Page 28 of Summer on the French Riviera
‘I think our new life deserves a toast,’ Elodie said. ‘We are all agreed that moving here has been the right thing to do, so here’s to living our best life in France.’ The three of them clinked glasses in a toast for a final time that evening, happily looking forward together to the future. ‘To the good life in France.’
22
Breakfast on the terrace the following morning was a more subdued affair than normal, only Gabby appeared to be her usual self. Elodie made a plateful of toast rather than do the usual boulangerie run, while Harriet organised large coffees and slowly they both woke up.
‘I think the party was a great success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves,’ Gabby said.
‘I think the number of empty wine bottles in the kitchen could be something to do with that,’ Elodie commented. ‘The food was delicious too.’
‘I’ll walk Lulu after breakfast and then probably do some painting,’ Harriet said. ‘What are you two planning?’
‘Philippe is taking me for a drive out to Théoule-sur-Mer, followed by lunch at a beach restaurant. He knows the best restaurants everywhere,’ and Gabby gave a happy smile.
‘I’m meeting Gazz on the beach hoping that he’s got time to stop for something to eat, Sundays are generally busy though,’ Elodie said.
Harriet stood up. ‘Come on, Lulu, let’s get walking. Did anyone check the postbox yesterday? No? I’ll do that as I go out.’
No post in the box, just a folded piece of notepaper. Harriet took it out, expecting it to be a thank you note from one of the neighbours who’d been at the party. Glimpsing the signature as she unfolded it, her heart rate jumped several notches before she shoved the paper into her pocket and walked quickly away from the villa.
She was sitting on a bench on the Promenade du Soleil before she took the note out of her pocket to read.
Dear Harriet,
I am here in Juan-les-Pins and would love to meet for a catch-up. I’ll hang around down by the jazz pavement in Pinède Gould at eleven o’clock, Monday morning in the hope that you will come. Together we’ll find somewhere for coffee. I do hope you can make it – we have lots of catching up to do – twenty-four years’ worth.
Jack
Harriet screwed the note up and sat staring out to sea. Why was he here? How long was he here for? How the hell had he found her? And what exactly was he implying with that last sentence? Had someone said something? Told him the truth. That he had a daughter. Could Lizzie have mentioned Elodie at the wedding? Not that she knew the connection between the two of them.
Harriet closed her eyes and shook her head. There was no way that Jack knew about Elodie. She’d stuck to her resolve to never tell anyone who Elodie’s father was. The only person who had any right to that information was Jack and she’d taken the decision before Elodie was born not to burden him with the news. He was too far away to help and had enough family problems of his own. But now he was here and wanted to talk.
Without warning, the guilt she’d felt consumed by at the time and for years afterwards was back. Sweeping through her mind, swamping her thoughts with how brutally cruel she had been, She was going to have to tell Jack the truth, admit that she’d been totally in the wrong acting, the way she had. Harriet brushed her wet cheeks with the back of her hand.
Perhaps Jack did just want to get back in touch, talk about their shared past, unaware that her daughter was also his. But how would he react to that news? Two immediate responses sprang into Harriet’s mind: he was likely to be angry with her for withholding the information and secondly, he would surely want to meet Elodie. Which led straight to a new problem. If Elodie had expressed the desire to meet her father then things would have been easier to organise but she’d repeatedly said she simply wanted to know about him, not meet him face to face. How would she react to the news that her father wanted to meet her?
Lulu, sitting at her feet, whimpered and placed a paw on Harriet’s knee. Absently, Harriet stroked the dog. ‘Sorry, Lulu. Not much of a walk for you sitting here, is it? Come on, let’s go to the lighthouse.’ A long walk which would serve a dual purpose – exercise and thinking time.
* * *
After both Harriet and Elodie had left, Gabby made herself another coffee and sat out on the terrace to enjoy it and admire the garden in the morning sunshine. Over the past few weeks, she and Philippe had worked hard out here, pulling weeds, trimming shrubs and replanting the borders with daisies and cosmos for some summer colour.
Sitting there alone, her thoughts drifted to thinking about how well last night’s party had gone. The only potential hiccup had been the unwanted appearance of Jean-Frances Moulin, but thankfully he’d left peacefully without creating a scene. Hearing Harriet this morning repeat openly that she was happy to be living here in France, had been a huge relief. There was still tension between her and Elodie, but things were slowly improving between them and hopefully could only get better given time.
And then Colette’s remembered message from Hervé sprang into her thoughts and her mind went into overdrive.
She’d told Colette the truth when she’d said she’d completely forgotten about the cave’s existence. Hervé had rarely allowed either her or her mother down there. But on the occasions she had been down, she couldn’t recall anything out of the ordinary being there. To her, it was just an extra storage place under the villa filled with her father’s uninteresting junk. Something, though, told her that there had to be a reason for her father taking the trouble to seek out Colette and give her the message about wanting Gabby to check the cave herself.
When she opened the old concealed door and went down, was it going to be full of stuff Hervé had obtained by dubious means? Had he left her a final, unexpected problem to deal with? Gabby sighed.
Briefly, she toyed with the idea of going down into the cave right now - and discovering how bad it was. But it had been locked up for over ten years, there was no real rush, and Philippe had offered to come with her. Finishing her coffee, Gabby came to a decision. Rather than go down by herself she’d wait until the three of them could go down together with Philippe. She might ask Colette to join them too.
* * *
Back at the villa a couple of hours later, Harriet unclipped Lulu’s lead and the little dog made straight for her drinking bowl before curling up in her basket. Harriet opened the fridge and assembled a plate of party leftovers for her lunch before pouring herself a glass of rosé and sitting out on the terrace.
On her walk, all sorts of things had gone through her mind, including running away for a few weeks and not telling anyone where she was, and hoping by the time she returned Jack Ellicott would have disappeared. The only flaw in that plan was that he knew where she lived, so could easily just knock on the door and introduce himself to Elodie and Gabby. He’d only have to take one look at Elodie and he’d know instantly that she was his daughter from the colour of her eyes.
Thoughtfully eating the last piece of her savoury tart, Harriet knew the only thing she could do was to stick to the decision she’d made on the walk. Tomorrow morning at eleven o’clock she would meet Jack Ellicott down by the Pinède Gould and take it from there.
