Read The Josephine B. Trilogy for Free Online Page B

answered,” he said, writing out my name on the form.
    I looked away.
    “What a funny girl you are. Always crying when you’re happy.”
    I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand. “Yes, Father,” I said.
    January 31.
    At church this morning I saw William. I made our signal and he acknowledged it.
    Back home, I hurried with my chores. I asked leave to go down to the river—with Mimi, I said, praying for forgiveness for lying, especially on a Sunday.
    Mother consented and I was gone before she could think otherwise, down the trace and into the forest. At the bridge I stopped, my breath coming in short jabs. Why was I running? I proceeded at a walk, my troubled thoughts catching up with me. What was I going to tell him?
    William was fishing at the pond. He turned when he heard me on the path.
    “I’m glad you could come,” I said, standing nervously beside him, as a stranger. “I have something to tell you.” I heard the cry of a raven.
    William pulled in his line. There was a live frog on the hook.
    “Father received a letter from his sister in Paris,” I said. “His offer has been accepted.”
    “What offer?”
    “I’m to be betrothed—to a man in France.”
    William fiddled with the hook, trying to slide the frog off. He cursed under his breath and did not beg my forgiveness for doing so.
    “I’m to go live in Paris. I will be a vicomtesse.” In spite of myself, there was pride in my voice.
    William looked at me. His eyes seemed unnaturally blue.
    “Are you not going to say anything?” I felt uneasy.
    William threw his fishing gear into his basket. “Thank you for telling me? Is that what I’m supposed to say?” He untied his dusty donkey from a gum-tree branch.
    “William…” I put one hand on his shoulder.
    He jerked away, pulling himself onto his donkey’s back. Then he kicked her, taking off down the trace at a trot.
    I sat by the river, trying hard not to cry.
    Sunday, April 11.
    This morning, after mass, Father Droppet read the banns of marriage between Alexandre-François, Chevalier de Beauharnais, and Marie-Joseph-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie.
    Manette made monkey eyes at me. Everyone turned to stare. I felt Father Droppet had been speaking of someone else, not me.
    Now this is the big news in the village: at last I will be married, and to a rich man in Paris, to a Beauharnais, the son of the former governor of all the Windward Islands. I will be Madame la vicomtesse. I am regarded as an adult now and I feel older, I admit.
    May 8.
    Mother is having a dress made for me, in the Parisian style, an amaranth brocade with gauze around the sleeves and neck. I’m not to wear it until I reach France. That way at least I’ll have one thing decent to wear, she said. I go for my first fitting today.
    Monday, June 7.
    Mother insists I learn a proper toilette. I’m to wear a corps de baleine, a corset with stays so stiff it pushes my bosom up and forces me to sit straight. It even hurts to breathe. “When can I take it off?” I asked after one long hour sitting at my vanity, applying pommades.
    “You must never take it off,” Mother said, showing Mimi how my hair is to be powdered. “You are a woman now.”
    June 23.
    I’m sixteen today—how quickly youth passes. Mimi gave me tarot cards of my own as a gift. “Blessed by holy water,” she whispered.
    Carefully, I laid them out. In the tenth position was the hanged man, his hair hanging down.
    “Life turned upside-down,” she snorted. “That’s you!”
    Saturday, July 10.
    Father is having difficulty getting enough money to pay for passage. I overheard him having an argument with Uncle Robert. “I’ve loaned you enough already, Joseph!” I heard Uncle Tascher say.
    July 16, 3:00 P.M.
    Father finally has enough money. Uncle Robert gave in. Now Father has to find a ship that can take us. With the war on, it won’t be easy, he says.
    I worry, for his health is poor.
    “You won’t survive this voyage, Joseph,” I heard Mother tell