Gino’s Arranged Bride

offering his hand to la piccina.

Soon their luggage had been piled into the car and they were turning out of the airport, heading north. Nikki, sitting in the back with her mother, gazed eagerly out of the window. Laura had expected the two men in the front to talk in Italian or Tuscan, but after a few early remarks nothing was said. Gino too was looking out of the window, and Laura could only guess his thoughts as familiar scenery came into view.

Once he glanced over his shoulder to say, ‘This is Belluna now, that you can see all around you.’

She saw rising terraces of vines, with men and women picking grapes vigorously. The sun was warm and brilliant on the vivid colours, reminding her how Gino hated the English rain. How could he have borne to leave this place? she wondered.

‘There’s the farmhouse,’ Gino said at last.

At first Laura couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The building was pink and almost palatial, with two shallow staircases curving up the front.

‘That’s a farmhouse?’ she asked, dazed.

‘It is now,’ he said. ‘It was a great house, many years ago. There is Teresa, in the upper window.’

An elderly woman was leaning out to wave, then disappearing. As the car drew up outside the house a man appeared at the top of one of the staircases, and stood watching them.

This had to be Gino’s brother, Laura thought, seeing the resemblance. Rinaldo was older, heavier, but they clearly came from the same family.

He came slowly down the steps and paused at the bottom, regarding the brother he hadn’t seen for a year. Gino gazed back, and Laura had the strangest sensation that neither of them knew what to do. Then Rinaldo opened his arms and Gino went into them. They held each other for a long time in an embrace that spoke of a closeness deeper than any estrangement.

Rinaldo held his brother at arm’s length, considering him.

‘You’re older,’ he said in English.

‘You’re not,’ Gino said.

Rinaldo nodded and a slow smile came over his face, as if he were saying that happiness was the reason for his improved looks. It seemed to Laura that he could imply his happiness, but not put it into words, even with his brother.

‘You have kept a secret from us,’ Rinaldo said, still in English, indicating Laura. ‘You should not have done so. Such happiness should be shared. Signora, I salute you. You are welcome to our family.’

He kissed her on both cheeks.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m really glad to meet Gino’s family.’

Gino had moved to stand behind Nikki. ‘And this is my new daughter,’ he said. ‘La mia figlia.’

Rinaldo and Nikki shook hands.

‘Buongiorno, signore,’ Nikki said.

‘She’s been practising her Italian,’ Gino said proudly.

‘So I see.’ Rinaldo thought for a moment before asking, ‘Come sta?’ How are you?

‘Molto bene, grazie,’ Nikki returned at once. Fine, thank you.

Rinaldo grinned his approval. ‘Your daughter is a credit to you, signora,’ he said. ‘Come inside and meet my wife.’

Now that the moment was here Laura tried to stay calm, but she was filled with tension at the thought of the coming meeting between Gino and Alex.

Rinaldo led the way into the house, not back up the stairs but through a French window on ground-floor level. The room ran right through the house, and at the far end was another French window, through which a woman was walking.

At first Laura could see her only in silhouette. After the first glance she looked away, in Gino’s direction and saw him stop, a look of astonishment on his face as the woman came into clearer view.

‘Alex?’ he whispered.

‘You see, you’re not the only one who’s been keeping a secret,’ Rinaldo observed, smiling. ‘Congratulate us. Our baby is due next month.’

Seemingly in a daze, Gino approached the heavily pregnant woman, and took her hands.

‘Gino, dear, you’re going to be an uncle,’ she said, smiling into his face. ‘We’re both so glad you came home in time.’

‘Rinaldo was right,’ Gino said. ‘Secrets should be shared with families. Especially wonderful secrets. I’m very happy for both of you.’

He kissed her cheek and led her forward.

‘Alex, I want you to meet my wife, Laura.’

The two women shook hands, each regarding the other with deep interest, and each recognising the interest of the other.

‘Rinaldo and I were so glad when we heard that Gino was married,’ Alex said. ‘We know you’re going to make him very happy.’

Laura said something polite, but she was trying to equate this calm woman with her inner vision. Gino had said she was an accountant who had lived in London, and Laura had built up a picture of cool, precise elegance, ultra- professional, ultra-chic, composed. The person she’d seen in the picture had been chic even when enjoying herself at a street festival.

But this Alex was somebody else. Her fair hair, falling to her shoulders, looked as though she’d dragged a comb through it at the last moment. And her loose floaty garments weren’t just the result of her pregnancy. She somehow conveyed the impression that they represented the person she was.

She kissed Laura warmly. ‘Let me take you up to your room,’ she said. ‘I’ve put you in Gino’s old room, and Nikki is in the one next door.’

She took the child’s hand and indicated for Laura to come upstairs with her. The house was beautiful, old and homely and lived in. Nikki clearly thought so too, because she was looking around her, smiling and nodding her head.

Behind them came the men, carrying the heavier suitcases. Laura noticed how Rinaldo positioned himself just behind his wife on the stairs, and kept anxious eyes on her.

Gino’s old room was large, with a low ceiling, and heavy exposed beams. The furniture was deep, burnished walnut, polished until it gleamed.

‘Oh, look, Mummy,’ Nikki breathed at the window. ‘Look at the view!’

The house stood on a small incline, with a view right across a shallow valley. The valley was an almost enchanted place, with pine trees, grass and a stream wandering through it, shining in the sun.

‘What’s that over there?’ Nikki asked, pointing at a building standing on the far side, a little way up the facing incline.

‘It’s a house,’ Alex said.

‘Who lives there?’

‘Nobody. Rinaldo has offered it to people who work on the farm. It’s big enough to take two families. But it’s supposed to be haunted and nobody will touch it.’

‘Haunted? You mean a real ghost?’ Nikki demanded, wide-eyed.

‘That’s what they say,’ Alex said, amused. ‘But I don’t know if anyone’s actually seen it.’

‘Can I go and look some day? I’m sure I’d see it.’

Laura sighed. ‘I’m afraid Nikki’s a real little ghoul.’

In Nikki’s room they found a welcome gift, a huge jigsaw puzzle of the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the River Arno.

‘We’ll go there and see it soon,’ Alex promised her. ‘Come down as soon as you’ve finished unpacking, and we’ll have something to eat.’

Rinaldo was waiting for her in the doorway. Laura, returning to her own room, saw him draw Alex’s arm through his as they went down the stairs.