Page 32 of Summer on the French Riviera
‘You inferred earlier that tonight you were glad not to be eating in a restaurant,’ Hugo asked quietly. ‘Any particular reason for that?’
Harriet breathed out. Time to come clean with Hugo. ‘Yes. Elodie’s father is in town and wants to meet her. I would have spent the evening expecting to bump into him.’
A buzzer in the kitchen buzzed. ‘The frites are ready. We’ll talk as we eat.’
A quiche and a bowl of salad were already on the table in the kitchen diner and Hugo quickly tipped the frites into a warmed bowl and placed it on the table. ‘Bon appétit,’ he said, as he joined her sitting at the table. ‘Sorry it’s more supper than the gourmet dinner that I planned to treat you to.’
‘This quiche is delicious, as are the frites,’ Harriet assured him after a few mouthfuls.
‘Is Elodie’s father likely to be a problem?’ Hugo asked, once both their appetites had been sated.
‘No… yes, I don’t know,’ Harriet said, shaking her head in despair. ‘It’s Elodie who is likely to cause problems, to be honest – I’ve never told her who her father is. Just recently, she’s been asking for his name. She says she doesn’t want to go looking for him or anything, just wants to know his name. Whether that will change once I’ve told her he’s here in Juan…’ Harriet shrugged. ‘If she refuses to meet him, I know Jack will force the issue. I need to find the right moment to talk to her. I can’t baldly announce the fact,oh by the way your unknown father is in town and wants to meet you.’
‘Why can’t you say it like it is?’
‘Because…’ Harriet stopped. Hugo had a point. Why couldn’t she do just that? She had to stop making assumptions and taking decisions that weren’t hers alone to make. Deep down, she knew it was her guilty conscience for abandoning Elodie and deceiving Jack in the first place that made her intent on trying to put things right, in her own way. Now her secret was known to the one person who had every right to know the truth, it was down to her to put things right between them all. Both she and Jack had been absent parents to Elodie, but her own absence had been a personal choice, one that she’d regretted for the past twenty years. Whereas Jack, Jack had never had the opportunity to be a father to Elodie. Guilty feelings flooded into Harriet’s mind. Why couldn’t she simply tell Elodie the truth?
‘She’s a grown woman, she’s not a child, so she can make the decision to see or not to see him. Nobody is going to force her or take her to court,’ Hugo said gently.
‘I’m not so sure about that,’ Harriet said. ‘Jack is hell-bent on meeting her. I met him this morning at his request and I’ve already had a text this afternoon asking if I’ve talked to her yet. I’ve ignored it for now.’ Harriet fell silent for a few seconds. ‘I know he’ll take matters into his own hands if she refuses to see him – turn up at the villa, or waylay Elodie in town. Jack is not someone who is going to take no for an answer.’
‘Perhaps Elodie will change her mind when she learns he’s actually here in Juan?’
‘She might eventually, but I doubt Jack would be willing to wait for that moment.’ Harriet rubbed her eyes. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to unburden myself on you. Life has become so complicated and overwhelming that I’m beginning to wish I’d stayed in Australia out of everyone’s way.’
‘But then you and I wouldn’t have met,’ Hugo said, pushing his chair back and standing up. ‘My advice, for what it’s worth, is to tell Elodie as soon as possible that Jack is in town and wants to meet. Once you have a reaction from her, you can make a plan on how…’ he paused. ‘On how we all move forward.’ He began to clear the table as Harriet thought about his words. ‘Now, I can offer you a cheese course or, if you prefer, there are two lavender crème brûlées in the fridge.’
‘Crème brûlée please.’ Harriet smiled up at him.
He was right, of course. She had to talk to Elodie, as well as Gabby, soon, but this evening she would try to put Jack Ellicott’s appearance back in her life out of her mind. It was time to change the subject.
‘Tell me more about your talented grandmother,’ she said, as her spoon cracked through the hard sugary top of her dessert.
26
Harriet spent most of Tuesday morning painting and was surveying her work with a critical eye when Gabby brought her a cup of coffee. She smiled when she saw what Harriet was painting. Lulu.
‘You’ve not lost your touch,’ she said. ‘You’ve captured her eye expression brilliantly. Come and have your coffee with me.’
Moving across to join her mother by the table, Harriet realised that now was the perfect opportunity to talk to Gabby about Jack being in town. Talking to a non-judgemental Hugo last night had helped, and she instinctively knew Gabby would be equally as helpful, probably more as she was closer to the problem. Besides, it truly was time for her to ask Gabby’s forgiveness.
‘Where’s Elodie this morning?’ Harriet didn’t want to risk starting a conversation about Jack if there was the possibility that Elodie would walk in on them.
‘Gone to the post office and to take some photographs of the children’s playground for an article.’
Harriet took a couple of sips of her coffee, followed by a deep breath.
‘I need to tell you something. Elodie’s father is in town.’
Gabby gave her a startled look and waited for her to continue.
‘At his son’s wedding, Lizzie mentioned to him that I’d had a baby a mere six months after he returned to America.’
Gabby absorbed the fact that Elodie’s father had been an American and waited.
‘He did the maths and began to wonder whether it was his baby, decided to track me down and find out the truth. Apparently he’s always wanted a daughter,’ Harriet said. ‘And now he knows he has one, he wants to meet her. Be involved in her life too, I think. He hasn’t said that in so many words, but that seems to be the tacit message behind his words.’
‘Well, that’s only natural,’ Gabby said. ‘I know Elodie has become curious lately about who she is, so maybe she’ll be glad to know he’s here and wants to meet her.’
