The man drew her in, and said in a kind voice, “Mademoiselle, please, please hold yourself together. They may continue to watch you.  It’s important that they see that you are alone here, and that you not seem to be missing someone.  Everything will get sorted out.  You need to believe in her.  Trust her.  I have seen the two of you together.  You were happy; you were in love.  It was you that one evening in the fall, was it not?”

Tina nodded her head.

“Well…she mentioned it to me the afternoon you both checked in.  Because I was on duty in the front desk the night that it happened, and she had come to see me to ask whether you were a guest.  So I remembered that story, and this time, she told me that it was you that night.”

“She spoke of you with such love in her eyes.  The same way my mother used to speak of my father; or I hope, my wife, speaks of me,” he said gently.

“Do not fear, mademoiselle.”

“Fear will not help. Hope will.”

He hugged her gently, “Look I must go, or they may wonder about what is happening here. Part of the instructions were that you can stay as long as you want.”

Tina blew a deep breath out, “Ummm… actually, I think I’ll be checking out.”

“As you wish,” the man answered. He left quietly.

Tina walked back to the main bedroom.  Everything was tossed and turned.  She hugged the robe closer around her, feeling that their little corner of heaven had been violated.

“Bette..,” she moaned softly, feeling tears well up in her eyes again.

She shook herself, and remembered the man had mentioned her jacket.

She looked around.  Everything was a mess!

She finally saw the jacket, which had been tossed on the floor, nearly kicked under the bed.

She picked it up, smooth it out.

What do I look for in here? She wondered.

She searched the pockets, turning them inside out. Nothing unusual.   She felt the keys to her place in LA, but that pocket had been zipped.

Hmmm… She unzipped it, and reached in, and pulled out what she could feel.  Apart from the keys, she noticed a folded piece of paper.

With trembling hands she opened it.

There was a single word.

Carousel.

And a drawing of something that looked like a …. whistle?

Tina folded the paper, clutched it tenderly to her heart, and fell on the bed.  She wept, keening into a pillow.

Bette was safe, somewhere out there in the world.  She was safe.

And everything that she did… the pink roses, which echoed the single pink rose Tina herself had left for Bette yesterday morning.  The thoughtful breakfast, and the note to the man in the front desk. Everything was meant to communicate to her that she was keeping Tina safe also.

The man was right.  She should choose to hope, and not to give in to fear.

She brought herself to sit up, still hugging the pillow she was weeping into.  She looked around the room, and chose not to see the mess the men had made.

She chose to see her and Bette, as they fell deeper, and deeper in love over the past 6 days.  She chose to remember lovely scenes from yesterday, of them together: the sights they shared from the tower, the ice cream in the garden of the Notre Dame, their first real kiss, the walk in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, the dance party on the Seine, the romantic river boat ride, and the unforgettable ride to the stars after. 

She ran her hand over the bed, and remembered the slow dance in the cave cellar, then how they made love long into the night last night.

She lay back down, and rolled around the bed.  Trying to remember how they kissed, how they touched each other, and finally, how they experienced wave after wave of orgasms.