One Summer in Montmartre by Teagan Kearney

Author:Teagan Kearney
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: love and duty, contemporary love story, historical 1800s, love loss, love abroad, timeslip romance, obsession
Published: 2016-10-04T05:20:16.219940+00:00

Chapter Twelve

When people go for a walk, they have a destination, a purpose, in mind. Dancing on the other hand is an action which has no goal, other than joy in the activity for its own sake. And so after the dreary defeat of a war with Prussia, people from Paris would rush off to Montmartre in droves to the Moulin de la Galette for entertainment and dancing.

Paris, July 1873

Hélène studied her reflection in the full-length mirror kept in Louise's bedroom. The dress was gorgeous: a confection of pink and white striped organza with rows of white lace trimmings at the ruffled neck, wrists and hem. It was a perfect fit around the bust with yards of material flaring out from the waist, underpinned with layers of snowy petticoat. Hélène had protested when Louise started taking her measurements, but Louise would hear none of it. She insisted on taking the dress in to fit Hélène's more slender figure, declaring she couldn't wear a lot of her clothes because she'd put on too much weight carrying Benoît. Hélène could consider it an early wedding gift.

"No more country bumpkin, for you," Louise said smoothing a few escaped hairs back into the elaborate coil of hair at the nape of Hélène's neck. "There." She pulled out and curled a few tendrils to frame Hélène's face. "What do you think?"

Her cousin was right. Yes, she did recognize herself, but she was looking at a more grown up sophisticated version. She was surprised at how elegant she appeared. A lady. That's what she looked like—a young lady from Paris.

Tomorrow, though, she would be on her way home. Louise was up and about, back to full health, and her help was no longer needed. Benoît had recovered from his fever and the sittings for Luc ended yesterday. She'd written Claude and her family about arrangements for her return and received a reply. Claude would meet her in Bordeaux.

She attempted to ignore the loud knocking of her heart against her ribs at the possibility of seeing Luc this afternoon unless he was spending the day at the studio. It was hard to believe, but soon she'd be home, and this interlude as a Parisian artist's model would be a dream in the past; nothing more than a memory. As new experiences came her way, perhaps this one would fade, and she'd occasionally take it out and dust it off, seeing it not as a path she could ever have taken, but merely to look back and know that she'd experienced something different from her parents and those around her; something other than what was expected of her. "Thank you! Thank you!" Hélène hugged Louise and gave her a resounding kiss on the cheek.

Louise dragged Hélène into the living room where Pierre dozed on the couch, one hand on Benoit's back as he slumbered on his father's chest.

"Look!"

Pierre opened his eyes at the disturbance, watching Louise spin Hélène around, before putting a finger to his mouth and shushing them.

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