Disclaimer : Not mine…. They all belong to Victor Hugo. I guess I own the nurse though : ).
Author's Notes : Like it? Hate it? Want to see where it's going? Click on the little review box please, reviews make me happy.
Prologue
It began in Montreuil-sur-mer, in a small poverty stricken street. Rain was pouring down in sheets and bouncing off the pavement. Every so often lightening flashed across the sky and thunder echoed through the houses. A handful of street urchins crouched in the porch of an empty house sharing a loaf of bread, watching the rain.
A lone figure hurried down the middle of the street clutching a shawl about her shoulders. Her blonde hair was blowing around her face, and she was clinging to a piece of paper.
One of the urchins nudged his friend "Thomas, do you know who that is?"
Thomas prided himself on knowing the names of everyone living in the tiny street, but after staring at the woman for a few moments he shrugged.
The figure suddenly spotted the gamins and hurried over. Reading from the paper she called over the rain "where is the home of Maxime and Nicolette Vaux?"
The urchins eyed her rich clothes with distaste, and the eldest (a boy of about fourteen) stood up. "What's it to you?" he asked rudely.
The woman gave a sigh of annoyance and spoke impatiently " I am a nurse. Someone from this street woke me to say that a Madam Nicolette Vaux was having a baby and I was to come at once."
The boy's tone changed and he caught hold of the woman's arm. "Right this way – we've been waiting for such a long time."
He hurried off, pulling the woman with him. They ran a few more yards, occasionally slipping on the wet pavement, before he ran down a side alley. The nurse followed and saw him standing outside a house. Except she wasn't sure if it was a house, it looked like a partially demolished stable.
"This is it" the boy said, pointing to the "house".
"They LIVE here?" the nurse asked.
"Yes. It's quite roomy – we share with two other families"
The nurse glanced again at the house. "It doesn't look very roomy."
The boy seemed ready to reply when a man running from the doorway interrupted them.
"Bernard!" he called. "Where have you been boy? Out playing with urchins while your poor mother…" he noticed the nurse. "Oh at last. Go right through Mademoiselle – Nicolette is in the bedroom."
The nurse nodded curtly and hurried to the house.
"Are you not going in father?" Bernard asked.
"No boy, it's bad luck for a man to be present at the birth."
"How is mother?"
His father opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a high pitched scream from the house.
Bernard winced as the scream turned into a moan.
"She shouldn't have had this baby" Maxime snapped. "It'll kill her!"
Suddenly the screams from the house stopped. The small cry of a child went up in their place.
Maxime straight away bolted through the door calling Nicolette's name. Bernard followed quietly. Maxime entered the bedroom and let out a whimper.
His wife lay on her bed, her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open. Her long blonde hair covered the pillow and framed her face. One of her arms hung limply over the bedclothes.
"Nicolette?" he asked, knowing she couldn't hear him.
"She is dead Monsieur" the nurse said from the edge of bed – where she was nursing a small bundle. "I'm very sorry, childbirth was too much for her." She held out the bundle. "But you have a beautiful daughter."
Maxime looked at the baby. Big blue eyes and fair hair – just like Nicolette. "This baby killed my wife."
"No Monsieur" the nurse protested. "It was the pain of childbirth. It was too –"
"Childbirth" Maxime interrupted. "The birth of that child killed her!"
The nurse laid the baby on the bed next to Nicolette. "Monsieur…"
He glared at her.
"I have other people to see tonight. I must be leaving, but I'll come back tomorrow…to check on the baby. I'm very sorry about your wife."
Maxime nodded curtly. "Thank you for your help."
The nurse returned, as she'd promised, the next morning. Maxime greeted her at the door and informed her that the baby had died in the night.
"Died?" she cried. "But she was perfectly healthy!"
"Yes….poor thing caught a chill" Maxime said, his breath smelling of alcohol.
The nurse shook her head. "But…"
"Once again I thank you for your help last night" he interrupted. "Good day". And with that he closed the door.
"He's lying" came a voice from behind her.
She turned. "Bernard! Where is the baby?"
He shrugged. "Under a bridge. He put her in a basket and dumped her."
The nurse shuddered. "But she'll die!"
"She'll be fine" he said. "I know the urchins who sleep under that bridge. They'll take care of her."
The nurse sighed. "Poor thing, with that kind of a start in life who knows what will happen to her."