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| Joy and Revolution |
Part 4
Afternoon - Epilogue
She wasn't used to having people around to help her putting on her clothes: as she was raised as a man and wearing men's clothes, Oscar had always dressed and undressed in self sufficiency. Only on the occasion of that ball to which she attended with a ball dress, Nanny had assisted her.
Now the things were completely different: she was in that small room, together with Rosalie and another woman she didn't know whose name was Chantal; she felt suddenly shy: undressing in front of the two women made her feel uneasy, but she didn't have any choice either because she hadn't the faintest idea about how to wear that dress. So she would have to swallow her pride and let Rosalie and her friend help her.
�Oscar, you don�t want to wear the dress on the uniform, do you?� asked her Rosalie, perplexed, her arms full of white and soft fabric.
�No, no, of course not.�
She unhooked the jacket, but Chantal shook her head: �I think it would be better to do her hair, first. Have a seat here, Mademoiselle.�
Oscar sat down on the chair that the woman put before her and Rosalie took the brush that was on the chest of drawers.
It seemed to her almost like being back in time: when Rosalie lived at Jarjayes palace she often combed her hair. If someone had told her just a week before that she would have been with her in that situation, she wouldn't have believed it.
How did her life had changed in a few days. It was funny; for years it seemed to her to be in a limbo, the days identical to the one another that followed and became months and years.
Even the day before she formulated the same thoughts, but that morning brought further changes and subversions in her existence.
�Oscar! Do you hear me?�
�What? Sorry, I was lost in thought.� she apologized.
�I have finished, I'm not very good at it, but I hope you will like it.�
When Nanny did her hair, she gave her a splendid antique mirror. Without thinking, Oscar expected that Rosalie would do the same, but when the girl pointed at the chest of drawers on which was put a quite rough mirror, she realized her mistake. It wasn't Jarjayes palace, this one. She would have to get used to the lack of comforts that she had always taken for granted.
She got a bit closer to look at her reflected image, and like a night of so long time before, she was amazed to see herself so changed: Rosalie combed her hair all back fixing them with a few hairpins (that were stinging her head!) and let some locks framing her face. Oscar put her hand on a cheek, then turned around: �It's very good like that, Rosalie.� she reassured her while Chantal nodded her approval: �You are a beautiful woman, Commander.� the woman remarked while Oscar was blushing. �Well, now the dress...�
~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~
�Nervous?� Alain asked him while he was helping him to put in order the uniform's jacket.
�Wouldn't you be?� Andr� answered back with a bit strangled voice.
Alain looked at his best friend straight in the face.
�I would wet my pants� he admitted with a sardonic grin, passing the index under his nose.
�Exactly.�
�Tell me more, Andr�. There is something else!�
�I am thinking about the future and I am afraid. I don't know for how long I could still see and I don't know if I will be able to protect her, support her, get her to regain her health.�
Alain put a hand on Andr�'s shoulder: �Listen to me: your Oscar is a strong woman. If she had the courage to leave everything and follow you, then she will be able to adjust to the new life. If I were you, I would enjoy all the days that you could spend with her. I would do that.� he concluded nodding with conviction.
It was because of the strength with which Alain spoke or because of something in his tone of voice that Andr� managed to see something in his best friend�s heart. Something that didn't need good eyes to be seen.
Why life is so unfair, he asked himself. Why couldn't happiness be whole and, sometimes, was equivalent to the suffering of someone else?
Before Andr� could answer to his friend, Alain pressed him: �Let's go, then. You don't want to make your future wife wait, do you?� he kindly made fun of him.
~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~
The table gotten from who knows where was covered with the Mass hangings and the two unmatched chairs gathered from here and there were now put side by side on the churchyard served that purpose perfectly.
All the soldiers of the Battalion commanded by the Oscar Fran�ois de Jarjayes were standing behind the groom and the best man. Then Rosalie and Bernard, Chantal and a fairly good crowd of onlookers who came to be present at the wedding between the woman Commander and the private soldier, between the noblewoman and the son of the commoners.
Andr� was impassive and didn't show any hint of worry, except for a persistent tremble in his hands.
�Here, look at this: your Oscar told me to show these to you.�
Alain opened his fist and on his palm he saw the glimmer of the gold under the sun. �She asked me to tell you that she had your wedding ring incised. I would have never expected from the Commander a sentence like: �The light lives only if there is the shadow.�
Andr� felt invaded by emotion. Such a sentence was typical of her: she would never indulge in sugary and romantic sentences, no. But that sentence contained in a few words the essence of how their relationship had come to be and how it would be from then on.
Screwing up his eyes he managed with difficulty to bring into focus Alain's silhouette: �For once in your life you buttoned your jacket and took off your neckerchief...� he noticed with a strained smile.
Smiling slyly, Alain raised all his stature and exclaimed braggart: �It doesn't happen everyday to be the witness to two crazy people like the two of you. You should only hope that the bride doesn't change her mind at the last moment and decide to take me instead of you.� He hadn't yet finished talking that Alain already regretted saying such ambiguous words.
Andr� raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything and an awkward silence grew between the two men.
�Mate, do you think that she will get married in uniform? Did you ever see her in women's clothes?�
�Yes, once. But I don't keep a happy memory of it.� was the laconic answer.
Alain called himself stupid in his mind once again: that day it seemed that he couldn't say a right thing.
Andr� interrupted the flow of his thoughts: �But she was wonderfully beautiful...�
Alain gripped his arm: �stop blabbing, mate: someone you were waiting for has arrived!�
he made a sign with the chin, suppressing a sneer.
All the bystanders turned around to look at Oscar, in raptures because of her beauty.
Philippe nudged his neighbor: �Wow, see the Commander! I didn't think that she was such a beauty!�
Andr� prayed intensely that the Lord or whoever could do it, would give him back the light in his eyes at least for some minutes. He screwed up his eyes trying desperately to focus the woman who was coming towards him.
Oscar smiled at him shyly arm in arm with a Gerard Lassalle if possible even more nervous than she was.
As she was coming closer, he began to focus the details of the simple white dress that she was wearing, of the hairdo and the expression of her face. In the hand she held a daisies bouquet and the same flowers were fixed in her hair: evidently roses were part of another chapter of her life.
She was beautiful.
He held out his hand towards her and she took it.
Indifferent to the crowd that was surrounding them, Andr� held her tightly in his arms and kissed her, while the French Guards soldiers and all the bystanders were applauding, whistling and shouting salacious remarks.
When he let her go, the priest asked sardonically: �Have you finished, citoyen? Shall we begin?�
Andr� smiled and turned around towards Oscar who nodded: �Of course, father, now we can begin.�
~~~~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~~~~
Rosalie looked at Oscar who was opening the door of the most bare and modest coach that they could find.
�Are you sure, Oscar?� she asked.
�Of course Rosalie. It is the best thing we can do. We are going to live at Andr�'s cousins place, at least until I recover.�
The young woman nodded: �Promise me you will write me, Mademoiselle.�
Oscar caressed her cheek: �Don't worry, I will write you. But now I am Madame, Rosalie.� she added with a smile tinged with a touch of mischievousness.
�It is true, forgive me.� she murmured while the tears began to wet her eyes. �Oh, Oscar! I will miss you so much!� she cried throwing herself in her friend's arms.
Oscar held her, a bit embarrassed. When Rosalie recovered her composure, Bernard held out his hand: �Adieu, Oscar, and good luck!�
Andr� on his turn said goodbye to the Chatelets and finally Alain loomed up in front of the newlyweds.
�So, it seems that there is somebody to say goodbye to!� bending back his head he burst in a coarse laughing. He held out his hand to Andr� who squeezed it tightly. �Thanks, Alain, thanks for everything.�
�Don't mention it!� Alain seemed ill at ease, for some reason.
Oscar was about to shake his hand on her turn, but he anticipated her: laid his hand on her shoulder and bended to kiss her on a cheek. It seemed to her that his lips lingered more than due, but immediately after she made herself to not to think such a nonsense.
Oscar and Andr� got on the coach and Bernard closed the door with a sharp blow. �You can go, citoyen!� ordered to the coachman.
The coach moved slowly and began his journey.
Rosalie remained looking at it until the only thing left was the distant noise of the wheels on the cobbled paving.
~ THE END ~
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