Good luck homing pigeon

Chapter thirty three-my love (6th February 1945)

"Andre?!"

"Kate, is that really you?"

I could ask him the very, same thing. He was still tall-willowy so. His hair, though not as long as it used to be, was still there. Curling slightly as the dark locks skimmed over his forehead. He was a little thinner than he once was, but he still looked healthy. Underneath the prisoners garb and the dirt, he was still my cousin Andre.

"Yes Andre, it's me! It's really me."

Picking me up, off the ground, he swept me into his embrace. Now my tears were falling for an entirely different reason. Andre! My dear, cocky, grubby cousin Andre. He was here! First Briana, today Sandrine, and now...now it was Andre. Gosh, we had so much we needed to talk about! So much I desperately needed to know. How he'd found me, in this tin-shed out of all the other places, had to be the first.

"Thank god!" He said, breathlessly into my shoulder. "Thank god..."

I clung to him tight, sniffling as the tears continued to cover my cheeks unabashed. So much had been on my mind these past few weeks, I'd barely had enough room for my closest cousin. How could I not think of him? I wondered. We used to be close as children-well, as close as you could become when you only saw each other a few times a year. We used to have mud-fights in the summer with Angelo and my other friends; flinging handfuls of muck at one another, before Angelo would wrestle me down and everyone else would take turns dumping their handfuls all over my ragged, play-dress. I missed those days, and I missed him.

"Kate, what happened to you?" He asked as he pulled back. "The bruises...how? Angelo said-"

"Where is he? Is he alive? Please tell me!"

"He's fine but....I think I ought to explain it elsewhere. Walls still have ears here."

I didn't care if he wanted to explain it in the soldier's quarters itself. Angelo was alive! My Angelo, my one and only....the sorrows that held me down hadn't gone away completely, but they had grown lighter-easier to carry. I just needed to know, exactly what happened to him, and only Andre could tell me that himself.

I followed his lead through the open gates that welcomed us prisoners the first day we came here. I'd only ever been here with the block leader, to go to those weekly meetings I'd secretly treasured. It felt too easy, just walking through those gates without permission. It still felt as if one of those guards would've been hiding, biding their time so they could sink a bullet through my skull when I wasn't looking. Just walking, undisguised, through a territory I shouldn't be in, I knew that the fear that remained forever constant wouldn't go away anytime soon. I don't know if it would ever disappear completely either. It was one of the things that frightened me greatly. But that...that didn't matter now. Right now I just wanted to find Angelo, tell him I'm sorry.

"Andre, where are we going?"

"To Angelo. He's been here since some of the guards dumped him here weeks ago. He's...he's not doing well Kate. He's healthy, he's not sick but he's not all there. I've tried dozen's of times to find out what happened but he just kept saying your name. Kate, Kate, Kate. Over and over again. It's like he knows no other words. Look, I don't know what happened to make him like this, but you need to explain it. I can't even get yes or no from him."

"How did you find me?"

"Why do you think I crossed the gates? I didn't want to leave Angelo so soon, but if there was a possibility of finding you...Kate, I don't know if Angelo could go back to the way he was by himself, but if he saw you I know it'll help. He really loves you. Weird, isn't it? My little squirt of a cousin, in love with a rebel. I should've never have left France, I know that now."