Rebellion in Her Touch
Copyright© 2026 by Rachael Jane
Chapter 2: Becoming Jean-Paul
“Staying here isn’t an option,” advises Yvette. “You must find a way to leave. I can keep an eye on the baron. If you let me move back into the servant’s quarters and provide food for my meals, I’ll work for what you are currently paying me.”
Jeanne realises that having Yvette in the house would provide some protection for her, and someone to help watch over her father. Yvette is strong enough to quell any physical assault by the baron. However, that would only be a short term solution for Jeanne. Her life would be on hold until such time that her father dies. That could be years away, at which point she would become homeless. The baronetcy and ownership of the château would pass to the closest surviving male heir, leaving Jeanne with nothing.
Convincing her father to allow Yvette to take up residence at the château proves easier than Jeanne thought. That’s partly because the baron increasingly thinks Jeanne is her mother, and that such matters were previously handled by her. A week later, Yvette moves into her new quarters and takes up her expanded duties.
Jeanne hasn’t been idle in considering her fate. Yvette’s warnings only reinforce Jeanne’s own thoughts. Jeanne needs to leave the château as soon as possible. Unfortunately there’s nowhere local that will provide her with shelter. If Jeanne moves to Besançon, then her father will send someone to retrieve her and bring Jeanne home. On the other hand, a woman travelling long distance alone is asking for trouble.
It’s Jean-Paul’s uniform that gives Jeanne an idea. If Jeanne cannot travel as a woman, then she needs to travel as a man. Jeanne is about the same size as Jean-Paul, if you ignore Jeanne’s generous feminine features. One evening Jeanne tries on Jean-Paul’s uniform, and she discovers that she can fit into it with only a little difficulty. If Jeanne binds her breasts tight, she can ease the strain on the shirt ties. The last thing Jeanne needs is her shirt easing open, revealing her cleavage. There’s not much Jeanne can do about her arse, which fills the seat of the trousers to capacity. She’ll just have to be careful not to make any sudden movements.
Jeanne realises that her long hair will need to be cut. Although some men wear their hair long, it isn’t generally allowed in the military. Jeanne decides to cut it short. She removes all traces of make-up other than a few touches to hopefully disguise the feminine look of her face.
The whole idea is a risky venture, but Jeanne accepts that she at least has a plan. Taking Yvette into her confidence is a gamble. If Yvette betrays Jeanne, then her plan fails before she’s set one foot outside of the house. Fortunately Yvette supports Jeanne’s plan, and even offers to cover for her absence for as long as she can. Pretending Jeanne has gone to nurse a sick friend might divert the baron’s attention for a while; hopefully long enough for Jeanne to get far away, and for her trail to go cold.
Disguising herself as a soldier doesn’t guarantee a successful escape. A sole traveller of any age and gender is at risk of attack in these troubled times. Fortunately fate comes to Jeanne’s aid. A medical convoy is transporting sixty injured soldiers recently released from captivity in Germany to a military hospital in the city of Lyon. With the railway line still being repaired after the war, the convoy must travel by road.
Jeanne seizes the opportunity. Medical officer sous-lieutenant Jean-Paul Montfaucon joins the handful of medical staff at Besançon while the convoy pauses on its way south-west to Lyon. The captain in charge of the convoy, Captain Dubois, is so pleased to receive additional help that he doesn’t ask for a copy of the sous-lieutenant’s orders assigning him to the convoy.
Two wagons transport the dozen injured soldiers who are too badly injured to walk. The remaining soldiers must walk at whatever speed they can manage. For some that’s an agonisingly slow pace. Although the convoy is together when it leaves Besançon, it soon becomes spread out along the road as some of those walking cannot keep up with the pace set by the wagons.
While Jeanne would have preferred a faster means of travel, the muddle and confusion of the convoy at least disguises her presence from potential witnesses. The injured soldiers are more likely to be remembered by passers-by than any of the medics with them.
Of course, Jeanne is expected to earn her keep in the convoy. She changes bandages and attends to cleaning those too weak to do so themselves. It isn’t work for the faint-hearted, and certainly not the type of activity expected of a well brought up young bourgeois lady. However, to Jeanne it’s a chance to be useful. In a strange way it is a type of freedom from her duties at home.
Seeing and handling the male anatomy soon seems routine to Jeanne. Sometimes she wonders why she doesn’t feel any sense of lust or arousal at the sight of so many near-naked men. Perhaps it the presence of mutilated limbs and festering sores that dampens any ardour Jeanne might otherwise feel.
While the work is demanding, it isn’t beyond Jeanne’s capabilities. When her mother was alive, she taught Jeanne how to tend to the sick and infirm. Like most bourgeois women, her mother had little faith in the local doctors.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.