Lucy Gordon - The Italian’s Miracle Family

Tina slipped away from her grandmother and attached herself to Alysa, explaining everything like an expert. Elena tried to draw her back to the family group, but the little girl had her father’s stubbornness.

‘I have to look after Alysa,’ she explained firmly. ‘She has nobody of her own.’

She clung to Alysa’s hand until they were apart from the others.

‘You see up there?’ she said, pointing. ‘That’s where Poppa fell. He was terribly angry. He shouted at everyone.’

‘Even you?’

‘No, not me. Just everyone else. But he was better after you called. He told me about it.’

The ceremony was long and impressive. Several people rose to heap praise on Drago, which he received with a blank face that told her he was embarrassed.

Then it was time to return to the hotel so that she could prepare for the grand banquet that night. She had not managed to have a single word with Drago.

As she got into the car, Tina hugged her and asked anxiously, ‘You will come tonight, won’t you?’

Once the feel of those childish arms about her neck would have made her flinch. Now she hugged Tina back warmly.

‘Promise,’ she said.

In a sudden impulse she spent the afternoon shopping for a dress that was more daring than before, a soft-ivory chiffon that clung to her and emphasised her movements.

The villa was ablaze with lights as she joined the crowd streaming in later that evening. Drago stood there, greeting his guests with Elena on one side, and Leona on the other, as though her place in the villa was already assured. She greeted Alysa with lofty assurance, as did Elena, both women studying her attire suspiciously.

Drago studied it too, with a gleam in his eyes that won an answering smile.

Tina too was part of the reception line-up, but she slipped away to join Alysa, which won Drago’s look of warm approval.

‘Look what Poppa bought me,’ she said, showing Alysa a locket around her neck. Inside was a picture of Carlotta.

‘He said it was specially for today, because Mamma would have enjoyed this so much, and we must think of her.’

‘Does he speak of her much?’ Alysa asked.

‘Oh yes, especially when it’s her birthday-that was last week-and on my birthday, because she sends me presents. Well, it’s Poppa really, but he says it’s her, and I pretend to believe him ’cos otherwise he might be hurt.’

‘And you don’t want to hurt him, no matter what you have to do?’

Tina beamed at this understanding. ‘He pretends to be a bully, but he isn’t really. Just a big softy.’

‘And nobody knows him better than you, so I guess you’re right.’

‘Tina!’ It was Leona’s voice. ‘We are sitting down for dinner now. Come along.’

‘But I’ve got lots of things to show Alysa.’

‘Later,’ Alysa said. ‘Never keep your host waiting.’

‘Very true,’ Drago said from somewhere behind Leona, who turned to him.

As soon as her back was turned Tina seized the chance to stick her tongue out at her. Alysa hastily covered the child’s mouth, but not before Drago saw and gave a wide grin.

It was all over in seconds, and then they were marching sedately to the banqueting hall. But it left Alysa feeling exhilarated. Leona might have been seated in the place of honour by Drago, but it was with her that he had the shared understanding.

She saw another side of him that night-assured and businesslike. He even managed to be charming, although she guessed he was carefully negotiating three moves ahead in such unfamiliar territory.

After dinner there was dancing to the accompaniment of an orchestra. Drago danced with Leona, then with a series of wives, mostly indistinguishable from each other, while Alysa entertained herself with several gentlemen who all spoke perfect English and had commercial interests in England. She could therefore assure herself, with a clear conscience, that she was touting for business.

She would have liked to dance with Drago. Something told her that it would be very interesting. But her time would come.

As the evening drew to a close Elena spoke to her from lofty heights.

‘I hope you have really enjoyed your time here, signorina, and that you will return home with happy memories.’

Alysa made the polite response, and Elena immediately followed up with, ‘When exactly do you leave?’

‘I’ll be going tomorrow.’

‘How sad. We’re going to stay here for a few more days. It’s so seldom we can get the whole family together, and we simply must make the most of it.’

‘I’m afraid the family gathering will be without me,’ Drago put in. ‘The man I told you about-the one who turned up last night-wants me to look over a building to see if it’s worth renovating. I have to leave first thing tomorrow morning, and I’ll be gone for several days.’

Elena began to protest, but his smile was implacable.

‘Signora Dennis, let me escort you to the car,’ he said. ‘I only regret I am unable to drive you home myself.’

As she got into the waiting car, she said casually, ‘I wonder where this building is?’

‘You know quite well where it is,’ Drago replied. ‘Or have you forgotten what we agreed?’

‘Not a word. I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow. Now I’d better go quickly, before Elena does something desperate.’

‘IT’S a pity you only saw the mountains under snow,’ Drago said as they headed out of Florence next morning. ‘I’ve wanted you to see them now, when everywhere is at its best.’

The journey was magical. Their last trip had been made in the chill of winter. Now they climbed higher into the sunlight, the trees glowing around them in the green of summer.

Again they stopped at the village to stock up on groceries, but slowly this time, while he asked her preferences and promised her a whole series of dishes to make her rejoice.

‘Does this mean I can help with the cooking?’ she asked as they got back into the car.

‘Not at all. Stay out of my kitchen. A woman’s place is laying the table.’

When they had driven on a little way, she said, ‘Stop the car. I want to look.’

He pulled in just off the road, and they left the car behind to wander among the trees.

‘You’d hardly know it was the same place,’ Alysa said in wonder.

‘Thank you for coming,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ve thought of you all the time. Say it was the same with you.’

‘Oh yes. You were always with me.’

He took her hand and they wandered higher. The trees grew more luxuriantly here, blocking out much of the light so that the sunbeams slanted down like arrows piercing the shadows.

‘Do you recognise this place?’ he asked, stopping suddenly by a tree.

‘I don’t think so.’

‘I guess you wouldn’t. The last time you were here it was dark and snowing.’

‘Is this where you found me that night?’

‘That’s right. You were curled up under this very tree.’

‘I can hardly believe it. It’s so beautiful now, and then it was-’

‘Another world,’ he said.

Leaning against the tree, he raised her hand so that he could brush the back of it against his cheek, hold it there for a moment, then press his lips against it.

‘I’ve been back here often since you went away,’ he said. ‘It’s where I come for peace, and even happiness.’

‘Can there be happiness?’ she asked wistfully.

‘There might be.’

‘It takes time.’

‘Do you know the first lesson a builder has to learn?’ he asked. ‘Not to go too fast. Let things happen in their own time, or you’ll make a mess of the whole project.’

‘And we mustn’t make a mess of the project,’ she agreed.

His smile was fond and warm.

‘Some projects are more important than others,’ he said. ‘Right, let’s go. I’m getting hungry.’

She nodded at his abrupt change of tone. Having moved cautiously to the edge of the precipice, he’d backed off before asking her to look over. And he was right, of course, she thought as they hurried down to the car hand in hand. They had all the time in the world to find out what lay past the precipice.

The sun was setting on the little villa as they drew close, turning the roof to red. Drago parked his car in the garage where he’d once found her standing in the cold and lost his temper. Together they went upstairs to where a fire was already laid in the grate, waiting to be lit.

‘Even in summer it gets a bit chilly when the light goes,’ he said. ‘So I came here a few days ago and got everything ready for you.’

Despite what he’d said, he allowed her to help with the meal that evening. They ate it in virtual silence, but it was silence with a special quality. She could see ahead now, just a little way, but it was enough for this evening. After that, who could tell?

This visit had already shown her that there was more to Drago than she had discovered last time, inspiring her with a passionate desire to explore him further-heart, mind and body.

When the meal was over, by mutual consent they settled down on the thick rug before the fire, leaning against each other.

‘You’re so different,’ he said. ‘You’ve flowered.’

‘Yes, you told me I’d got fat, you cheeky so-and-so,’ she murmured contentedly.

‘I didn’t say that and you know it. When we were here before you were on the same slippery slope that I was. Do you remember that day at the waterfall? If anyone had told me then what you would become to me I wouldn’t have believed them.’

‘Nor me. I just wanted to fight you, and then when you turned up at the airport and tricked me into coming up here-’

‘I never tricked you.’

‘May you be forgiven! That defeated air!’

‘I was frightened. You were a very scary lady.’

‘I scared myself sometimes. It scares me even more to look back at what I was becoming. I put you through it too, I remember-getting lost in the snow and you had to nurse me.’

‘I didn’t mind nursing you.’

‘You did. You suddenly became very bad-tempered,’ she remembered. ‘You kept barking at me.’

‘After finding you in that garage-’

‘No, it was before that.’

‘Oh yes, I remember.’

‘What do you remember? Go on, tell me.’

He hesitated, then said wryly, ‘All right, I’ll confess. When you got that heavy cold I was worried, so I stayed with you.’

‘That’s right.’

‘I actually slept on the bed.’

‘Outside the bedclothes, of course.’

‘Of course!’

Alysa chuckled. ‘How charming and old-fashioned. Positively nineteenth-century.’

‘It’s all very well to laugh, but you were ill, you were trapped with me, relying on me to look after you. Of course I was old-fashioned. At least, I meant to be, but I awoke to find that somehow I’d put my arm over you.’

She gasped. ‘Shocking! How could you?’

‘I was asleep, I didn’t know-are you making fun of me?’

‘Do you think I am?’

‘I’m not sure,’ he said cautiously. ‘I don’t have much sense of humour, but I think perhaps you are laughing.’

‘It took you long enough to realise that,’ she said gently, touched by the humility in his voice. ‘Shall I promise not to laugh at you?’

‘No, I don’t mind if it’s you. Make fun of me if you like. I might even come to understand.’

‘Yes, I guess you might,’ she said.

‘It’s just that I felt awkward next day, which is why I was a bit offhand. Anything was better than have you suspect. What is it?’ Alysa had begun to laugh helplessly.

‘You never guessed?’ she crowed. ‘Oh, I can’t believe this.’

‘What’s so funny?’

‘It was me. I slipped out to the bathroom, and when I came back you’d stretched your arm across the empty space. I eased myself in under it, being very careful not to disturb you, so that you didn’t take it away.’

‘You-?’

‘I made it happen. It wasn’t you, it was me.’

‘But I felt so guilty because-And you let me suffer.’

‘I didn’t know you were suffering,’ she chuckled. ‘But I wish I had.’

‘Yes, you’d have enjoyed it,’ he said, chagrined. ‘You-you-’

‘Come on, you were going to develop a sense of humour.’

‘I guess I’ll need a little time for that. I can’t take this in. I was feeling ashamed all that time and I didn’t need to?’ His tone was outraged.

‘Something like that.’

‘Well, I’ll be-’

There was a light in his eyes that she was beginning to know. She’d seen it across the room on the night she’d arrived, and wanted to know more. Since then her curiosity had grown, and now she urgently needed to pursue it to the end. So when the words failed him, and he jerked her towards him with a grunt of frustration, she went into his arms willingly, and sighed with pleasure as his mouth touched hers.

It was he who was tentative, caressing her lightly with his lips, waiting for her response, then embracing her eagerly as he sensed the desire that she had no wish to hide. He’d been almost afraid of taking her by surprise, but now he knew that she’d been waiting for him, ready for this moment.