M. Rose - The Secret Language of Stones

“How can that be, Madame?”

“You said your hair is inside?”

“Yes. My mother brought it here.”

I take a step closer and peer out. I can see Anna’s back, but not the soldier’s. Only his shadow. I lean against the doorjamb.

“This was the kind of talisman we made for women who lost loved ones in the war. But you are here, very much alive,” Anna says.

“Ah yes. Well, there’s an explanation. You see, during the war I was badly wounded. I almost died. In fact, I spent six weeks unconscious. During that time, no one knew who I was. When I’d arrived at the hospital, my identification papers were so drenched and muddied they dissolved when the nurse tried to read them.”

“And so they told your parents you were-”

“The rest of my unit had been found dead, so yes, they told my family I’d been killed.”

“Oh, how lucky for your mama.” Anna’s voice cracks. She is unable to hold back her tears, thinking of Timur, I know, of her lost son who would never be coming back.

I can’t hold back my tears either. I wipe at them as I step out into the storefront and look at the man standing in front of Anna, holding one of my talismans in his long, lovely fingers.

The soldier sees me. My eyes meet his. They are midnight navy-the color of a sky full of stars with a full moon shining. The same color as his mother’s.

Even through the blur of so many tears, I know his face.

Does he know mine? Does he remember the weeks we’d spent in some kind of miraculous communion with each other? Does he remember that somehow, while his body rested in deep slumber, his soul had left and met mine?

Jean Luc’s brow furrows. He cocks his head and looks at me as if he is trying to place me.

I take one more step forward.

“I made the talisman for your mother, and I’d be happy to repair it.” My voice quivers.

“Have we met?” he asks me. “Everything about you is familiar. But I don’t know your name.”

“Opaline Duplessi,” I say, extending my hand.

“I’m Jean Luc Forêt,” he replies as he grasps my trembling fingers.

The flow of warmth is immediate. I can see from his expression he feels it too. No, he doesn’t remember, but he hasn’t quite forgotten either.

We remain there, hands clasped together, like those beautifully weathered bronze hands on the Famille P. Legay tomb in Père-Lachaise. But we are both alive and generating a heat I’d believed I would never feel again.

It will take some time to figure out what exactly happened and then more time to explain it to him. Or perhaps that isn’t necessary, because all that matters is that we will have the time now. We will have all the time he thought had been stolen from him, all the time we will need to visit all the places he’d dreamed about while at the front. All the time it will take for me to show him I am his Ma chère .

As with most of my work, there is a lot of fact mixed in with this fictional tale.

Paris during the Great War is described as close to the truth as possible. The bombings, strife, rations, numbers of dead and wounded are all based on fact. You can visit all the streets, bridges, buildings and churches, museums, and cafes I wrote about except for the shop where Opaline works, La Fantaisie Russe in the Palais Royal. However, I did base it on the jeweler Georges Fouquet’s very beautiful boutique, which you can visit in the Musée Carnavalet. The tunnels under the Palais do exist and were used for all kinds of clandestine operations during the war.

There were indeed laws in France forbidding fortune telling and necromancy so as to prevent charlatans from taking advantage of the grieving, and while there were many types of spiritualism practiced, I am not aware of anyone who worked with talismans the way Opaline did.

Anna Coleman Ladd’s “Studio of Miracles” did exist and restored dignity to countless men, but there wasn’t a sculptor there named Denise Alouette. Jean Luc’s mother, like him, is a character of my invention.

Le Figaro was and still is one of the great French newspapers, but there never was a Ma chère column.

Thousands of Russian émigrés flooded the city in those early years of the twentieth century, but there wasn’t a jeweler named Pavel Orloff that I am aware of. For generations there were rumors-still unproven-that the tsar sent emissaries from Russia to other countries, well before the revolution, with treasures to safeguard, but the Rainbow Diamond collection I described in this novel does not exist.

As far as I know, the Dowager Empress never undertook a secret journey to England during that last year of the war. It is true, however, that in her lifetime, she claimed to never believe her grandchildren had all perished along with her son. She always held out hope.

To Sarah Branham, my amazing editor, for her patience and creativity and insight-if this novel shines-it is because of her.

To my wonderful publisher and friend Judith Curr for her steadfast faith in my work.

To the legendary Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster, whose respect for authors makes all the difference.

To Lisa Sciambra, Hillary Tisman, Andrea Smith, Suzanne Donahue, Haley Weaver, and everyone whose hands this book passed through-your hard work and creative thinking is greatly appreciated.

To Alan Dingman for covers that somehow get more and more beautiful every year.

To Dan Conaway, no writer could have a better agent, and I could have no better friend.

To Taylor Templeton for her patience and cheer, and everyone at Writers House whose help is invaluable.

To Inezita Gay-Eckel without whom I would never have found La Fantaisie Russe, and that’s just the beginning. You opened up the magical world of gems to me and became such a dear friend in the process, thank you. And to all the other wonderful professors at L’ÉCOLE Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris. The week I spent with you learning about the art of jewelry-making influenced every page of this novel.

To Temple St. Clair whose inspiring talisman I wore each day when I sat down to write-there is magic in jewels.

To Simon Teakle Fine Jewelry and the staff at Betteridge Jewelers, both in Greenwich, Connecticut, who never chased me out and answered endless questions as I researched this novel.

To each and every one of my fabulous friends, but especially Liz and Steve Berry, Douglas Clegg, and Randy Susan Meyers.

A special thank-you to Natalie White, director of Client Services at AuthorBuzz.com without whom I wouldn’t even have time to write.

I also want to thank readers everywhere who make all the work worthwhile (please visit MJEmail.me for a signed bookplate). And to the booksellers and librarians without whom the world would be a sadder place.

And as always, I’m very grateful to my family, especially my father and Ellie, the Kulicks, Mara Gleckel. And most of all, Doug.

in Colored Plate with Weight of Each Carats1.Diamond, Crystal, white5.942.Diamond, white, Brilliant Cutting2.073.Diamond, pink1.854.Diamond, green1.455.Diamond, black3.506.Sapphire, blue, Fergus County, Montana3.277.Sapphire, blue, Burma5.948.Ruby, Burma1.169.Sapphire, green, Siam4.4010.Sapphire, yellow, Ceylon, Briolette12.7511.Star Sapphire, Ceylon27.3312.Chrysoberyl, Brazil5.9113.Cat’s-eye, Ceylon7.9314.Alexandrite, Ceylon8.0515.Spinel, Burma4.1216.Emerald, Colombia2.0817.Aquamarine, Brazil12.0518.Golden beryl, Connecticut10.6519.Morganite (pink beryl), Madagascar14.8920.Zircon, green, Ceylon7.7421.Zircon, blue, Ceylon12.6322.Topaz, yellow, Brazil9.7523.Topaz, pink, Brazil10.7424.Topz, white, Briolette, Brazil20.8325.Tourmaline, green, Paris, Maine9.3526.Rubellite (var. Tourmaline), Mesa Grande, Cal.11.4327.Tourmaline, bicolored, Mesa Grande, Cal.22.1728.Zircon, brown, Ceylon18.0029.Kunzite (var. Spodumene), Pala, California10.9030.Hiddenite (var. Spodumene), North Carolina9.2931.Peridot, Egypt10.9232.Garnet, precious, East Africa8.9633.Carbuncle (var. Garnet), India14.6334.Hessonite (cinnamon garnet), Ceylon10.7235.Lapis Lazuli, Persia36.Amazonite, Virginia4.4237.Amethyst, Uruguay10.5538.Spanish Topaz (var. Quartz), Spain7.6039.Precious jade (Jadeite), Burma6.5740.Chalcedony, scaraboid, Persia41.Sard, scaraboid, Greece42.Sardonyx, India7.1343.Bloodstone, India5.2944.Chrysoprase, Silesia5.1945.Carnelian,India6.3746.Turquoise, New Mexico5.7947.Flame Opal, Mexico17.4048.Black Opal, New South Wales, Australia7.6949.Fire Opal, Queretaro, Mexico6.2450.Moonstone, blue, Ceylon11.9951.Rose quartz, Madagascar13.3452.Malachite, Russia8.47