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In the following days, Belle spent hours debating with herself whether to tell someone about what had happened at the Opéra, between her and Gold. She thought about telling Mary Margaret, but gave up because the woman would ever understand what Belle was feeling and probably would tell James about what happened. If what had happened between them reached the ears of Regina, Belle would be accused of treason and would had to return to London to have to face the consequences of her actions.
She couldn't run the risk of being accused of treason. Why Gold kissed her? Belle did not believe she could stop thinking about that man. How she would pursue her mission with her thoughts in that kiss? Secretly, she yearned to be able to kiss him again. What was happening to her?
Belle went out to stroll across the Pont de la Concorde, which led to the Jardin des Tuileries, just to get away from the claustrophobia of that house and the thoughts that troubled her. But it was obvious that these thoughts would never abandon her.
At every moment, Belle found herself thinking of Adrian Gold; the dance that they enjoyed together, the way he held her, as if she were the most delicate and precious thing he held... In the softness of his lips. She needed to focus. She could no longer think about that man.
Regina's orders were clear enough; find out what you can about his relationship with the Germans and then kill him. Do not relate with him. Belle would have to kill him, but how to perform that order if every time she approached Gold she had no desire to kill him. She never kill a single person, how could she kill a creature so intriguing like that? Adrian Gold would kill her.
On one of these walks, she was returning home when she saw a familiar face riding over the bridge. She stopped, shocked, while green eyes registered a moment of recognition, but the bike continued its journey without stopping.
Ruby...
Belle was held not to turn around and make sure that she had seen, if there were enemies' eyes watching her, that would be a problem so she continued the journey back to the house of James.
Ruby's long black hair was cut in a behaving in a Chanel-style hairdo, and wore clothes that were designed to meld the urban setting, rather than calling attention to herself, rather like the old Ruby preferred.
The next day, Belle repeated the walk across the bridge to the garden in a similar time, sat on a bench and enjoyed the magnificent red and gold carpet of dry leaves that autumn brought. Maybe Ruby lived nearby. Belle's heart yearned to see those familiar faces closely, hugging someone that was familiar and which had known in her past.
She repeated the walk at the same time every day for a week, but didn't return to see Ruby.
Although apparently nothing had changed in the daily rhythm of the house, the underlying pulse was faster. One morning, Belle knew that James had spent the night away from home and only returned at dawn. He looked tired as he sat beside her in the dining room to have breakfast.
"I need to travel for business," said James after the meal. Mary Margaret looked at her husband, worried. "I hope you remember our conversation, Isabelle. Mary Margaret will be here to protect you. If anyone asks about me, tell them I went to visit our Chateau in Pyrenees. I'll be back on Thursday."
Saying that, James got up and walked out the door.
Another day it stood empty for Belle. Mary Margaret had not risen, so she went to the small library and opened a book of Jane Austen. The books were becoming her only outlet and Belle was left enchanted by the characters that populate the books.
During the week, Belle had to comfort Mary Margaret, who couldn't stop asking about her husband.
"And what if anything happens to him, Belle?" She whimpered, during an afternoon they were sitting alone on the terrace. "I could never live without him!"
Belle hugged the woman, trying to comfort her. "I'm sure he's fine." Belle observed for several days the relationship of James and Mary Margaret. She felt a little jealous. What they shared was something she could barely understand, something she had only read about it in her books and never believed could exist. They had not only the carnal desire of a relationship between man and woman, but they had other desires. Both longed for the company of each other that went beyond the lust that exists between a couple. It was a relationship that came to be vicious, and as Mary Margaret told her, was something she could not live without.
Belle grinned with her thoughts. She longed to have a life like Mary Margaret, once; dreamed of getting married and having children and a family. But this was an old dream, and what Belle wanted most in her life was to live adventures. Ironically, now she was there, living her adventure. Living a life like that of James and Mary Margaret was something that seemed not to be in her future and she thought bitterly, a lifetime of novels neither. She lived for adventure. But what would love be if not an adventure? A mystery to be uncovered?
James returned from the trip he had made two days later. He looked exhausted and went straight to his room; that night, Belle knew that there was a burglary followed by invasion last night at the office of STO on Rue des Frances-Bourqeois.
Belle was informed about the STO program during her training. It was a system by which the registration of young Frenchmen, totaling almost 150,000 names, was kept on file. Several of these young people were continually captured and sent to Germany to work in munitions factories and production lines. The deportation of those thousands of young people caused a great unease among the French population, and caused the Vichy government became extremely unpopular. Belle felt pleased to hear such news about the success of the Resistance, but also worried because knew James had participated in that action.
The next few weeks were filled with nights of interrupted sleep; Belle could not get news about Gold, plus the fact that he was traveling. The nights were also interrupted when the air raid sirens cut through the stagnant air of Paris, forcing residents to take refuge in the basement in search of safety. Belle knew the attacks of the RAF hit the factories of Peugeot and Michelin, who were in the industrial regions around Paris. If she were at home in England, she would receive this news with joy while reading the daily edition of The Times, but there, the newspapers were filled with the number of innocent French civilians who were killed in the bombings.
Leaving to her morning walk to the Jardin des Tuileries, Belle could almost feel the pulse of a city and people slowly losing hope that the war would end someday. The Allied invasion had not yet materialized, and Belle was beginning to wonder if someday would actually happen.
Sitting on the same bench as ever, realizing that the air was already filled with fog, as if also just wanted to get rid of that miserable day, Belle saw Ruby coming toward her.
"Honey! You are more beautiful than I remembered! "
Ruby was wearing a fur coat, masquerading as a wealthy woman. But Belle didn't fail to notice that the woman's skin was almost transparent and her face was desperately squalid.
Ruby came over and hugged her, whispering in her ear quickly and clearly:
"Call me Christine, I live near your home in Saint-Raphaël" She pulled away and sat next to Belle. "What do you think of my hair?" Said touching it with her fingertips. "I decided to cut almost everything lately. I thought it was time to grow up!".
"I think it looks great on you, Christine" Belle said.
"Thank you, dear," she said, pulling a pack of Gauloises. "Cigarette?"
"No, thanks."
"I'm using these damn things to survive. Help reduce hunger." Ruby added, ascending one. "Here we can talk. You never know who might be watching and listening. The walls really have ears in this town."
Belle nodded. "Need money for food?" Belle asked, feeling that, at least, was something she could offer.
"No, thank you. The problem is that I'm always running from one side to the other and I cannot stay in the same place twice if the Germans track my signal. I'm always in transit with my bicycle, from one side to another. It's hard to find time to sit down and eat something."
"How are things?" Belle said.
"Oh, you know, Belle," said Ruby, with a strong drag on her cigarette. "We advanced a step and fall back two. At least our team is a little more organized than when I came here in the summer. But we can always count on someone else. And I was thinking that, perhaps, never mind the fact that you, officially, has not been assigned to work in the field as us. There is no reason why you cannot help us as an ordinary French citizen. What do you say?"
Belle reluctant briefly. She would be crazy to do that. She had not been assigned to any other type of action, unless spying Gold. Although she had all the necessary training, Belle knew it was too risky, however, wasn't she who always longed to be able to show her true value? More than anything, Belle wanted to help others. She wanted to be brave.
In one corner of her mind, Belle was considering the fact that James would never forgive her if her actions affect Mary Margaret.
"Are you sure, Ruby? It's too risky."
"To be honest, Belle, I stopped bothering." Ruby sighed. However, Belle could not risk her mission, or her life, to help Ruby. It was not because Ruby had already given up that Belle would also give up quit. "Are you sure you didn't change aside, Belle?" Then she suddenly laughed. "Well, if changed, I'm already dead. What does it matter?"
Ruby was asking her to prove her loyalty. Belle sighed as she accepted the inevitable. She needed to demonstrate her loyalty to her friend and her country, whatever the consequences.
"Okay, I'll help you."
Ruby smiled fondly at Belle and she saw a flash of sudden beauty of her friend, shine through the veil of exhaustion.
"Great. Anyway, gotta run." She said, standing up. "I'll give you the exact details on where and when the meeting will take place on Thursday. So until then, and good luck."
As agreed, Belle returned to the Jardin des Tuileries on Thursday, but Ruby did not appear. Over the next four days, she sat on the bench at the agreed time and, on the fourth day, Ruby arrived, pushing her bike. She went through Belle as if did not recognized her. Once again, stopped in front of the bench, looking straight ahead, and said quietly:
"Café de la Paix, ninth district, the twenty-one hours."
Then she went on her way.
Belle spent the next few hours wondering how to leave the house without her absence was noticed. James would not allow her to leave unattended. She decided that the best thing to do would be to say that she had a horrible headache and retiring to the rooms after dinner, when James was already closed in his office, and Mary Margaret would already be in her room. And when James was busy with his business, she would go to the kitchen and leave the house through the basement.
That night, after dinner, as soon as James left the table and she was preparing to do the same, the doorbell rang and Laura went to answer. Then the housekeeper returned to the living room.
"Colonel Alfred Von Gaston came to see you, Mademoiselle Isabelle. He waits in the art room."
Almost to the point of crying, unhappy with the time that the German chose to visit her, Belle walked down the hall and forced to open a beautiful smile when she entered the art room.
"Hello Herr Gaston. How are you?"
"I'm fine, but have not seen you in recent days, Fräulein, and I missed your beauty. I came to ask you if you would give me the pleasure of your company to dance tonight."
Belle began to stammer an apology, but Gaston nodded and shut her, putting his finger to her lips.
"No, Fräulein. You have rejected me several times. Tonight, do not give me a loser. I'll come get you at twenty-two hours." Gaston was walking toward the door and then stopped, as if forgotten to mention something. "I hope to be in an excellent mood. My officers have an important appointment at Café de la Paix tonight." He said with a smile. "See you later, Fräulein."
Horrified, Belle followed the German with her eyes until he left the house, her heart beating hard against her chest. It was the same cafeteria where she should go. She had to warn Ruby that the Gestapo knew about the meeting. She ran back to her room, put on her hat and turned into a run for the door. Opening it, she had one foot in the door when a hand grabbed her arm.
"Isabelle, where are you going at this hour and in such a hurry?" She turned to James, knowing that her face betrayed the panic she was feeling.
"I must leave now! It is a matter of life or death! Please, you don't understand!"
"Come, let's talk in the office. Come and tell me what made you so distressed. "
Pulling her firmly back into the hall, so that does not leave any room for denial, James closed the office door.
"Please," begged Belle. "I'm not your prisoner! You cannot keep me here against my will. I have to leave now or may be too late!"
"Isabelle, you're not my prisoner, but I also cannot run the risk of letting you go anywhere without telling me where you're going. If not tell me, I will be forced to lock you in your room. Don't think your activities, as your encounter with a "friend" in the Jardin des Tuileries, went unnoticed." James said, his voice bitter. "I've told you several times that we cannot take the risk that any connection between this house and the Resistance is established."
"Yes" Belle confessed, horrified to see that James knew about the meeting.
"The woman I met in the Jardin des Tuileries trained with me in England. She asked for my help. She's a friend and I couldn't deny."
"Well, then tell me. Where you need to go at night now?" James repeated the question, while Mary Margaret entered the room to joining them.
"My friend told me this afternoon that her network will meet at twenty-one hours at Café de la Paix. Gaston just told me that he also knows about this meeting. The Gestapo is waiting for them. I must warn her, James. Please," begged Belle. "Let me go!"
"No, Isabelle! You know I cannot let you do that. If you were captured and imprisoned ... We know what would be the consequences for the people living in this house."
"But I cannot just sit here while she's walking into a trap! Sorry James, but whatever you have to say, I'll go to that cafeteria" Belle exclaimed, walking purposefully toward the door.
"NO!"
James grabbed her by the shoulders as she tried to pull away, bursting into tears of frustration when she realized she would not be able to win that physical fight.
"Isabelle! Calm down, please, or I'll be forced to slap you in the face. You're not going out tonight to warn them." James said, looking at her and sighed deeply. "I will."
"You?"
"No! James, you cannot go!" Mary Margaret firmly gripped her husband's arm, pleadingly. "It's too dangerous!"
"I'll be fine, darling. I have much more experience in this type of situation than you ever will, Isabelle." He said checking his watch. "What time does your friend said that the meeting will happen?"
"At twenty-one hours. In an hour."
"So, maybe there's time to get in touch with someone who can carry a message before the meeting happens," James said, forcing himself to crack a smile for Mary Margaret. "If I cannot, I go up there myself."
"James, don't! Please, James! "
"My sweetheart... You have to trust me. I promise I'll do everything I can to warn them."
"Oh, my God, James" The last vestiges of strength of Belle was gone, and she took her head to her hands. "Forgive me for betraying your trust."
"We'll talk later. I must leave now to get there on time. If anyone comes to me or call, tell him I'm in bed with a migraine."
Belle suddenly remembered something important.
"James! Gaston will return to take me to dance at twenty-two hours! "
"So I better be back before then."
James hugged Mary Margaret, kissing her forehead and whispering something in her ear, and then left the office. Belle was allowed to fall on one of the chairs and a few minutes later, she heard the sound of the front door closing.
"Oh, Mary, forgive me! I put James life in danger..." she looked at the woman.
"Don't worry, Belle" Mary Margaret went to the window, looking through the slats of the blind. "He'll be fine and will get back to me. He always comes back.".
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