Page 20 of The Little Provence Book Shop
‘Do you know what it was about?’
‘Yes. My mother tells me it was something to do with a baby.’
Adeline lifted her head. ‘A baby?’
‘Yes. My mother told me Monique had a baby. She was very young and it was quite a scandal at the time. And of course, Monique’s mother was horrified. She wouldn’t let her keep the baby, and Monique could not forgive her.’
‘Oh.’ Adeline felt a question rise up in her that she couldn’t silence. ‘Michel, how long ago was this? When she gave her baby up?’
Michel shrugged, not realising the importance of his answer. ‘Perhaps forty years, or more. Before I was born, for sure.’
Adeline felt whatever had welled inside her snap; a strange cocktail of disappointment and relief washed over her. She thought then of Lili. She’d been in her mid-twenties when her daughter had been born, so it hadn’t been a scandalous age. But she had been single. At least once she’d told Colin she was pregnant. She tried to imagine how it would have been if she’d been forced to give Lili up. But her mother would never have done that to her. Mum had been with her from her first contraction to the final push.
‘Yes. It was the times, I think. Her mother… her mother regretted it later. But it was too late. It was done,’ Michel continued, seemingly oblivious.
They were silent for a moment. Adeline feeling a surprise of tears prick at her eyes. ‘And she came here because of that?’
‘I think so. She went to a few different places. She was a bit lost, I think. Then here. She said it felt like home.’
‘I can understand that. It’s a nice place.’
‘Oui. Although not much happens here. Except where Monique is involved.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’ His coffee arrived and he thanked Marcel, the server, and began to stir sugar into the tiny cup. ‘Monique always seems to be where the adventures are.’
There were two people at the counter now. Adeline recognised one as André, his back to her. She felt herself stiffen. He looked around, almost as if he could sense her gaze, his eyes meeting hers then moving away as if something beyond, through the window, had caught his eye. Should she get up? Take the opportunity to apologise? She felt rooted to the spot; embarrassed that she’d left it so long, not sure how to bring it up.
‘And you?’ Michel asked, after a pause.
‘Me?’
‘Yes. What brings you to St Vianne?’
‘Oh.’ She felt suddenly shy. ‘Well, it was chance really,’ she said. ‘I… well, I had a falling out, with family. And I’d been working as a teacher for so many years. I’d had enough. I’d got a bit of inheritance. It was as if everything came together at once.’
‘But France? And here? In this tiny place?’
She smiled. ‘Well, why not? I got my degree in French, and I was teaching the subject to bored teenagers. I’d kind of lost my way, my love of language. My school realised it didn’t need sucha big French department.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘Someone was going to be made redundant. I volunteered. I was caring for my mum – both me and Kevin, my brother, were living with her by the end so that someone would always be there. Nights were terrible and I was exhausted. And I had a little saved. It seemed right.’
He nodded. ‘That was brave.’
‘It didn’t feel brave,’ she said simply. ‘Just… as if it were something that was right at the time. Then Mum… well she died before I’d even finished my contract. More quickly than they expected at the end. And I had all this time on my hands and absolutely nothing to do.’
Michel nodded quietly. ‘I am sorry to hear about your mother. It must have been very hard.’
She nodded. ‘Very. But then I found something. A family connection to this area. It seemed almost as if fate were propelling me.’ She stopped, surprised at her own words. ‘Not that I really… I don’t believe in things like that.’
‘At least you chose to come here,’ he said, clearly trying to inject some positivity back into the conversation. ‘It is a friendly place – welcoming.’
‘Most of the time,’ she said. ‘One or two people seemed less than thrilled at first.’
‘C’est vrai?’ Michel raised an eyebrow.
‘Yes. I think some – well, not everyone likes newcomers,’ she shrugged.
Michel was watching André now, as he opened the door and exited into the sunlight, giving Michel a nod but avoiding Adeline’s eye. ‘And him? He is one of these people who don’t like newcomers?’ he asked, noting how Adeline studiously stirred her coffee during the brief encounter.
