‘And?’ Angie asked, regarding her sceptically.
‘And-and I belong in Sicily. I’ve loved this place since the day we arrived, and this seems the best way to stay.’
‘Phooey!’ Angie said with sudden enlightenment. ‘You and Renato are in love.’
‘Nobody could be in love with Renato,’ Heather said firmly. ‘Marriage will just make it more convenient for fighting with him.’
‘OK, you’re going to have a stormy marriage.’
‘I’ll say!’ Heather said darkly, but she was laughing.
‘But it’ll be a happy one, because you
‘Well, maybe.’
‘What about Lorenzo? Doesn’t he find the whole situation rather embarrassing?’
Heather smiled. ‘I don’t think anything could embarrass that young man. Our marriage wouldn’t have worked and we both know it. I’m good friends with my “little brother” now.’
They drove back to the Residenza and managed to get into the house without being seen, hurrying silently upstairs to their old room.
‘Bernardo really hasn’t suspected?’ Angie asked as she prepared for bed.
‘Not a thing. The first he’ll know is when he sees you walking down the aisle with me tomorrow. He’s retreated into his eagle’s nest and stays there. If Renato needs to talk work he calls him on the phone, or goes up there. I’ve been living at Bella Rosaria, and he drops in sometimes. He says it’s to see if there’s anything he can do for me, but he always manages to bring the conversation around to you. I tell him what’s happening to you and he drinks it in.’
‘Did you tell him I was working for my father now?’
‘Yes. Shouldn’t I?’
‘It’s not a state secret. It’s just that I can guess what he made of it.’
‘He’s in a bad way, thin and miserable. Like you.’
‘I’ve been working hard,’ Angie said quickly.
‘So’s he,’ Heather said, adding wisely, ‘and it doesn’t seem to solve the problem for either of you.’
They went to bed, but Angie couldn’t sleep. At last she got up, pulled on a wrap and went out onto the terrace, her heart aching as she remembered that this was where she’d stood on the first evening and glanced up to see Bernardo looking down at her. Now there was only an empty space because he preferred to shun company.
She turned to gaze up at the mountains. Somewhere up there was Montedoro and the man she loved, brooding in terrible silence, and thinking of her with his heart. She knew that, because it was the same with her. She was pervaded by a bittersweet joy at being near to him again. She wouldn’t think of failure, because it was unthinkable.
Next morning she didn’t leave the room until it was time to go to the cathedral with Heather. This time, instead of Renato travelling with them to give the bride away to Lorenzo, a cousin travelled with them to give the bride away to Renato. As before, Bernardo was best man.
The car halted, there was a moment while she straightened the bride’s dress, then they were on their way into the cathedral, making their entrance. Her heart beat urgently as she thought of seeing Bernardo again. How would he look when he saw her?
It was a long walk down the aisle, with the choir singing sweetly, high overhead. Closer and closer-and there he was, looking more tense and gaunt than when they’d said goodbye. Was that what their parting had done to him?
At last he caught sight of her. For a moment nothing happened except that he froze, motionless. Then a wooden look came over his face, and he turned to give his attention to the groom. Angie drew in a painful breath. She couldn’t read the brief glimpse she’d had of his face. It could have meant that he was more glad to see her than he could cope with, or might could have meant anger, rejection. The service dragged interminably as she stood there, looking at his back, wondering if she’d made a hideous mistake.
Renato slipped the ring on Heather’s finger, and she became his wife. The most incredible marriage in history, Angie thought. Two people who never had a good word to say for each other, but they were in love, even if they hadn’t admitted it. And yet she and Bernardo, for whom love should have been so simple, had somehow made a mess of it.
The service was over. The organ pealed out overhead as the bride and groom began the return journey up the aisle. Angie fell into place behind them with her head up. Bernardo walked beside her, apparently oblivious of her but actually as aware of her as she was of him.
On the journey home they shared a car, alone. At last, she thought, a chance to talk. Seize it before it slipped away. ‘We’re you expecting me?’ she asked.
He took her hand gently between his. ‘I suppose I was-in a way. I did wonder if Heather would bring you over.’
‘You could have asked her.’
He shook his head and she realised that he would never have asked. That would be to give something away and, for this most private man, it would be impossible.
He’d pulled himself together, and was managing a fair imitation of polite indifference. ‘It’s good to see you. I’ve wondered how you were, and whether all was well with you.’
‘And do you think all has been well with me?’ she whispered.
‘I’ve never seen you look more beautiful.’
It was true. Her silk dress was of the palest yellow and simply cut to drape softly about her. A coronet of flowers adorned her hair, and her only jewels were pearls nestling against her ears. For a moment he feasted his eyes on her, full of a longing he couldn’t hide.
But it was only for a moment. Then he gave a brief smile, and she knew that behind it the shutters had come down again. But she’d seen past his guard. They couldn’t go back on that. She knew now. Hope rose in her.
At the reception they sat together. They were on show, and there was little chance to talk of what concerned them, but before the speeches began he said quietly, ‘So you went to work in your father’s Harley Street clinic?’
‘Yes,’ she said defiantly. ‘He’s a brilliant surgeon. I learn a lot from him.’
‘That’s good,’ he said politely. ‘I’m glad you’re doing so well.’
Unexpectedly her temper rose. ‘Why, you patronising-!’
‘Please, I only-’
‘I know exactly what you meant by that. You think it’s easy work from the “fat cat” end of the market, and all I’m fit for.’
‘Must we quarrel when we have so little time?’
‘We could have all the time we want-’
She couldn’t say more. The toasts and speeches were about to begin. Bernardo did his duty with a speech that contained no jokes but much quiet goodwill, and it went down well.
Then it was time for the dancing. Heather and Renato took the floor, and a murmur went around the guests, how well the bride and groom looked together.
‘Angie, it’s wonderful to see you again. Come and dance with me.’
She looked up into Lorenzo’s laughing face. As Heather had said, he was quite untroubled by a situation that another young man might have found embarrassing. Smiling, she took his hand, but at once another hand reached out to clasp hers and disengage it.
‘No,’ Bernardo said quietly. ‘Sorry, Lorenzo.’
His brother grinned and promptly found another partner. Bernardo tightened his grip on her hand. There was a look in his eyes that went to her heart. She let him draw her onto the dance floor and hold her close. She could feel his body trembling next to hers, and she knew the truth he would have hidden from her. If she’d doubted that he still loved her, she didn’t doubt it now. He looked as though the heart had been torn out of him.
She didn’t speak. For the moment it was enough to be here with him again, held in his arms.
‘You should not have come,’ he murmured as they circled the dance floor. ‘But I have longed for you.’
‘Then why shouldn’t I have come?’
