Page 75 of The Little Provence Book Shop

Monique’s deep brown eyes, her hair. That expression when she laughed. The way she touched her cheek when she was thinking. Her mouth, the set of her teeth. Even her skin. But something, too, beyond all of that. Something that might be science or might be magic. A connection that was almost inexplicable.

‘Your daughter…’ she said after a moment. ‘She’s Sophia, isn’t she?’

36

‘I don’t understand,’ Adeline said. ‘How can you know?’

Monique smiled kindly. ‘I know you are afraid of intuition, perhaps of magic. But you looked into my eyes and felt it too. You cannot deny it.’

Adeline opened her mouth to say something about wishful thinking, or imagining or dreaming, but closed it again. ‘But a feeling. It isn’t…’ She wasn’t sure how she felt about Monique’s revelation. Surely it couldn’t be true.

‘Ah, you are worried because it is not science,’ Monique said. She smiled fondly, as if Adeline were a child.

Adeline felt herself stiffen. ‘Well, yes. I mean, science is the only way of really knowing, isn’t it?’ She was trying to keep her voice level. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s true.’

‘Perhaps to some people,’ Monique said, somewhat dismissively.

‘And also, if you do really believe this, why didn’t you come and meet her earlier? Surely you must have been curious?’

Monique’s shoulders slumped. ‘I tried to come, but I could not make myself. I couldn’t say everything I needed to in thatmoment. And it seemed dishonest to just come to see her as a friend of yours when the truth is a little more complex.’

‘Possibly.’ Adeline said carefully. Not wanting to get Monique’s hopes up, but not wanting to break her either. Hope was a fragile thing, a rare thing. ‘But Monique,’ she persisted, ‘you realise what you’re saying is… quite far-fetched. It would make me your granddaughter, Lili your great-granddaughter. Isn’t it a bit…’ she trailed off.

‘A bit what?’ Monique said, tilting her chin slightly. ‘A bit wonderful?’

Adeline couldn’t help but smile. ‘True,’ she said. ‘It would be wonderful. I mean, really,reallywonderful. But it’s so unlikely, Monique. The kind of thing that happens in dreams, perhaps. In books, even. But not in real life. It’s too neat. Too unlikely.’

‘Mais non!’ Monique said. ‘Things like this happen all the time. But people are afraid. They say there is coincidence, or try to find an explanation that they can cope with. But it doesn’t make them any less real. It is not impossible for Sophia to be my daughter.’

Then Adeline reached out a hand, covered Monique’s. ‘You’re right. It’s not impossible. It’s a wonderful thought. And the dates seem to add up. But we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. We mustn’t assume. I mean, the coincidence of my finding your advert alone is just…’ She blew out a puff of incredulous air.

Monique smiled. ‘Perhaps it was not such a coincidence.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Because Adeline, I made it happen. With a charm. I cast a spell for family, an end to loneliness. And then suddenly the phone rings and it is you.’

‘Oh.’

It seemed cruel to unleash any scepticism on Monique rightnow. Cruel to point out the flaws in her logic. Cruel to suggest a DNA test. Instead, Adeline tried to smile.

Monique nodded, her eyes on Adeline’s face. And Adeline could feel that she wanted her to join her in her thinking, to share this sweet but ultimately flawed delusion.

‘I should have taken the chance to see her,’ she said sadly. ‘I think if we could meet, we would both know.’

Adeline couldn’t say it, but she was relieved Monique hadn’t had that chance. Surely it could break the fragile link she’d made with Sophia – scare her off entirely? Surely, too, it could be upsetting for Monique.

‘Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be this time,’ she said softly.

‘Maybe it will still happen. If we wish for it. Sophia will come into my life if it is meant to be.’

‘Maybe.’

‘And I wish it,’ she said.

Almost instantly, Adeline’s phone began to ring.

Sophia. She snatched the phone up, but not before Monique had seen the name flash up on her screen.

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