23
‘ The Hundred and One Dalmatians !’ I say triumphantly, holding up a copy of the book.
We had to search through several boxes of my grandparents’ things before we finally found it.
And now we have, I am ecstatic. I just know this is going to mean something significant.
‘Now we find out if my theory is correct!’
Slowly I open up the cover of the vintage hardback book, but, to my surprise, I don’t find pages of text inside, but a small, flat box.
‘It’s a fake book!’ Adam looks as amazed as I am by what we’re seeing. ‘I’ve heard about these, but I’ve never actually seen a vintage one like this.’
‘I’ve had a few pass through the shop,’ I say. ‘But they tend to be generic leather-bound volumes, used by people to hide important and valuable things. Definitely not children’s books.’
I lift out the plain wooden box, then try to open the lid.
‘It’s locked,’ I say, looking at Adam.
‘Then there really must be something inside that no one else is supposed to see. What sort of a lock is it – not a combination again?’
‘No, it needs a key this time.’
‘Any idea where the key might be?’ Adam asks hopefully.
I think about it for a moment before my face lights up.
‘Yes, as a matter of fact, I do!’ I race back up the stairs and pull open the bottom drawer of my chest of drawers. Then I lift my grandmother’s old jewellery box out from under some winter jumpers. I quickly open the lid to see if what I’m looking for is inside, then I hurry back down the stairs.
‘It’s in here,’ I say, opening up the jewellery box again.
‘My grandmother used to wear a silver key on a chain around her neck. I bet it fits this box.’ I lift a silver chain with a tiny key hanging from it and try it in the lock.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is going to fit and my thoughts are confirmed when we hear a satisfying click.
I lift up the lid of the box to see what’s inside and find a neat stack of three identical envelopes.
‘What do they say?’ Adam asks excitedly as I lift them from the box.
‘The first one is addressed to Sarah,’ I tell him. ‘Do you think that’s my grandmother?’
‘It must be, if it was hidden in here with her things? What about the other two?’
I pause on the first envelope for a moment, before putting it down.
‘The next one says Eve on the front, and the third is addressed to you.’ I show Adam the envelope with his name on. ‘They’re all in different handwriting, though.’
‘Why would there be one addressed to me?’ Adam asks, looking puzzled. ‘Your grandparents didn’t know me, did they?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’ I stare at the three envelopes. ‘Should we read them, do you think?’
‘They are addressed to us.’
‘But which one first? Oh, there’s a tiny number on the back of this one and the other two as well. So there’s clearly an order in which we’re to read them.’
‘There you go, then,’ Adam says. ‘What are you waiting for?’
I hesitate with the first envelope in my hand. It’s the one addressed to Sarah.
‘I don’t know. What if it’s private?’
‘Eve, you must see we’ve clearly been led here to this moment? Someone wanted us to read these letters – otherwise why would they have all been hidden together like this, and two of them addressed to us?’
I nod. ‘You’re right. Of course you’re right.’ Carefully I open the first envelope that has Sarah handwritten on the front in black ink, and I read aloud.
‘ My beautiful Sarah. If you are reading this letter, my darling, then I am not with you any more. Please never think for one moment I did not care for you or love you. I absolutely adored you – you were my whole life and I would have done anything for you.
‘ But I had to put right our mistake. I had to give another mother the chance to love and care for her own child, just as I did mine. It was my fault that the chance was taken from her and I had no choice but to try to right a terrible wrong.
‘ You will grow up not knowing me, only your father. Remember, he is a good man and nothing that has taken place is his fault, so please don’t blame him. The fault lies entirely with me. Sometimes the right thing to do in life is not always the easiest. But I hope by now you understand that.
‘ I wish with all my heart that you have a wonderful life filled with love and happiness, and that one day you can forgive me and know that what I did was the right thing to do, for us all. Your ever-loving mother, Dorothy xx .’
‘It’s from Dotty,’ I say quietly as I stare at the letter.
Suddenly this person, who I’ve only ever heard about from others, or seen black-and-white photos of, is real.
Her words are real. Her love for her daughter is real.
It’s as if she’s here in the room with us, telling us how much she loved her child, and how she didn’t want to leave, but she had to – but why?
‘May I see?’ Adam asks. He prompts me when I don’t reply. ‘Eve?’
‘Sorry, yes, of course,’ I say, passing him the letter.
Adam quickly reads through Dotty’s letter. ‘What’s this bit about giving another mother the chance to love and care for her own child? And righting a terrible wrong?’
‘It sounds like she was trying to put something right – something that she thought she’d caused to happen. I knew she must have gone missing. I knew she hadn’t simply died in some random accident never to be found again. It was all too easy to say that, to make that excuse.’
I can feel myself getting angry now on Dotty’s behalf.
‘I must admit I thought the same thing,’ Adam says. ‘It all sounded a bit dodgy from what you told me. But I didn’t like to say anything. It’s your family.’
‘Yes, it is,’ I say with conviction as I make my mind up about something. ‘And I’m going to find out exactly what happened. I’m going to uncover Dotty’s real story. Instead of all this murkiness surrounding her name, future generations of my family will know exactly what happened to her.’
‘I really admire your determination,’ Adam says. ‘Truly I do. But we’ve still got two more letters to read yet. They might be of more help to us than you charging off on your own personal crusade – as admirable as that is, of course.’
I nod, realising that he’s absolutely right.
‘Why don’t you read the letter addressed to you next?’ Adam says. ‘I wonder who it’s from?’
‘I know who wrote this letter before I even open it,’ I tell him, lifting the second letter up. ‘This is my grandmother’s handwriting.’
Again I carefully prise open the envelope and begin to read out loud.
‘ This letter is for Eve. If you are not Eve, and for some reason this letter has fallen into the wrong hands, then please put it back where you found it, for what I have to say next is of no interest to anyone but Eve Sinclair or Adam Darcy. ’ I look up from the letter at Adam. ‘She did know you … but how?’
‘I’ve a feeling we’re going to find out,’ Adam says. ‘If you keep reading.’
‘ My darling Eve ,’ I continue. ‘ If you have found this box and matched it with the key, then it’s likely what I’m going to tell you next will make some sense.
If, however, you have simply stumbled upon the contents of this copy of The Hundred and One Dalmatians and somehow paired it with the right key, then I suggest you lock the box and wait until the time is right to open this book again. You will know when.
‘ What I’m about to tell you has to be written in a sort of code. A code that, if you’re my Eve, you will easily be able to decipher, of that I have no doubt. ’ I pause to look at Adam again. ‘Not another code …’
Adam looks equally as disheartened by this news.
‘ If everything has gone to plan and you have met Adam, you will by now have many questions. Some of which may have been answered, but I suspect many will not. You may even suspect that your chance meeting with Adam was not chance after all and you would be correct. It was always the plan – you two were always destined to be the ones. ’ I glance at Adam again to see how he’s receiving all this.
‘The ones?’ he asks.
‘Let’s find out,’ I say, looking down at the letter again.
‘ As you know, I grew up without my mother, your great-grandmother.
She disappeared towards the end of the Second World War.
In 1945, my father took me to the USA to be with his family and then later decided to settle back here in Cambridge, the area he was stationed in during the war.
‘ What you do not know is how my mother disappeared. That I cannot tell you here, in case this is read by someone other than yourself and Adam. This is a secret that once you uncover, you can tell no one else – unless you trust them with your life.
‘ What I can tell you now is:
‘ Look out for Venus and Mars – they will guide you to what you need to know.
‘ Ask Freddy to come and visit.
‘ There is someone close who will have many of the answers.
‘ The Romans knew their numbers.
‘ Hide-and-seek, Eve.
‘ Put right the mistakes of others only. You are here to help those that are lost, not yourselves.
‘ Your heart will guide you. When your mind says it’s not possible, trust your feelings.
‘ I’m so sorry I cannot be clearer about any of this. But you will soon come to understand why. And please remember, even though you may feel like it at times, you are never truly on your own. GG xx. ’
I gaze at the letter in my hand. My grandmother died so many years ago that having this letter here in my hand feels like she is right here with me again.
Every word I can hear in her soft, gentle voice.
A voice that was never raised, but was always listened to by everyone.
Because what she said always meant something.
Her words were always worth listening to.
Just like they are now. But what is she trying to tell us and why is everything so secret?
‘Are you all right?’ Adam asks. I carefully place my grandmother’s letter next to Dotty’s on the coffee table in front of me and it feels like I’m reuniting them once more.
‘Yes,’ I say quietly. ‘It’s just so odd hearing them both speak like that.
Obviously I didn’t know Dotty, but that letter sounded just like my grandmother.
’ I touch both letters again as though I’m making sure they’re comfortable – like a mother putting her baby to bed.
And once again I feel the pull not only towards Dotty’s loss, but to my own mother as well, whose touch I haven’t felt for such a long time either, and the strength of feeling and connection I suddenly have to all three of these women is so powerful, it’s almost frightening.
‘It was definitely written by your grandmother – you’re sure of it?’
Adam’s voice breaks my spell. But I’m not annoyed – I’m simply grateful to have him here with me as I discover all this. ‘Yes, it’s definitely her handwriting,’ I tell him. ‘I always called her GG – it was a nickname. I couldn’t say her name properly when I was small so I called her GG instead.’
‘I can see that reading those letters have really affected you,’ Adam says. ‘Do you want to go on?’
‘Of course I do. This has made me even more determined to find out what’s going on here – I owe it to all the women in my family. Plus, we still have your letter to read.’
Adam lifts the third envelope from the box. ‘It’s incredible how certain people were that we’d meet one day,’ he says as he looks at his name written on the front.
‘I know. That would be strange enough on its own, but it’s only one of so many odd things happening to us.’
Adam opens his envelope and begins to read aloud.
‘ Adam, it’s your grandfather here .’ Adam smiles. ‘This already sounds like him. He was always to the point.
‘ When you read this, I will likely be dead. Don’t spend time mourning me, dear boy. You have far more pressing things to attend to.
‘ If you haven’t done so already, make sure you give plenty of time to a young lady called Eve.
She will be performing my house clearance if all goes to plan.
Eve is very important to what happens next.
’ Adam glances at me. ‘None of these letters have dates on them. I wonder when they were written?’
‘Go on,’ I say.
‘ If you are reading this letter, you will likely also have discovered the special books from my bookshelves, and, if Gerald plays his part correctly, now be in possession of the bookshop too. He knew?’ Adam looks shocked.
‘So much for my own free will. It seems I was always destined to have the bookshop!
‘ The bookshop will do more for you than touring around with those popular music bands ever did. And if she’s anything like her grandmother, so will Eve. ’
Adam glances at me and I feel my cheeks begin to flush.
‘ You both had to be told, but in a way that no one else would understand. So my apologies for all the puzzles and clues, but hopefully this will allow you to discover the truth without others finding out.
‘ Sarah helped me concoct this whole plan. She was definitely the brains of the whole thing. Without her to help me, I’d have been quite lost. Both Lily and Bill were unaware of what was going on, and when I say going on, I don’t mean any funny business, you understand – I mean in terms of the plan. Bill?’ Adam asks.
‘He was my grandfather. Was Lily your grandmother – George’s wife?’
Adam nods. ‘ I believe Sarah will give you the rest of the clues you both need to succeed. So it’s just for me to wish you both the very best of luck.
I never said this when I was alive, Adam.
But I was and still am very proud of you.
Warmest wishes, your grandfather, George .
P.S. Always remember the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. ’
‘Are you all right?’ I ask as Adam continues to stare at the letter.
He looks up and I notice his eyes look a little misty. ‘No one ever said they were proud of me before. I mean, maybe my mother, but I can’t really remember now.’
I squeeze his hand. ‘Your grandfather was obviously very proud. He seems to be entrusting something quite important to you.’
‘To both of us, it would seem. But what is that something?’