot date tonight?” Susan teased from across the desk as her fingers flew over the typewriter keys. They both worked as typists at the American Embassy at 1 Grosvenor Square, glad to have paying positions while they waited for a berth home. The number of Americans trying to leave was growing by the day but every transport in or out of Britain was dedicated to the war effort and the movement of men and machines. Everyone else got space when it became available. “Robert, perhaps?”
Amelia stopped typing the travel request. “I told you not to mention his name.”
“He came back to London last week with the rest of the Embassy staff. He’d love to see you.”
That thrilled her more than it should have. “He told you that?”
“Of course he did.”
Amelia resumed typing the travel request for a mother with two young children, determined not to think about Robert. He was nothing but trouble, but when she and Susan walked home at night through the blackout, she often couldn’t help but wonder where he was and if he was thinking about her. Apparently, he was. It didn’t matter. She’d work in London until her travel ticket came up and then she’d put Europe, him, and Wallis behind her for good.
“Any word from you know who?” Susan was determined to bring up all kinds of ghosts today.
“Not so much as a postcard.” Amelia pulled the finished transportation request out of her typewriter and rolled in a new one. The last she’d heard, Wallis and the Duke had set sail from Lisbon for Nassau at the beginning of August without a second thought for her. She shouldn’t be surprised, but a small part of her still hoped a little of Wallis’s care for her had been real. Letters and cables came through the Embassy every day from people trying to contact friends and family but none of them were from Wallis to Amelia. Wallis hadn’t even sent a thank-you note for the safe or a short wire to say she was thrilled Amelia had been released. She must have heard about it by now from one of her Nazi friends. All there’d been was silence. The bitch. “The Caribbean can have them. I’m through with them.”
“Do you think we’ll ever get back home?”
“I’m not sure I want to go back. There isn’t a lot there for me.” She’d cabled Peter and Aunt Bessie when she’d arrived in London to let them know she was safe. They’d cabled back, relieved to hear from her. There’d been nothing from Mother, who probably hoped a bomb would spare her the humiliation of running into her daughter in Baltimore. Luckily for Amelia, the only bombing raids had been along the docks and the coast, with the German planes only venturing inland to attack RAF bases and communication facilities.
“You don’t have to go home. There’s a position open in Mexico City. The State Department would send you out on the next ship if they hired you.”
“I don’t speak Spanish, and if the weather there is anything like today, I don’t think I could stand it.” Amelia dabbed the perspiration from her forehead. The fans and the breeze coming in the open windows did little to ease the heat of this unusually hot day. Outside, people were strolling in the shade or lounging in the parks in an effort to cool off.
“With your knowledge of French, I bet you could learn Spanish real quick.”
