You’re not one of those mistakes though, little one. You’re going to be the most beautiful creature that’s ever come into this world.
‘Evelina!’ Antoine called out to her as she walked away.
He could call her all he liked, but she wasn’t going back.
London felt like the right place to go, both for her reputation and her sanity. She needed to be in a city, to keep her dream alive even if she wasn’t in Paris, and it also seemed like somewhere she could establish herself if she chose not to returnto France. She doubted the war would go on for long, but she needed to find somewhere safe to live, so she could begin designing after the baby had arrived.
Because she intended on keeping her baby, no matter how tough things became.
Evelina walked with her hand resting gently on her stomach.We don’t need him. We never have, and we never will.
24
PRESENT DAY
Blake sat with Céline and Henri outside, overlooking the magnificent grounds of their chateau. The sun shone brightly, although they were tucked beneath a pergola thick with a leafy-green vine to stay cool, and despite how much she’d enjoyed Provins, she was grateful to be back. She also couldn’t believe how quickly their weekend was turning into a week, although she wasn’t about to complain.
‘I feel as though I’ve discovered so much over the past few days, but also somehow nothing at all,’ Blake said. ‘I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s as if I have even more questions now than I had before we started. I just wish that there was someone who could give me the answers I need, that I could just piece together how she came to leave my grandmother. But I’m starting to realise that I probably never will.’
‘Well, perhaps this might help,’ Céline said. ‘It won’t give you the answers you’re searching for, but it does give you another connection to the past. Something to cherish as part of your heritage.’
Céline reached beneath her chair and presented Blake with a box. Blake glanced at Henri, but he seemed none the wiser.
‘Open it,’ Céline urged, her smile telling Blake that it was something she’d like. ‘I’ve been waiting to see your face since it arrived this morning.’
Blake untied the string around the box and opened the lid, finding a dress nestled in tissue paper. When she lifted it, there was a faint musty smell, as if the garment had been in storage for many years.
‘This is one of the dresses designed by your great-grandmother,’ Céline said. ‘I made some calls as soon as you told me about Evelina, on the very first day you and Henri arrived, and after exhausting my contacts, I was able to find this in the archives of an acquaintance. The best thing about my previous job is that there are designers all over France who owe me a favour, and I’m always more than happy to call one in, for the right reasons.’
Blake shook her head in wonder as she parted the tissue paper and carefully took the dress out, holding the soft fabric in her hands. ‘I can’t believe you found this. It’s exquisite.’ A little part of her felt disappointed that it wasn’t the dress from the sketch, even though it would have been almost impossible for Céline to find the exact one from the clue. This dress was similar in style, but made from silk and with a higher neckline, but when she stood to hold it out properly, against her own frame, she could see how feminine the silhouette was.
‘From what I understand, this was from the collection she produced at the height of her career, which makes it very special. I thought that having one of her pieces might bring you some degree of closure,’ Céline said. ‘Apparently, it was originally purchased from the department store Les Galeries Renaud that, from what I confirmed today, was the exclusive stockists of Evelina’s designs, at least in the earlier years.’
‘Thank you, Céline. This truly means the world to me.’ Blake couldn’t believe it. ‘I don’t know how I can ever thank you.’
Céline waved her hand. ‘I didn’t uncover much more than you already know, and after all these years things can become exaggerated, of course. But when I pressed to find out what had happened to Evelina, or who she was connected with, it seemed as if she simply left Paris one day and vanished into thin air.’
‘Which I suppose ties in with her returning to Provins so unexpectedly after all that time,’ Henri said. ‘It sounded very much as if she suddenly came back after many years of not being seen in the area.’
‘Or could it be that she disappeared from Paris to have her baby?’ Blake said. ‘My grandmother?’
‘I was also sent this,’ Céline said. ‘It’s a copy of a letter that the Renaud family had kept on file. It seems that Antoine Renaud was fastidious at keeping records.’
‘What is it?’ Blake asked as she reached for it, her eyes immediately scanning the page. She looked up and saw that both Henri and Céline were watching, as if waiting for her to read it out loud. ‘It’s dated September 1939, which if I’m not mistaken is the month the war began.’
‘Read it to us,’ Henri said.
‘It is with great sadness that I share my decision to set down my pencil now that war has been announced. I cannot possibly continue to design extravagant dresses during a time of such upheaval…’ As Blake continued to read the letter aloud, her heart sank, thinking about how difficult this decision must have been for Evelina.
‘It sounds to me as if she left Paris twice then,’ Henri said. ‘Once to have your grandmother, using the war as an excuse when many other designers would have stepped away from their work anyway, and again soon after the war, perhaps?’
‘I agree. But it is strange that she wasn’t deeply connected to others in the fashion world at that time, that someone wasn’t aware of what happened to her after she left Paris for the secondtime,’ Céline said. ‘It seems as if she arrived in the city as an unknown, and left Paris in much the same way. She was the name on everyone’s lips for a short time, and then, suddenly, she wasn’t. It is a fickle industry, though, so perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised.’
‘Well, thank you for this. I still can’t believe you were able to source it, or that anyone had even held on to something from her collection. I will treasure this forever, and I know my sister will love it, too.’
‘It was my pleasure, Blake, but there is actually something you could do for me.’
Blake looked up, still holding the dress, the box resting on her lap as she waited for Céline to continue.
