The Forests of the Night

I listened, and further up the coast to the north I heard the constant deep boom of naval bombardment. I thought to myself, "Is this the invasion? I thought it was going to be in Calais??"

We rode our bikes the 8 miles to Cabourg and hurriedly climbed a hill. From the hill, we could see the panoply of thousands of ships and landing craft spread out in front of us. They were hitting what we would later learn was called "Sword Beach."

You might wonder who would be crazy enough to ride a bike along a bucolic French lane in the middle of the D-Day invasion. But you have to understand that we didn't know what was happening and we were both totally inured to danger at that point.

So, we sat on a dune and watched the Heinies get their asses handed to them. My arm was around Bernadette's tiny waist and she was snuggled against me, just like she was the first time we made love. That was in the middle of a bombardment too.

I looked down at her beloved face and we kissed. Then it hit me. This was the beginning of the end. Our mission was over. I said, "I've just been waiting for the ball to get rolling before I asked you this."

She looked up at me questioningly. I paused as a line of destroyers finished pounding the German batteries at Merville. Her beautiful eyes were full of expectancy and merriment.

Once the thunderous salvo was complete, I continued with, "Now that we have our life in front of us, I was wondering if you would do me the honor of being my wife?"

EPILOGUE

The conference room in the new CIA Headquarters was small. I didn't need that much room. A few of my co-workers showed up to see Dick Helms hand me my gold watch. But all of the people from Wild Bill Donovan's day had been put out to pasture for bad behavior.

My wife and I were the only ones left of that group. But that was because our language fluency gave us special status.

So, we spent a career working the CIA's anti-Stasi branch. We had been running ops in East Germany almost from the minute we stopped shooting at the Krauts and started shooting at the Russians.

We played a lot of deadly games with our East German counterparts in the back alleys of Berlin-Mitte.

Nonetheless, all I really cared about was the elegant little woman who was standing by my side. Even though she was fifty-two and had lived in McLean Virginia for a mere twenty years, she still radiated her trademark French style, sensuality and aristocratic elegance.

But this staunch little woman was no show-pony. She had her Croix de guerre, her British Intelligence Cross, and her American Distinguished Intelligence Cross pinned to her tasteful couture dress. She was wearing those medals to honor me. I had the same set of decorations.

All I cared about was her. We had built a life and raised two fine children together and throughout that time she had been my wife, my lover and the foundation of our family's happiness. She was always with me. We supported each other in every endeavor in life.

Bernadette was a Marquis's daughter and I was just a barkeep. The war had promoted me to some degree of prominence. But career success was insignificant compared to our one important achievement. We had lived the promise that we made to each other on the heaving deck of that torpedo boat – "We are one soul. I go where you go."