Page 71

Chapter 71

September 2011

‘I’m going to France,’ announces Georgia as they are finishing lunch.

‘I assume you’ll be able to look after everything while I’m gone?

’

‘To France?’ Tess cannot keep the surprise from her voice.

‘Yes. Stan asked me to remind you there are lots of blackcurrants which will need to be picked at the allotment.’

‘France is a big place.’

‘I’m going to visit one of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries on the Western Front.

Finlay might be there.

All I really have is the letter from his commanding officer, and that might not be accurate.

He’s listed on the big Memorial to the Missing nearby, but according to their website he doesn’t have a headstone with his name on it.

I want to go and look for myself.

’

‘How long will you be away?’

‘Two weeks; I’m leaving the day after tomorrow and going on a bit of a tour.

Not sure exactly where I’ll end up.

’

It isn’t the first time that Georgia has made sudden decisions and Tess is getting used to expecting the unexpected: getting the kitchen plastered out of the blue, going to an apparently excellent folk concert where the band sang entirely in Welsh, walking up Blackford Hill at dawn for the solstice.

She half expects Georgia to come home one day with bright pink hair, just because she wants to see what it feels like.

‘I’m wondering about taking his medals with me.

What do you think?’

‘You could.’

‘I’m not sure.

’ Georgia spins the inner ring around its brass racetrack on her finger.

‘I don’t know if there is an accepted protocol for these things.

’

‘I expect that whatever you choose to do will be fine.’

‘And there is something else.’ Georgia twists around in her seat and picks a box up from the dresser.

‘I need your opinion about this.’

‘That’s the jewellery box that was locked.

We couldn’t open it.

’

‘Yes, but remember the other box, the one with the key inside that Annie put in the range oven for safekeeping?’

‘Yes.’

‘I found the little key again last night when I was getting my things organised for going away. Look what I found.’ Georgia puts the key into the jewellery box lock and turns it.

The lid springs open.

‘See? It’s another letter.

I’m not sure what to do with it.

’

Tess picks up the envelope.

‘Isn’t this the same handwriting that was on the letter from Beatrice Sidcup?

’

‘I think so. I tried putting them side by side and they look the same to me.’

‘It’s still sealed.

’

‘I know. It’s strange to think she is actually my grandmother.

’

‘What are you going to do with it?’

‘I’m not sure.

It’s addressed to Finlay, and it’s postmarked as the third of July 1916.

I looked in Annie’s diary for that year to see if there are any clues and there’s a list of the dates when he was on leave.

He was here in the house at the end of June, and then he went back to France.

He was posted as missing a few days after that.

’

‘So, if it is from Beatrice Sidcup, she might have hoped it would reach him before he left?’

‘It’s all guesswork.

’

Tess turns the envelope over.

‘I wonder why it’s never been opened.

’ She hands it back.

‘I know. I’ve been trying to work out why that might be.

’ Georgia runs her fingers along the sealed edge.

‘It was in Annie’s jewellery box, so she knew about it, but she didn’t open it either.

I’ve been trying to imagine what I might have done if I’d been in Ursula’s shoes.

If a letter arrived for someone who was missing.

A personal letter for someone I thought of as my son.

Would I open it? And what if I wasn’t totally convinced the person was dead?

Would that make a difference?

’

Tess frowned. ‘You might keep it safe for them, for when they got home?’

‘You can see how that might happen.’

‘What are you going to do with it?’

‘I don’t know.

’ Georgia gets up quickly, as though there are suddenly a hundred things to be done.

Her phone, which is lying on the table, gets caught in her sleeve as she stands and is launched across the room.

It lands with a thud on the corner of the stone hearth and they both watch in horror as the screen smashes.

Georgia is first to speak.

‘Well, that changes things a bit. There won’t be enough time to get it fixed before I leave.

I suppose I’ll just have to print off all my tickets and hotel reservations.

It will be quite like the old days to be going away without being in touch with the world back home. ’