because it was a wedding photograph of your grandfather’s cousin and I didn’t like to throw that away. I think I know where it is.’
Sophie followed her into her front room. Pudding jumped down and padded behind them then stretched out in front of the electric fire, flicking his tail. Bessy reached into a cabinet that was piled full of bills, pamphlets, old family records and, finally, a box of photographs. Pulling it out, she placed it on the table and combed through it until she found what she was looking for. Holding it, Sophie looked at her great-auntie for the first time, a relative she never knew she had.
As the eyes of the woman stared back at her from the black-and-white photograph, it was like looking into a mirror. The same eyes, maybe even the same shade of green as her own, elfish smile and light-coloured hair. She didn’t look like a traitor, she looked like Sophie or her mother, Alice. It was hard to see anything evil in a woman who looked so like one of their own. In that moment, as she locked eyes with Vivienne for the first time, Sophie knew she wouldn’t be able to let this go.
3
As she travelled home that evening, Sophie downloaded a couple of books about the war during the time her great-aunt had been alive. The last words her grandmother had said as she’d hugged her on the way out the door had been, ‘Please let sleeping dogs lie, Sophie. Don’t be digging up the past. It could upset your great-uncle Tom. That was a dreadful time for them all.’
And even though she wanted to heed her grandmother’s warning, something about this fascinated her. One thing she knew from her time as a lawyer was that there was always more than one way to view a story.
First, she couldn’t believe that no one in her family had ever spoken about Vivienne. It was as though she’d never existed, as if the minute she’d left British soil, she’d vanished. Also, if they didn’t know what had happened to her, with no information about where she had gone or even how she had died, how could they be so sure she was a traitor?
Arriving home, Sophie poured a glass of wine and periodically checked her phone for any messages. With a sinking feeling she noted Matt still hadn’t texted her and she missed him. Once she had got pregnant they had tried to live together. But it was never easy. It turned out they were compatible on expensive dates and weekend breaks, but living together showed both of them how different they were. After Emily’s death, Matt had wasted no time moving out. He’d said he had found it difficult to be around Emily’s things, in the house where they had become a family and where her young presence had coloured their world. They had dealt with the grief so differently: he wanted to avoid it, whereas Sophie needed to be immersed in it.
Every night after Emily’s death, Matt would walk into the house and head straight out into the garden gasping for air, suffocated by his sadness and the memories of the joyous baby laughter that no longer filled their rooms. They had talked about moving, but Sophie wasn’t ready because for her being in the house had the opposite effect it had on Matt; sitting in the Winnie-the-Pooh-themed nursery had been her only comfort and a way of moving through her sadness, and the thought of leaving her home overwhelmed her. With their ongoing anguish it had seemed a natural progression for him to stay over at his old flat that had recently become unoccupied. He was away more and more days a week, though he had assured her it was just till he felt better and when one of them could move forward. Once he had left with his last case of clothes, Sophie had known in her heart that he would never sleep in their bed again.
But even with their ongoing pain, until the last few months he had messaged her at least three times a day, with a goodnight text before he went to bed. But the last text she had received had been from the day before. Surely he had charged his phone by now?
Sophie sighed and settled down in her tiny cosy living room with a cocoa and a stack of books. In a pinch she would read on her phone, but she’d found since