Yours: An Emotional and Gripping WWII Family Saga (The Promises Between Us Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Yours: The Promises Between Us

  Angela Christina Archer

  Contents

  1940

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Mine: The Promises Between Us (Book Two)

  Prologue

  ONE

  ANOTHER YESTERDAY

  About the Author

  For Regina

  Thank you for all the years of friendship, support, love, and kindness. I don’t know what I would do without you in my life.

  1940

  ONE

  Amelia - June 1940

  “Wake up! Amelia, wake up!” Evelyn’s voice echoed in the depths of my dreams. “We haven’t but a minute to pack. Wake up!”

  A pair of hands wrapped around my shoulders and jerked my body. My head bounced against my pillow.

  “Get away from me.” I swatted at the hands before rolling over and taking my blanket with me, the warmth of the wool drawing me back into a world of sleep and dreams of Henry.

  “I said, get up! We have to be at the school to leave for the docks in less than twenty minutes and it takes at least that long to walk to St. Peter’s Port.”

  “Why on earth do we have to leave for the docks?” I rolled back over as Evelyn fetched the suitcase from the top of the closet and heaved it over onto her bed. She flipped open the top of the case, letting the top half slap down on the bed as she rounded the bed frame and wrenched open one of my drawers. “They are only allowing one bag, so you must make do with what I can fit in it.”

  “What do you mean they are only allowing one bag? What are you talking about?” I sat up, throwing the blanket off me as I climbed out of bed. My warm feet cooled against the wooden floor of our shared bedroom.

  “France has gone all to pot and they say Guernsey is next.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The Germans have taken control of France. It’s only a matter of time before they are here. We are being evacuated to England.”

  “Oh, that’s rubbish. You can’t be serious.”

  “Does that sound like something I would joke about, Amelia?” She paused with her hands wrapped around a couple of my blouses for a moment before yanking them out of the drawer and tossing them inside the case. She then grabbed a couple of skirts, several pairs of stockings, and even more undergarments. “They made the announcement last night. We are to head to the school first, then walk to the docks. One of the ships will take us, with the rest of the children, to England.”

  “Is everyone going?”

  “They say just the children and young mothers.”

  “But what about mum and dad?”

  She paused again with her hands hovering over the clothes she was refolding in order to get more in the suitcase. A heavy sigh weighed on her chest and she closed her eyes. “They are staying here.”

  “But . . . the Germans . . .”

  “Most of the parents are staying behind—at least for now. Surely if the need arises, they will evacuate too.”

  I rubbed my fingertips in both of my temples as headache pounded. “I swear I think I’m dreaming.”

  “I wish you were, dear sister.”

  She finished packing the suitcase and clipped the latches, grabbing the handle as she heaved it off the bed while I dressed. The brown leather smacked against her legs as she dashed out of the door, glancing over her shoulder. “Don’t take too long getting on your shoes! We need to leave in the next few minutes.”

  “But what about your suitcase?” I called after her, but she didn’t answer. Instead, she vanished down the hallway.

  I slipped my feet into my oxford shoes and tied the laces. The soft black leather hugged my feet, and I ran the brush through my chocolate curls before grabbing my sweater hanging on the hook near the door and making my way down the hallway. My head still fuzzy from sleep, I yawned as I scratched an itch along the back of my neck.

  Mum was in the kitchen folding a few cheese sandwiches in some paper when I rounded the corner. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she sniffed as Dad fetched a few apples from the basket. He checked them for brown spots before tossing them in a sack.

  “I think four is plenty,” he whispered.

  “I just want to make sure they don’t go hungry. It’s quite a long journey by boat to England.” Mum’s voice cracked with her words, and Dad grabbed her shoulders from behind, squeezing them.

  “I know. Would you like me to gather some carrots from the cellar?”

  “Would you?” She turned to face him. A weak smile spread through her lips. “And bring me up another loaf of bread. I think three sandwiches would be better. Three each, I mean.”

  Dad ducked his chin, a slight chuckle snorted through his nose. “Of course. Three sounds perfect.” He kissed the tip of her nose and headed down into the cellar while she grabbed the knife and cut off a few more chunks of hard cheese from the block.

  “Mum?” I asked. My voice caused her to flinch.

  “Oh, Amelia.” She brushed her hand against her chest. “I didn’t see you there.”

  “Is what Evelyn said true?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid it is. I’m packing you two some food for the boat ride.” She set down the knife and made her way over to the back door, slipping her feet into her own shoes. “Are you ready to go? We need to be at the school in . . . well, we should leave now.” Her voice trembled as she fetched the already wrapped sandwiches and put them in the bag with the apples. “I wanted to make you two a third one, but I just don’t think I have the time.” She glanced at the cellar door then back at me. “Do you have your bag packed?”

  “I packed it for her. It’s near the front door.” Evelyn hurried into the kitchen and grabbed the bag of sandwiches and apples, folding the top closed as she kissed our mother’s cheek. “And two sandwiches are plenty. Don’t worry yourself over it.”

  The cellar door opened, and Dad trudged back up the staircase with a bunch of orange carrots in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. The green carrot tops swayed with his movement.

  Mum glanced at the clock and reached around to her back, tugging at the strings of her apron. “If you slice it for me,” she said to him, “while I’m getting this undone, I can put the sandwiches together quickly.”

  He obliged as she continued to work on her apron and after they both finished, she tossed the chunks of cheese on the slices and wrapped them up as well, the paper a little looser and the ends of the paper a little haphazardly tucked, unlike the ones I’d watched her wrap before.

  Evelyn grabbed them from her and threw them in the bag as we all made our way through the kitchen and out the door, Evelyn reaching for the suitcase as she passed it.

  The four of us trotted down the path. A sense of haste seemed to wash through everyone but me. Still unsure of what was going on, the confusion buzzed through my mind, and it wasn’t until we reached the school and the crowd of townsfolk swarming the outside
that the fog seemed to lift. I halted as I scanned the assembly of parents and children. In all ages, boys and girls clung to their parents, some still yawning as though they’d just woken up and others crying as they asked the same questions I had about where they were going, why was this happening, and why their parents weren’t joining them.

  “You’re just going on a school trip,” I heard one mum say. She bit back tears as she gave her daughter a hug. No more than six or seven years old, the little girl wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck, gripping tight while the mum continued. “And you’re going to have so much fun. You’ll see.”

  “But I still want you to come,” the little girl said. Her voice was so dainty, so sweet.

  “I can’t come today. You have to go with your teacher. However, when the boat comes tomorrow or the next day for all the mummies and daddies, so we can enjoy the school trip too, I’ll be the first one on. We will only be apart for a couple of days. That’s all.”

  I hurried past the mum and daughter, reaching out to grab my own mum’s hand. She glanced at me with tears in her own eyes as she patted my hand and squeezed it.

  Evelyn rushed off ahead of us, weaving through the crowd as though on a mission. Determination etched through her furrowed brow.

  “You two stay together . . . if you can,” Mum said, finally stopping. Dad came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “Aren’t you two coming on the other boat in a couple of days?”

  “I don’t know if there will be any more boats.”

  “But that’s absurd. Surely, they don’t mean to only take the children.”

  “We don’t know for sure,” Dad said. “If there is another one, we will be on it. Right now, the most important thing is for you and your sister to go.”

  I glanced around at all the children, and while there were several of my classmates with suitcases in their hands, standing about with their parents, I felt a little out of place. As though not really a child anymore, at seventeen years old, I didn’t belong there.

  “I’m not a child anymore. Perhaps, I should let a smaller one take my place on the boat.”

  “You are young enough to deserve a place, and you are going,” Mum said. “End of story.”

  As I opened my mouth, Evelyn emerged once again, weaving her way through the crowd with a card in her hand.

  “Here is your number. You need to keep it with you at all times. Do you understand me? Keep this card with you at all times, and your suitcase too. Don’t set it down anywhere or leave it anywhere.”

  “All right. All right.” My fingers trembled around the thick piece of paper as I grasped it. “I’m not a baby, you know.”

  “Mrs. Pembroke is near the front door of the school, she said to meet her there after we’ve said our goodbyes.” She glanced at our parents as she heaved a deep sigh. Her voice softened into a mere whisper. “She also said to make it quick. They are leaving in just a few minutes.”

  “I still don’t understand how they can only give us a few minutes.” My voice cracked with the high pitch of my tone.

  “We are lucky to have notice at all, Amelia,” Dad said. He moved around Mum and gave me a hug before giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Everything will be all right, sweetheart. So, don’t worry about a thing.”

  “But where are we to stay in England?”

  “I’m sure they have a lovely place to take you all or else they wouldn’t do it.” Mum also gave me a hug then wrapped her fingers around my ponytail, letting the strands slip through them as she pulled away. “It won’t matter anyway, though. As soon as your dad and I arrive, we will find a place for the four of us.” Her eyes sparkled, but not from the sun as they always had in the past. Instead, they glistened with the tears brimming inside of them. “You two should go before you miss the boat.”

  Before I could argue—or even utter another word goodbye, Evelyn seized my hand, dragging me through the crowd. I glanced back, taking one last glimpse of my parents as heads bobbed up and down, some blocking them from my view.

  A small part of my heart cracked and sank down into the pit of my stomach. While Mum had said it would only be a day before I saw them again, I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d been lying to me, telling me words she knew would convince me to leave with my sister.Words to make me leave all that I’ve ever known. Born in Guernsey on a cold January afternoon, I grew up on the lavish islands of deep green grass and steep rocky cliffs.

  I dug my heels into the dirt. “Wait. Evelyn, wait.”

  “We don’t have time.”

  “Please.”

  The more I refused, the more she tugged on my arm, a bitter battle between two sisters, and with Evelyn nearly two years older than me, she outmatched me.

  “Amelia, we have to leave.”

  “But if Mum and Dad are coming tomorrow, why can’t we go with them?”

  She spun around and marched up to me. The sudden release of her weight caused me to stumble backwards a couple of steps, and with her face inches from mine, her strength finally broke.

  “Because they aren’t coming on the next boat.”

  She said each of her words with a snail-like pace, and a pause in between them caused her to enunciate every syllable, which also seemed to break her heart just a little more.

  “What do you mean, they aren’t coming? Mum said—”

  “I know what Mum said, but she . . . she just told you that so you would get on the boat.” Tears welled in Evelyn’s eyes and she looked even more like Mum than ever before. While I’d always resembled Dad, she took after Mum in a way that was unbelievable. The same hair, the same eyes, even the same thin figure while my hips popped out as they sat on thicker thighs and a rump I wish I could give to someone else.

  “And,” she heaved a deep sigh, “just like I lied to get you down here.”

  “What do you mean you lied?”

  “I’m not going with you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I need to stay here to make sure nothing happens to Mum and Dad. I don’t know if the Germans will come, although, it is almost certain, or at least I’ve heard. But I don’t know what will happen, and I need to stay here.”

  “You are daft if you think I’m going to leave all of you here and go to England alone.” I backed away from her a couple more steps. “I’m not going.”

  She grabbed my arm, tugging on it once more. “Yes, you are.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Amelia! Amelia?” a familiar voice called out, and I spun as Henry shoved his way past a couple of boys and wrapped his arms around me. I don’t know why, but the sight of him suddenly broke down the wall I’d been hiding behind, and tears streamed down my cheeks. “Evelyn is saying I have to leave.”

  “And I agree with her. You need to get on the boat, Amelia.”

  “But aren’t you coming?”

  “I can’t. I can’t leave my grandfather.”

  “Evelyn isn’t going either. I’m supposed to go alone while you two stay here?”

  “Stay here?” He glanced at Evelyn and she shook her head. His lips thinned into a frown on his face and he furrowed his eyebrows. “Listen,” he said to me. “No matter what we do, it shouldn’t keep you from getting on the boat.”

  “But I don’t want to leave.” I laid my forehead on his chest, inhaling the salty-sweet smell of him. He smelled like his grandfather’s grocery store, like the fruit and vegetables and bread and cheese—all the supplies he stacked on the shelves every day.

  “And I don’t want you to leave, either,” he whispered in my ear. “But I also want you safe . . . or safer than you would be if the Germans come to Guernsey.” He moved me off him, clutching my shoulders as he dipped down to look into my eyes. “Please, just get on the boat.”

  A whistle blew through the air and the surrounding crowd quieted down as we all looked toward the sound. “Children, we need to leave, please say your last goodbyes and come forward to find your teacher,�
�� Mrs. Pembroke announced.

  A knot formed in my throat, and I glanced at Evelyn. As she nodded and reached out for me, I moved away from her, wrapping my arms around Henry instead.

  “I can’t. I just can’t leave.”

  He hugged me once more, squeezing tight for a moment before he released me and grabbed my wrists, prying my hands from around him.

  “It’s not goodbye forever. We will win this war just like we did the last time.” He let go of my wrists and cradled my face in his palms. He, once again, bent slightly down so he could look into my eyes. “I promise you I will look after your family.”

  I nodded, biting my lip. “I know you will.”

  “And promise me you will stay in that safe place so you can come back home.”

  “I will.” My voice cracked as I closed my eyes, fighting tears.

  “Come on, Amelia, Mrs. Pembroke is leaving,” Evelyn touched my shoulder; her fingers were soft against my blouse.

  Henry gave me a kiss on the forehead then backed away, giving me a wave goodbye. “Take care of yourself.”

  “I will.”

  TWO

  Amelia - June 1940

  I had been on a boat before only one other time in my life. I was nearly ten years old and Dad decided he would take me fishing along one of the harbors of Guernsey. It was a quiet day, a beautiful day, without even a breeze in the air or a cloud in the blue sky.

  The perfect day to be at sea.

  Or at least that was what he told me.

  “Nothing else matters when you are on the water,” Dad said as he rowed the boat away from the shore. “There is a peaceful calm out here. It is kind of like being in the meadow, only different.” He snorted a laugh. “Though I don’t know why or what that is.”