Chapter 3

The French Woman

“Je veux une soeur,” said ten-year-old Fleurette to her mother in their Paris apartment. (I want a sister.)

“Mais Fleurette, tu sais que je ne peux plus avoir de bébé depuis ta naissance.” (But Fleurette you know I can’t have any more babies since you were born.)

“I know but I still think I should have a sister.”

“Why do you think you should have a sister?”

“I just know that I should have a sister.”

There had been many conversations like this from not long after Fleurette had learned to talk. It always came back to the same thing. Fleurette knew she should have a sister. What her mother would never tell her was that she had a sister. She would never tell Fleurette because of what she had done as a young unwed mother. She would bear her shame silently to her grave.