The Wedding Arrangement

protected in his arms.

He didn’t try to make love to me, she thought, smiling. That’s the best thing of all, but nobody else would understand.

He’d said, ‘Your whole life is going to be ruined if we can’t make this go away.’

We! Not you, but we-the two of us, acting together as friends and allies.

She went to look out of the window on to the staircase where there were already signs of life. Behind her she could hear Luke moving about until he finally joined her. He was moving his left arm gingerly.

‘I’m sorry. Did I keep it trapped all night?’ she said fondly.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll regain the use of it one day soon.’

They laughed together, and the warmth she felt was quite different from the sensual excitement of kissing him. It was the warmth of safety, and it made her realise anew how long she’d been without it.

Over breakfast he said, ‘I wish you didn’t have to go out today.’

It was a casual friendly remark, but it carried a new meaning now. She, too, was reluctant to step outside the magic circle they had created.

‘I wish I didn’t, too. But I’ve got a big trial coming up. I’m defending someone in a case that should never have been brought in the first place. It’s a try-on. They’re hoping to scare him into paying them off, and I’m not going to let them.’

‘So you’re going into battle?’ he said.

‘That’s right. And I may not be very good company when I’m here, so-’

‘Minnie, it’s all right,’ he said quickly. ‘You’ve promised to defend this man and you should give it all you’ve got.’

Her smile was full of relief, and it hurt him to see it.

He used her absence to make some urgent calls, several to the bank and one to a man the bank had found for him. His name was Eduardo Viccini. He called on Luke that afternoon, and they spent several hours going through papers and discussing tactics.

He had expected Minnie to be late following her day in court, but she was home for supper, and only just missed the visitor by minutes. Luke breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t ready for Minnie to meet Eduardo Viccini.

She came in smiling, carrying a heavy bag, which she dumped on to the sofa, and followed it, bouncing up and down gleefully.

‘You look like a kid let out of school,’ he said with a grin.

‘That’s how I feel. Free! Free!’

‘Your case can’t be over already.’

‘But it is. The other side backed down. They thought we were going to crack but we didn’t, and they withdrew. I told you it was a try on. My client will get his costs, the other side gets a great big debt that they’ve run up with their lawyers, and it serves them right. And I get a holiday because I set aside time for a trial that isn’t going to take place. Free!’

She threw her arms up in the air.

‘Does that mean you can have a rest?’ he asked.

‘Well, I’ve got paperwork and stuff to catch up on, but I can relax a bit, yes. And do you know the best thing of all? Someone told me that they heard my legal opponent say they’d done a clever thing to back down rather than face me, because I was a Rottweiler. Isn’t that wonderful?’

‘Is it?’ Luke asked blankly.

‘Well, not normally of course, but in my job it’s a great compliment.’

‘I can see how it would be,’ he said, amused. ‘Then let’s celebrate your freedom. I’ll go out and buy some wine and a couple of ready-cooked pizzas. No cooking tonight, just relaxing-’

‘And watching some stupid game show on TV?’ she asked eagerly.

‘The stupider the better,’ he promised.

He returned a few minutes later, bearing food and wine, to find her changed out of her severe clothes into jeans and sweater, and looking like ‘urchin’ Minnie, the one he preferred.

It was a wonderful evening. Over pizza she entertained him with vivid impressions of her courtroom opponents, which made him laugh.

‘You should have been an actress,’ he said. ‘You have the gift.’

‘Of course. That’s what a lawyer needs. I can be anything in a courtroom-demure, respectful-’

‘Or Avvocato Rottweiler,’ he supplied.

She gave a reminiscent smile. ‘The first time I was in an Italian court, it sounded so strange to hear the lawyers called Avvocato. I’d just returned here from England and it sounded like “avocado”. I kept giggling and nearly got thrown out.’

‘Things never sound so impressive in English,’ he said. ‘Take your noble ancestor, Pepino il Breve. You’ve got to admit that “Pepin the Short” lacks a certain something.’

‘My noble ancestor!’ she scoffed, then began to chuckle. ‘Pepin the Short. I love it.’

Afterwards they sat on the sofa and hunted through the TV channels for the worst game shows they could find. There was plenty of choice and they bickered amiably, engaging in furious argument over the sillier questions.

Neither of them had mentioned their closeness of the night before, but when he laid his hand on her arm it seemed natural for her to lie down lengthways, with her feet over the end of the sofa, and her head resting on his leg.

‘You got that last one wrong,’ she said, taking a bite out of an apple.

‘I did not,’ he said hotly. ‘There were three choices-’

‘And you got the wrong one,’ she insisted.

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. The first contestant said-’

‘Oh, shut up and hand me another apple.’

He did so and she tucked into it until, a few minutes later, she began to laugh.

‘Pepin the Short,’ she said. ‘What a name!’

‘That’s what you get for being English,’ he said lazily.

‘Half English.’

‘How did that work out when you were a child?’

‘Not well. I don’t think my parents’ marriage was very happy. My mother was a rather uptight person, while my father, as far as I remember him, was very-very Italian, emotional, with a big warm heart and a way of not letting himself be bothered by details. It drove Mamma mad, and I suppose she was right really, because it meant a lot of burdens fell on her. But I didn’t see that. I just saw that he was wonderful, and she disapproved of all the things I thought nicest about him.

‘When I was eight he died, and she took me back to England as fast as she could. But I could never be at home there. By that time I had an Italian heart and I hated the way she tried to make me completely English, as though she could wipe out my Italian side just by fighting it hard enough. I wasn’t allowed to speak Italian or read Italian books, but I did anyway. I used to get them from the library and smuggle them into the house. I can be terribly stubborn.’

‘Really? You?’

‘Oh, don’t be funny. Anyway, you haven’t seen me at my worst.’

‘Heaven help me!’

‘I’ll chuck something at you in a minute.’

‘You wouldn’t assault an invalid, would you?’

‘I might if it was you.’

‘Go on with your story while I’m still safe.’

‘Luckily my mother married again when I was eighteen, and I was clearly in the way, so I could flee back to Italy without anyone trying to stop me. In fact-’

Suddenly a wry grin twisted her mouth.

‘What did you do?’ he asked, fascinated.

‘I don’t want to tell you; it’s rather shocking,’ she admitted.

‘You never did anything shocking.’