Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot (Champagne Widows Novels) by Rosenberg Rebecca

Author:Rosenberg, Rebecca
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Heart Publishing
Published: 2021-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

21

Manger les pissenlits par la racine.

He eats dandelions starting at the root.

Philippe calls for a mortician who rubs François’s body with spicy salves that burn the insides of my nose and sting my eyes.

Lizzette closes the shutters and draws the draperies. She drapes black crepe over the mantels, picture frames, and

mirrors. She stops the clocks to ward off bad luck. Haven’t we had enough? People stream in to view François’s body lying in a coffin in the parlor. Catherine-Françoise takes to her bed and can’t attend the funeral. The priest moves his mouth, but no words reach my ears. Family and friends pass by, uttering condolences.

The only one I hear is Philippe’s. “François wanted too much for you. He wasn’t up to it.”

He blames me for destroying his family. I pushed François too hard.

I want to protect Mentine from seeing the casket where her father lies, but my arms hang limp, and my tongue mute. Maman takes her from me.

My family stays to eat Lizzette’s food, drink our wine, and repeat the same sorry phrases.

“He is in a better place,” they say.

How can it be better if he’s not here with me?

“It was God’s will.”

How can God leave Mentine fatherless and me a widow?

I will never be the same without François. He was my Tadpole, the only one I ever wanted. He saw me for who I was and liked me anyway.

When everyone finally leaves, Lizzette brings her Trobairitz lute into my bedchamber.

“I’m in no mood,” I tell her.

“Please, Barbe-Nicole. Forgive me, but I took one of François poems and made a song for you.”

I can’t refuse this offering from her heart. She strums her lute and sings like a choir of seraphim.

She makes me love the color green

The sprouting leaves, the hills we roll down.

She makes me smell the world as she does

Fresh and humorous.

Full of nuance. Full of hope.

Because she is my one concern

The next thing she says will linger with me for days because she says it.

Miserable tongues will say that a man is meant to think of other matters.

I say that is not so.

Whether foolish or wise

Whatever one does for love is good.

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