all trooped off to bed.
Next morning they parted with many promises to see each other soon, when Leo and Selena tied the knot. Even the countess smiled and kissed Selena’s cheek, so that she began to feel she’d been worrying about nothing.
She and Leo stood, arms entwined, until the last car had vanished from sight. Then they hurried back to work.
Now they were in the season of harvests. Leo had grapes and olives to bring safely in, and there would be no time to marry until that was done. Selena became fascinated by this side of their lives, and spent long hours in the saddle, riding his acres with him.
They would return every evening, worn out but content, and satisfied with what they were bringing to fruition. Gradually her restlessness abated. There was nothing to worry about, and this happy life would go on forever.
The phone call came out of the blue one morning. Selena emerged from the shower to find Leo looking harassed.
‘Uncle Francesco has been on the telephone. He wants us to drop everything and go to Venice now, this minute.’
‘Is he crazy. We’re about to start bringing in the grapes.’
‘That’s what I told him. He just said it was urgent.’
‘You don’t think he wants to have another go at you about the wedding.’
‘I hope it’s not that. I’ve told him time and again we’re going to marry in Morenza and that’s final. If he’s dragged us all the way to Venice to have the argument again, I’ll-’ he searched for something that his amiable temper could rise to ‘-I’ll tell him he shouldn’t have done it.’
‘So you’re going?’
‘We’re going. I must have a talk to Renzo and then I’ll get the car out.’ He groaned. ‘Why couldn’t he at least tell me what’s happened? Ah well, the sooner we’re there the sooner we’ll know, and the sooner we can get home.’
As they neared the city Selena asked, ‘If the streets of Venice are water, where do we park the car?’
‘There’s a causeway that stretches from the mainland, over the lagoon, to Venice. At the Venice end is a terminus called Piazzale Roma where we leave the car and take the boat the rest of the way.’
‘A gondola?’
‘No, they don’t work like taxis. They just do round trips for tourists. Uncle will have sent his boat for us.’
But when they got there they were greeted by a surprise. It was Guido who greeted them, and the boat he’d brought with him was a gondola.
‘I’d forgotten that you fancied yourself as a gondolier,’ Leo said with a grin. To Selena he added, ‘Guido has some gondolier friends, and he borrows their boat whenever the mood takes him. It’s his idea of honest toil.’
‘Ignore him,’ Guido said, kissing Selena and assisting her into the gondola.
He put their bags in, then turned to usher Leo into the boat with a theatrical flourish. ‘
‘You’re up to something, little brother,’ Leo said with a grin.
‘Who, me?’
‘Don’t give me that innocent look. You always looked innocent when you’d done something that made everyone groan. What do you know that I don’t?’
‘The things I know that you don’t would fill a book,’ Guido ribbed him. ‘Don’t blame me. It’s life. Fate. Kismet.’
He cast off, and for a while Selena was distracted by her first gondola ride and her first visit to Venice. It seemed like no time before they had glided out of a side canal into the Grand Canal, the great highway through the centre of town.
‘That’s where Uncle lives,’ Leo said, indicating a building on the right.
The Palazzo Calvani was a monumental building, whose front was decorated with stone decorations of a lacy appearance that almost disguised its size. Selena could understand why it was called a palace. It exuded confidence and beauty in equal measure. It had been the home of great lords for centuries, and its spirit bowed to no man.
She could appreciate the beauty and the confidence, while being profoundly glad that nobody was asking her to live in it.
The impression was heightened as they drew up to the landing stage and there were servants, reaching forward to help them. Then the big, glamorous house seemed to reach out too, enveloping them.
‘I know,’ Leo murmured in her ear. ‘Sometimes I don’t think I’m going to escape alive either.’
She chuckled and felt better. If they were together in this, it wasn’t so bad.
Her eyes widened when she saw her room. Even the Four-Ten hadn’t been as outrageous as this.
‘It’s as big as a tennis court,’ she muttered to Leo. ‘We’ll get lost in it.’
‘Not us, you,’ he said. ‘My room’s at the other end of the corridor.’
‘They haven’t put us together? Why?’
‘Because we’re not married. We have to think of the proprieties.’
‘But they know we’re together.’
‘I know we are, and they know we are. But we’re not supposed to know that they know, and they’re not supposed to know that we know they know. And none of us can admit what anyone knows. It’s called doing things properly.’
‘It’s called sticking your head in the sand.’
‘That too,’ he agreed.
Then Selena saw something that made her jump.
‘Leo, who’s that, and what’s she doing with my bag?’
‘That Liza’s maid,’ Dulcie said, slipping in behind them ‘She sent her to help you.’
‘You mean she thinks I’m useless by myself?’
‘Stop being so prickly,’ Dulcie said. ‘It’s meant as a compliment, because you’re an honoured guest.’
You could take it like that, Selena reckoned. Or you could take it as a subtle insult, a way of saying the countess just knew you wouldn’t have a maid of your own. That was the trouble with these folk. You didn’t know which way to take them.
She’d counted on Leo for support, but she soon realised that he only half understood. Whatever he might say about not being at ease in this place, the fact remained that this was his family, and he loved them. They had shared history, and shared thoughts that needed no words. They called him ‘the country bumpkin’ in a tone of half- derisive affection, but he was one of them in a way Selena knew she never could be.
From then on she felt a double meaning in everything. When the countess came to her room and personally took her down to supper, was this a compliment, or a wordless way of saying she was too stupid to find the way? When the count rose to take her hand, murmur a compliment on her dress, and lead her to the table, wasn’t he really noticing that the dress had been bought in the Morenza market?
Well, they weren’t going to intimidate her.
She took a deep breath and accepted the seat of honour, at right angles to the count. After that she managed pretty well. Her fear was that she might mishandle one of the priceless crystal goblets, and smash it, but the light, skilful touch that had carried her through countless races came to her aid. It was like a horse, really. The trick was not to grab, but to caress.
The food was superb, and even her morbid sensitivity couldn’t turn that into an insult. She was beginning to relax when there was a faint commotion from just outside the dining room. The next moment the Calvani family had risen
‘Marco!’ the count cried joyfully. ‘Harriet!’
A tall, elegantly handsome man stood there with a statuesque young woman.
‘I didn’t dare to hope you could make it,’ the count said, going forward eagerly to embrace the two of them.
‘We just managed to get a flight,’ Marco said. ‘We weren’t going to miss the big occasion if we could help it. Have you-?’
‘No, no, not yet,’ the count said hurriedly cutting him off. ‘Come, both of you, and meet the newest member of
