Page 34 of Summer on the French Riviera
‘Never seen a door opened like that before,’ Colette said, watching in astonishment as Gabby folded the door back safely. ‘Secret door to end all secret doors. Trust Hervé to dream up something like that.’
Gabby took the wire out of the hole and put it on the top shelf. If the door was to close when they were all down in the cave, there was a handle to work the latch from inside.
‘Mon Dieu, such a brilliant simple design,’ Philippe said, shaking his head as he looked closely at the unit. ‘Uncomplicated and unobtrusive. Even the hinges were undetectable when the shelf unit was in position.’
Gabby stood at the top of the stairs and reached for the light switch she remembered being on the wall and an overhead light sprang into life. ‘Come on then, let’s take a look and see what we find,’ and Gabby led the way down the steps.
They all stood on the earth floor of the cave looking around in amazement. Floor-to-ceiling wine racks filled with dusty bottles lined three walls, open boxes filled with a variety of goods from ornaments and books to puzzles and toys were on the floor everywhere. There was a table with several old-fashioned suitcases underneath it and on top a solitary blue and white dust-covered pot with a Chinese look about it, an old-fashioned jewellery box and a sealed envelope with ‘Gabriella’ scrawled across it in faded writing.
Philippe was the first to move. He carefully inspected a couple of bottles in the wine rack, pulling them out to read the labels. ‘You’ve got some good wine here. Several bottles of champagne too.’
Harriet started to look in a couple of the nearest boxes, while Colette joined Gabby, who was standing by the table staring at the three items there.
‘I remember that pot being in the sitting room filled with spoons for some strange reason. Family legend always said it belonged to my great-great-great grandfather who sailed on the clipper boats and brought it back from China. And that’s my mother’s jewellery box,’ Gabby said slowly. ‘She loved her jewellery, not that she had much, but what she did have was lovely. I remember wondering why there was no mention of it when the house was officially cleared. I assumed that after Maman died, he’d got rid of it.’
‘He’s left you a letter too. And Gabby…’ Colette paused. ‘As the propriétaire of a brocante, I think that pot is more than it seems at first. Hervé, he actually showed it to me on his last visit. He wanted to know what I thought in confidence. I told him it looked like what is called a brush pot, possibly seventeenth century, but he needed to have it checked by an expert.’
‘Do you think he took your advice?’
‘Seeing it here, set aside, waiting for you to find, I think he probably did.’
Gabby glanced at her. ‘How unusual is it?’ she asked as Philippe and Harriet joined them by the table.
Colette pulled a face. ‘You need a real expert, like I told Hervé, but I think it’s quite a rare valuable piece.’
Gabby reached out and picked up the jewellery box and the letter. ‘I’ll take these upstairs, the pot can stay down here. I’ve seen enough for now. Let’s have lunch.’ She turned to Philippe. ‘Maybe bring one of those bottles of wine? I think we could all do with an aperitif before lunch.’
27
Lunch was a noisy affair. Elodie had arrived home to find Gabby, Colette and Harriet enjoying an aperitif on the terrace, while Philippe prepared a lunch of croque-monsieur and salads, insisting that the women left him to it. Gabby handed Elodie a glass of wine.
‘Are we celebrating something?’ Elodie asked, before taking a sip of her wine. ‘Oooh, this is nice.’
‘Lot’s more where that came from in the secret cave,’ Harriet said mischievously.
‘Secret cave? Have I missed something exciting?’
‘There’s a secret door in the garage down to a cave under the house that great-granddad Hervé used as a wine cellar and as a storage space for special things,’ Harriet explained.
Elodie turned to look at her grandmother, wide-eyed. ‘How did you find out about that? When can I see it?’
Gabby shrugged. ‘I’ve always known about the cave, I’d simply forgotten it existed. It certainly didn’t have wine or anything special in it when I was living here before.’
* * *
Colette left soon after lunch, saying she’d promised Lianna the afternoon off. ‘I can give you the name of an antique expert when you are ready,’ she said quietly as Gabby opened the electric gate and saw her out.
‘Thank you. I’ll come and talk to you soon,’ Gabby said. She walked back into the villa, where Harriet and Elodie were clearing the table and Philippe was cleaning the kitchen surfaces and loading the dishwasher. Gabby looked at the envelope with her name on it that she’d placed in the Hotel du Provençal dish on the dresser before lunch.
‘Are you going to open it now?’ Philippe asked.
‘Not just yet. Later.’ She needed to get her head around the fact that her father had left her a letter to find after his death. She couldn’t think what he could possibly have to say to her after their estrangement for so many years.
‘Would you like me to leave you while you read it in private?’ Philippe said gently.
‘No, please stay,’ she caught hold of his hand. ‘I’d rather you were with me when I read it than anybody else.’
Philippe gave her a hug. ‘Whatever is in the letter, remember it’s all in the past. He was the person responsible for his actions, not you.’ He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. ‘I promise, whatever life throws at you, either in the letter or in the future, we’ll face it together, so stop worrying about the contents of both the cave and that letter.’
