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He was a very big baby, but even she had to admit, it had been much
easier than she'd expected. She'd been afraid of a long agonizing
delivery, like their mother's, that may have ended in tragedy. "Thank
God we didn't have twins, " Victoria said, looking relieved.

"I think I'd like that, " he said, looking very much the proud father,
as he lit a cigarette and offered her one, but for once she didn't want
it. She was feeling a little shaken up still, and more than a little
queasy. But the baby was already nursing. And looking at her, Edouard
was reminded again that she should go home soon. This was no place for a
baby. And then he smiled at her again, and smoothed the long dark hair
back from her face, as she lay there naked, with their son, covered only
by an army blanket. "And the future baron's name? " he asked formally
and she looked from her son to his father with a thoughtful expression.

"How about Olivia Edouard, after my sister, and you and my father?

That seems to wrap it up. The only one it leaves out is Charles, " she
grinned, "and under the circumstances, I don't think he'll mind that."

"Are we sending him an announcement, or are you going to write to the
poor man one of these days? " They had finally decided that that would
be the best way to do it, otherwise Charles might not know for years,
and Olivia would be trapped forever playing the role of her sister.

Victoria had been planning to write to Olivia and tell her. She was sure
it would be a relief to her, although Charles was undoubtedly going to
be very angry. She hated leaving Olivia to face the music alone, but she
just couldn't see herself going back to the States now.

But as always, whenever she thought about her, Olivia was heavy on her
mind for the next few days, and she wished more than anything that she
could show her the baby. She would have given anything to put her arms
around her just then and hold her. She actually lay in bed and cried for
two days, in spite of her joy over little Olivier, but for the first
time in ten months, Victoria was deathly homesick.

Chapter 31.

The solution Edouard and Victoria came to eventually was to leave the
baby with the chatelaine, the countess Victoria had met months before,
who was now the mistress of the general. But her house was safe, it was
well back from the front lines, and she lived there under the protection
of the Allies. Although Edouard said he would have been happier knowing
that Victoria and the baby were safe in Switzerland, he was willing to
agree to leave them there, at least for a few months, while she was
nursing. Victoria stayed home with her son for several weeks, until she
got on her feet again, but she felt surprisingly well very quickly.

Several of the nurses came to visit her, and Olivier became the mascot
of the camp, even to those who didn't know him. The soldiers sent
presents for him, and carved little toys. Dither knitted him a tiny pair
of socks, and from God only knew where one of the men found him a
stuffed bear, that someone else had gotten from their girlfriend.

And as he lay on his mother's breast, with his adoring father watching
him, Olivier Edouard de Bonneville looked like a very happy baby. For
all of them, he was the flower of life in the midst of a field of death
and ashes.

By June, Victoria was herself again. She had regained her figure, much
to her husband's delight, and was driving Edouard's jeep again, only
nursing the baby now at night and in the morning. They left him with the
countess when they were gone, and Victoria would pick him up on the way
home, anxious to see him, and sometimes dripping with milk as she waited
to nurse him. But he was very good-natured, and made do with goat's milk
whenever he had to, particularly if they ventured too far away, or
Edouard had to go somewhere overnight and took Victoria with him. For
them, it was the perfect arrangement. And given the demands of the war,
it was amazing they pulled it off. But fortunately for Edouard, the
general liked him.

Edouard had recently been making runs to rendezvous with the Escadrille
Americain, a flying force with seven U. S. volunteers, and he had taken
Victoria with him to meet them. It had been exciting for her, and they
were thrilled to see another Yankee. Two of them were from New York, so
they had that in common too, but the war was enough bond for all.

They were all in it together.

And in June, while Victoria was driving for Edouard, the Dawsons were
christening their babies. Olivia had insisted on naming them Elizabeth
and Victoria for her mother and her sister. The Victoria had been harder
to explain to Charles, but he had thought she wanted a namesake.

But Elizabeth's middle name was Charlotte, for her father. Victoria's
was Susan.

Geoff was enchanted with both of them, and Bertie had her hands full,
dressing and feeding and washing, and changing, there were never enough
hands to help her. Olivia had tried nursing them, but they had been too
much for her, and after the difficult delivery she'd had, the doctor
thought she was too weak to continue, so they'd switched them to
bottles, and now everyone could help feed them.

But by June, Olivia was feeling wonderful. It was as though nothing had
ever happened. And as they stood in Saint Thomas Church, the day before
their second anniversary, Olivia felt like the luckiest woman alive,
except for the knowledge that she had borrowed it all from her sister.

She had no idea what they would do when Victoria returned. Maybe they'd
have to continue the masquerade forever. She just hoped that Victoria
hadn't decided that she was madly in love with Charles, but nothing in
her letters to Olivia had indicated that, or mentioned anyone else for
that matter. Olivia had the impression that something was going on, but
she had never figured out what. Victoria mostly confined herself to war
news, to the extent that the censors would let her, but at least Olivia
knew her sister was happy.

In June, during the Battle of Verdun, after Fort Vaux fell, Edouard and
Victoria were coming home from a top secret meeting with the Allies in
Anscourt. All of the high-ranking officers had been there, including
Churchill, representing his new battalion. Every one had been depressed
about how the Battle of Verdun was going, the carnage seemed endless.

And the meeting had been top secret. Victoria had had to wait outside
with the other drivers. And he said very little to her on the way back.

He seemed to be thinking, and he paid very little attention to the road,
it was familiar to both of them. Victoria knew it like the back of her
hand, she had been over it a hundred times. And she was in a hurry that
night to get back to her baby. As usual, her breasts were dripping with
milk for him, and she wanted to get back to the chateau quickly to pick
him up and nurse him. The discomfort she felt increased hourly, and made
her just a little bit careless.

"What was that? " Edouard glanced at something by the side of the road,
when they were more than halfway back, and she smiled at him. He was
tired and looked strained. The war was not going well for the Allies.

She wished the Americans would get into it, but President Wilson was
still resisting. If only they would come over and see for themselves how
badly the French and English needed them, maybe things would be
different. She was thinking about that when they hit a small bump in the
road, and swerved and almost hit a tree. They were both tired and jumpy.

They were almost back to Chalons-sur-Marne, and had just come through
Epernay, when Edouard said he thought he saw something again. He wanted
to slow down, and she wanted to go more quickly. They argued about it
for a minute, and he pulled rank on her, and was only half joking.

"Slow down, Victoria, I want to see this." He was sure he could see
movement in the bushes, and he wanted to warn them in Chateau-Thierry if
the Germans were somehow encroaching from the rear, which would be
disastrous. But after they stopped for a minute, which Victoria thought
was suicide, it turned out to be nothing and they started moving.

She had finally just started to pick up speed, when a dog ran into
the road in front of them, and she swerved to avoid it and almost hit a
tree, and as she was calming her nerves down again, she heard a strange
whizzing sound, and was reminded for no reason in particular of the
Lusitania. It was a long low whine, and she glanced at Edouard, her
whole body tense, and his eyes were suddenly wide as he shouted at her.

"Duck! Baisse-toi .. ." he shouted, and they both dove as low as they
could while she kept moving, but as she turned to look at him, he had an
odd expression in his eyes, and she saw suddenly that he was bleeding.

She started to pull over and he shook his head frantically, telling her
not to stop, but another shell hit them in a single moment. They had
been hit by snipers. She drove as fast and as far as she could, reaching
a hand out to him, not sure what to do. He had his field telephone with
him, but they were still too far to use it. He was starting to spit
blood, and she could see he was losing consciousness.

She was torn between trying to get him to the field hospital, or
stopping to care for him there. But there was no decision to make now,
he pitched forward onto the floor, and she could see that he was dying.

She had no choice but to pull over.

"Edouard, " she said, pulling him back and laying him against her.

She had seen faces like that a thousand times in the past thirteen
months, but never his, or even anyone she knew. This could not be
happening, not to him, not today, not now. It wasn't possible .. .

she was shouting his name and shaking him to keep him from becoming
unconscious, but she could see then that the whole side of his head had
been shot away, and he was almost gone as she held him. She couldn't
believe he was still breathing. "Edouard! " she shouted at him, half
crying, half sobbing.

"Listen to me .. . listen to me .. ." She was shouting and she wondered
if the snipers could hear her. The snipers were still far enough from
the camp, to be fairly typical, and not a real danger to their field
camp. "Edouard, please .. ." He opened his eyes and looked at her with a
smile, squeezing her hand as hard as he could, which was very little.

I'll always be .. . with you .. ." And then he looked at her again, and his
eyes opened a little wider, as though he were very surprised, and then
suddenly he was staring, and he had stopped breathing. It was all over
much too quicky.

"Edouard, " she whispered in the darkness, alone .. . "don't ..

. go .. . please .. . don't leave me .. ." And as she looked at him in
horror and disbelief, his blood smeared all over her, she barely felt
the bullet that entered her back just below her neck, though she heard
the one that whizzed past her helmet. She laid him gently on the seat
next to her, and feeling something very cold trickle down her neck, she
pressed her foot onto the gas and hurtled down the road at full speed.

She had to get him back to the hospital to see if they could help him.

The doctors would do something .

they would wake him up again .. . he was just sleeping, she told
herself. She was in shock. All she knew was that she had to take him
back. He was her captain, and she was his driver, and he was her captain
.. . and .. . She hit a tree as she crashed into camp, barely missing
two nurses on their way to the mess tent. They shouted at her, and one
of them said something rude, and then stared at her.

"He's wounded, " Victoria said, staring blankly at them. And the nurses
looked at her very strangely, as their faces reeled around her.

"Do something, he's wounded, " she shouted, and they could see without
looking twice that Captain de Bonneville was dead. But then they saw the
blood dripping down her shirt from her neck, and they understood what
had happened.

"So are you, " one of them said gently, and reached into the truck to
touch her, just as Victoria slipped slowly into the darkness all around
her. They caught her as she fell forward against the steering wheel, and
saw that her whole back was covered with blood.

"Get a stretcher! " one of them shouted to anyone behind her, as she
held Victoria's chin gently in her hands to support her. "Orderly!

" ..

. she called, and two men came running. One of them recognized Victoria
and shook his head when he saw Edouard.

"The captain? " he asked, and the nurse shook her head. It was hopeless.

"They were shelled .. . take her to surgery. See if Chouinard is there
.. . or Dorsay .. . anyone .. ." If it had touched her spine, anything
could happen. If nothing else, the infection could kill her.

The orderlies ran with her to the surgery, and then came back more
slowly for Edouard. Two soldiers carried his body to the morgue, as
another drove the truck away, and went to report to headquarters about
Captain de Bonneville.

There was nothing more they could do for her, except operate to remove
the bullet. She might never walk again if she survived it, which was
less than likely. The damage the sniper's bullet had done had been
tremendous, as it ricocheted through her body. And later that night, the
nurses and orderlies she had worked with were talking about her and
Edouard. Sergeant Morrison came to look for her papers. They knew her as
Olivia Henderson, American, from New York, and Morrison had long since
recorded the home address and next of kin. It was a woman called
Victoria Dawson. Morrison wrote the telegram herself, and there were
tears in her eyes when she did it.