Sweet Revenge

at everything as they hurried through the airport. She had always believed that her mother’s stories about other places were no more than fairy tales. She had loved them as such, dreamed of them as such. Now she had stepped through a door into a world that had existed only in her imagination.
    Even her mother was different. She had shed the
abaaya
and veil. Beneath she wore a trim Western suit the same shade as her eyes. Her hair was loose and free, gloriously red over her shoulders. She had even spoken to a man, a stranger, when they had passed through customs. Adrianne had glanced fearfully up at her father, waiting for punishment. But he had done nothing.
    Women walked here, sometimes alone, sometimes arm in arm with men. They wore skirts and tight pants that showed their legs. They walked with their heads up, their hips swinging, but no one stared at them. To her astonishment, she saw a couple embrace and kiss while others elbowed around them. There were no
matawain
, with their camel whips and henna-tipped beards, to arrest them.
    The sun was setting when they exited the terminal. Adrianne waited to hear the prayer call sound, but there was nothing. There was confusion here, but it was faster andsomehow more organized than the confusion at the airport in Jaquir. People bundled into cabs, men and women together without shame or secrecy. Phoebe had to pull her into the limo as she craned to see more.
    To see Paris at sunset for the first time. Whenever Adrianne thought of the city again, she would remember the magic of that first view, when the light was caught between day and night. The old buildings rose, fussy, somehow feminine, glowing pink and gold and soft white in the dying sun. The big car swooped down the boulevard, driving fast into the heart of the city. But it wasn’t the speed that made her giddy and breathless.
    She thought there would be music. In such a place there had to be music. But she didn’t risk asking permission to lower the window. Instead, she let it play inside her head, grandly, gloriously, as they cruised along the Seine.
    There were couples walking, hand in hand, their hair and the little short skirts of the women fluttering in a breeze that smelted of water and flowers. That smelted of Paris. She saw cafes where people huddled around small round tables and drank from glasses that glinted red and gold like the sunlight.
    If she had been told that the plane had taken them to another planet and another time, she would have believed it.
    When the car stopped at the hotel, Adrianne waited until her father had stepped out. “Can we see more later?”
    “Tomorrow.” Phoebe squeezed her hand so tightly she winced. “Tomorrow.” She fought not to shiver in the balmy evening air. The hotel looked like a palace, and she was through with palaces.
    With the entourage of servants and bodyguards and secretaries, they took an entire floor of the Crillion. To Adrianne’s disappointment, she and her mother were ushered to their suite and left alone.
    “Can’t we go and have dinner at this place called Maxim’s?”
    “Not tonight, darling.” Phoebe peered out through the peephole in the door. A guard was already in place outside the door. There was to be a harem even in Paris. Her face was pale when she turned back, but she smiled and struggled to keep her voice light. “We’ll have something sent up. Anything you want.”
    “Being here is no different from being in Jaquir.” She looked around the elegant suite. Like the women’s quarters, it was plush and secluded. Unlike them, there were windows open to the evening. She crossed the room and looked out at Paris. Lights had twinkled on, giving the city a festive, fairy-tale look. She was in Paris but was not permitted to be a part of it. It was as if she’d been given the most glorious jewel in the world and allowed to look at it for a few moments before it was snatched back and locked away in a vault.
    “Addy, you must be patient.” Like her daughter, Phoebe was drawn to the window, to the lights, to the life in the streets. Her yearnings were only the stronger because she had once been free. “Tomorrow … tomorrow is going to be the most exciting day in your life.” She gathered Adrianne close to kiss her. “You trust me, don’t you?”
    “Yes, Mama.”
    “I’m going to do what’s best for you, I swear it.” Her grip tightened, then abruptly she released Adrianne and laughed. “Now, you enjoy the view. I’ll be back