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intricately sequined and feathered mask was resting on the floor near her high heel shoes. I wanted to take a picture.
    “Why, Papa? Why?” Her melodic French accent filled the room. I tilted my ear toward the hall to listen for approaching footsteps, but it was quiet.
    The young woman gathered the heavy skirts from her dress, dabbed at her eyes, and stared out the dormer window. Faded paint clung to the walls. The bed was at the end of the room. Open dresser drawers revealed a cascade of slips, stockings, and camisoles chaotically hanging over the edges. A few Edith Piaf albums had been flung on the floor, and shoes were scattered everywhere. This was a messy girl. She was in dire need of my Remedy and Erase Spells to restore order to her boutique-like room.
    “Josette! Josette!” The sounds of a male voice carried through the open window, followed by rocks hitting the glass. I inched closer to the young girl and the onslaught of pebbles bouncing one by one onto the bedroom floor.
    She rushed to the windowsill and immediately drew back in surprise. A hand, followed by another hand and arm, reached through the frame and pulled a handsome man into the room. He threw his leg over the side of the wall and hit the floor with a heavy thud.
    “Luke, Luke. What are you doing here? How did you climb up here?” She leaned over the side of the window to survey his means of entry. “You can’t be here. You can’t. You must be quiet.” She pressed her finger to her full, pouty lips. Throwing caution out the window, she tackled him to the floor with her arms wrapped around the man’s neck, smothering him with her embrace.
    He stroked Josette’s long tresses lovingly and let her cry in his arms. With every sob, he pulled her in tighter to his thin frame. He looked like a boy teetering on the edge of manhood.
    “Josette, hush, hush. Don’t cover your beautiful face in tears. You know I’m leaving. But I’m not leaving without you. I came to get you.” He smiled at the tear-strewn beauty.
    Josette’s sobbing continued in his shoulder for a few seconds while he rocked her. “Luke, Papa will never let us be together. Just go. I can’t come with you. I don’t know how he found out about us, but now that he knows, he’ll never let me see you.”
    He cupped her face in his hands and whispered to her, “I’m not leaving without you. I don’t care what your father says. We knew we couldn’t keep this secret forever, eventually someone would see us together. At least now we don’t have to hide anymore. We can be together. All these months of hiding are over. This is our chance.”
    I almost sighed aloud. The love, the pain and anguish, and the fear were palpable. I watched the couple cling to each other with every fiber of their young beings. The warm wisps of their love emanating from their embrace filled every corner of the room.
    “This is no choice for me to make. I leave with you, and we still have to hide. I stay with Papa, and he sends me back to France. He will never forgive me for lying to him.” She buried her face again in the handkerchief.
    “Don’t you see? It is a choice. You can choose me. You can choose us. At least if you come with me, you’ll be free from him and we can be together.” Luke sat on his heels and tried to reason with her. “Remember the day we met?”
    Josette nodded and wiped away the steady stream of tears.
    “When I saw you standing in the crowd that day in May, I knew my life was complete. All the fellas had to talk me into riding that dumb parade float for Maritime Day, but once I saw you, I knew why I was supposed to be there. We are meant to be, Josette. I hopped off that float and walked right up to you, because I knew you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I couldn’t let you out of my sight.”
    The brunette giggled. “I know. I couldn’t believe you quit the parade just to talk to me. How did you even see me in that crowd? There were hundreds of people there