THE ROSE PERFUME

Chapter 26

The next few weeks, I come to work around eleven in the morning instead of my usual eight o'clock routine. It is a little warmer and I enjoy the fresh air, sun on my skin, and all the life around me. Birds diving through the trees from one branch to another looking for grubs.

My schedule at work is different. I used to go into the dark room and sit by the window to sew and be there all day until it was time to leave. Now I prop the door open with a mannequin wearing one of my designs and take my work outside with me. People greet me as they pass and I invite them in for tea and biscuits. I pull the weeds in the garden under the window where I put a 'help wanted' sign and plant cabbage, carrots, and purple roses. My days feel lighter and there is always a song on my lips.

On my walk this morning as I am thinking about where Anna is going to sleep when she moves into the cottage, I see the twins Joyce and Jude coming around the corner with new dresses over their arms. They strode towards me in lacy skirts, imported shoes, and know-how smiles across their faces. "Good-morning, Lotte!" They chime together at the same time. "Raimond is being ever so generous this morning. He sold these to us at half the cost."

"From my shop?" I ask.

"Oui." They say.

I quicken my pace and see an entire family walking by with chairs, quilts, and baskets of thread, scarves, and knit hats. "Bonjour!" The father greets me showing all his teeth.

I break into a run until Le Magasin de Tissus comes into view and what I see makes me drop to my knees. Raimond is standing up on a box over the crowd with his arms out swinging deals. Fifty or more people are gathered in front of him to watch.

"Raimond! Non!" I scream.

I know all these people with handkerchiefs in the air and looks of anticipation on their faces. Mrs. Cerf has a daughter Anna's age who takes classes at the same time with Father Philippe, Mrs. Deneau is my neighbor and we trade eggs and goat milk for fabric, and I give Mrs. Bernet's son piano lessons. Friends in the past who I counted on in my times of need. People who I always thought would be there for me are now taking my things.

I am the only person here not included or expressing joy in all the excitement. Instead, I look on in disbelief as my life's work disappears before my eyes.

"Two for one!" Raimond calls out. "Get them while it's hot! Rolls of fabric from Northern America and Chili."

The crowd in front of him loves his charismatic nature, his creative ideas, and spectacular displays of enthusiasm.

I think about the times when Raimond sold Mrs. Clouet's wedding ring to a panhandler, gave clothes from my closet to a prostitute working in the brothel, and told a wealthy drunkard he admired his life while I purchased fruit for Anna's birthday. The times Raimond told me he cheated in card games, picked pockets, and sold things that were not his. When he was a child he slept in people's attics and ate the food from their pantries while they slept at night, sometimes he picked food from trash-piles, or stole bread from the market.

If not for Raimond, I would never know this side of life, or that one person could do this to another. But now I do. Not only because I admit it to myself, but also because I do not want this in my life anymore.

Marie comes up beside him and holds up a silk gown over the crowd. It took me over a hundred hours to make it. "Free for the lady who wants it the most!" She yells. A war breaks out in the audience with screaming voices and outstretched arms.

Two men from the bank walk the perimeter of Le Magasin de Tissus with a tape measure and record numbers in their books.

I run and push through the crowd. "Raimond! What are you doing?"

He steps down and grabs ahold of my arms before I can grab him, "Lotte! There you are!" He says as if he was waiting for me the whole time. "I'm glad you could make it. I could really use your help. Do you know the combination to the safe? The boys and I can't seem to make it break it."

I look over at three Americans in suits twisting the knob on my safe which is out in the street. "You can't do this!" I beat my fists on Raimond's chest. "This shop belongs to me!"

"Madame," He says in a deep voice, "I have news for you. This shop belongs to me because I am your husband."

"But you promised!" I scream.

"Quit making a scene!" He tells me. "My American friends showed me a few tricks and helped me out. I made a few investments. The banks and forgery are where the real money is."

"What are you talking about?" I ask. "I'm going to the police."

He laughs, "And I'll put you in jail for adultery for the next couple of years."

"Me?" I ask, "What about your adultery with Marie?"

"A slap on the wrist at most." He says in a sorry for me tone. "Listen." He says. "If you want your shop back all you have to do is come back home."

"I'd rather die first!" I say.

"Jumpin Jimminetty! Plenty of opportunities for that." He says. "I've given you a fancy carriage, let you run your business all these years, gave you a daughter, jewelry. What can Edmond give you that I can't?"

"A baby," I tell him. The fight is over. He took the thing that was most important to me away. The shop is empty and all the things in it that made me, me are gone. "I'm pregnant." I tell him.