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| Joy and Revolution |
Part 2
MORNING
It had been a lot of time since she had been sleeping so soundly. A reviving sleep, as placid as a child�s one.
She hadn't been sleeping like that since...
Oscar couldn't even tell when it was the last time she had been sleeping so well was, maybe since that distant day when she had put on the uniform for the first time.
Thus, a lot of time had gone by.
Twenty years, more or less, since her sleep ceased being a moment to catch up the energies spent during the day.
Twenty years spent sleeping with one eye open just because of her militarily trained senses. The pillow, however, seemed strange: it wasn't the down-filled pillow she was used to. It was strangely warm.
Regaining partial lucidity, she realized that her head was resting on a masculine abdomen.
Waking up completely, she noticed that a hand was caressing her hair.
Andr�.
She opened her eyes and saw that he was leaning against the headboard, his eyebrows knitted and the usual expression he had when thinking about something of important.
Oscar stretched her hand to caress his naked skin. Andr� winced slightly, then he smiled at her.
�Good morning. You are awake�
Oscar raised herself to sit next to him, covering herself with the sheet.
Andr� bent to give her a kiss and Oscar put her arms round his neck, letting the fabric fall; then she pulled away from him and gazed at his face.
�You are pensive, Andr�. Is anything wrong?�
�No, Oscar... I was just thinking. Nothing important.� he answered evasively.
�Judging by your face, it wouldn't seem so.� Oscar remarked, with uneasiness.
Usually, she was the one who hid her feelings from Andr� and not the other way round; though, to tell the truth, Andr� had always managed to understand what was crossing her mind. Seeing their roles had switched, left her disorientated.
Andr� bent to kiss her: �Oscar, don't worry about it, it's nothing.�
Oscar didn't let him distract her and shook her head briefly: �You had better tell me what is crossing your mind, one of us might not see the sun set.�
The man turned towards her with an expression so sorrowful that Oscar felt guilty for having spelled those words.
�Don't even think about that, Oscar. I have just found you and if I were to lose you, I would die.
She felt the same and she told him that so: �Yes, Andr�; it would be the same to me, as well.�
He took her hand and put it on his heart: �You are right, it's better tell you everything.�
Andr� again leaned against the headboard and sighed: �I can't stand this, Oscar.�
Oscar looked at him perplexed: �What can't you stand, Andr�?�
He took her face in his hands. They were so close that now their noses almost brushed each other.
�I can't stand that you are only my mistress, Oscar.�
Oscar blushed: �I am your partner, Andr�, I'm not only your mistress and if so, I would have been that for three days only.� she contradicted him gently.
�You know what I mean, Oscar.�
Oscar lowered her gaze, troubled: �Yes, I think I do.�
�I don't want you to be my partner only, Oscar. I already told your father that evening. I would like you to be my wife. Before God and the people. I don't want to run the risk someone could take you away from me anymore, Oscar. I want to show everyone that you are mine and know that you gave yourself to me of your own volition.�
Oscar didn't answer, her heart in turmoil, so Andr� carried on.
�I know I'm asking too much, Oscar. But please, my love, think about it. I don't want to rush you into it, but please, think about it.�
�Andr�, I��
"Could you pick my jacket, please?� he interrupted her, his voice reduced to a breath.
Oscar stretched her arm and did what she was asked to. She handed the piece of clothing to Andr�, who gave it back in her hand.
"Look into the internal pocket, Oscar."
Again Oscar obeyed.
She searched the pocket and pulled out two golden rings.
Two wedding rings, to be precise.
Oscar was speechless.
"Read the incision inside the smaller one."
"To Oscar, with all my love. Andr�." she read, then she brought her hand on her mouth and bit her lip to drive back the tears that were stinging her eyes.
"The other ring doesn't have any incision, Oscar. You will have it incised, if you want to and in case you decide to become my wife."
"The wedding rings still in her hand, Oscar asked him: "When did you buy these rings, Andr�?"
"The very evening you went to that ball wearing a dress. To dance with Fersen."
A lash to the heart - that one by Andr�, tough - while he resumed stroking her hair lazily; a lash as painful as those she unknowingly landed on him, during all those years.
His voice still calm: "What are you afraid of, Oscar? Speak...�
"I'm not afraid" said the Commander, while the woman kept silent.
"You are afraid of something, Oscar. I may have lost one eye, but still I can see very well inside you."
"Why do you want to marry me, Andr�?" she asked him out of the blue.
"For the reason why people should get married, Oscar. Because I love you."
"What do you expect from me?" she asked on the defensive.
"There, finally you said it!"
"Said what?"
"The real reason that makes you hesitate. You want to know what I'm expecting from you.
Nothing. I don't expect anything from you, Oscar. Except that you become my wife and you love me for the rest of my life."
"It's a huge responsibility..."
"Of course it is. But this is not what you are afraid of. You always coped with responsibilities nicely enough."
"And what is it, tell me."
"You, tell me. I won't pull your chestnuts out of the fire, Oscar. Not now."
"I don't know. What does a wife do? Does she cook your lunch? Does she wear skirts? Does she give birth to your child? How can I possibly act as a woman? I'm used to marching, fighting, fencing." she pronounced this last sentence almost in a whisper.
Andr� put his hands on her shoulders, then he drew her close to him and rocked her like a little baby.
"I'm not sure if I can manage it, Andr�."
"Don't worry, it isn't such a serious problem... nor a very pressing one, at least" He smiled, his face buried in her hair.
Andr� didn't know that was only one part of the issue. Oscar's reasons were much more complex and the most complex of all was called tuberculosis.
~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~
15 July 1789
At eight o'clock in the morning, The Duke of Larochefoucauld went to wake up Luis XVI in order to inform him of the storming of the Bastille.
"Is it a riot?" asked the sovereign, his eyes still drowsy.
"No, Your Majesty." answered politely the Duke. "It isn't a riot: this is a Revolution."
~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~
Near the Bastille, a few hours later.
"Paris is full of soldiers." Bernard remarked dryly. "We stormed the Bastille, yesterday. And now we want to destroy it."
Oscar nodded. The two were walking side by side, while Oscar's soldiers kept at arm�s length, watching over the crowd so that no disturbances would occur.
The woman didn't see anything but a symbolic meaning behind the destruction of that prison.
Nevertheless, she was able to understand that the demolition of such a hateful building in which many, too many injustices were done, would be accepted by the people with great approval.
"Oscar, I want you to watch over the Bastille's demolition."
She stared at him for a moment, then resumed walking and asked him: "You want us to watch over the works because you are afraid that something will happen, aren't you?"
Bernard didn't restrain a sardonic smile: "I already told you that a brain like yours would help us in our cause a lot."
Oscar shook her head and answered coldly: "I am a soldier, not a politician, Bernard. You deal with the politics. How will you get the works to begin despite all those regiments patrolling Paris?"
"In a few hours the new major will be proclaimed. His name is Bailly and was a deputy of the Third...
"I know who Bailly is. Was it him who gave the authorization?" she interrupted him and pressed him with another question.
"Certainly."
Oscar stared at him in the eyes for a long moment. "Bernard, tell me the truth: who you fear the most, the army or your own allies?"
The man was left totally bewildered: he hadn't told almost anything to the woman, and yet she had caught on at once what his fears were and the way things stood.
For some time, the supporters of the Revolution had been dividing themselves into different factions.
After all Bernard was one of the most moderate and favorable to diplomacy elements.
"I don't trust Robespierre. His last speech made me to doubt him. I think that he wants to make use of the Revolution to get what he wants. As for Saint Just, he would solve everything with a blood-bath."
"I see, Bernard; I think that..."
Oscar didn't manage to conclude the sentence because an extremely violent cough seized her; she fell on her knees, on the ground, her hands clenched on her mouth to refrain herself while her immaculate gloves got stained in red.
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