Vivian’s initial stammering and flushed cheeks had passed as delight. “I would love a chance to help out, of course,” she’d managed to say. “But I’d need to make sure my parents are comfortable with my serving in the military.”
“That’s quite understandable,” the major had replied. Evidently, Vivian struck them as far from someone who, an hour from now under the dome of night, would be conspiring with a soldier of the Reich. No doubt, that’s how her meeting with Isaak would be viewed. A wiser person would call it off. Yet she couldn’t. She needed to see in his eyes that no matter the outcome for his family, he would still betray his mission.
Monday–same time, same place.
Decoded, her invitation specified Prospect Park at ten. Last night at the cafe, she had slid the message beneath the clay pot just minutes before closing. It was the soonest she could get there after returning from the ball game with Gene.
“Chérie, you come here again so often!” the cafe manager had exclaimed, spotting her in the courtyard. “You see? The fig tart, I knew it brings you back.” He beamed with such culinary pride, Vivian gratefully played along.
A knock interrupted the memory. It was a rapping on glass from the curtained window.
Without seeing, she knew it was Gene. He often entered from the fire escape past curfew.
She suddenly recognized her awful bind.
“Criminy,” she murmured. He was supposed to work late tonight. How was she to meet Isaak in an hour at Binnen Bridge?
The tapping became insistent. Fortunately, it was muted by orchestral music drifting up from the floor below.
Then it dawned on her: Perhaps Gene had come bearing news of Isaak’s family. A solution could be within reach. Vivian had no choice but to answer. Besides, if she pretended to be out, she would need an explanation of where. With Luanne gone on a date, Vivian hadn’t bothered to prepare an alibi.
How she despised this need for deceit.
She calmed herself before parting the curtains. As she raised the window, she caught sight of his face.
“Isaak.”
“May I?” He motioned toward her room.
Utterly relieved, she scuddled out of the way. He had added a fedora to his outfit, but as he crawled inside, the same German uniform peeked from his coat.
Struck by the altered plans, she whispered, “Did you not get my note?”
“The Army is using parts of the park for training exercises.” He looked outside before closing the window. “I wouldn’t have come here, but I couldn’t think of another way.”
She had never told him where she lived....
But then she recalled his specialized training, his ability to furtively track her to the cafe and who knew where else.
“You have news for me,” he said. His voice vibrated with such hope, she regretted the ambiguity of her message.
Vivian cleared her throat, realizing they could speak at a normal level. For once, she appreciated the intrusion of the landlady’s RCA. “I haven’t had luck with acquaintances of my father, I’m afraid. But I do have someone else trying to help. A person in Intelligence. We should know more soon.”
Disappointment set into his features. He said nothing while laying his hat on Luanne’s bureau.
“I’m sorry, Isaak. I’m doing everything I can think of.”
He took this in. Regrouping, he shook his head. “I’ve no doubt about that. Believe me, darling, I’m terribly grateful.”
From a female voice in the hallway Vivian recalled the door. She hurried over and turned the lock. The measure was solely a precaution, but when she twisted to face Isaak she registered the connotation-securing them in her bedroom, alone.
“I have a Luanne,” she blurted, and caught the misstatement. “I meant roommate. I have a roommate. That’s why ... the lock . . .”
He moved closer, a seductiveness in his gray-blue eyes. He was a stranger and a lover all in one. She wanted to step away, but her legs defied her. Soon his fingers reached her cheek, sloping to her neck, and the proximity of his body launched a shiver down her arms. Would he always affect her in such a way?
Gene ... she had to think of Gene. Pressure mounted as Isaak leaned toward her.
“There’s another fellow,” she told him. “A fellow I’ve been dating.” She waited for Isaak to pull back. He only raised a smile.
“I know that, Vivian.”
He knew?
Yes. Yes, of course he did.
“But I also know you wanted to see me as much as I did you. There’s nothing you’ve told me tonight you couldn’t have put in writing.” His low rasp fogged her mind. Even if she disagreed, she had no ability to refute him. “I swear, Vivian, I’d be with you every minute if it didn’t put you in danger.”