Chapter 13
The storm abated with less of the drama of its arrival but with almost the same speed, leaving a remarkably clear sky, sprinkled with stars, in its wake and a sea that was calm enough to reflect a ribbon of light from the rising moon.
It was time for Natalia and Henri to get changed and into the limousine that was waiting outside the guarded gates of the Villa Céleste to whisk them to airport.
There was no reason that their flight would not be able to take off on time.
The guests drifted away soon after that and Henri’s mother and sister decided to go into Nice for a late dinner.
The caterer cleaned up the kitchen, Tilly drove off with the large van they used on occasions like this after it had been loaded with the broken archway and all the chairs that would go back to their storage facility.
Sophie would be the last person to go. It was her responsibility to leave the venue as close to how they’d found it as possible.
There was no reason for Luc to have stayed this long but he’d been very helpful, carrying crates for the caterers and stacking chairs into the van.
He was sweeping the ruined petals from the flagstones of the terrace when Sophie went outside.
‘You don’t need to do that,’ she told him. ‘The gardeners will be clearing up all the storm damage tomorrow.’
Luc propped the broom against a wall. ‘I was waiting for you to finish.’
Sophie’s heart skipped a beat. All she could think of was the way Luc had been looking at her as she’d struggled to hide the shock of learning that her necklace had been lost.
The same way he was looking at her now?
As if he not only understood how much it hurt but that he cared in a way that words would never be enough to capture.
‘I thought…’ Luc’s face twisted a little.
‘…that maybe you’d like to go down to the beach.
I know it’s a long shot but those rocks are so jagged – it’s not impossible that a chain could be caught on them and a diamond’s going to reflect light.
’ He slid his phone out of his pocket, touching an app on the screen to activate a bright beam of light.
Sophie’s heart was melting. He knew exactly how much that necklace had meant to her and he was offering to help. But what about what he had lost? She knew just how precious that camera had been to him.
She’d had this sensation of a bond forming between herself and Luc once before.
During that silly ‘Ding Ding’ game that had started with the biblical adage that money was the root of all evil.
When they’d exchanged a look that acknowledged they were both outside the golden bubble that the Baxter wealth had created for their best friends.
And that made this feel… as if time was being rewound. That an opportunity for a new beginning was being created?
Sophie’s heart might have sped up after missing that beat but her breath was catching somewhere deep in her chest.
This also felt like it was stirring embers of a fire that she had been so sure could only ever be glowing on her side.
She’d felt that heat in the gardens of the Chateau de la Chèvre d’Or, but she had doused it with the cold hard realisation that Luc was only helping her because it was what Tom would have wanted him to do.
That any heat on his side of the fire had long since been extinguished by the icy hatred that she – and Hannah – had hurled at him.
Swallowing hard before she responded to Luc’s suggestion was more than enough time for the riff of emotions to float past and settle somewhere out of sight.
‘Maybe we can find your camera, too,’ she said softly.
One eyebrow rose, as if Luc was surprised to learn that she’d noticed the loss of the camera, but he didn’t say anything. He turned towards the steps, using his torch to illuminate the path and, silently, Sophie followed him.
* * *
For a while, as they scrambled over the rocks and shone the beam of torchlight into crevasses and tiny pools of trapped sea water, it felt hopeful.
As if they could conjure up a miracle simply because they believed it could happen and they would see the kind of sparkle that could only be reflected by the facets of a beautifully cut diamond.
They used the photo on Luc’s camera to zone in on exactly where Henri and Natalia had been standing, kissing, when the fork of lightning split the sky, but who knew when the chain of the necklace had broken and how far it could have been flung if it had been caught on fingers in the frantic struggle to free the wedding dress and scramble out of harm’s way?
‘I’m sorry,’ Luc said, eventually. Reluctantly. ‘I don’t think we’re going to find it. Maybe we can come back in the daylight?’
‘It’s one tiny stone,’ Sophie said. ‘And there must be a million places it could be hiding on this beach.’ She let her breath out in a resigned sigh. ‘Perhaps it’s a reminder that it’s not a good idea to cling to the past.’
Luc wanted to tell her that holding on to precious memories was not a bad thing. That he could remember every moment of being with Tom when he chose that necklace.
‘Do you think she’d like this one?’
‘Why wouldn’t she?’
‘It’s a love heart. Isn’t that a bit cheesy?’
‘Not when it’s a symbol of exactly how you feel about someone.’
‘I’m sorry, too,’ Sophie said softly. ‘I know how important that old camera was to you. It’s hard to remember a time when you didn’t have it slung over your shoulder.’
‘Yeah… it was special.’ Luc’s voice caught. ‘But it’s still just a thing. It’s people that matter, not things.’ He drew in a sharp breath. ‘Come on… Let’s go.’
Without thinking, he held out his hand to help Sophie off the rock she was standing on beside him.
He hadn’t expected her to take it, but what he’d expected even less than that was how it would feel to have her skin touching his.
Really touching it. Not an accidental brush but a handhold, her fingers wrapped around his, putting enough weight into the hold for it to advertise her trust that he would prevent her from losing her balance. That she was trusting him.
Mon Dieu… It felt like she was holding his heart.
By tacit agreement they let go of each other’s hand as soon as they reached the handrail beside the steps.
It felt like another unspoken suggestion that they both paused on the upper terrace to look out to sea.
The moon was up far enough for its light to be a wide, silver streak on the inky water, rippled at its edges, pointing straight to where Luc and Sophie were standing.
For a long moment, they stood there in silence, both holding on to the rail. If Luc moved his little finger, he could probably make contact with Sophie’s hand, but he didn’t. He didn’t need to. He could still remember exactly what it felt like to have her hand touching his.
It was Sophie who broke the silence.
‘What was it about that camera that was so special?’ she asked quietly. ‘It was really old, wasn’t it? The sort you put rolls of film into?’
‘It was a 1962 Leica M3. I first saw it in the window of our local pawn shop when I was thirteen years old. I walked past it every day on the way to and from school and I really, really wanted it but it had a price tag of four hundred pounds. It might as well have been four thousand pounds to anyone from Camberwell Towers. Totally pie in the sky.’
He could feel how intently Sophie was listening to him. ‘So how did you get to own it?’
‘On my way home from school, I’d stop for a minute and just stare at it. It sat there, month after month, gathering dust but suddenly, after about a year, it was gone.’
‘Oh, no!’
‘I was gutted. Someone had bought my camera. I actually stood there, trying not to cry and the guy who ran the shop came out and wanted to know what my problem was and I just shrugged and said I’d known all along that someone else would buy that camera before I’d saved up enough.
He said it hadn’t been sold, he’d just decided to put something else in the window.
And then he looked at me and asked if I’d like a job after school so I could save up a bit faster.
He said he’d put the camera aside and, if I worked hard enough, he might even knock something off the price. ’
‘Did he?’
‘Yeah. After a year of hard work on my part. But there I was, holding my dream. It felt like a key. I didn’t know what for but that’s how exciting it was.
It was going to take me somewhere new. Somewhere a hell of a lot better than where I was.
’ Luc had to stop and take a slow breath.
‘That was how I met Tom. I’d taken the camera out to try and get some cool shots of graffiti and there he was, under a bridge, doing a drug deal with the dodgiest guy I knew from one of the gangs on the estate.
I took a photo of him but when he came at me he must have seen that I was prepared to fight to the death to save my camera and he cleared off. ’
He let his breath out in a huff. ‘I didn’t realise it at the time but it had been a key, that camera.
My friendship with Tom changed my life. He was what mattered, not the bloody camera, and I guess that’s why I’ve carried it ever since.
It’s also why I’ve bought a total money pit of a house in London that’s going to be the place other kids like me might be able to find their own keys.
A refuge for the kids who aren’t lucky enough to find a camera. Or someone like Tom.’
He’d never talked to anyone like this. Ever. He’d opened the door to a very private space and now that he had, the words continued to tumble out.