Page 55 of A French Inheritance
Elliot had chosen a path that circled back to the car park. After giving the dogs a drink of water, they were happy to jump back in and lay down in the back of the car.
Making their way into the medieval Notre-Dame de la Garoupe chapel, Briony gazed around the walls with their seafaring decorations.
‘Fishermen since the Middle Ages have come up here and prayed for safety at sea,’ Elliot whispered in her ear. ‘And to offer thanks and gifts for safe sailing after storms.’
‘I feel I’d like to light a candle for Doug and also one for Granny,’ Briony said, making her way over to the candles. Elliot joined her and together they lit candles and placed them carefully side by side on the table, before turning and leaving the chapel hand in hand.
* * *
Yann was more than happy to be Jeannie’s driver and helper in the hunt for finding suitable plants for both the brocante and Owls Nest garden. ‘We take a day out and go to the large garden centre the other side of Nice,’ he said.
It was mid-afternoon before they arrived back and, after stopping briefly at Owls Nest to unload two buddleia plants, a white rose and a large bougainvillaea, they carried on up to the farm. Yann parked the Kangoo in front of the unit and began to unload the rest of their purchases: half a dozen bags of compost, pots of geraniums, cosmos, petunias, pansies.
Adam appeared not long after they’d started and gave them a hand to empty the car. ‘You have an awful lot of plants here,’ he said. ‘Where on earth are they all going to go.’
‘Mostly into the handcart or the bicycle basket and some of the geraniums will go down to the cottage,’ Jeannie replied. ‘Which reminds me. Those agapanthus you have, I’d like to buy those too. You need to do something about thepèpiniéreby the way and we have an idea.’
‘Okay. I think you’d better come up to the farm and tell me your idea for thepèpiniéreover a cup of tea,’ Adam said.
41
On the morning of 1 May, Briony took Meg for her usual morning walk down to the lake and found a bunch of muguets lying on the bench. She smiled as she picked them up and inhaled their sweet smell. There had been a small bed of these lily of the valley flowers in the garden in England, planted, her mum had always said, to remind her of the first time she’d been gifted a bunch. ‘I’d never heard of the tradition of giving them as a token of love and appreciation before.’ Briefly, Briony found herself wondering – was this traditional gift saying anything about the way Elliot felt about her?
There was a card with the flowers and Briony smiled as she read the message.
Have supper with me tonight? Eight o’clock. Xx
Walking back to the cottage, Briony’s thoughts were filled with Elliot and the way she felt about him.
Jeannie glanced at the flowers in Briony’s hand when she walked into the kitchen. ‘Elliot?’ she said.
Briony nodded.
Jeannie smiled as she pointed to the vase on the kitchen table filled with the small white bell-like flowers.
‘Yann?’ Briony asked.
‘Yes, they were by the front door this morning.’ Jeannie looked at her daughter. ‘He was the first person to ever give me these flowers years ago,’ she said quietly.
Briony, putting her own bunch in a vase, stopped and looked at her mum. ‘I always thought it was Dad who gave you the first bunch, but it wasn’t was it? You planted that patch of lily of the valley at home to remind you of Yann – how he felt about you all those years ago.’
Jeannie nodded. ‘I’ve always been very fond of Yann, but I didn’t realise just how fond of me he was when we were young – until it was too late to do anything about it.’
Briony was thoughtful as she placed her vase of muguets next to her mum’s on the kitchen table. Were they both being given a second chance for love here in France? Her mum with Yann, years after they first met and herself with Elliot. Elliot, the new man in her life who was so lovely and so different to her ex-husband.
* * *
Jeannie had invited Yann to have supper with her that evening and he arrived as Briony left to walk up to Elliot’s. ‘See you later,’ she called out. ‘Enjoy your evening.’
Luna gave an excited bark as Briony knocked on the door and Elliot called out, ‘Come on in. I’m out in the courtyard.’
‘This is lovely,’ Briony said, looking around the yard with its palm tree in a pot and a pale pink bougainvillea spreading itself out along the back wall of the cottage. ‘Love your aftershave,’ she said as Elliot leant in to give her a welcoming kiss. ‘Dinner smelt delicious as I came through the kitchen.’
Elliot looked guilty. ‘It’s confession time. I bribed Lucy to make one of her wonderful fish pies. I could have made you cheese on toast, but I thought Lucy would get a kick out of knowing you were dining here tonight.’
‘Thanks a bunch,’ Briony said, laughing. ‘Lucy will be asking lots of questions next time I see her, I already know what she’s like as far as you’re concerned.’
‘She just wants me to be happy,’ Elliot said in a silly voice. ‘And right now,’ he added in his normal voice, ‘I am.’
