first one open and stopped prematurely. Marcelle pushed it the rest of the way, stopping as soon as we could see light. She peeked in and came back immediately. “Empty,” she whispered. The second room was, too. But when I pushed the third door open, we were flooded with light, and more than just moonlight. I pulled my hand back as if I’d touched a hot stove.
“Just look quickly and then pull it shut,” Marcelle whispered excitedly. I leaned in, suddenly feeling the way I had with my sisters growing up, enjoying the silliness that could be had when our brothers disappeared. I put my eye to the door and pulled back, slapping my hand over my face to keep from laughing out loud.
“What, what?” Marcelle pushed me out of the way, looked in, too, then fell back against the wall laughing. “Come, quickly, shut it. Let’s go. We’re certainly not going to outdo that.”
We ran toward the hidden service entrance, both trying to suppress our laughter.
Room three was occupied by a portly man, completely naked and sunburned, lying on his back on the bed, his genitals fully exposed and one very formal shoe still on. Our eyes watered with laughter as we headed back to the kitchen. Marcelle peered out, and when she saw there was again no one but staff, she opened the door fully and pulled me out by the hand. She closed the door with her slender hip, then put her head on my shoulder, convulsing with laughter. “That was the vice-ministre des colonies!” she said, barely able to get the words out.
“The deputy minister of the colonies?” I said, pulling away from her. “No!”
“Yes! He’s here visiting from France. We attended a reception with him just last night. My goodness, I can never look at him the same way again. Do you think he always sleeps with one shoe on or just when he is very intoxicated?”
“We don’t even know that he was,” I said, laughing again. “Maybe that’s his normal nightly routine.”
Marcelle put her hand on my arm. “Come, Jessie Lesage. We are going to have far too much fun together, that’s obvious. Let’s get a strong drink before our husbands force us home.”
Victor came to fetch me an hour later, and my heart was still full, my cheeks aching from laughter.
I had never met a woman like Marcelle. If anyone was going to convince me to relax the boundaries I always seemed to set around my friendships, it was her, I was already sure of it.
I grabbed Victor’s hand joyfully, and he kissed the inside of my wrist as we slipped out of the building. Nuzzled in the back seat of the Delahaye, I fell asleep against him before we’d even left the grounds of the club. When we arrived home, we went straight upstairs and collapsed into bed, a pile of sweat, alcohol, and exhaustion. We found just enough energy to make love in the heat, quietly, not yet sure of what the walls did and didn’t keep out.
“Did you enjoy our rite of passage?” Victor asked as he turned onto his side and closed his eyes.
I thought of Caroline. Of the biting things she’d said. Then I thought of running behind the walls with Marcelle, and I grinned. “I did,” I said. “I had a wonderful time with Marcelle. She’s rather intoxicating. So is the club. The whole world here, really.”
“I agree,” said Victor. “Aren’t we lucky that it’s our world now?”
FOUR
Jessie
September 4, 1933
When I woke up, I wasn’t surprised to find an empty space where Victor had been. I knew he was due to leave at sunrise, but the bed in Indochine seemed bigger than ours in Paris, and suddenly I felt very much alone.
At the end of the bed was a tray with breakfast on it, a real French breakfast of fruit, croissants, and strong black coffee, which I devoured, placing my silverware on the plate silently when I’d finished. Victor had taught me how to put down my cutlery without a clink, as if we were eating with feathers, and now I did it that way even when I was alone. It was one of the many things Victor had had to teach me when we were married, but to his delight, and mine, I was a quick study.
I pushed the covers off my legs. All the linens on the bed were white, as was the mosquito net covering it and the curtains on the two French doors.