Goodbye, Janette by Harold Robbins

He bowed. “Yes, Madame.”
    “One more thing, Henry,” she added. “Tomorrow when you change the rooms you will also have a locksmith change the door locks.”
    “Yes, Madame. Will there be anything else, Madame?”
    She started back through the narrow corridor. “Let me know as soon as Mr. Johnson has removed his things.”
    “He has already left the house, Madame. About an hour ago while we were upstairs on the fourth floor.”
    “Good,” she said. She had made her point and knew that he didn’t miss it. “Thank you, Henri.”
    ***
    “Isn’t Monsieur Maurice having dinner with us?”
    Tanya looked across the small table at her daughter. “No, darling. He went out.”
    Janette’s voice was curious. “With that girl?”
    Tanya was puzzled. “What girl?”
    “You know.” Janette’s voice was guileless. “That one. The one that dresses in men’s clothing.”
    Tanya stared at her daughter. “He’s not a girl. He’s a man.”
    “If she’s a man, why did you send her out of the house?” Janette asked pointedly.
    Tanya was surprised. The child saw more than she thought she did. “We need the room for someone else,” she explained, sensing the lameness of her words.
    Janette was silent as she finished her soup. She looked up again after Henri had removed her plate. “I still think she’s a girl.”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “I was downstairs in the kitchen when Monsieur Maurice came down and told her that you ordered her to leave.”
    “That doesn’t mean he’s a girl.”
    “Then when I was going back up the stairs, I passed her room. She was crying and Monsieur Maurice was kissing her and telling her that everything would be all right. He acted just like she was a girl.”
    Tanya was silent. “Maybe he just felt bad,” she finally said.
    Janette shook her head. “She was taking dresses out of her closet and putting them in the valise. When they saw me standing there, Monsieur Maurice kicked the door shut with his foot. But they couldn’t fool me.”
    “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Tanya said with finality. “Either way, he is gone and will not be back in the house.”
    They were silent until after the entree had been served. Janette cut
into her meat. “This is good, isn’t it? French cooking is better than Swiss.”
    Tanya smiled. “Yes, darling.”
    Janette took another mouthful of food. “I really like it.” Then without changing the tone of her voice, “Does it hurt when Monsieur Maurice puts his big thing in you?”
    “Janette!” Tanya was shocked. “Where did you ever learn such things?”
    “In school,” Janette answered casually. “All the kids talk about it. Some of them have even seen their mothers and fathers doing it. Do you think sometime you can let me watch when Monsieur Maurice does it to you?”
    “No,” Tanya said sharply. “And that’s not a nice thing to talk about. Nice girls never talk about it.”
    “I came into your room one night when you and Papa General were doing it. But you didn’t see me, and I went out.” She took another forkful of the meat. “But Monsieur Maurice’s thing is twice as big as Papa General’s. That’s why I thought it might hurt.”
    “How do you know such things?”
    “Monsieur Maurice always left his bathroom door open when he took a pee. I couldn’t help seeing it. He even knew that I saw him and he used to smile.”
    Tanya didn’t know what to say. Maurice had only stayed in Geneva for a week after they were married and then had gone back to Paris to put the house in order, and until he met them at the train today she hadn’t seen him. “Well, that won’t happen anymore,” she finally said. “Tomorrow you’re changing rooms to the room next to mine.”
    “Where will Monsieur Maurice be staying?”
    “He’ll be moving into your room.”
    “Then he won’t be making a baby in you with his thing?” Janette asked.
    “No,” Tanya said definitely.
    “Why not?”
    Tanya looked at her daughter.