"At the time when François was rescued, driving the Nazis out of France was foremost in Guy's mind. That December, after the surprise Panzer attack, it was necessary to keep the port of Antwerp in Allied hands. General Patton had been commandeered to rescue Bastogne.

"Soit. But for those of us who had survived under a cruel foreign enemy, chasing the Nazi Army across the Rhine so thoroughly that they would never return was where our hopes lay. We wanted to see the Panzers in full retreat.

"I am saying this to explain why I was not on Guys mind at that time.

"But after the Armistice was signed, Guy took his place in the family vineyards, He had assumed that I would be with him. If meanwhile I was occupied with François, Guy saw what I did not immediately see: that François could already be married, that he did not even know who he was, or what his place was in France.

"We had contacted the US Army people who were searching for missing soldiers, but with thousands missing and François with no identity or memory, there was nothing they could do.

"He had begun working in a bakery; he had some memory of this work. Only many years later when his memory returned, did we learn that his mother was the source of his bread making knowledge.

"Some said that leaving François to bake bread and marrying the heir to a winery was..." Jolie paused.