Page 45 of A French Inheritance
‘I think the two of us. Although I think Yann would like to be with us – he knew Giselle all his life and was very fond of her.’
‘Shall we do it Easter Sunday then, when hopefully Yann will be with us?’ Briony suggested.
Jeannie nodded. ‘Perfect timing.’
Back at the cottage later, Briony showed Jeannie the posters and the postcards from the attic box and Jeannie started to study the photographs. After about five minutes, she shook her head. ‘Sorry. I give up. I did think I might be able to work out if there were any photos of your dad’s grandparents, but I can’t. I think these are from before the war and even earlier. I think the girl with the sad-looking eyes could possibly be Giselle’s mamanand Jeromé’s grand-maman, but…’ she shrugged. ‘Who knows.’
‘Let’s open the second box,’ Briony said. ‘We might have more luck with that one. I’m pretty sure it has a lot of Great-granny Marie-Louise’s paintings in there.’
Inside, they found paintings of all descriptions – landscapes, portraits, views of villages, cottages, the Mediterranean – even a couple painted in the Cubism style. But the ones they both fell in love with were the Impressionism. All the paintings had the same small signature in the bottom right-hand corner of the painting as the one hanging in the hall: Marie-Louise.
* * *
Early that evening, Briony and Jeannie walked up to the farm with Meg. ‘Isn’t the weather glorious today?’ Jeannie said as they made their way onto the terrace to join everyone. ‘So much warmer than the UK was yesterday.’
Adam nodded. ‘Thankfully, the last few nights have been warmer, but Météo France are still issuing a frost warning over Sunday night and Monday morning. Downgraded but still a worry.’
‘It does mean, though, that the avocados are likely to escape any damage and hopefully the vines will too,’ Lucy said. ‘Fingers crossed that we get warm sun and blue skies for the weekend, but cloudy nights would be good. The girls will be joining us in a moment. Right now, they’re trying to persuade Elliot to drive them into Cannes after supper.’
‘I’ve given in,’ Elliot said, appearing on the terrace, accompanied by the girls in question. ‘It’s easier than trying to argue with them. So no wine for me this evening.’
‘Honestly, they can wind you round their little fingers,’ Lucy said, handing the glass of rosé intended for him to Debs.
‘As their godfather, I feel duty-bound to be nice to them.’
‘Don’t let them drag you out at midnight. They can get a taxi back. Or Adam will go down for them.’
‘Jeannie, Briony, let me introduce you to Debs and Hannah,’ Lucy said as the girls appeared. ‘And then they can give me a hand with getting dinner on the table.’
Briony found herself on the opposite side of the table to Elliot, who was sitting between the two girls. Taking a sip of her wine, Briony looked over the top of her glass at the three of them. Clearly good friends despite the age difference, she saw a different side to Elliot. A side that she really liked and hoped she would see more of in the future.
35
Briony was up early on Easter Saturday morning to walk Meg to the village for breakfast croissants. She knew that Jeannie planned on taking the dog to the lake later in the morning for her proper walk. Jeannie had coffee ready when she got back and they sat out on the terrace in the early-morning sunshine. Afterwards, Briony changed into a pair of white jeans and a red striped Breton top and headed for the farm.
Lucy had asked her to be there for nine o’clock and charged her with putting the welcome baskets in each gîte and doing a final check that everything was good and ready for guests. The guests for the Cider House were due to arrive around mid-morning. Lucy would welcome them and then Briony would take them across to the gîte. Neither of the guests for both the Stables gîtes had given an arrival time so it was a question of waiting and seeing who arrived first. All the guests were to be invited for an informal aperitif on the farm terrace at six o’clock.
Briony wandered back to the farmhouse kitchen after she’d done the final check and found Lucy busy making small pastry nibbles for the evening get-together.
‘You will come up too, won’t you?’ Lucy said. ‘You’re part of the team now.’
‘Yes, I’ll be here. Can I do anything right now?’
‘You could finish loading the dishwasher for me and start it off,’ Lucy said. ‘While I remember too – can you come up on Tuesday morning about ten o’clock, instead of Thursday? The Cider House guests are only here for a long weekend so we’ll need to strip the beds and everything. The Stables are both empty next Saturday.’
‘That’s fine,’ Briony said. ‘What about…’ She paused as they both heard a car drive onto the yard. ‘Sounds like some guests have arrived.’
Lucy sighed. ‘Can you go? I really need to finish these pastries. Tell them I’ll pop over to see them in about half an hour. Too early for the guests in the Cider House. If it’s the Dunkling family, they are in No.2. Anyone else, No.1.’
Briony left Lucy to her baking and went out to greet the guests.
* * *
Jeannie tidied up the breakfast things once Briony had left and generally pottered about the cottage for an hour. She thought about ringing Yann and inviting him for Easter Sunday lunch before deciding she’d take Meg on a walk through the village and surprise him at home.
Odette called out a cheerful ‘Bonjour’ and several people waved to her as she walked through the village towards Yann’s cottage, a short five-minute walk on the outskirts. Jeannie smiled happily. She was already loving living in France.
As she approached Yann’s house, she smiled as she saw the garden which she knew had always been Yann’s pride and joy. Her smile vanished as she saw a van parked on the small driveway and Yann watching a man hammering a For Sale sign into the flowerbed to the side of the front door.
