Secrets on the Italian Island

by T A Williams

  So he did know. ‘Marco, look, about my job, I’m really, really sorry for lying to you, or at least for not telling you everything. The thing is, I had no choice. The instructions from my boss were unequivocal. Anyway, the fact is we found nothing so the island isn’t under threat.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He looked and sounded unexpectedly relaxed. ‘I’m delighted you found nothing, though I’m sure you won’t be the last bunch of hopeful prospectors to come here. But even with me out of it, I know the Save Elba group will be strong enough to repel them.’

  Anna felt she had to know the truth. ‘Did Loretta tell you?’

  He nodded. ‘She called me while I was in Bergamo last month with the news.’

  This stopped Anna in her tracks. Marco had returned from Bergamo the night before they had gone sailing and then canoodled on the beach. This meant he had already known her true identity at that point, and yet he hadn’t mentioned it and hadn’t held back. More to the point, it had been on Monday evening that he had told her he and the conservation group were going to be patrolling the Capoliveri area.

  ‘So you knew all along?’

  His smile broadened. ‘Why do you think I warned you to stay clear of Capoliveri? I had your best interests at heart.’

  ‘But I was… I am the enemy. You said it yourself.’

  ‘I liked you. I still do, I like you a lot.’

  Anna felt quite overcome. He had been prepared to waive his principles because of the depth of his affection for her. It seemed incredible, unbelievably touching and very heartening. Toby had decided he didn’t want her, so what? Here was an intelligent man with a social conscience – and who also just happened to be drop-dead gorgeous – who clearly liked her a lot. It was just a shame he was leaving for another hemisphere. She got up and went across to where he was sitting, leant down and kissed him warmly.

  ‘Thank you, Marco. I like you, too.’

  He kissed her in return and then rose to his feet, glancing at his watch.

  ‘Listen, I have to go now. I’m really sorry but you understand the minutes are counting down before I leave tomorrow. I should be free later on this afternoon. Why don’t you come up to the villa at, say, six and we can make sure our final parting is memorable?’ He gave her another kiss for good measure and all she could do was nod mutely.

  ‘Fine, see you at six. Ciao.’ By this time Sensible Anna was quietly weeping in frustration while Naughty Anna basked in the realisation that just because Toby had spurned her didn’t mean she was undesirable. He was welcome to Ruby, while if she wanted she had Marco – albeit only for a few more hours.

  After the door closed behind him, Anna slumped down in a chair, took a big mouthful of her untouched wine and swallowed it without tasting it. To say her head was spinning would have been to understate the way she was feeling. After convincing herself that anything there had ever been between them had irrevocably disappeared, she now found herself being drawn back in. Womaniser he might be, adulterer even, but she knew without a doubt that when she went up to his house this evening she would be willing to do just about anything to ensure their parting was as memorable as he had said.

  It made no sense, but she had long since given up trying to apply logic to the emotions his presence evoked in her. She knew she was behaving irrationally, stupidly even, but she felt powerless to stop herself. Like a fly caught in a spider’s web, she was in his thrall, no doubt as many women before her had also been, and now he was pulling her in – and this time she didn’t care.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her phone on the table in front of her and the noise made her jump. She reached for it and saw that it was Toby. Suddenly, just seeing his name appear on the caller ID doubled her sense of confusion. She just sat there and stared blankly at the screen until the ringing stopped. Only then did she drop it back on the table. A minute later she received a text message from him.

  Just to say it’s looking good for tomorrow. If all goes well we should be in Portoferraio mid-afternoon. I’ll call you when we get there. Really looking forward to seeing you again xx

  Chapter 23

  Anna didn’t feel like eating anything at lunchtime and she kept checking the time, counting off the minutes until six o’clock would come around and she would visit Marco at his home. As twelve o’clock slowly became twelve fifteen and then twelve thirty, and the interminable afternoon to come stretched out ahead of her, she finally couldn’t stand the suspense any longer and managed to snap out of her trance-like state. After a long drink of cold water from the fridge she put on her trainers and set off to see if George felt like accompanying her on another walk. The Labrador emerged from a shady corner as she was halfway across Jack’s courtyard and appeared delighted to head off with her. Together they retraced their footsteps of this morning, going almost as far up the hill as last time, but much faster, until she was hot and sticky and feeling quite breathless and even the ever-willing dog was panting. Finally, after a ten-minute rest in the shade of an umbrella pine to draw breath, she set off for home again, now at a more sedate pace.

  As they reached the dirt road close to Marco’s house, she heard a crunch of gravel behind her. Expecting to see Marco, she turned, a wide grin on her face which disappeared at the sight of a blonde-haired girl in shorts and a tight tank top coming towards her on a mountain bike. She looked as hot and bothered as Anna felt and when she saw Anna she braked to a halt, sending a little dust cloud wafting down the slope. George immediately wandered amiably over to greet her and received a pat on the head from the girl in return before she looked up and give Anna a little wave.

  ‘Hi, I wonder if you could help. I don’t suppose you speak English, do you?’ The accent was Antipodean.

  ‘Yes, I am English actually. Are you lost?’

  The girl looked relieved. ‘That’s great. I’ve been living in Marina di Campo for almost three months but my Italian’s still crap. I’m looking for a friend of mine who lives around here. I don’t suppose you know a guy called Marco, Marco Varese?’

  ‘Yes, I do.’ Anna took a closer look at this very pretty girl, probably three or four years younger than she was, and her antennae started twitching. ‘That’s his villa up there. You can just see the roof above the trees.’ She pointed and as she did so Sensible Anna, who had been noticeable by her absence for most of the day so far, suddenly woke up. ‘Are you friends with him?’

  The girl nodded. ‘Yeah, he and I are flying to New Zealand tomorrow. Are you friends with him as well?’

  Sensible Anna now took over completely as Naughty Anna began to beat a hasty retreat. ‘Yes, but not as much as you by the sound of it.’

  The girl laughed. ‘We’ve been dating for a couple of months now and it’s pretty serious. He even took me up to Bergamo to meet his family a couple of weeks back.’

  ‘Well, well, that really does sound serious.’ By now, Naughty Anna had left the building – quite possibly forever. ‘Tell me, do you happen to live in Auckland by any chance?’

  ‘Yes, how did you know?’

  ‘Just a wild stab in the dark.’ Which, Sensible Anna helpfully reminded her, was what the philandering, lying rat in the villa deserved to get. Trying not to sound confrontational, she opted for a teasing tone. ‘So how come you don’t know where he lives?’

  ‘Although I’ve been here quite a few times before, it was always at night and he was driving.’ The girl grinned cheekily. ‘And then off again in the mornings with my eyes barely open. Anyway, I’m supposed to be having lunch with him and then we were going to spend a nice lazy afternoon together, but the trouble is I lost my bearings. I’ve been in and out of three little valleys already and I was beginning to panic.’

  ‘Well, you’re all right now. That’s his gate there.’ Anna was about to turn away when she had a thought. ‘Out of interest, were you planning on leaving by six this evening?’

  Unsurprisingly, the girl looked both confused and faintly alarmed by the question. ‘Yes,
he told me he’s got an important appointment. How did you know that?’

  With a heroic effort, Anna refrained from sighing – or screaming out loud – at having been played so easily by Marco and his irresistible charm. ‘As you’re going to be seeing him, I wonder if you’d give him a message from me. Could you tell him, “Anna says she won’t be seeing you this evening”? Could you do that please?’ She paused, holding the girl’s startled gaze. ‘You see, his six o’clock appointment was going to be me. Ciao.’

  As she walked off down the road she would dearly have liked to turn around and check out the expression on the girl’s face but she carried stolidly onwards. She had little doubt that Marco with his forked tongue would be able to invent some story to wriggle out of this but at least she had the satisfaction of knowing she had tried.

  When she and George got back to the old stables she gave him a biscuit while she changed into her bikini and then, together, they headed for the beach for a swim to clear her head. It had been an eventful few hours. The one thing to emerge from the confusion currently still reigning inside her was the irrevocable fact that she and Marco Varese were now history and a sense of liberation swept over her. It was like awakening from a dream – or a nightmare – and she could finally see him for what he really was.

  A bit later on she returned home, took a shower and then sat down to eat a sandwich. Surprisingly, her appetite had suddenly returned. As she sat there, sipping cold mineral water, she remembered Toby’s text. He had sounded affectionate and cheerful and had even slipped in two little kisses after his name, saying he was looking forward to seeing her again. What he didn’t realise was that she knew about Ruby. Just as Marco had so easily been able to look her in the eyes and lie through his teeth, so Toby was clearly also just as happy with his deception. What was it about men – or these two men at least? Was nobody trustworthy any longer? Yes, of course there were glorious exceptions like Charlie and Jack, but they appeared to be a dying breed.

  She was still debating whether to text Toby, telling him to take a hike, when she heard a tap at the door. It was one of those rarities: a good man.

  ‘Hi, Jack. Come in.’ As he did so, he was almost toppled over as his happy dog slipped through his legs to greet Anna first.

  ‘George, get out of the way. Anna, my dear, I was wondering if you had plans for tonight. There’s an awful lot of the food Giovanna prepared for last night just sitting in the fridge. If it doesn’t get eaten I’ll have to throw it away – or give it to my four-legged waste disposal system here.’

  ‘If you’d asked me an hour ago, I would have had to say no but as it is now I’d love to. Do sit down. I’ve just had a late lunch and I’m about to make some tea. Feel like a cup?’

  He took a seat at the kitchen table while she busied herself making the tea. They chatted for a few moments before he asked the big question. ‘So what brought about today’s change of plan?’

  She handed him a mug of tea and sat down opposite him. ‘I had a moment of revelation. I think the appropriate word is an epiphany. I had an epiphany – with the assistance of a busty blonde in a tight top.’

  ‘You’re going to have to explain, I’m afraid.’

  So she did. She related everything the New Zealander had said and saw Jack’s face darken.

  ‘Oh, dear God, what’s wrong with the guy? How could he do that to you?’ He reached across the table and took hold of Anna’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. ‘Back in the Klondike I would have hit him with a shovel.’

  She couldn’t help smiling. ‘Don’t worry, I’m perfectly capable of doing that myself. Where do you keep your shovels by the way? Joking aside, strangely enough, meeting that girl’s the best thing that could have happened. Ever since I first clapped eyes on Marco everybody’s been telling me not to trust him – you told me yourself – but I wouldn’t listen. I was completely under his spell. Then I thought I’d managed to break the link and I was over him, but then, bang, there I was, totally hooked once more. I still can’t understand how I could have been so blind. I was utterly taken in by him; hypnotised, mesmerised, befuddled.’

  She took a big swig of tea and collected herself.

  ‘Well, my eyes have now been opened and thankfully before I did anything too stupid, and I’m glad. The blonde from Auckland – she told me that’s where she’s from, surprise, surprise – did me a favour. Marco is now out of my life for good and I’m very relieved.’

  He glanced across the table at her. ‘That makes what I came down to tell you a lot easier. I was dreading having to break some other bad news to you, but I felt duty bound to do so. I would hate for you to get hurt.’

  He looked so serious she felt a sudden wave of anxiety. ‘What’s wrong? Are you all right?’

  To her relief he gave her a gentle smile. ‘I’m fine, Anna, just fine. But what I came to tell you is this: when Giovanna came in this morning, we started talking about Marco and she came up with some important information. It seems his sudden decision to sell up and move to the other side of the globe isn’t because of some newfound desire to return to university, but because he’s in big trouble.’

  ‘Trouble?’

  He nodded. ‘With another woman’s husband – and not just any husband. It seems he’s been having an affair with the wife of the president of the Save Elba group, no less, and that guy’s very high up in the Tuscan regional administration.’

  ‘And they got caught.’

  ‘In flagrante, I believe. As a result it’s pretty clear Marco’s no longer welcome here on the island or anywhere else in Tuscany for that matter. There could well be an angry mob sharpening their pitchforks as we speak. Hence his decision to make himself scarce. Pronto.’

  ‘Wow!’ Even just an hour or two earlier Anna would have been gobsmacked, but things had changed so much she was no longer surprised at anything Marco might have done. ‘Well, thank you so much for telling me. In a way, that news makes it easier for me, too. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been regretting what might have been. Now my eyes have been opened to exactly how it would have been and, boy, am I better off out of it! Thank you once again.’

  ‘I’m delighted to see you taking it so phlegmatically.’ He sounded relieved.

  ‘And there’s one positive thing to come out of all this and, ironically, I have Marco to thank for it. As I’ve told you before, for some time now I’ve been wondering about a career change, and it just came to me earlier this afternoon while I was splashing about in the sea with George. Marco isn’t all wrong. Conservation and saving the planet are what it should all be about, so I’ve decided I’m going to give up my job, scrape together all my savings, and do a Master’s in Environmental Studies.’ She caught his eye and even produced a little grin. ‘Needless to say, this will not be at the University of Auckland. Then next year I’ll look for a job in that field. Hopefully I’ll be able to find something which lets me keep up my love of geology, but I won’t need to live in fear of one of my discoveries resulting in the sort of devastation I saw in Kabwe or even here at Capoliveri. Just like you felt after you left the gold mine in France, it’s time I cleaned up my act.’

  ‘That sounds like an excellent idea. And, of course, with Marco out of the picture for good, it allows you to devote yourself to that other man you told me about, your old neighbour, when you get back home.’

  Anna shook her head. ‘I’m afraid there have been developments on that front as well. I didn’t burden you with them when I was last here, but I’m afraid he’s no longer available.’ She went on to outline the scene she had witnessed involving Toby and Ruby two weeks earlier and the subsequent discovery that the two of them had headed off on a cruise together. Jack raised his eyes to the heavens and even managed a frustrated smile.

  ‘I’m beginning to wonder if you did something terrible in a previous life. Talk about bad luck…’

  ‘The same thought had occurred to me.’ She gave him an answering smile. ‘Still, it clears the decks for me to
make a complete new start. I’ll start applying for courses while I’m on holiday and the first thing I’ll do when I get back is to give in my notice.’

  ‘So, this evening, are you sure you feel like a drink and a bite to eat?’

  ‘How could I refuse? It sounds wonderful.’

  ‘See you at six.’

  Chapter 24

  That evening proved to be a real eye-opener.

  Anna went across to find Jack sitting out under the loggia. He had opened yet another bottle of champagne and she felt she should object.

  ‘A drop of the local wine would be fine, Jack. It didn’t have to be champagne. I’m feeling very guilty.’

  He gave a dismissive wave of the hand. ‘Don’t give it a thought. Besides, tonight’s a time for celebration. Spurred on by your example, I’ve made a big decision, and I’m feeling particularly pleased with myself.’ Seeing the expectant expression on her face, he smiled. ‘But let’s eat our meal first. There’s plenty of time.’

  Intrigued, Anna sat down opposite him. As they ate and chatted, the dog beneath the table rested his head on her feet and pretended to sleep while all the time she knew he was keeping a weather eye open for any offerings from the table. Unbeknown to him, he was about to become the subject of their conversation.

  Jack glanced down and then back up again towards Anna.

  ‘I’m delighted to see that my dog shares my feelings for you, Anna. It just confirms my belief that dogs know far more about us humans than we suspect. I was wondering if I might ask a favour of you. Do say no if it’s in the least bit difficult, but I would love it if you said yes.’

  Anna knew she owed him a lot and would do pretty much anything for him. ‘I have no doubt I’ll say yes. Go on, what is it?’

  ‘I do hope everything goes well for you and you manage to settle down and give up your transient lifestyle if that’s what you really want. If and when you do, should anything happen to me, would you maybe consider adopting George? He doesn’t know it, but he has a chip inserted under his skin and his very own passport so he could follow you anywhere in the world and it would make me feel so good.’ Seeing the expression on her face, he was quick to add. ‘Now, don’t get me wrong. I have no intention of dropping dead until I’m at least a hundred, but knowing he’d be in your caring hands if something happens would reassure me immensely.’