Page 35 of Summer on the French Riviera
Gabby gave a grateful smile. Before she could respond Harriet walked into the kitchen, Lulu following close on her heels.
‘Elodie and I are going to walk Lulu and talk,’ Harriet said, looking at her mother. ‘We’ll see you in a bit.’
‘Good luck,’ Gabby said quietly.
Philippe raised his eyebrows at her as the villa door closed behind them and Gabby held up crossed fingers, before telling him about her conversation with Harriet that morning.
* * *
Elodie had been surprised when Harriet had asked, as they were clearing the lunch things, if she was busy that afternoon.
‘Nothing madly urgent that I can’t put off. Why?’
‘I thought we could walk Lulu together and talk.’
‘Talk?’
‘Yes. Talk. Properly.’
‘I’d like that. I want to talk to you too. A walk in the woods? It will be cooler there.’
For the first five or ten minutes of their walk, conversation was stilted and mundane, about nothing in particular. It wasn’t until they’d walked through the suburban streets of Juan-les-Pins, busy with locals and holidaymakers, and were on the edge of Cap D’Antibes woods that Elodie said, ‘Does wanting to talk to me properly mean you’ve decided to answer my questions? To tell me the truth?’
Harriet nodded. ‘Yes.’
As they entered the shade of the woods, Elodie bent down and unclipped Lulu so she could wander off the path and explore, and Harriet took a deep breath.
‘Your father’s name is Jack Ellicott, he is American and I never told him about you because he’d unexpectedly returned to America before I realised I was pregnant. Before you ask, I was in love with him and it broke my heart that it didn’t work out.’
Elodie stopped, turning to place her hand on Harriet’s arm. ‘My father is American?’
Harriet nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Why did he return unexpectedly? Didn’t he plan on going back?’
‘His father was gravely ill. He had another month on his visa before he was due to return.’
‘Did you stay in contact?’
‘We did keep in touch initially, until I found out I was pregnant when I decided he had enough problems to deal with, so a clean break would be the best thing for everyone.’
As well as struggling to get her head around how different her life might have been if Harriet had told Jack Ellicott about her, Elodie had even more questions she needed to ask now she knew her father’s name. ‘Did you have a plan to stay together when his visa ended? Would you have gone to America to be with him? Or would he have tried to stay in England?’
‘I have no idea what would have happened. We hadn’t really talked about it,’ Harriet said slowly. ‘We loved being together and naively thought everything would work out. But he did tell me that his parents hoped he’d marry a friend’s daughter.’ She glanced at Elodie. ‘So I knew he’d have that to sort out when he arrived back in the US. Jack did ask me to go with him when he left. I didn’t feel I could leave Gabby at that time.’
Elodie was silent as they walked further into the woods, Lulu never out of sight. ‘This is so ironic.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’d decided to stop asking you about my father. I felt I was being unkind in badgering you for answers about a part of your life that was obviously not happy.’ Elodie was silent for a few seconds. ‘I’m curious though – what made you change your mind about telling me?’
‘That’s part of the reason I want to talk to you.’ Harriet took a deep breath. ‘Jack is in Juan and he wants to meet you.’
Elodie stopped dead and looked at her. ‘My father is here?’
Harriet nodded. ‘Yes. It seems he came here specifically to confront me about you – and to meet you.’
‘How did you feel when you met him again? Do you still like him?’
