hot sun.
He carried so little weight that when he leaned forward for her to examine his spine she could easily make out its straight line, and the lines of his ribs.
‘It wouldn’t hurt you to gain a few pounds,’ she observed, flexing her fingers gently against his skin. ‘It might give you something to land on.’
‘I’d put on weight if I could. I eat like a horse but I stay like this.’
‘Lucky you. Lie back.’
She pressed him gently back against the pillows while she felt his ribs at the front.
‘A couple of cracks,’ she confirmed, ‘but you’ve got off very lightly, considering.’
‘You’re not going to drag me off to hospital to be strapped up?’
‘There’s no need. Strapping fixes your ribs, but it can make it harder to breathe. So just be careful how you move and it’ll heal naturally.’
The quiet authority in her voice seemed to ease his mind, and she felt him relaxing under her hands.
‘Let’s put your jacket back on,’ she said. ‘Then I’ll give you a couple more pills.’
He winced as she slid the jacket back over his shoulders, but at last it was done. He accepted the pills with a faint smile, and was soon asleep.
The house was quiet now that the guests had departed, and Hope, Toni and Francesco had travelled to the airport to see off the English party. Polly listened to the silence, which seemed to have an edgy quality, and thought she was being warned that this tranquil time could not last for ever. The moment was approaching.
She slipped next door and found the picture of Freda and the young man she now knew as Ruggiero. She studied his face a while, trying to reconcile its glowing joy with the dour, tense individual he had become. Then she put it in her pocket and returned to sit quietly with him until she heard a car return late in the afternoon.
Hope and Toni came in together, full of gratitude.
‘I will stay with my son for a while,’ Toni said, ‘while you go down for supper.’
Ruggiero was awake but drowsy as Toni slipped into the room.
‘All gone?’ he asked, yawning.
‘Their flight took off on time. How are you feeling?’
‘OK, I guess. I seem to be floating.’ Suddenly he remembered. ‘Poppa, do you know what Mamma did? She practically kidnapped Polly.’
‘Don’t blame me,’ his father said hastily. ‘I knew nothing about it until it was too late. You know your mother.’
‘But didn’t you make some protest?’
‘Why? I’m glad you’re being properly cared for.’
‘I guess she told you what to say,’ Ruggiero said with wry amusement. ‘You’re bullied-you know that?’
‘Oh, no,’ Toni said seriously. ‘Your mamma never bullies me. She knows what I need before I know myself, and she makes sure that I have it.’
‘There’s a difference?’
‘Yes,’ Toni said simply. ‘There’s a difference.’
Downstairs the table was spread with a banquet, and Polly found herself treated as an honoured guest. Hope ceremonially poured champagne, clinked glasses, and produced an envelope plump with euros.
‘But this is far too much,’ Polly gasped. ‘I can’t take it all.’
‘You are worth every penny,’ Hope declared. ‘Not only for what you are doing for us, but also because you have allowed us to take over your holiday without complaint.’
‘That’s all right,’ Polly said awkwardly. ‘It wasn’t really a holiday.’
‘Do you mean that you have to return to England soon? When are you due back at your job?’
‘I don’t have a job at the moment.’
‘Aha-then you are free to remain as long as you wish. Good. You will stay with us. Now, let us eat.’
Toni joined them after a while, with the news that Ruggiero was sleeping.
‘I’ll go back fairly soon,’ Polly said.
They made it hard for her-treating her like a queen, toasting her with champagne, encouraging her to talk about herself. That was a dangerous subject, and she had to be circumspect, but these were warm-hearted people, taking what they wanted with a charm that threatened to melt her heart.
As soon as possible she brought the conversation back to Ruggiero, explaining about his condition and how she could take care of it.
‘He’ll be fine if he can be persuaded to rest for a few days,’ she finished.
‘You can persuade him,’ Hope declared. ‘You have him eating out of your hand.’
Polly put her head on one side. ‘I try to picture him eating out of anyone’s hand,’ she said whimsically, ‘but it’s beyond me.’ As they laughed, she added, ‘Thank you for a lovely meal. Now I think I’ll go upstairs and crack the whip a little. Goodnight.’
She seated herself quietly beside Ruggiero’s bed, seeing with satisfaction that he was deeply, contentedly asleep. She waited beside him for a while, dozing gently herself, so that she didn’t notice when he awoke, and didn’t know that his eyes were open until he murmured, ‘Polly.’
‘Yes, I’m here. Is something the matter?’
‘Yes, in a way. I’m so sorry.’
‘Hey, you’ve already apologised.’
‘For being a jerk, but not for-’ He broke off, groaning, ‘I hit you, didn’t I? When you were by me on the track-I seem to remember-’
‘You sent me flying,’ she said lightly. ‘But it was an accident. You didn’t mean to do it. You were just flailing around blindly.’
‘I do a lot of that, I’m afraid.’
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ she said in a rallying voice. ‘Why are you so determined to give yourself a hard time?’
‘Perhaps somebody ought to,’ he said grimly.
She was touched by this glimpse of humility, so unexpected.
‘You’re very quiet,’ he said. ‘Are you sure you don’t blame me?’
‘Honestly-it’s not that.’
‘Then what is it? What’s the mystery, Polly? And don’t try to brush me off, because I’ve been lying here doing a lot of thinking, and I don’t reckon you just happened to be at the track-did you?’
‘No,’ she admitted. ‘It wasn’t an accident.’ She took a long breath. ‘Maybe it’s time I told you everything.’
Suddenly the enormity of what she had to tell him came over her. She’d wanted to choose her moment-not have it forced on her like this.
‘I meant to tell you earlier,’ she said at last. ‘But then you were ill so I had to wait.’
‘Whatever it is, I think I need to know.’
Switching on the bedside lamp, she reached into her bag and took out the photograph of him with Freda.
‘I think this will explain part of it,’ she said, handing it to him.
As he stared at the picture she saw a change come over him-but not the one she’d expected. After the first shock he became possessed by dark fury.
‘You’ve been going through my things,’ he accused.
‘Of course not.’
‘You must have done, or you couldn’t have this picture.’
‘That isn’t yours,’ she said urgently.
‘Don’t lie to me.’
‘I’m not lying. I have one too. Yours is still wherever you keep it.’
He hauled himself up in bed, wincing, so that she reached out to help him. He pushed her away.
‘Get off me,’ he snapped.
She realised that she should have thought of this, but she hadn’t.
He made it painfully over to the chest of drawers on the far side of the room, pulled open the top drawer and reached deep inside. Polly wondered at the swift change in him. There was no trace now of the humility that had briefly touched her heart. His streak of ferocity, never far below the surface, had reasserted itself.
