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"Can you get away? "

"I'll have to. It's an emergency. I'll tell them I have a crazy
sister-in-law and an impossible wife, and I have to run off to Europe to
help them." He smiled and Olivia kissed him, grateful beyond words for
what he was doing, and sorrier still for what she'd have to tell him
once they got there. She wasn't going to tell him anything more now
until she saw her sister. "But let me tell you, if those two brats in
the next room ever pull the kind of stuffon me that you two do, I'm
turning them in now for two totally unrelated children of different
sexes, or two puppies." She laughed at him, and as she clung to him in
fear that night, he held her and kissed her.

Olivia prepared frantically for the trip for the next two days, and on
the third day they boarded the French ship Espagne, bound for Bordeaux
in seven days. It was the only ship sailing, other than the Carpathia
which had set sail the week before, and four years before had rescued
Geoffrey from the Titanic.

They had a small, outside cabin, on B Deck, and although it wasn't
luxurious, it was comfortable, and they carefully observed blackouts,
and spent most of their time in their cabin. All Olivia could think of
by then was her twin, and Charles tried hard to distract her and raise
her spirits.

"It isn't exactly the Aquatania, " he said one night, jokingly,
remembering their honeymoon and she smiled at him, and he astounded her
with his comment, "what a miserable trip that was."

"Why? " she asked in surprise, and he looked at her very strangely.

"Maybe I just have a better memory than you do, but I can tell you now,
that first year almost killed me. If things hadn't changed a year ago, I
think I might have shot myself, or gone to a monastery. I might as well
have." She knew he was referring to the celibacy her sister had promised
her, and that made her feel guilty toward her all over again.

They all had so much explaining to do to each other. Just thinking about
it made her quiet.

They docked in Bordeaux two days before their anniversary, oddly enough,
and the local consul gave them all the advice he could on how to get to
Chalons-sur-Marne. They hired a car, which looked as though it wouldn't
have made it around the block, and they were to pick up a Red Cross
representative in Troyes, to go the rest of the way with them. The trip
was expected to take them fourteen hours. Normally, it would have been
less, but with battles going on all around them, they had to take a more
circuitous route, and they had already been warned of potential dangers.

They had been given gas masks, and minor medical supplies, and water. It
reminded them both that they were in a war zone. Olivia tried on the gas
mask and she couldn't imagine how anyone could breathe through it, but
the warden who gave it to her assured her that if they ran into chlorine
gas, which the Jerries were using that week, she'd be very grateful.
Seeing that made Charles thankful that he had opted to come with her.
She could have never done this alone, or so he thought.

He wouldn't have wanted her to anyway. And as they drove farther into
the interior, and saw the ravages of war, he was even more relieved that
he'd had the wisdom to join her.

They picked up the woman from the Red Cross in Troyes and she directed
them to Chalons-sur-Marne. They had a flat tire halfway there, and
soldiers stopped them several times, and forced them to make detours.

It was long after midnight when they reached the camp that night, and
all three of them were exhausted. But all Olivia wanted, no matter what
the hour was, was to see her sister. Charles tried to get her to wait
till the next day, but there was no stopping her, and as soon as they
got out of the tiny Renault, she asked an orderly where the hospital was
and they pointed her in the right direction. She found a nurse just
coming out and asked her if she knew Olivia Henderson.

It was like asking for herself, but she knew who she was looking for,
and she had come a long way to do it.

Charles was right behind her by then, and he heard the young nurse tell
her where to find her sister. And then he followed her slowly into the
tent, and gasped at the evil smell, and almost gagged at the terrible
sights there. There were men who were maimed, and injured, and vomiting
green from the chlorine gas. They were all the familiar things Victoria
had seen for a year, and neither of them had ever imagined.

Olivia started to turn away and then a boy on the floor reached a hand
out to her, and she gently took it. He had reminded her of Geoff, and
she realized that she would have wanted someone to hold his hand if this
ever happened.

"Where you from? " he asked in an Australian accent. He had been in the
Battle of Verdun and had lost a leg, but he was going to make it.

"I'm from New York, " she whispered, not wanting to wake anyone, but no
one seemed to be sleeping. Everything around them was moving.

"I'm from Sydney." He smiled at her, and saluted Charles, who saluted
back with tears in his eyes, and then they moved on to find her sister.

She was on a cot in the far corner of the room, and her head and neck
were swathe in bandages, so much so that Olivia didn't even recognize
her at first, or realize she was a woman. And then a homing instinct
directed her right to her, and suddenly she was looking at her and
touching her and holding her. Victoria was very weak, but she smiled and
they could see she was happy to see them.

But mainly she had eyes for Olivia, and the two barely spoke in finished
words or complete sentences, it was all sounds and half words and little
murmurs of excitement as Olivia put her arms around her and held her.

This was the moment she had waited a year for. There was so much they
had to tell each other and so little they could say here. But they were
each overwhelmed by a maelstrom of feelings.

There were tears pouring down Olivia's face as Victoria held her hand
and smiled over at Charles, and then spoke in a weak, strained voice.

It was hard for her to talk still She had an infection of the spinal
column, and they were still afraid it might go to her brain and kill
her. The lucky thing for her was that it hadn't been severed. If she
survived, she would most probably walk again. Lots of others were not as
lucky. This was the cruellest of all wars, and it had already destroyed
millions.

"Thank you for coming, " she whispered to Charles, and he reached out
and touched her hand, but as he looked at her there was something in her
eyes which jarred him. It was as though she had grown harder here, and
tougher in some ways. There was a brittleness to her that Olivia had
never had before, at least he didn't think so. But inevitably, she had
grown up here.

"I'm glad we found you, " he answered, and then, "Geoff sends his love.

We've all missed you. Especially Victoria." Victoria looked at her
sister then, and imperceptibly, Olivia nodded.

He still didn't know. Not even now, as she lay dying. And she wanted to
ask Olivia now if they were going to tell him. She hoped so. She wanted
to make a clean breast of it to both of them and ask Olivia to take her
baby if she died. But there was no time to ask them anything that night.

Olivia only stayed for a little while, and then the nurse told them to
go, and they were taken to separate billets. There were no
accommodations for married couples here. What she and Edouard had had
was rare, and his rooms had already been given to another captain.

The waters closed over them quickly. He had been buried in the hills
behind them, with other men just like him. It was only to Victoria that
he had been different, and to his son, but not to the Allies, or the
Germans.

Victoria was still reeling from the pain of losing him. It was all she
thought of in her moments of consciousness, that and Olivia. But at
least now she could see her sister.

Charles and Olivia met in the mess hall again the next day, they had
both slept miserably and all Olivia wanted now was to go back and see
her sister. Charles agreed to wait outside so they could be alone for a
while, and he talked to some of the men, feeling guilty suddenly that
his country wasn't in it. They were impressed that he had come this far,
and crossed the Atlantic to visit his sister-in-law, and he was touched
to realize that several of them knew her and thought highly of her.

They all said how much she'd survive it.

And as Olivia sat at her side, Victoria was smiling at her, as though
she had seen a little piece of Heaven.

"I can't believe you're really here. What made you come? " She knew they
would probably notify her, but she'd figured they'd write her a letter
that would take forever. She had even wondered more than once if she'd
be dead by the time it got there.

"I got a telegram from a Sergeant Morrison. I'll have to see her later
and thank her, " Olivia said gently, overwhelmed by her feelings.

It was so incredible to be with her sister.

"Good old Penny Morrison." Victoria smiled and then kissed Olivia's
fingers. "Oh God, how I've missed you, Ollie .. . I have so much to tell
you, " and she felt as though she had so little time. The nurses had
said she was better that day, but she had such a terrible headache.

And then she looked seriously at her twin, amazed that she had been able
to keep up the charade for this long. "I don't know how you did it."

"I always was a better liar than you were." Olivia grinned and Victoria
tried to laugh but it hurt too much, she felt as though her head would
fall off if she moved it.

"That's a nice thing to brag about, " Victoria said, wishing she could
laugh, but too tired to do it. They had both turned twenty three the
month before, and for different reasons, they both felt ancient.

"I'm sorry about Father, " she said then, trying to touch on all the
important things that had happened since she left them. "I'm sorry I
wasn't there with him."

"He thought you were, " Olivia smiled lovingly, "that was good enough.

He died peacefully. I was with him."

"Sweet Ollie, you're there for everyone .. . even poor Charles, because
I was too rotten to stay and be his wife."

"Victoria, I have something to tell you, " she said awkwardly.

"Things didn't work out the way we'd planned .. ." She wondered if her
sister would ever speak to her again, but she had to tell her.

This was why she had come here. "We had twins three months ago, " she
bit the bullet and just spat it out, as Victoria stared at her in total
amazement.

"Twins? " She almost choked on the word, and Olivia had to give her a
sip of water, but she assured the nurse that they were all right, and
prayed that no one would disturb them. Victoria was looking ffredx but
they were far from through yet. "You did say twins, didn't you?"

"Yes, identical, like us, girls .. . they're beautiful .

.." She smiled wistfully, but for the moment Victoria didn't look like
she was going to kill her. "Elizabeth and Victoria, after you and
Mother."

"I figured that part out." Victoria smiled at her weakly. What I haven't
figured out yet is how you had them, " she was smiling wickedly at her
older sister, "am I to believe that you have stolen my husband?

" She was actually grinning, but Olivia was looking down at her hands,
crying, and didn't see it.

"Victoria, please .. . no .. . I'll go back to Croton when you come back
.. . I just want to see them when I can .. . please ...
don't."

"Oh shut up, " Victoria was smiling at her, as best she could in spite
of the pain, when Olivia looked up again, "you're a bad girl, aren't
you?