The Wedding Arrangement

‘Are you that anxious to throw me out?’

‘Goodbye,’ she said, extending her hand and giving him a smile. It contained no warmth, only finality.

‘Goodbye,’ he said, taking her hand, not knowing what else to say or do.

He watched as she drove away, then walked slowly back to the house.

Franco was on the steps, staring at the road down which Minnie had driven away. He looked puzzled.

‘What is it?’ Luke asked.

‘Nothing, I-did you say her name was Pepino?’

‘Yes.’

‘Minerva Pepino?’

‘That’s right. Have you heard of her?’

‘I might have. And her husband’s name was-?’

‘Gianni.’

Franco drew in a sharp breath.

‘Whatever’s the matter?’ Luke asked. ‘Did you know Gianni?’

‘Not well, but yes, I met him a few times.’

‘In Rome?’

‘No, here in Naples. He used to come here often.’

‘That’s right, he collected things in his truck.’

‘So he may have done, but he also came to see a woman.’

Luke’s head jerked up. ‘That’s impossible. He was happily married until he died four years ago.’

Franco shrugged. ‘Maybe he was, but I’m telling you that he had a woman here, and a son.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘AND I tell you, you’ve got it wrong. You’re confusing him with someone else.’

‘The man I knew was called Gianni Pepino, he had a wife called Minerva and she was a lawyer in Rome.’

Luke poured himself a glass of brandy, and drained it in one gulp. Somewhere inside him an earthquake was taking place.

‘I don’t believe it,’ he murmured. ‘She adored him. She still does.’

‘Well, he certainly managed to pull the wool over her eyes,’ Franco said. ‘The girl is called Elsa Alessio, and the child is called Sandro. He got her pregnant when he was down here one summer, fooling around. He was only eighteen, and there was never any talk of marriage. She was older, a divorcee, and she had some money of her own.

‘From the way he talked, they weren’t in love or anything. They just had a fling and stayed friends. He used to come here to see her and the boy, then go back to Rome. After he got married he just kept on visiting her, chiefly to see his son and give her money-’

‘I thought you said she didn’t need money.’

‘She didn’t need to marry him, but a decent man supports his child, and maybe a little extra as a present for her.’

‘Bastardo!’ Luke said softly.

‘Why? Gianni loved his wife, and what happened before they married didn’t concern her.’

‘But he never told her.’

‘Of course he didn’t. Why hurt her for nothing?’

It was a point of view, Luke realised, with which a lot of men would sympathise. But he was conscious of a burning anger for Minnie’s sake.

‘How often did he visit her?’ he demanded.

Franco shrugged. ‘How do I know? But I had a friend who knew him better, and he said Gianni used to boast of those visits.’

‘Boast? How?’

Franco shrugged. ‘How do you think?’

‘Perhaps you should tell us, my son,’ Hope said quietly from the shadows.

Franco jumped. ‘Mamma. I didn’t know you were there.’

‘Evidently, or you wouldn’t be indulging in foolish, loose talk. Minnie was a guest under our roof. How dare you spread such stories?’

‘I didn’t invent it, Mamma. It’s true.’

‘How much is true? About the child? Perhaps.’

‘And he boasted that he could have Elsa whenever he wanted,’ Franco said.

‘And do you know that he was telling the truth? Does one believe every word that a boastful young man says? I don’t think so. Listen, my son, you are not to say another word of this matter. Rumours can hurt people, even when they are unfounded, and I would not have Minnie hurt for all the world. Please promise me that you’ll forget this and never repeat it.’

‘All right, Mamma. I promise.’

‘And you’d better keep that promise,’ Luke said, ‘or I’ll throttle you.’

‘I’ve forgotten everything I ever heard, I swear it.’

Looking sheepish, Franco kissed his mother’s cheek and departed, careful to avoid Luke’s eye.

Luke didn’t speak for a while after Franco left. He stood looking out over the terrace, brooding. ‘It can’t be true, can it?’ he asked at last.

‘He had the right names,’ Hope said. ‘It could be true about the child.’

‘Bastardo!’ Luke said again. ‘She thinks he was so wonderful, and all the time-’

‘But why are you angry?’ she asked him. ‘Surely this solves your problem?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘You wanted a way to drive him from her heart, and now you have it. Just tell her that the husband she idolised deceived her. Surely the simplest calculation should make that plain.’

‘I don’t like the word calculation,’ he growled.

‘It’s the one you’ve always lived by. I was merely speaking your own language.’

‘All right.’ He swung round. ‘Let’s say I tell her about this woman and child because I’ve calculated-’ he nearly spat the word ‘-that it will benefit me. But will it? It happened before he knew her, so where’s the betrayal?’

‘He went on seeing them when he came to Naples.’

‘As any decent man would, rather than abandon his child. He kept quiet so as not to hurt her, but that still makes Minnie the one he truly loved. If I want to destroy him in her eyes, I’ll need more than that.’

‘But he went on sleeping with this woman,’ Hope pointed out. ‘There is the betrayal. Tell Minnie that. Make her accept the truth. Then the road should be clear for you.’

In silence he turned and looked at her.

Minnie’s phone rang at exactly eleven o’clock.

‘I waited until now so as not to interrupt your work,’ Luke said.

‘I might be asleep by now,’ she pointed out.

‘You never were. We were usually still talking nonsense at this hour. Then you’d make the cocoa.’

She laughed, and they fell silent.

‘What are you doing now?’ he asked.

‘Just closing the books, then going to bed.’

Trying to put off the moment, she thought, because it’s so lonely without you.

‘You were supposed to be having some time off after that case collapsed,’ he reminded her. ‘You could have stayed here.’

‘No, I-I don’t think that would have been a good idea. There’s too much… Things get confused.’