Wife By Arrangement

‘I’d love to,’ she said eagerly.

‘Then you should start meeting some of the specialist growers. ‘I’m especially interested in this man,’ he said, handing her a business card bearing the name Vincenzo Tordone. ‘He has acres of greenhouses that can supply everything in winter. I’d like you to look him over and let me know what you think. If his stuff is high quality we can use him to fill the house with flowers on Mamma’s birthday, and set up a deal afterwards.’

Pleased, Heather visited Vincenzo Tordone in his office in Palermo. He was a tall, thin man in his late sixties, with white hair and a gently courteous manner that won her over at once. He took her on a visit to his glass- covered acres just outside the city, and she marvelled at the variety of perfect blooms that flourished under his hands.

‘I have a business in Rome,’ he told her as they sipped Marsala afterwards. ‘It’s a good business. My wife was Roman, and when she was alive she helped me to run it. Now she’s dead I’ve handed the reins to my son and daughter, and returned to my home.’

‘You’re Sicilian, then?’

‘Oh, yes. I was born in this country, and lived here until my twenties. One day I shall die and be buried here.’ He sighed with pleasure. ‘This is the best land in the world to grow plants. There’s nowhere so fertile, nowhere else where the flowers raise their heads so eagerly.’

He made her talk about herself, and she gave a carefully edited description of how she had come from England and ended up marrying into the Martelli family.

‘Do you find our ways strange?’ he asked courteously.

‘Not really. Everyone has been so kind, especially my mother-in-law, Baptista. She took me under her wing right from the start. She even gave me her own estate of Bella Rosaria.’

‘Ah, yes, I’ve heard of it-who has not? They say the flowers there are very fine.’

‘They are, especially the rose bushes. Some of them have been there for years. She tends and protects them like children.’

They plunged into a discussion of the best way to make rose bushes long-lasting. She liked the simple old man, and when she got home it was a pleasure to be able to tell Renato honestly that his blooms were first-rate. The deal was duly signed, covering the export of his produce both from Sicily and Rome, with a separate deal covering the provision of flowers for the party.

On the day Baptista spent the afternoon asleep, so as to be at her best for the evening. She rose bright-eyed and cheerful and sat calmly while her maid arrayed her in pearls. When Renato and Heather looked in, she took his hand and said in a pleading voice, ‘My son, this may be my last birthday on earth-’

‘Mamma, you say that every year,’ he reminded her tenderly.

‘And it’s true every year. But this year there is one special gift that I long for above all others.’

‘It’s yours if it’s in my power.’

‘If I could believe that there is truly no more bad blood between you and your brother-’

‘Believe it. That was over long ago.’

Baptista smiled, but Heather sensed that she had hoped for something more.

There was a knock on the door, and Bernardo and Lorenzo entered, one carrying wine, the other glasses, to toast their mother privately before the festivities began.

When they had all saluted her Baptista half rose to go, but Renato said, ‘Stay a moment. I have another toast.’ When he was sure he had everyone’s attention he said, ‘I drink to my brother, Lorenzo, to whose courage and honesty I owe my happiness. I made a terrible mistake that almost destroyed three lives. When we went to the cathedral, all three of us knew that that marriage ought never to take place. But it seemed too late. The juggernaut was grinding on and nobody knew how to stop it. Only one person found the nerve to halt it in its tracks. My brother, you gave me the woman I love, and for this I thank you with all my heart.’

‘And so do I,’ Heather said happily.

Baptista was weeping with joy. Lorenzo looked about to sink with embarrassment. Renato set down his glass and seized him in a bear hug while Bernardo thumped them both on the back.

‘Thank you,’ Heather whispered when Renato had returned to her.

‘I should have said it long ago.’

One piece down and one to go.

It was time for the party to begin. As Baptista descended on Renato’s arm, to applause from the assembled guests, the profusion of blooms made her stop and gasp with pleasure.

‘They are so beautiful, my dears,’ she said as she settled in the throne-like chair from which she would preside over the evening. ‘Thank you.’

‘There is one more thing,’ Renato said. ‘The man who arranged all this would like to offer you his own congratulations, with a special gift.’

‘That is very kind of him.’

‘But-’ Renato looked a little uncertain. ‘Mamma, are you strong enough for a little shock-if it is a happy one?’

‘Certainly. You have prepared me. Is Signor Tordone going to give me a shock?’

‘I think he just might.’

Renato nodded and a servant opened the door. Through it came the tall figure of Vincenzo. He walked calmly towards Baptista, never taking his eyes from her.

Nor did she take her eyes from him. As Heather watched she half rose from her seat, then fell back with a little gasp. Her hand flew to her throat as Vincenzo came to stand before her, holding in his hand one perfect red rose.

Baptista didn’t seem to see it. All her attention was for the old man’s face, and at last a glad cry broke from her.

‘Fede!’ she said in joyful disbelief. ‘Fede!’

‘I don’t believe it!’ Heather gasped. ‘That can’t be-’

‘It is,’ Renato grinned. ‘His real name is Federico Marcello. My grandfather was a fearsome character, but never quite the monster people thought. He drove Federico out of Sicily with threats and ordered him to change his name so that Mamma couldn’t trace him. But then he arranged for friends to help him get started in his own business, and put quite a lot of work his way.’

‘But how did you find him?’

‘I set a private enquiry agent onto it. He traced him to Rome and then all the way back here. I was fairly sure who he was when you went to see him, but when you told me about the talk you had, that clinched it.’

‘But why didn’t you tell me?’

Renato gave her a strange look. ‘Perhaps I wanted to surprise you, too. I wonder if I have.’

‘Yes,’ she said slowly. ‘I thought I knew you, but I never imagined that you could think of this.’

He touched her cheek gently. ‘It takes a lifetime to know someone, my dearest.’

‘And we have a lifetime,’ she whispered.

‘Do we?’

‘Yes. I wasn’t sure. But I am now.’

Her heart rejoiced at what she had discovered tonight. Renato was a proud, difficult man, who would never be easy to live with. But he understood things about love that even she had never dreamed of. This hadn’t been only to please his mother. It had also been to prove something to herself that he couldn’t have explained in words.

Something caught in her throat as she saw Baptista and Fede sitting side by side, their hands entwined. Moving very quietly, she and Renato crept close enough to hear.

‘I returned to Sicily to be close to you,’ Fede was saying. ‘But I never dared to hope that you would recognise me.’

‘I knew you at once,’ Baptista said through her joyful tears.

‘And I would have known you anywhere. You are just as you have lived in my heart, all these years.’

‘All these years.’ She said the words slowly. ‘And yet I hope you haven’t been alone. I would rather think of you having a good life, even without me.’

‘Then think it,’ Fede said firmly. ‘My wife was a wonderful woman. She gave me two fine children, and while she lived we were devoted.’ His voice changed. ‘But it was not with her as it had been with you.’

‘Yes,’ Baptista murmured. ‘Yes, that’s just how it was.’