Page 3 of A French Inheritance
‘I know you were really happy there,’ Jeannie said. ‘Still, looking on the bright side, you’re free to have a complete change if you want to. Do something different – follow your dream. You haven’t had a proper holiday for a couple of years, now you can.’
‘I suppose so,’ Briony said. ‘But I do need to start job hunting straight away. I doubt that I’m going to find a job quickly.’
‘What with your divorce and now redundancy, you deserve a break; take time to reflect, not rush into another job.’
‘I had all sorts of plans for life after Marcus when the divorce was finished – new clothes, weekends in London and Paris, exploring the Louvre, seeing lots of live theatre and concerts…’ Briony tailed off.
‘And now you have unlimited time to do all those things,’ Jeannie said. ‘Starting with our visit to France. We can stay for as long as you like now.’
‘But all my plans need money,’ Briony let out a frustrated sigh. ‘Money that I won’t have if I don’t have a regular income, so finding another job has to be my priority before I can even think about those plans again.’
‘But you have your redundancy money,’ Jeannie said. ‘And what about your emergency “rainy day” fund you’ve been squirrelling money away in for years?’
‘Oh, I can’t touch that. It’s my security for the future. If I blow it on holidays and clothes and enjoying myself, it won’t be there for any rainy days that do happen.’ Briony shook her head. ‘No, I’ll have to put everything on hold until I’ve found another job.’
There was silence for several long seconds and Briony began to wonder if the call had been disconnected when Jeannie said quietly, ‘Briony, don’t you think your rainy day has arrived? Losing your adored granny, a heart-breaking divorce and now redundancy, I’d call those three things a veritable rainstorm. Give yourself a break. Follow your dreams. Use your rainy-day money. Live a little.’ There was a silence for several seconds. ‘Right, I’m taking an executive decision on your behalf. I’m off to book our flights to France for one day next week. And then I’ll ring Lucy at the farm to ask her if she has the time to air the cottage a little.’
Even as she went to protest that it was too soon, Briony realised her mum had already finished the call. Ruefully rubbing her hand across her face and accepting her mother’s impetuous decision, she wandered into the sitting room and stood staring thoughtfully out at the small garden with its shrubs and benches the developers had optimistically provided as a ‘community garden’. Briony had yet to set foot down there, but she could see an elderly couple sitting on one of the benches having a sandwich, enjoying the sunshine and making the most of the open space. If she didn’t get a job quickly, maybe she’d have lunch down there sometimes when they got back from France.
Was this redundancy truly a rainy day in her life, like everyone seemed to regard it? In her mind, rainy days consisted of accidents that threw one into catastrophic circumstances. Being made redundant did feel like a catastrophe to her but not totally catastrophic, if that even made sense, because she knew she had enough money to survive. But if she spent the money and then couldn’t get a job within, say, six months, then that would be a real catastrophe.
Her rainy-day savings were healthy, despite Marcus trying to persuade her over the years to invest in something other than Isas and bank accounts with their low interest. She’d only ever mentioned her Premium Bonds to him once, when he’d decried the zero interest they paid unless your number came up. She’d never told him when several of her numbers had come up over the years. Not with huge amounts – fifty pounds here and there, two hundred a couple of times, money she’d reinvested instantly in more bonds. He’d been keen enough to take some of them off her though when the lawyers fought over divorce assets. But realistically she knew she had enough savings to fall back on for a few months.
Thinking about her mum pointing out she was free to have a complete change if she wanted, free to follow her dream, was fine, except for one thing. Briony couldn’t remember when she’d last had a desire to do something different. Definitely not in the last few years she’d been married to Marcus.
She’d enjoyed her job in the auction house where no day was alike and she met so many different people in the course of organising the sales. And she’d absorbed so much information about a wide variety of things. She was no expert, but she appreciated and knew how to recognise good workmanship when she saw it. Marcus had kept urging her to take exams, become a fully fledged auctioneer or a specialist in something, anything – porcelain, silver or even wine. ‘Do you good to expand your horizons.’ When she’d told him she was happy as she was, he’d muttered something about her being ‘risk aversive’ and stormed away from the conversation. In a light-bulb moment, she realised his comment had been true. She didn’t take risks in any aspect of her life. She needed security – the security of a job, the security of money in the bank, the security of a loving marriage – except none of it had quite worked out like it was supposed to, had it?
The first of twelve loud dongs from a nearby church clock made Briony jump. Midday. Not normally home at this time, it unexpectedly reminded her of the clock tower in Granny Giselle’s small village in the South of France. At this time of day, it was the signal to stop whatever you were doing and make for the village square to either enjoy a simple aperitif with friends before going home for lunch, or staying to savour the plat de jour with them in the local restaurant.
Briony smiled sadly as she remembered how Granny Giselle had often spoken affectionately of the village and her local friends there. The last eighteen months living in the UK with Jeannie, her daughter-in-law, had been necessary because of her health. Both Jeannie and Briony had done their best to give her a good happy life for her final years, but everyone knew how much Giselle missed her homeland and the dog she’d had to rehome when her health had started to fail.
To think, one day next week she and her mum would be able to join the locals in the village and enjoy a plat de jour, although undoubtedly it would feel strange to be there without Giselle. Everybody would definitely raise a glass to her.
Briony turned away from the window. A week’s holiday in France would be good for both her and her mum. But before they went, she’d start to put out some feelers amongst her contacts in the auction business, because word would have surely got out about her redundancy. She knew she had a good reputation with lots of auctioneers – maybe someone would be able to offer her something. Then, when she got back, refreshed and raring to go, she would give all her attention to finding herself a brilliant new job. One that would enable her to buy her dream flat.
* * *
Jeannie Aubert put the phone down after the conversation with her daughter and ran her hand through her hair distractedly. The last few months had been a difficult time. The death of Giselle Aubert, her mother-in-law, whilst expected, had been hard for both Briony and herself. Briony had lost a beloved grandmother and Jeannie had mourned, and was still mourning, the loss of a woman she had loved liked the mother she’d lost at an early age.
From the day Jeromé had taken her home to meet his maman, she and Giselle had taken to each other and, down the years, the relationship had become even more special to both women. Briony became the centre of both their lives after Jeromé died seven years ago, leaving them as a small family unit of three, with no other relatives.
The upcoming visit to France to sort out and settle Giselle’s affairs, although emotionally sad, would also be the ideal time to tell Briony the truth about her grandmother’s will. Staying in a place she adored and had always loved visiting would give Briony the time and the space to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last year and the chance to plan her new future.
Poor Briony, so much had gone wrong in her life recently, Jeannie knew that she regarded this redundancy as the final straw. But, if Briony did but realise it, the timing was perfect.
And then there was her own news she needed to talk to Briony about and Jeannie couldn’t help but wonder about her reaction to learning something that she, Jeannie, had been hugging to herself for a few weeks now. News that could affect both their lives.
Jeannie could only hope that things in France would work out the right way for everyone concerned and that Briony would welcome her own news when she told her.
3
ONE WEEK LATER
It was ironic really that the two letters theLa Poste facteurhad handed him that morning had arrived in the same post. One with an English stamp; the other with a French one. One with good news; one with something he had no interest in.
The English letter was from a TV company asking him to take part in a programme about veterinary practices in the UK. Elliot stared dumbfounded at the words he was reading. Were they crazy? After all he’d been through when he’d been thrown into the bear pit that was tabloid sensational investigative journalism these days, there was no way he was getting involved with anything that thrust him back into the public’s gaze. Screwing up the letter and the envelope, he threw them into the log basket. He wasn’t even going to deign to give them an answer. His silence would surely be telling enough.
Elliot took a deep breath and opened the French envelope. He took out the letter he’d been waiting for, with a smile on his face. After spending the last three months on an intensive French course, he’d passed the government’s exam and had the confirmation that he was fluent in French and could now use his Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons qualifications and practice as a vet in France. His enforced sabbatical had come to an end. Finally, he was able to get back to the only job he had ever wanted to do. He’d already put out feelers and the overworked veterinarian clinic in the nearby small town of Pégomas had promised they would welcome his working presence in the local area as soon as he was legally cleared to work. He couldn’t wait to tell them, and Adam and Lucy, the good news.
