‘Of course. I secretly planned to keep in touch with him by letter until I was old enough to come back and join him. I wrote a couple of letters but told him to reply to a friend’s address so that mum wouldn’t know. The last letter I wrote to him was a long one telling him how much I missed and loved him. That letter came back to our normal address, not the one I’d been secretly using. It had been opened and resealed, and marked Gone Away. Return to Sender. Mum saw the French stamp and was livid with me that day,’ Belinda said reflectively. ‘I was miserable and unhappy that Dad was rejecting my… Oh, it was her, wasn’t it, Helena? Not Dad who returned the letter.’

Belinda could feel tears threatening and bit back on the names she wanted to call Helena but wouldn’t in Anouk’s presence.

Anouk gave her a sad smile. ‘I think you could assume that.’

Belinda sat for several moments thinking about things and realised there was another question she needed to ask.

‘He’s still alive, you know.’ Anouk’s quiet voice broke into her thoughts.

‘What?’ Belinda stared at her.

‘I rang a couple of people when Fern told me of your connection to Enzo to try and get some up-to-date information for you. While Helena has lived in the cottage permanently for a number of years, Enzo has been living down on the Morbihan coast. Recently though he moved back into the cottage.’ Anouk hesitated. ‘He’s not well and Helena has taken on the task of nursing him.’

‘Do you know what’s wrong with him?’ Belinda’s voice trembled as she asked the question.

‘No, but there’s talk of moving him to a hospice in the not too distant future.’

Belinda took a drink of wine. This was all too much to take in – the burning question though was, should she go and see him? And importantly did she want to? He’d not been in contact with her for over thirty years so he probably wouldn’t care one way or the other. But maybe seeing him in the flesh again would help her come to terms with the way he’d abandoned her.

Anouk stood up and reached for her stick. ‘Belinda my dear, I do ’ope you’ll forgive me if I go to bed now. The news this evening will have come as a shock to you and I know I’ve given you a lot to think about. But it’s important to remember two things. The past has gone and you can’t change anything about it. It’s the future you need to pay attention to and nurture with a kind heart.’