Page 20 of Daughters of Paris

The two girls looked at each other, mystified, as curiosity temporarily won over the fear Fleur knew she should be feeling.

‘Back inside at once. Everyone.’ Louis appeared from indoors and seized them both by the wrist, tugging them firmly. Hearing the urgency in his voice, terror swelled inside Fleur.

There was a roaring of engines, the sound of whistling and then an explosion that sounded far too close. All three women gave shrieks of varying degrees.

Louis flinched.

‘Now!’ he barked.

The women ran inside and met Delphine in the hallway.

‘That sound,’ she exclaimed. ‘I never thought I would hear it again.’

She was trembling and Louis pulled her into his arms. ‘Girls, run upstairs and close all the shutters. Delphine, do this floor. Agnes, find oil lamps and matches. Then everyone go into the cellar.’

Within minutes the whole household sat huddled on wooden chairs in the cellar where the sheets still waited to be ironed and folded.TanteAgnes muttered continually beneath her breath and Fleur knew she was praying. Louis sat with his arm around his wife’s shoulder, rocking Delphine as though she were a child, while their actual daughter paced back and forth across the room. Fleur huddled down into her chair, flinching whenever she heard the explosions. Even in the depths of the cellar the sound was loud enough to penetrate, and worst of all were the occasional vibrations, as if the bombs were close.

Paris under fire. It was inconceivable.

After an age the siren screamed again, announcing the raid was over. Louis commanded the women to stay in the cellar and left.

‘What will have survived?’ Colette asked.

Fleur could only shake her head. Her stomach growled and she clasped her hand over it to stifle the sound. After the intensity of the bombing the cellar was eerily quiet. She looked at her watch and discovered it was only early afternoon.

‘Next time we shall have to bring sandwiches down,’ Colette said.

‘Next time?’TanteAgnes jerked her head up.

‘There might not be a next time,’ Fleur said hastily.

She looked to Colette for reassurance but received only a shrug in return. Colette looked as close to tears as Fleur felt.

‘I’m not staying here any longer. I want a cocktail,’ Delphine announced. She walked out of the cellar.

Fleur and Colette exchanged a glance. There was rarely a time Delphine didn’t want a drink, but now it seemed a reasonable request.

‘So do I,’ Colette said as she followed her mother. ‘I’m sure you both do too. Please, come and join us.’

Agnes was sitting in her seat and trembling. Fleur linked her arm through her aunt’s and led her up the stairs.

‘The bedsheets,’TanteAgnes murmured, pulling back.

‘They can wait,’ Fleur said decisively, leading Agnes into the dining room.

Delphine had already opened the drinks cabinet and Colette was finding ice.TanteAgnes accepted a small glass of cognac and sat on the edge of a chair, sipping it.

It turned out that frivolity was just what Fleur needed. The women spent the next hour inventing cocktails as they went along and when Louis returned, the women were in varying states of inebriation and merrier than he had left them. He poured himself a drink too.

‘I can’t tell what is still standing. An apartment building only four streets away has been completely destroyed. I need to go to the factory.’

‘Not today,’ Delphine said, clinging on to him. ‘Stay with us.’

He kissed her cheek. ‘Very well. For today.’

‘I must go and finish the laundry,’ Agnes murmured.

Fleur began to follow her aunt out of the room but Colette caught her arm.

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