Nicole
1145 Words
She has been hurt. These cursed Germans.
She felt sick with fear. The explosion! They were bombarding Paris and Nicole. . .
“I had to go there as fast as I could, but what of Kendy?” Kate said, “Give me a moment. I must tell them I am leaving.”
She called to Jeanne. “I'm going to the hospital. Take care of Kendy while I'm away.”
Jeanne nodded. She could trust her.
Fortunately, the hospital was only a few streets away and within a few minutes Kate was there.
Nicole almost unrecognizable was lying in a bed. She was wrapped in a white robe and there were bloodstains on it.
Kate threw herself on her knees and gazed at her.
“Kate,” she whispered.
“I'm here, Nicole. I came as soon as I could.”
“They're bombarding Paris. They're all round us. . . I was hurrying home to tell you. . .”
“Should you talk?”
“I must talk, Kate.”
“No,” Kate said. “You shouldn't. Are you all right here? Is there anything I can do? Are you in pain?”
She shook her head. “I can't. . . Feel. . . Much. Something's happening to me.”
“Oh Nicole!” Kate said, and she was overcome with remorse and shame. She should never have been here. She would have gone away with the Baron but for me.
“Kate. . .”
“Yes?”
She gave Kate a crooked smile. There was no color in her face, she looked dead apart from her eyes.
“I. . . I want to tell you. . .”
“You shouldn't talk”
“It's the end for me. Strange. . . Shot in a Paris street. I often wondered what my end would be, now I know.”
“You should try to sleep.”
She smiled. “I want you to. . . Understand. . . “
“I understand, my dear friend, that I could never have got through my troubles but for you.” Kate felt the tears welling into her eyes.
She blinked. I think she was trying to shake her head “Him. . . Kate.”
“Him?”
“The Baron?”
“He's safe in his Norman stronghold.” Kate said.
“Try Kate. . . Try to understand. He was the one. It was his house. . . He wanted to make sure that you were all right. . .”
What was she trying to tell me? “Don't fret,” she Kate. “Whatever it was doesn't matter now.”
"Yes. . . Yes. . ."she murmured. “Try to understand him, Kate. There's good in him. . .”
Kate smiled at her and a certain impatience showed itself in her slurred voice.
“He sent me to find you, Kate. It wasn't by chance. He wanted to be sure that you were looked after.”
“You mean that he knew all the time where I was?”
“It was his house. He looked after everything, Kate. . . Paid for everything, arranged about the birth. He has looked after everything since. He sent the people who came for the portraits. You see. . . He cared, Kate.”
This was too much. It was one shock following on another. He had watched over me then. He had known where I was all the time. He must have guessed there would be a child. He had sent Nicole to look after me. . . To feign friendship. . . Oh no, not that. She had been my true friend. But in the beginning he had sent her. The elegant, comfortable house, with its convenient studio had been providing by him. Nicole had reported to him regularly, and in time he had come to see his son in the Gardens.
It was a blinding revelation, but somehow it did not seem important with Nicole lying there dying. Yes, I knew she was dying. She would never come back to us. That Bohemian life of hers, living in elegant salons as mistress of one of the most powerful men in France, had ended in a Paris street and here she was in a hospital for the poor.
"Oh Nicole,"Kate cried. “Dear Nicole, you must get well. You must come back with us.”
She smiled at Kate, and her eyes were already becoming glazed.
“It's finished.” She said.”it's all over. I've been too badly hurt. I know it is the end. I'm glad you came, Kate. Not only that, but I had to speak to you before I went. Forgive him. There is good in him. You might find it.”
“Don't talk of him.”
“I must. I must make you see how it was. I loved him. . . In my way. He loved me in his way. . . The light way. Not as he would love you. You could put the good in him, Kate, please try.”
She was pleading with Kate, and she knew she was dying.
Kate nodded her head and saw her expression change. She thought then she was at peace.
She closed her eyes. She was breathing with difficulty.
It must have been half an hour before her breathing changed. She was making rasping noises, trying to get her breath.
Kate ran out to call someone. She found a nurse and took her to Nicole's bedside.
Nicole was silent now.
"She was badly hit," said the nurse. "She hadn't a chance."
Then she closed Nicole's eyes and put the sheet over her face.
Kate stumbled out of the hospital.she could not take it in. Nicole dead! But that morning she had been alive and well . . . Her dearest friend, the one on whom she relied. And now she was gone and all in an hour or so. Life was harsh, she had reason to know, but that tragedy could come so swiftly had never occurred to her.
"May you have more luck than you have good sense ." She could hear his voice now. He had come for us, he had cared for us all the time. It had not been friendship which had prompted Nicole to help her in the first place. It had been done on his instructions.
The horror of it all burst on her. Shots such as those which had killed Nicole could take any of us at any time. Oh God, she thought. Kendy!
She ran as fast as she could.
She ran into the house called "Jeanne! Kendy! Quick. Where are you?"
Jeanne came running to her. Her face was White, she was clearly distraught.
"Where is Kendy?" Kate asked.
- Writer
