Page 46 of The Little Island Flower Stall
The evening was still and calm, and the sun was already setting by the time she’d reached their rendezvous, casting a bronzed light over the sea. Gulls criss-crossed the sky, swooping and circling. Bella tried not to laugh as one of them dove towards a man eating a hotdog and snatched it clean away. She’d seen it happen many times before – not least the day she’d met Rory – but it would never not be funny. There were a few brave families still on the beach, wrapped in fleeces and blankets as they did their best to squeeze every last drop out of their day, but most had gone – back to hotels and guesthouses or else in cars to return to the ferry and home.
Bella checked her watch. She was a few minutes late, but she needn’t have worried because Rory was nowhere to be seen either.
Ten minutes later, she saw him hurrying towards her. He was breathless as he caught up with her, but Bella soon realised it wasn’t from his jog over.
‘Sorry I’m late! I have news!’
‘Don’t worry, I was a bit late myself. Is everything all right? Is it good news?’
‘My DNA results came back.’
Bella gestured to ask whether he wanted to walk and he nodded. ‘Your DNA? That was quick. There was something unexpected in it?’
‘Yes.’ He paused, almost as if he was building the suspense for her. ‘All the usual stuff I knew about and then a surprise bonus. A strand from western Europe. And you know I thought it was going to be Polish?’
‘Because of the newspaper clipping you found with your grandad’s things?’
‘Yes. It’s not Polish, though. You’ll never guess where it’s from.’ Bella opened her mouth to reply but his excitement didn’t give her time. ‘It’s German!’ He grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets as he strode beside her.
‘German?’
‘I know!’
‘Does that mean…?’
‘I have no clue! But it’s a development, right?’
‘And nobody in your family –I mean, the family you know of – is German? Oh, this family stuff is so confusing. Let me think…It’s from the right side of the family to mean something? Because it’s your grandad who was adopted?’
‘Got it.’ He nodded as he kept pace with her. ‘Honestly, I find it just as confusing sometimes.’
‘Right, so nobody there has German roots?’ she asked.
‘Nope. At least, not that they’re aware of. I mean, as far as everyone knows, there’s no German in my mum or dad’s side.But that’s just it – as far asanyone knows. And as we all know, my dad’s side is where the adoption is, where Violette Le Saux fits in! So it has to be that, right?’
Bella’s mouth fell open as she pieced together the information. There was only one conclusion she could draw, even though it seemed so unlikely. ‘Violette had an affair with a German soldier?’
‘Who knows? But it’s a possibility, right?’
Bella paused, turning it over in her mind. He seemed so excited by his breakthrough, and she could see why, but another possibility occurred to her, one that wasn’t quite so nice or exciting. It clearly hadn’t crossed his mind that Violette might not have had a choice in her liaison with this soldier. Since at this stage there was no way to be sure of what had happened, she decided not to raise the possibility.
‘What’s next? How do you go about confirming any of this?’
‘More records, for a start. I’m not sure where I can go for them, but I have the number of a local historian so I’m hoping he can help. I could do with finding out which soldiers were posted here and when – that might narrow it down a bit.’
‘It would have to narrow it down a lot – there must have been hundreds. What about newspaper reports? Would that help?’
‘It’s difficult to know what there was – remember there was an information blackout. People couldn’t even own radios to get news from the mainland, so I doubt there would have been a legitimate newspaper running. But there might be underground stuff. I suppose there might be stories that were printed after the war.’
‘Like the clipping in your grandad’s stuff?’
‘Yes. I must admit I’m stumped; I don’t have a clue how that fits in now.’
‘But it must be connected somehow – you said it was something to do with one of the forced workers who were kepthere. That’s why we went to the tunnel museum, right? So where did that come from? Would it give you a clue?’
‘I think that’s from an article written after the war. Ithasto be connected somehow – otherwise, why would Grandad have kept it? I need to do some digging. I don’t suppose…’ He paused. ‘Does this change anything? For you, I mean?’
‘You mean do I still want to help you dig? Yes, I’m happy to keep going…’
