I’ve been a fool many times before, but I’m not going to be one this time.
‘Antoine,’ she said, her voice low, her anger simmering below the surface.
He looked like a puppy, wide-eyed and hopeful to be picked up for a cuddle. Only in this case, it was a man desperate to be welcomed into her bed. He raised his eyebrows in question.
‘I would like you to leave.’
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then thought better of it and turned on his heel, and when he finally walked out of the door, she slid to the floor, her emotion bubbling to the surface. Tears poured from her eyes, her cries like ugly hiccups as she gasped for air. Evelina fell onto her side and curled into a ball as she sobbed, as the pain of rejection clung to her skin and curdled in her stomach.
The pain was overwhelming, and the only thing that could have eased the deep ache inside of her would have been for Antoine to walk back through the door and scoop her up, to cradle her in his arms as he whispered into her ear that he loved her, that he’d take care of her and the baby.
But Antoine never came back. Not that night, not the next day, and not even the day after that.
20
PRESENT DAY
Blake sat cross-legged on the bed and eagerly took another slice of cheese and fresh bread from Henri. They’d bought what they needed for the evening at a quaint little market after viewing the rose gardens, and now they were happily tucked up in their room, drinking rosé from water glasses to wash down their food.
It was the most unlikely setting for a romantic night, but in Blake’s mind, it couldn’t have been more perfect.
‘How do you feel?’ Henri asked. ‘Can you be content with what you’ve discovered? If this is it?’
She considered her answer. ‘I think so. I mean, I’ll always have questions about how she ended up in London, who the father was, why she was alone, all those things. But on the other hand, what I was most interested in was finding out who Evelina was.’
‘You have enough for the articles you’re writing?’
‘I do. I think, even though so much is left unknown, that there’s enough for me to turn it into something special, especially as I do more research about her designs.’
Henri held up the bottle of wine and she nodded, holding out her glass. They were going back to his family’s chateau in the morning, deciding to enjoy a few more days there beforereturning to Paris, and she was grateful to have some more time with him.
‘But there’s something I keep coming back to, even though I’m sure it’s nothing.’
‘What is it?’ he asked, as he sipped his wine.
‘There are so many clues that point towards this shop, Les Galeries Renaud,’ she said, reaching for her phone as she spoke. ‘If I hadn’t found out so much about Evelina today, I almost feel as if that’s where I would have ended up looking for clues.’
Blake opened Google on her phone and typed in Les Galeries Renaud.
‘It’s understandable that you’re curious, but I would imagine the name keeps coming up because it was the only true department store in Paris then. It would have been the primary destination for designer clothes.’
‘And perfumes?’ Blake asked.
‘And perfumes,’ Henri agreed.
‘This is the man your mother mentioned, Antoine Renaud,’ she said, holding out the phone for Henri to see.
‘Yes, that’s him. He began with a very successful business, but he was the one who truly turned it from a family business into an empire.’
Blake held the phone closer to her eyes, staring at Antoine Renaud. She even enlarged the picture, feeling the oddest connection to him, but she couldn’t tell if it was real or her mind wanting to see something. After everything they’d learnt today, perhaps she was just desperate to piece the rest of the puzzle together.
‘You don’t think he could have been involved with my great-grandmother, do you?’ she asked, tracing her fingers over his photo and imagining that he could be the last part of her mystery that needed to be solved.
Henri shrugged. ‘He was married well before your great-grandmother would have given birth to your grandmother, and he had a family of his own. It would be, how should I say, difficult to ask the question if you went searching.’
‘You’re right,’ Blake said, throwing her phone down on the bed. ‘I just keep wondering if I’ve looked hard enough. If there’s not something I’ve missed.’
‘I think you’ve discovered what your great-grandmother wanted you to discover,’ Henri said, leaning forward and pressing a slow, lingering kiss to her mouth. ‘You know who she is and what she achieved, and surely that’s the most important thing of all? She left those clues to lead your grandmother to her, not to anyone else, and that’s exactly where they led you.’
