‘We’ll leave it there for the moment,’ he said with a shrug. ‘But don’t reject my offer without careful thought.’ His eyes on Angie were like gimlets. ‘You don’t have that much time, after all. I’m a doctor, too, remember, and I have eyes-
He made the last word an insult. Then he was gone.
‘Does he pester you often?’ Lorenzo exploded.
‘He turns up every two weeks with an improved offer.’
‘But why? What’s so marvellous about this-? I mean-’
‘Did you really know him at school?’
‘Yes. I used to get him to do my homework for me,’ Lorenzo confessed with a grin that wasn’t in the least ashamed.
‘I thought you didn’t like him.’
‘The transaction was purely commercial. I wonder where he’s suddenly getting money from.’
‘Can’t you guess?’ Angie asked with a sigh. ‘Bernardo, of course. He’s trying to buy me out.’
‘But you can’t-I mean-not now-not if I understood him correctly-’
‘I expect you did,’ Angie said with a wan smile.
‘That settles it,’ Lorenzo said with sudden resolution. ‘Now it’s a family matter.’
The farmhouse stood at the end of a dirt track, most of which was hidden by trees. It had been abandoned long ago, although the building had been roughly patched up to make it habitable if not comfortable.
Bernardo saw his brother coming from a distance and was waiting by the door, his face dark and unwelcoming. ‘How the devil did you find this place?’
‘I’ve always known about it,’ Lorenzo told him. ‘You used to slip away up here when we were boys, and once I followed you. You never knew.’
‘If I had I’d have found somewhere else.’
‘I know. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I knew your odd ways. We all did.’
Bernardo reluctantly stood aside to let him enter. ‘Is it odd to want a little privacy?’
‘Not privacy. Isolation.
‘Very well when I’m left alone.’
‘Look I don’t know what went wrong between you and Angie, but I’m willing to bet it was your fault. You’ve got a beautiful, brilliant woman in love with you, so of course you weren’t happy until you’d rejected her, the way you’ve rejected us all for years. But I’m still your brother and I’m not going to let you screw up the best thing that ever happened to you.’
Bernardo didn’t answer, only stared at him with bleak, anguished eyes.
Lorenzo said more gently, ‘The world won’t go away, Bernardo. It’s out there and it’s full of unpleasant people, like Carlo Bondini.’
‘What do you know about him?’ Bernardo demanded sharply.
‘I saw his last visit, and I came to tell you to get him off Angie’s back. He’s trying to bully her.’
Bernardo swore. ‘I told him to offer for the practice. I never meant him to upset her.’
‘You should choose your instruments more carefully. If you ever let your brothers past the guarded gates I could have told you he’s a nasty piece of work.’
‘I can do without your advice,’ Bernardo said coldly. ‘Ever since Renato acknowledged a debt to you you’ve become damned insufferable.’
‘I was always insufferable,’ Lorenzo remarked with perfect truth. ‘But that’s not the point. Things have changed. Something’s going on. I’m not sure what. I have my suspicions but I’m not a doctor-unlike Bondini, as he was careful to point out.’
‘What are you saying?’ Bernardo asked slowly.
‘I’m saying that if you’re going to add to the family, it’s about time you started being a member of it.’
The way back was like driving through a tunnel of blossoms. The most fertile land on earth was flaunting its lush beauty in the sun, and everywhere Bernardo looked there was harmony that seemed to invite him on.
Until he saw the path ahead.
By stepping on the accelerator he was there in a couple of seconds, too fast for the crowd of young men to disperse from where they had been surrounding the woman on the mule. They were all smiling but in a way that suggested menace, and one was holding the mule’s bridle. At the sound of Bernardo’s car they looked up in alarm, and scattered.
He didn’t bother pursuing. He saw only the woman and the thunderstruck look she was giving him.
‘So you came back?’ Angie said distantly. ‘I suppose I should thank you for getting rid of them. Well, thank you. But now I’d like to go.’
‘What are you doing in this place?’
‘Visiting my patients.’
‘On your own? Are you mad?’
‘I never had trouble before.’
‘So why suddenly now?’
Her face set against him. ‘How should I know?’
‘I think you do.’
‘And I think I’d like you to just fade away and let me get on. I have two more people to see.’
‘Then get into my car.’
‘And what about Jason?’
‘Who?’
‘Antonio needs Nesta on the farm now, so I bought my own mule. We can’t put him in the car.’
‘He can walk behind. Please get in.’ He reached up to grasp her wrist, but was almost blown back by the freezing look in her eyes.
‘Take your hands off me at once, Bernardo, and never dare to do that again.’
‘You can’t go on alone,’ he said emphatically.
‘Then you can drive behind me. But please stay where I don’t have to look at you.’
He had no choice but to do it her way. Moving at her pace he had time to notice the interest she aroused, the workers who stopped in the fields to watch her pass, but without the friendly greetings they would once have given her. There was something eerie about their silent curiosity.
In the first house she went to it was much the same. Her patient was a very old woman, desperately ill and moving towards the end of her life. Thanks to Angie she was doing so peacefully and mostly without pain. Her family were grateful and showed it by treating the doctor with courtesy, but their manner was shadowed by reserve. Bernardo’s appearance evidently surprised them, making them nudge each other and exchange significant looks.
The second visit was to a young couple where the wife was having a difficult pregnancy. They were worried because their first child had been born with a facial deformity. Bernardo had seen the little girl once, for her parents kept her hidden and at six years old she was very shy. But she ran out as soon as Angie arrived, bouncing with excitement and evidently considering her a friend.
When Angie was packing her bag a strange thing happened. The wife suddenly threw her arms about her and gave her a big hug. Then she drew back and smiled into her face.
There was a touch of defiance in her manner, as though she felt the need to declare her friendship before a critical world.
‘Where have you left your car?’ Bernardo asked as they left the house.
‘It’s at home. For trips like this I take Jason all the way. Benito stables him for me with his own mules.’
‘And what about the danger?’
‘There’s never been any danger.’
‘Don’t tell me those lads weren’t threatening you.’
‘Not openly, but they weren’t being nice.’
‘Right. I’m coming home with you, and we have to talk.’
‘I don’t think so.’
He ground his teeth. ‘Have supper with me.’
