31 December, 1939 - Paris, France
Despite the unrest in Europe, Parisians flocked to the venerable Hôtel Ritz on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the birth of a new year.
Upstairs, Marie sat at her vanity in an ivory silk-and-lace dressing gown and thought about how quickly the year had passed, and how their family troubles had coiled as tight as a corkscrew. Last week, Christmas at Bellerose had been a bittersweet holiday filled with sadness, despair, and angry tirades.
Marie had wanted to stay in Grasse, but Danielle had urged her to return to Paris with her father. “I’ll be working in the laboratory every day,” Danielle had told her.
Marie chose a parfum and touched her neck with its crystal stopper, trailing it along the length of her neck. She breathed in one of Danielle’s finest aldeh
