Audrey waited patiently in the hallway of the busy ward, the bustling hospital rushing around her. The American Hospital of Paris was one of the few swastika free buildings in all of Paris, and despite the circumstances, Audrey felt as though she could breathe easily for a moment.
The firm footsteps of Doctor Oscar Clément roused her as she glanced the red cross doctor, a kind smile pressed to his young and handsome face. She saw the flash in his eyes that he was relieved that she was alive.
She weakly smiled in return as he quickly walked up to her, his tall frame towering hers when he reached her. He kissed her cheek swiftly, embracing her for a short moment. She felt his lean body bend to hers, her hand lifelessly patting him on the back as his curling brown hair tickled her cheek. He swiftly stepped back and once again involuntarily reviewing her wounds.
"I'm fine," Audrey said, waving her hand to dissuade him.
"I think you should let me examine you, Audrey," he murmured. The young seamstress had been a regular fixture during his visits to the late Arthur Dubois home. He had a soft spot for her, the tragic young woman with the uncompromising blue eyes.
Neither ever addressed the circumstances and circles in which they knew of one another.
"How is Marion?" Audrey asked, ignoring his request.
He sighed heavily, his shoulders falling with the weight of worry.
"She cannot stay in Paris," he said in a low voice. "She is declining rapidly, and soon she will be out wandering the streets in the middle of the night. It's a miracle the Nazi's released her at all, I wouldn't want to chance this luck twice."
Audrey let it sink in, her jaw growing tight as her teeth clenched in an attempt to keep her emotions at bay.
"I know she isn't well but-"
"But nothing," Doctor Clément quietly interrupted. "Her mind is beyond repair Audrey. Grief has taken a blow."
She nodded, turning away for a moment to consider what she was being told.
"She has a sister in the countryside," Audrey considered aloud, her teeth worrying her nail as she chewed at her thumb.
"Get her out of Paris Audrey," he said softly. "…and I think you should follow."
"I can't," Audrey said swiftly with a shake of her head. "I have work here, her sister can't afford it. She'll need money."
Doctor Clément sighed, his hand coming to rub the back of his neck.
"If that's the only reason…." Doctor Clément began softly. Audrey's eyes flashed as she stepped close to him, watching him suspiciously.
"Of course," she whispered hotly. "What are you inferring-"
"Nothing," Doctor Clément began softly. "But you and Arthur certainly had some shared ideologies-"
"Are you a Nazi now?" She asked quietly, eyes furious.
"No," Doctor Clément whispered. "Come on Audrey, you know that I don't-"
"Then don't worry yourself with what I do or don't do," she whispered with cold eyes.
Clément sighed, knowing better than to push her. He'd heard murmurings about her, that she was clever and tricky and involved though he was never sure to what capacity. Not that he wanted to know. Knowledge made you vulnerable to extraction under Nazi occupation.
"Get her out of Paris Audrey," Doctor Clément said with a soft sigh. "I'll even let you borrow my car."
Audrey's eyes softened at the offer. She nodded softly, lifting her hand to rest it on Doctor Clément's forearm arm as a silent thank you.
They'd left three days later, all of Marion's earthly possessions bundled into the car, the barebones of the apartment left behind. Audrey had moved her things into it, surprised that it hadn't been claimed by the occupiers, but realised they probably had very little use for a small two-bedroom apartment in an inner-city arrondissement of Paris. They had everything else. The Louvre, the Majestic Hotel, and even the Folies-Belleville were all now practically German states, barely a lick of French spoken in each. Her godmother's apartment surely had no appeal.
They'd driven out to Marion's sister's home in silence, Marion sedated by a stream of pills that Doctor Clément had insisted upon. Lunch had been taken in near silence as Audrey had watched Marion's sister observe her in silence. Ines Bisset watched Audrey with a hawk-like gaze throughout the meal, head tilted in her cool regard for the small blonde woman.
Marion had taken to her room after once again mistaking Audrey for her dead mother, her tired sister Ines pushing her beloved Marion to the bed, telling her to rest easily.
Audrey had stood with the Ines on the porch afterwards, eyes tracked to the unfamiliar woman with an uneasy feeling.
"She's not well," Ines said as she lit a fresh cigarette, inhaling deeply. She offered Audrey a drag who tentatively took the burning stick, breathing in on the unfamiliar odour of smoke and tobacco.
"She isn't," Audrey agreed as she exhaled, passing the cigarette back to its owner.
They stood in the tense silence. Ines smoked slowly, eyes not laying upon Audrey as they looked out onto the woods that surrounded her isolated home. Audrey looked apprehensively at her. Ines had a hardened expression of a woman who had lived a very long and exhausting life. Audrey quietly considered that she may have met Ines when she was very young, but she wasn't sure.
Ines finished her cigarette, crushing the butt beneath her shoe.
"I think you're making it worse," Ines said with calm finality. Audrey stared at her, unable to respond to such an accusation.
"Excusez-Moi?" Audrey finally asked, face incredulous.
"She needs to be around people from her early life," Ines sighed. "People that lower her confusion. You're just going to confuse her. You look just like your darling mother…"
Audrey swallowed thickly. Ines turned her gaze to her.
"And your mother wasn't exactly Aryan."
Audrey stilled entirely.
A passing Aryan, that is what her father had jokingly referred to her as. A blonde, blue-eyed, Hebrew. Her Russian-Jewish mother had married a gentile German doctor, and the two had lived an undisrupted and non-practising in the beautiful lush countryside of Luxembourg. So although Audrey had never lit a Menorah, eaten at Shabbat, or attended Temple in any real capacity, her mother's blood made her as Jewish as any other in the eyes of the Nazi's. Her mother's family had stayed in Russia, and Russia wasn't about to share any information with the Nazi's. Her parents had chosen to stay under the impending occupation, to help their friends flee to Vichy, to Spain, to America. Anywhere that was away. As a Russian, Anna Loewe had felt safe. What knowledge would those German's have of her? A woman from a closed-communist state. A secret held by the Kremlin. Audrey's heritage had been a known secret, leaving her free to exist in a space that did not wish her to exist at all.
"Don't worry," Ines murmured. "I'm not going to tell anyone."
Audrey watched her, jaw clenched.
Ines let a new cigarette, taking a long drag.
"But I can't promise that Marion won't."
The meaning of Ines' words sunk to Audrey like a knife to the chest. It was not Audrey that would worsen Marion. Not her face and smile, her speech and action. It was Marion, seeped in memories of a life before the Nazi occupation, a youth spent in Luxembourg, who may in passing harmlessly note that her friend 'Anna' was Jewish. That 'Anna' visited on a schedule or was a routine part of her life. Marion may unwittingly spill Audrey's true identity to those hellbent on destroying her.
Audrey could only nod against the force of Ines' truth.
"You're right," Audrey finally said quietly, lifting her glassy eyes to stare into the thick forest that surrounded Ines' country home, to listen to the rustle of the wind.
"I know," Ines said sadly, passing the cigarette to Audrey, who burned it out on a few last drags. "It doesn't make it right."
The harsh truth hung between the two women and Audrey nodded deftly.
Ines had ushered her into Marion's bedroom, slowly waking up her older sister with a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Audrey has to go," Ines murmured. "But she'd like to say goodbye."
Audrey walked forward tentatively, lowering herself to kneel beside Marion's bed.
"Hello darling," Marion murmured, eyes still lingering with sleep and grief.
"Hello tatie," she said with a heavy sigh, trying to keep her voice bright and happy. Calm and comforting. "I have to get back before curfew, but Ines is going to take care of you now… and she's going to do a good job, I promise."
"I know," Marion said with a small smile. "Will you come back?"
Audrey gave a small nod.
"Yes," she said in a soft voice. "When Paris is more French. When they're gone, I'll come to get you, ok? I promise."
Marion nodded vaguely, and Audrey gave her a tearful smile.
"Oh darling," she murmured, her hand rising to cup Audrey's face. "You are so sad!"
Audrey gave a fresh weak smile and nodded weakly.
"You miss Gabriel," Marion said softly. Audrey blinked before letting out a breath of laughter, nodding as she swiped a tear that escaped her eyes.
"Yes," she nodded, gulping at her emotion.
"He's fine," Marion murmured, her hand coming to pat Audrey's hand. "He's at home Anna, you'll be with him soon."
"I'm sure you're right," Audrey said, squeezing Marion's hand. "He misses you."
"I miss him," Marion sighed, eyes fluttering closed once more. Audrey laid a soft kiss to her godmother's head.
"I miss you," Audrey whispered, leaning back with a soft sad smile.
"I'll see you soon again, I'm sure," Marion murmured, sleep dragging her under. Audrey stood and left, trying her best to keep her unfamiliar emotions in check.
Ines walked her to the kitchen and without warning pulled Audrey into a tight hug, her arms wrapped firmly about the young woman. Audrey stilled before letting the swell of feeling take over her, weeping brokenly against the woman who was a stranger a day ago.
"It's not fair," Ines stated simply, stroking down the young woman's hair. Audrey nodded softly, stepping back to weakly wipe away her tears.
"It's not," Audrey agreed in a tight voice. She was so tired of hiding, of being hated, of fearing for her life at any given moment, hidden in plain sight. Desperately trying to avoid detection. Trying to survive. Marion and Arthur were the final people on earth who knew her, and now they were gone. One to dust, one into the recesses of her mind.
Ines gave her a sad and sympathetic look, squeezing her shoulder in a weak attempt to comfort the stranger.
"Your secrets are safe here," Ines promised.
Audrey nodded softly, knowing that this was the closest to being witnessed that she may ever have again.
