• • • ♡ • • •

Francine,

Do you want to remember me?

• • •

I hated saying goodbye to you. We had two short, fragile weeks together after you told me you'd be leaving again, and up until the last moment, we pretended nothing would ever possibly change. Even as the war moved closer and closer, even as facing the conflict grew more inevitable to us, even as the chaos and violence became easier to see, we didn't say a word.

Every day I could, every moment that she wasn't under careful supervision, we spent together. I was not as respectable as you were, even as some perfect blonde aryan, so your parents were quietly reluctant to allow us to see each other. Perhaps they only distrusted me because I was an aryan, but back then, I didn't know the difference.

They thought I was a bad influence and a bad friend, but eventually found no room to protest because you played piano better when I was with you.

I disagreed entirely. You played best when we were alone, when your fingers danced in a prelude to our most intimate expressions of love. But for us to be truly alone was so precious and rare we hardly knew what to do with ourselves when it happened.

Our last full night together, I'd snuck into your window to be with you. We laid in bed together, hands entwined, bearing no clothes and no secrets from each other. The hours had passed like moments, and we hadn't slept for a second of it.

We would both be exhausted and heartbroken as soon as morning broke, but until then we were exhilarated to simply be together, to see and hold each other so privately and so peacefully. I never wanted to let you go.

I laid my hand on your waist and inched closer to you, softly kissing your tired smile. "Things are getting worse," you said softly, changing your expression to one of dire fear.

I felt my stomach drop. "What do you mean?"

"I mean they've found my parents' Jewish ancestry, they know we've betrayed them."

"You've betrayed no one! All you've done is play music for those soldiers and treat them with respect they don't deserve. Your parents are the deceitful ones." I was in a rage and I just wanted to protect you.

"I know. But I'm just as bad. I share their blood. I'm the daughter of disloyal Jews." A tear fell from your eye and travelled quickly to the pillow, leaving a dark spot behind.

I sighed angrily and closed my eyes, trying to find a solution. "Just leave with me, please. My family can offer you safety. You can be my American cousin or whoever you want. Just don't stay with your parents. Please." I was desperate and pleading with you, but you were stronger than that.

"I can't." Your voice broke and you started sobbing, but you caught yourself and took a deep breath. "It's too much. They're in too deep and so am I by proxy. If I go with you they'll hunt me down and hurt you too."

"What are you doing to do? Where is your family going to go?"

You sobbed harder and put a hand over your mouth, unable to contain your fear. You trembled as you tried to breathe. "They want to stay here. They want to find a safe house and hide and return home when the war ends."

You didn't say that it was impossible. You didn't say that they'd surely be found and you'd all be killed, if not tortured in a concentration camp first. There were rumors the entire city was going to be bombed.

I felt like I was going to throw up. "Francine. That's not going to work! You have to come with me." I was trying so hard to stay quiet, to keep from waking your parents. I couldn't bear it. "If you don't come with me, you won't be safe from the war. My family is going to go somewhere else. They've discussed it. We have American relatives who are going to take us in."

You shook your head. "I have to stay with my family. I'm sorry."

It was hopeless and we both knew it.

"I never want us to be apart." I slid a simple gold ring off my finger and gently found your hand, guiding the ring into it. "This is your reminder of me. Even if we never see each other again, I am here."

You slid it onto your finger. "I'll never let it go." You slid out of the bed, walked to your jewelry box, and found a single gold necklace chain without a charm.

You returned to the bed, sitting behind me, and fastened it to my neck. "And this is your reminder of me."

We were both crying, and the sky was a deep blue twilight.

Yours,
Margot

• • • ♡ • • •