My Name is Eva An absolutely gripping and emotional historical novel - Suzanne Goldring Page 0,10

one hidden in a drawer in her room and she kisses it every night before she goes to sleep, whispering ‘Gute Nacht, liebchen,’ after she’s kissed the framed photograph of her young husband, Hugh.

‘And look at this one,’ says Pat. ‘This is you as well, isn’t it? In uniform? I say, don’t you look smart?’

Evelyn accepts the photo from her niece. Her young self smiles back at her, confident with red lipstick and curled hair. ‘That wasn’t my regulation uniform. I had a suit tailored for me in Savile Row. Not to wear when I was on duty, mind you, but just for when I was going out to dinner. The uniform they issued was simply ghastly, especially the horrible thick brown stockings.’

‘Well, you’ve always liked to look smart, Aunt. Oh, and look, here’s another one. It’s a group of you and you’re all in uniform. That’s you again, isn’t it?’ She points to the young woman in the picture. Her hair is tucked under her cap and she stares uncertainly at the camera. ‘And who are the other people with you?’ She turns it over. ‘There’s nothing written on the back.’

Evelyn studies the photograph. She hasn’t seen it for many years. She must have enclosed a copy when she wrote home to Mama. Her letters were frequent at first, before everything happened. Two men and two women in formal poses, barely smiling, all in uniform, shoulders back, stiff arms by their sides, standing in front of the doors to a large building. Eva, Colonel Robinson and two others. Would anyone recognise him from this picture? He barely changed over the years. It’s very like the image issued when he went missing, thirty years later. But who would remember now that she had known him once?

‘Where was that photograph taken?’ Pat is still rifling through the remaining snaps in the tin.

‘Out in Germany, I think. Just after the end of the war.’

‘You’ve never told me anything about what you were doing out there. It must have been pretty awful, so soon after the war was all over.’

‘I don’t think I did anything very important, dear. I was the lowest of the low.’ Don’t say too much, Evelyn. Don’t let her think you remember.

‘It must have been terrible, though. You must have seen and heard some dreadful stories.’

Oh, I did dear, but I can’t tell you. Evelyn shakes her head as if lost in thought and mutters, ‘I don’t really remember much. I know it was a sad time.’

‘Mum never talked about it very much. I know she lost her first husband when she was young. Only twenty-two, she said, and then she married Dad, your brother Charles. Poor Mum. She didn’t have him very long either, just long enough to have me.’ Pat stares at the picture of the uniformed group again, as if trying to imagine the post-war chaos of that time. ‘Can you remember who these other people are?’

‘Oh dear, it’s all such a long time ago.’ Evelyn closes her eyes as if she is tired of trying to search her memory, but really she doesn’t want Pat to detect her unease at the surfacing of this old image that ties her to Robinson.

‘Well, why don’t you keep that one, anyway? And can I show my boys the one of you on your own in your smart uniform?’

‘That’s a good idea. You keep that one. I’d like them to know I wasn’t always such a doddery old thing.’ Evelyn laughs and slips the photo of the group of four into her cardigan pocket. It won’t stay there long. When she is back in her room, she will decide what to do.

‘Right,’ says Pat. ‘And now I’ve got to get back. I’ve got a chap from the auction house coming to Kingsley this afternoon to give me some estimates. By the way, I found some old inventories when I was going through the piles of paper in the bureau. You must have had them done quite a while ago though, so I thought I’d better get up-to-date ones done. Were you thinking of selling some of the contents at some point?’

Evelyn tries to look vague, then says, ‘I expect it was probably for insurance. Kingsley was always such a responsibility.’

Pat pulls on her coat. ‘Tell me about it, Aunt. And I still haven’t found those keys, you know.’ She bends to kiss Evelyn on her powdery cheek. ‘Mmm, you smell lovely. And are you sure you don’t want to