JULIET'S POV

July 10th, 1959. 11:03 am. Lubbock, Texas

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask, standing in the doorway. "Two babies is a lot, especially at this age."

Russ nods solidly. "Yes, I am ready for these little devils."

"Okay, okay, I really need to leave." I look out at my parents and Vincent already waiting by the car. Mom and dad are dropping us off at the airport, we fly to New York, meet Buddy and Vi, then we fly to Nice from New York.

"Do you have your passport?"

I nod.

"How about your wallet?"

"In my purse."

"Money?"

"Yes,"

"Okay, I love you so much, baby. I'll miss you and I'm sure the babies will miss you." Russ pulls me in and hugs me. "Atleast they take formula."

I hug him back tightly. This is our first time apart from eachother since we were married.

"I'll miss you." He says.

"I love you, I'll miss you so much!"

We kiss and I turn, dragging my suitcase to the car. Vincent picks it up and tosses it into the trunk. Mom and dad get into the font, while Vin and I sit in the back seat.

Russ waves to me as we drive away.

AIRPORT

Vin and I sit in the terminal, waiting. Our plane is supposed to board here in five minutes.

"Violet!?" Someome says from behind me.

Vincent and I both turn around.

"It's Violet Holly!" A young girl says.

I start shaking my head quickly. "No, no, I'm not her!"

The girl walks up. "I heard that y'all lived here."

"No, no, Violet is my sister." I say. "And they don't live down here anymore."

"Aw, shucks. You're real pretty, though."

I smile. "Thank you."

"So, you're Juliet and Vincent?"

I nod. "Yep, that's us."

"Neat!" She smiles. "Y'all ever met Buddy?"

"Of course, he was always at our house in high school." Vincent replies, crossing his arms. He's always uncomfortable talking to strangers. Actually, he's always uncomfortable talking about Buddy, too.

"Oh! I forgot that they met in high school!"

I nod.

"What's he like?

Vincent bites his lip. He doesn't want to talk, especially about Buddy and Violet.

"He's a really great guy!" I say. "Very humble. He's a funny man, too. Always making us laugh."

"He looks very loving!"

"Yep! He and Vi are always heart-eyeing eachother. It's sickening, honestly."

"I think it's cute!" The girl blushes.

"NOW BOARDING THE 12 PM TO NEW YORK. NOW BOARDING THE 12 PM TO NEW YORK." The speakers boom.

"Hey, that's us." I stand up. "We'll see you later!"

The girl frowns. "Okay. I'll see you later." She hugs me.

I hug her back. "Bye!"

Vincent and I board onto the plane. He gives me the window seat. He pulls out a book from his bag and starts reading it. I stare out the window.

October 18th, 1947. 4:18 pm. Some random Airplane

"Oh, kids, soon we're going to be in Chicago! We'll have such good lives!" My mom cries.

I watch as Violet curls up more in her plane seat. She hates flying.

"Come on, aren't you guys excited?!" Dad asks.

I nod my head and blow the hair out of my face. Violet, Vincent, and I all had to get haircuts because of the bleach. Now most of our hair is our natural colors.

"We're going to have so much fun! Your English will be so good!" Dad smiles and puts his hand on my shoulder. "America!"

May 24th, 1952. 8:02 pm. The Winter Household, Chicago

"Family meeting!" Mrs. Johnson calls into my room. Mrs. Johnson is like our pseudo-nanny. She gets paid to basically hang out with us triplets until mom and dad get home from work. We're fifteen now, we don't need a babysitter.

I stand up from my desk and quickly descend the stairs into the living room. I'm the last one there.

Mom motions for me to sit on the couch. I plop next to Violet. I can feel the waves of anxiety rolling off of her.

"So, we have some news." Dad says.

"Good or bad?" Vincent asks.

Dad shrugs. "Depends on how you look at it."

I purse my lips and grab Violet's hand, squeezing it.

"We're moving here soon." Mom blurts.

I start to laugh. "No, no we're not!"

"We are." Dad replies.

"To where, exactly?" Vincent crosses his arms.

"Texas."

Violet's jaw drops. "No! Anywhere but the south!"

Dad rolls his eyes. "Come on, Violet. It won't be that bad. You could fall in love with a southerner for all you know."

Vi blushes. "No!"

"What city?" I butt in.

"Lubbock in Texas. It's up sort of north. You're all already enrolled in Lubbock High School. You'll be graduating with the class of '55, not '56 curriculum there is significantly slower."

Vi groans.

"Hey, atleast we won't be being held back a year. We won't graduate at nineteen anymore." I try to be optimistic.

"Exactly!" Mom cheers.

"Wait, Lubbock the oil town?" Vi raises an eyebrow.

Mom nods. "How'd you even know that?"

"I looked into it once. Felt like I needed to, I guess. No rhyme or reason."

Mom shrugs. "The band at Lubbock High is supposed to be really good!"

"Should I even keep doing music?" Vi asks.

Mom nods. "You're really good, Vi. Keep doing it."

"And the baseball team is apparently phenomenal! State champs!" Dad smiles to Vincent.

"Do you think they'll let me do cheerleading?" I ask.

Mom nods. "I don't see why not."

I grin. I've always wanted to be a cheer leader.

"Here, we have pictures of the house we bought!" Mom walks over to a counter and pics up an envelope. "And you can paint your rooms whatever color you want!" She hands the envelope to me. I slowly open it.

"Mom, that's the front?!" Vi's eyes go wide.

Mom peeks over at the picture and nods. "Land there is really cheap,"

"You're joking. That's ridiculous!" I chime.

I'm looking at a ridiculously huge and expensive looking house. It's made of brick and stone. The house is easily three stories, albeit huge stories. There's big pillars and giant windows on either side of the front door. There's an intricate garden all across the front.

I flip to the next picture.

I see the side of the house with the same style windows as the front. There's a large trellis that goes across that entire side.

Flip.

The backyard. Huge, just like the rest of the house. There's a shed, picnic table, and a firepit. The rest is perfectly manicured grass

Flip.

The entryway into the house there's a large staircase to the left. The rest of it leads into the parlor, the kitchen, and the dining room.

Flip.

The kitchen. Immaculate, like everything else. Theres a breakfast bar. Other than that, it's a standard kitchen.

Flip. A small bathroom, on the entry floor

Flip.

Laundry room, also on the entry.

Flip.

A bedroom.

Flip.

A living room upstairs.

Flip.

An upstairs hallway. Four bedrooms up there. Two baths.

Flip.

The basement. It has another living room, a bathroom, half bath, and the master bedroom.

"Mom, there's no way that this is our house!" Vincent says.

"Like I said, land down there is really cheap!" Mom smiles.

I can tell that Violet is uncomfortable with that whole house. Apparently she doesn't like luxury.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm excited to live glamorously.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing." The flight attendant calls.

I quickly put my seatbelt around my now-flat-again stomach. I managed to loose my baby weight fast. Vi, Vin, and I have always had high metabolisms.

Vincent puts his book back in his bag and puts his belt on aswell.

Plane lands fine and well.

Vincent and I get off of the plane and find our way to the baggage claim. That's where we agreed to meet Vi and Buddy.

We somehow find baggage by following signs. There stands Buddy and Vi, all ready for France. Their backs are to us, so they don't spot us.

"Pourquoi means why, quoi means what, et means and, avec means with. Je suis means I am. J'aime is I like." Buddy is saying.

Vi nods. "Good! Okay, introduce yourself."

"Bonjour, je m'appelle Buddy. Je suis de les Etates Unis. Je suis de Texas. Ma femme s'appelle Violette. Elle est de Paris."

Violet nods again. "Great job! Ask for directions.

"Uh, Excusez-moi, j'ai besoin d'instructions pour..."

"Yes! And the French will always point."

"Droite is right, gauche is left, Allez tout droit is go straight."

"You're ready! If you have any questions about what Koch is saying, I'll translate for you, okay? I'll also recap after. Oh, and if you want to say something to Koch, I'll translate."

"Thanks, doll. I'm a little nervous, if I'm honest."

Violet grabs his hand. "It's going to be great. You'll have fun exploring."

I tap Violet's shoulder. She turns around. "Hey!" She hugs me.

"Hey!" I respond.

"You ready?" She smiles widely.

I nod. "Of course! What time does the flight to Nice leave?" I ask.

"Uh, 'round five at night." Buddy looks at writing on his hand.

"What time is it now?"

He checks his watch. "Three in the afternoon."

"Neat, we can get some food and relax." I smile. "I'm starving."

"Me too." Vi, Buddy, and Vin all say in unison.

We all laugh.

July 11th, 1959. 6:38 am. Nice, France

"Now landing in Nice, France. Now landing in Nice, France." The stewardess cooes.

"Okay, the hotel is on," Vi looks on writing on her hand. "Rue de Anne."

"Did both of you write everything on your hands?!" I exclaim.

Vi nods. "Uh, yeah?"

"What if you washed your hands?"

"I have it written down, too." Buddy pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"You guys are ridiculous!" I laugh.

Plane lands again all well.

We trail off and my brain goes into French mode.

"Okay, we'll take the train to downtown, then walk to Rue de Anne." I say.

Violet nods. "Train downtown, walk to hotel." She says to Buddy.

"Are the trains still running?" Vincent asks.

"Yeah, they're all day and all night." I reply.

I start to wander to the train station in the airport, followed by the rest of the crew.

"Linda's mad at me," I hear Vincent say to Vi and Buddy behind me.

"Why's that?" Buddy asks.

Vincent's voice catches in his throat when Buddy spoke. He clears his throat. "I didn't tell her why I was going to France."

"Why didn't you?" Vi replies.

"This is personal. She's tried to use you two as ammunition against me. She compares her and I to you. Not a fair comparison, I'd say."

"Yeah, we've been together for a long time." Vi breathes.

"Yeah, and Linda and I haven't even been together a year."

"Took me like, until last year to tell him," Vi nods to Buddy. "About anything."

I walk up to the train ticket booth.

"Four, please."

"Americans?" The man asks.

"Sure."

"Passport?"

Everyone hands me their passports.

"Velvet?"

I nod. "That's me."

"Velvet is a fabric, not a name."

"Well, it's my name, therefore it is a name."

"That's ridiculous."

"Yeah, okay. What's YOUR name then, sir?"

"Edouard."

"And that's an old man name. Just give me the damn tickets."

He rolls his eyes and forks over the tickets.

"Thanks!" I smile.

We all walk down into the subway. We show the young teenager our tickets and he ushers us through the turnstiles.

"Train running twelve minutes late," an elderly lady says. "Been ten minutes."

I smile and nod. "Thank you, madame."

The train arrives and we hop on. It's practically empty, seeing as it's six in the morning. I think we're all still running on U.S time. It feels like midnight here.

It's a normal train ride.

Eventually we make it downtown and we all exit.

"The hotel is right a couple of blocks." Vincent says, looking at a map.

"Great!" I say, starting towards that way.

"Did you say we're all in one room? Or seperate?" Vi asks.

"You and Buddy in one, Juliet and I in another." Vin replies quickly.

"Neat, great, let's go!"

We find the hotel and we wander inside.

"We booked two rooms." I say to the clerk.

"What's the name?"

"Juliette Smith." I dig into my purse and pull out my I.D card.

"Are you American?" The clerk raises an eyebrow. "You speak really good French."

I roll my eyes. "No, I just live in America."

"Oh, my apologies. Here's the keys for the rooms," she turns around and grabs two keys off the rack.

I take them. "Thank you," I toss one to Vi. "We're neighbors now."

Vi laughs. "In your dreams."

We all head up to the rooms.

"Okay, plan for tomorrow?" Buddy asks, unlocking his door.

"Wake up, call Koch, eat, meet him, discuss." Vi mumbles.

"Good," Buddy opens the door. "I'm exhausted."

"Me too," Vi says. "Well, I guess we'll see you guys in a few hours."

Vin and I nod. "Yep." We say as we duck into the hotel room.