THE ROSE PERFUME

Chapter 46

Three days later, the Friday before the weekend, I go with Beatrice, the kitchen maid, to the ration market to shop for Emmeline Montalivet's dinner party. The kitchen odor hit me in the face when I arrived. It smelled like fish. Around the sink are dozens of crates sitting in melted ice puddles. Beatrice wraps up two fish in paper bundles and gives them to a farm girl standing at the back door with a vat of fermented cream.

We leave in a hurry. There is not much time to get all the preparations done before tonight. Beatrice grabs her purse and leaves her greasy apron. On the way, she explains how the fish threw themselves out of the ocean in Normandy because no fishermen were fishing them. The good people there put them on a train to Paris and now the Cafe is lucky enough to have them for guests at dinner.

Beatrice and I cut to the front of a line. It is so long that is nearly a block away. The grocer gives us the best and only meat left in stock. The man behind us steps up and causes a ruckus. As we are leaving the people in line start throwing rocks and one hits Beatrice in the shoulder. To punish them, the police confiscate all the potatoes.

We make it to the Café and the other employees are cleaning. It smells like furniture polish and vinegar. The floors are swept, table tops shiny, and the chandeliers sparkle. Three serving girls, Nickolas, and Paul are folding napkins into fans in the lower dining room.

Upstairs Emmanuel is playing and singing the song he wrote for me. But he is not alone. A woman is singing with him. It is not Aimee.

I go to the top of the stairs to look. On the stage next to Emmanuel, Raina is sitting on the piano bench with her arm over his shoulder and twirling her fingers through his hair. Her legs bent towards him, knees tucked into his thighs, and her narrow torso curved into his side. The soles of her shoes are not cardboard, but fine leather.

A feeling of the most intense irrationality flows through my body. I stand there and cannot move.

"I'm going for a drive along the coast with my friends tomorrow for my birthday." She tells him, "you should come too because it's my birthday and I want you there."

Raina's heels slide along the floor into the pedals so her face is next to his, "You can meet, Hitler. He is in Le Havre because they've caught a mermaid and its blood is a fountain of youth." She kisses his cheek. "Oh, non," She coos. "My lipstick has gotten all over you."

Her motion tangles and taunts his will like an experienced lover. She moistens a hanky with her tongue and dabs his cheek.

"You smell fantastic," Emmanuel breathes her in and his eyes are intense. "I've smelled that rose-perfume somewhere before."

"Come closer and you can smell it all you want." Her voice is almost caressing him.

I walk towards the stage. "Emmanuel?"

He leans back to look at me and stops smiling. Raina drops her arm from his shoulder and stands up. She adjusts her skirt. "Has the fun ended?"

She turns to Emmanuel. "Maybe we can do this again later when our merriment won't be interrupted."

She steps elegantly down the stage steps, adjusting the loose buttons on her blouse, leaving a trail of rose-perfume behind her that hangs in the air. She winks at me as she passes. Eyes mischievous and humid. Hips swaying towards the staircase.

Emmanuel comes down to meet me and puts his hands on my shoulders. "What's wrong?"

I pull away from him. "You have lipstick on your face."

"Do I?" He rubs his cheek. "Raina was goofing around."

I fold my arms across my chest. "She was touching you!" I can't stop my voice from screeching. "And kissing you. I see how you look at her."

He pushes me gently towards the mirror room out of view from anyone who might come up the stairs and backs me into the doorframe. He deepens his voice into a shouting whisper. "What are you talking about?" He says, "I'm in love with you, not her!"

I shake my head and to my horror start to cry. I wipe my eyes and try to stop the tears from coming. But they pour out like a faucet. Frustrated beyond imaginable belief, I choke.

"Emmanuel....."

He pulls me into his arms and holds me. He tucks his nose into my neck and breathes hot air on my shoulder. "There's nothing on this earth that can change the way I feel about you. You and I have the kind of love most people never find in a lifetime."