Let Them Have Cake (13 page)

             
“I’m sorry, Jeff. We went riding just as friends. That’s what we modern women do. We have friendships with other men.”

             
“I don’t know what you mean by that. Just remember you are my woman. I guess I need to prove that to you.”

             
“Please, prove it.”

             
Anna’s passions were rising to meet his. She freed her hand and grasped the back of his head, pulling his mouth down to meet hers. She began probing the inside of his mouth with her tongue.

             
Geoffroi deftly untied his own leather breeches and quickly pulled them to his knees. He spread her thighs, pushed the petticoats aside, and entered her hungrily.

             
Anna arched her pelvis to meet his, but was no match for his power. She allowed herself to be pinned back in the straw. He grasped her hands again and held them at either side of her shoulders while he continued powerfully thrusting into her. She couldn’t move. She didn’t care. She enjoyed every minute of his overpowering demonstration of his manhood and domination over
her. She reached her climax just as he reached his.

             
“Well. I guess I’ve just been ravished. I feel like Scarlett O’Hara.”

             
Geoffroi rolled off of her and collapsed in the hay.

             
“I don’t know who that is, but I love you, Anne-Marie. I was so afraid when you were gone. I thought I would never see you again. I had those same feelings today when I couldn’t find you.”

             
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

             
Geoffroi rose up on one elbow and looked at Anna. He caressed her cheek and stroked her hair.

             
“Marry me. Please, marry me. We talked about it before but you were worried about your children. They are taken care of now. Marry me and then we will be able to go get them and start a new life elsewhere.”

             
“I can’t marry you. I’m not able to explain why. Just believe that I would if I were able.”

             
“I won’t press you right now, but I will ask you again, and we will be united some day. Come. We need to appear at the house or they will fear that some harm has fallen us.”

             
They walked back to the house, hand in hand. Their cheeks were flushed with love and they stopped a short distance from the house to inspect each other’s clothing for stray bits of straw that would tell all where they had been. Satisfied that
they would pass inspection, they entered the house.

             
“Finally. Where have the two of you been?” Genevieve asked, smiling coyly.

             
“I was tending to my horse and Anne-Marie was searching for eggs,” Geoffroi answered.

             
Anne-Marie held up the basket as proof.

             
“Where is the Queen?” Anne-Marie’s eyes searched the room. “Is she ready to do the play?”

             
“No, she’s changed her mind. Something else is occupying her time right now,” Genevieve said.

             
“What do you mean?”

             
Just then, Monique and Jacques entered the room. Jacques offered the most comfortable chair to Monique and sat on the floor at her feet, looking at her adoringly.

             
Anne-Marie smiled and said, “Have you two been discussing Jacques’ part in the play? Is he to be the Prince?”

             
Monique answered, “I believe he will be marvelous in the role of the Prince. That is, if we ever do the play.” She gazed towards the hallway that led to the Queen’s boudoir.

             
“The Queen received a visitor shortly after you left today. Count Axel de Fersen arrived to pay her a visit. They excused themselves to go where they could talk privately and get caught up.” Genevieve couldn’t help giggling while offering this explanation.

             
Anna smiled at realizing the history books were true, and the rumors of the Queen’s dalliances with the Count were true as well.

Chapter Thirteen

             
“Geoffroi, is it permissible for me to go into the countryside with Monsieur Pelloutier? We are out of staples in the kitchen, and he must go visit some farms to buy more,” Anna explained.

             
“But of course. You and Monsieur Pelloutier have been friends for many years. He doesn’t lust after you like Jacques did,” Geoffroi replied.

             
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to a change in scenery and the weather is lovely today. We’ll be gone most of the day.”

             
“I’m going on a hunting trip as well and won’t be back until tomorrow. I’ll miss you, my love.”

             
Geoffroi pulled Anna to him and kissed her softly. He stroked her hair and nuzzled her ear.

             
“I’ll miss you, too, Geoffroi.”

             
“Promise me you’ll come back and you won’t ever leave me alone again.”

             
Anna clung to him, not sure that she could make him that
promise. Not knowing how she’d gotten there, she didn’t know when or how she would leave again. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. This man was so much like Jeff, but he wasn’t Jeff. He was Geoffroi and Jeff was his direct descendant. It was all too confusing. Maybe she would be able to think more clearly on the buggy ride into the countryside.

             
“I’ll see you tomorrow evening then?” Anna asked.

             
“Yes. Tomorrow evening.”

             
Anna walked slowly back to the house. Monsieur Pelloutier was loading empty baskets into the horse drawn carriage waiting outside the kitchen.

             
“Anne-Marie. I am almost ready to leave. Perhaps you should get a cloak to wear. It is warm now, but won’t be later in the day.”

             
“Yes. I’m sure you’re right. I’ll get one.”

             
They settled into the carriage and began driving down the gravel road by which Anna had first entered the hamlet. The day was sunny and bright with no traces of fog shrouding the landscape. Anna looked around for the hotel she and Jeff were staying in, but there were no buildings anywhere, just beautiful pastoral countryside.

             
“Madame, how was the play received by the Queen?”

             
“She was delighted with it. She loved being the beautiful Princess, and Jacques was superb as the handsome Prince.”

             
Monsieur Pelloutier cast a sideways glance at Anna, a questioning look on his face. “You were quite clever to think of that story line. It was different from your usual ones.”

             
“Yes. It worked well, though. The Queen was quite despondent after the Count left, and the play cheered her.”

             
“She is a good friend with the Count. They’ve been friends for a number of years. It’s been at least a year since he was last here.”

             
“He is very handsome with his tall, slim figure and darkly romantic features,” Anna commented.

             
Monsieur Pelloutier turned, a look of puzzlement on his face. “You talk as if this is the first time you have seen the Count.”

             
“Of course this isn’t the first time. It’s just that it has been so long, and he’s so handsome it always surprises me when I see him.”

             
Anna turned to watch sheep grazing quietly on the hillside. A shepherd and some sheep dogs kept watch a short distance away. The grass was winter brown, not nearly as vibrant as the green of spring. Snow patches were visible in areas of strong shade. The sun shone brightly overhead and the sky was nearly cloudless. Dense forest was visible at the top of the hill.

             
“Anne-Marie, we will be passing by the Franchet farm later in the day. Do you want to stop and see your children?”

             
Anna was jolted into alertness by this question. What was she going to do now? She would surely be found out if they were to stop at the farm. Anne-Marie would most probably be there, and even if she weren’t, her children would know that Anna was not she.

             
“Do you think it would be hard on them to see me? I mean, they might want to come back to the hamlet with us, and that would make it difficult to leave them again.”

             
“No, Madame. I believe they need to see their mother. It hasn’t been long since they lost their father. They need to know that their mother is well.”

             
Anna sat in silence, not knowing how to answer.

Monsieur Pelloutier broke the silence, saying, “You think about it. We have at least another hour before we reach the farm.”

Relief flooded over her with the sudden reprieve.

             
They stopped at several farms along the way, purchasing grain to be milled back at the hamlet, cheeses, and meat that had been preserved with salt. They also bought a dozen young ducks, both male and female, and placed them into crates brought for the purpose. Duck was one of the Queen’s favorite entrees and they were close to becoming extinct inside the hamlet. These would be used for breeding purposes only.

             
“There seems to be plenty of food here on the farms,” Anna
observed.

             
“Humph! My family in the countryside lives on vegetable soups and bread. The food all goes to
Versailles
. The kitchen workers come every week and buy most all of the farmer’s meat, grains and cheese. That is what most of the political upheavals have been about in recent months.”

             
“Is that why it is said that when the Queen was told the peasants are starving she said, ‘Let them eat cake’?” Anna asked.

             
“Madame, are you ill?”

             
“Of course not. Why do you ask?”

             
“It is because of the questions you are bringing up. You know that the Queen did not make that statement.”

             
“No. I don’t recall. Who did say it?”

             
He sighed heavily, but indulged her by telling her what she wanted to know.

             
“It may have been a combination of things. Before Queen Marie Antoinette ever came to
France
, Queen Marie Therese said, in a similar situation, ‘Let them have buns.’ Then, most recently, it was Monique who said of the Parisians, ‘they didn’t have enough food, and the scrapings from the bottom of a bread pan would be a feast.’”

             
“Oh, really?” Anna was fascinated. “So all these years she’s been thought to be so mean and she didn’t even make that
statement.”

             
“What do you mean, all these years? That was just a month ago that Monique was overheard saying that. It was while you were gone.”

             
“Of course. That’s what I meant.” Anna decided she’d better change the subject before getting into deeper trouble. “How much further to the Franchet farm?”

             
Monsieur Pelloutier sighed again. “There it is, just ahead. The one that has the drive with all of the trees and bushes lining it. I don’t see anyone in the fields. Perhaps they are all in the house.”

             
Anna couldn’t see anyone outside and there were trees and bushes all over the place. He could drop her off and she could walk to the house. If she were very lucky she’d be able to get there without being seen and could check it out without them knowing she was there.

             
“Monsieur?”

             
“Please call me Pierre. We’ve had this conversation so many times and you resist, but it’s becoming tiresome.”

             
Pierre Pelloutier? A bit of a tongue twister. No wonder Anne-Marie was resistant.