‘Yes, but there’s more,’ Alex said earnestly. ‘The baby keeps turning and facing the wrong way. The doctors keep turning it back, so that I don’t have a breech birth, but then it swings around again. It’s no big deal. Lots of women have breech births, but Rinaldo gets anxious.’
There was a fond note in her voice, and a soft tenderness in her eyes.
New understanding came to Laura. ‘But it might be a big deal, mightn’t it?’ she asked.
‘Not really. It’s just that-well, if something went wrong-oh, Laura I’m so glad you and Gino are here. Rinaldo couldn’t bear it if anything happened to me. He’s not as tough as he tries to make out, and he depends on me so much. He would need his brother, desperately.’
‘Alex, you’re not going to die,’ Laura said.
‘No, I don’t believe that I am, but if I did-I dread to think of him left alone.’
She looked up with a frantic appeal in her eyes. Laura’s head seemed to be reeling with what she’d heard. Then Alex said something that shocked her.
‘And if I weren’t here-you could come and live in Italy, couldn’t you?’
She gasped. ‘Alex, what are you saying?’
‘I’m putting it very badly, but I must try to make things right for Rinaldo now in case I can’t do it then.’
Before Laura could answer there was the sound of footsteps outside.
‘Rinaldo!’ Alex said. ‘Gino, please-’
He went out and they heard him hailing his brother, then their voices going in the opposite direction.
‘Quickly before they come back,’ Alex said. ‘I wanted to say to you that if anything happens, Rinaldo will need his family. And then-then you wouldn’t be afraid of me any more.’
‘I’m not afraid of you,’ Laura said firmly.
‘Aren’t you? You don’t need to be, you know.’
‘I don’t know what gave you such ideas-’ she said lamely.
‘I’ve seen you watching Gino, wondering. You know our story. Didn’t you come here to find out?’ Alex sighed. ‘Maybe I’ve been selfish. I was racking my brains for a way to bring Gino home for Rinaldo’s sake, but I couldn’t do it while there was any chance that he might still have feelings for me. And then his letter came, telling us about you, and I knew everything was all right.’
‘You make it sound so simple,’ Laura sighed.
‘Sometimes it can be.’
‘The situation between Gino and me is not simple,’ Laura said. ‘And since I came here the two of you have seemed to be sharing a secret.’
‘But not the secret you thought. I explained everything to him on the first evening. We should have told you then, but we thought you’d refuse if we dumped it on you too soon. I wanted you to fall in love with Tuscany first, so that you’d
Alex gave a little laugh at herself.
‘I thought I was being so clever, having it all worked out. But I have no gift for intrigue. I used to have, but that was in the days when figures were my whole life. It’s easy to be clever with figures.’
She took Laura’s hand in hers.
‘You won’t tell Rinaldo any of this, will you? It would only worry him more.’
‘Not a word,’ Laura promised. ‘And look, none of this is going to happen. You’re going to have that baby, and you’ll both be fine.’
‘And then you plan to leave? That’s what you’re telling me, isn’t it?’
Laura hesitated. ‘I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘I simply don’t know.’
They didn’t speak of it again. There was nothing for Laura to do now but bide her time until the child was born. Then she would know, she told herself. But to say that was to ignore all the other times she’d promised herself that she would know at some moment in the future. And still she was uncertain.
She set herself to learn as much as possible about Belluna, its ways and its people. If she must make a decision, at least it would be an informed decision.
Rinaldo still seemed to her a grouchy, ill-tempered, domineering man. But, armed with her new knowledge she could see that he was living on his nerves, and once or twice she caught him regarding his wife with a look of such terrified vulnerability that Laura was pulled up short. But if he noticed anyone observing him the look vanished quickly, to be replaced by a harsh glare.
Alex drove her all over the estate, seeming to understand, without words, her need to know as much as possible. Once she stopped at a small church and led Laura to a quiet corner of the graveyard, where one stone stood alone. Laura couldn’t understand the words, but she read the names,
Maria Farnese, aged twenty-three, and Isabella Farnese, born and died on the same day.
‘She was Rinaldo’s childhood sweetheart,’ Alex said. ‘Gino said they were so happy, but they had less than two years together. She died giving birth, and Isabella died within an hour. He still comes here.’
‘Do you mind that?’ Laura couldn’t help asking.
Alex seemed genuinely surprised by the question. ‘Of course not. The past is the past. Denying it is as futile as being jealous of it. Rinaldo loves me, and I love him. But she loved him too, and she still does. I come here sometimes to reassure her that I’m taking good care of him.’
‘You-?’
Alex looked at Laura’s astounded face and burst out laughing.
‘It’s all right, I’m not crazy, although I suppose I sound like it. If I were still the person I was when I lived in London I’d think I was crazy too. But I’m Italian now and it’s different here.’
‘How?’ Laura asked urgently.
‘You feel things in the air. It’s something to do with families-they’re very strong in Italy, and people go on being family members even after they die. It’s almost as though they haven’t died at all. I know Maria as if I’d spoken to her. Rinaldo is a sacred trust that she gave me to care for, and one day I’ll answer to her for how well I protected our husband.’
The implied words, ‘and it might be soon,’ hung in the air. But nobody spoke them. Nobody needed to.
As they left the churchyard Alex said cheerfully, ‘I gather we’re going to have a treat at supper tonight.’
‘I hope it turns out to be a treat,’ Laura said fervently. ‘Nikki really fancies herself as a cook.’
‘Don’t worry. Teresa will keep a close eye on her, and it’ll come out right.’
‘I don’t even know what she’s cooking,’ Laura admitted. ‘They all closeted themselves in the kitchen this morning, and when I looked in Nikki drove me away and said it was a big secret.’
Alex laughed. ‘I can’t wait.’
Suddenly she stopped and clutched the nearest head-stone, gasping heavily.
‘Alex, what is it?’
Alex spoke in a strange voice. ‘I think my waters have broken.’
‘Yes,’ Laura said tensely. ‘Then you’re going to start contracting soon. Where’s the phone? We’ll call an ambulance.’
Alex grasped her hand. ‘It’ll take time for it to get here. Would you mind driving me to the hospital yourself? It’s in Florence, near the Via Bonifacio Lupi, where I took you before.’
‘All right, let’s get you into the car.’
She helped Alex to the vehicle and eased her into the back where she had more room. Then she got behind the wheel, wishing there wasn’t so far to drive to Florence.
‘Surely it’s not due?’ she asked over her shoulder as she swung out into the road.
‘Not until next week, but I guess the baby’s picked its own time,’ Alex said with another gasp which escalated into a groan. ‘Laura, you had a baby. How long after the waters do the contractions begin?’
‘It varies. With some women it’s twenty-four hours. With me it was three. But it can be a lot quicker.’
‘It couldn’t be just a few minutes, could it?’
‘Yes,’ Laura said frantically. ‘I believe it could. Hold on. I’m going as fast as I can. Thank goodness these country roads are clear. I hadn’t quite realised what a big place Belluna is.’
Suddenly Alex screamed.
‘You can’t be having contractions yet,’ Laura protested. ‘It’s much too soon.’
‘Would you like to tell the baby that?’ Alex demanded with grim irony.
Laura made a desperate decision.
