A Hundred Suns_A Novel by Karin Tanabe

Author:Karin Tanabe [Tanabe, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250231475
Goodreads: 45046701
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2020-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Jessie

October 3, 1933

“I know you’ve had Lucie to look after, but have you been getting up to much in my absence?” Victor asked me over breakfast the morning after he returned.

We had fallen asleep early the night before, while still discussing his discovery on the plantation.

“I’ve been to the Officers’ Club a bit,” I said, “but Lucie loves to play here, so we often do.” I certainly did not intend to tell Victor about who I had met at the Officers’ Club.

“Now that I’m back in Hanoi for a spell, I can go with you to the club if you’d like.”

I nodded but didn’t look at him.

After Trieu had cleared our breakfast and closed the glass doors behind her, Victor gestured for me to come closer.

“And Marcelle?” he asked quietly.

“I do think it was just an unfortunate coincidence,” I said just as quietly, remembering our lazy hours by the pool together. “We went to the club together once, and I saw that she speaks frankly with everyone, sharing snippets about her life that most women would want to keep secret, and also giving a lot of unsolicited advice. She told one of the guests to apply sandalwood and turmeric to a sunburn. Likened them to a lobster. I’ve seen others taken aback by the things she says. But I’m sorry I was so dramatic about it all,” I said with a genuine laugh. “You don’t have to worry. I’m back to my usual self.”

“That’s a tremendous relief,” Victor said, leaning back again. “I understand why it worried you, of course, but it did seem highly unlikely to me,” he added. “I thought about every scenario. Could she know someone at the clinic? Could she know a friend of my mother’s? Someone maman could have confided in about you?”

“Whom would your mother confide in?” I asked, trying my best to remain outwardly calm. I was back to normal, after all—I’d just declared so to Victor. I couldn’t seem worked up about his mother. “Didn’t you once say that she never spoke of it because she didn’t want a stain on her family?”

“Yes, and I’m sure it’s true,” he said hastily. “But you were so distraught. I was just trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“I am sure it’s nothing. Just an odd coincidence that brought back old memories.”

“I think these are just the kinds of things that women talk about. Especially women like Marcelle. The bold, loud kind. You weren’t spending time with women like that at home.” He put his hat on as the sun moved over us, the parasol no longer fully covering our faces. “My mother kept you around all those aristocrats in Paris.”

“Marcelle isn’t exactly a street urchin,” I countered.

“No, but she’s a little more common than the ladies you saw at home. A little more eccentric, no?”

“I don’t think I can label anyone common,” I said, thinking back to my beginnings. Victor knew that I had not grown up with money, but I had told him nothing beyond that.

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