by Lily Zante
He’d been in Italy for less than twenty-four hours.
“What shall we do today?” he asked his daughter. Tori scrunched her nose up at him and gave him a gappy smile revealing two tiny teeth.
“Shall we go for a walk?” He suggested, having an adult conversation with her as though she might offer up another alternative. The gardens were beautiful, and being out in the open cleared his mind.
“Come on,” he said, hoisting her up in his arms. “We won’t need this.” He left the stroller and the baby bag in the pergola and carried Tori in his arms as he wandered around the gardens of the Casa Adriana.
It wasn’t just that it was a hot, golden August day, or that the birds serenaded him, or that the flowers were in full bloom. He had no right to feel this happy, but he was grateful, even though his heart had been broken. He was grateful for his little girl. He kissed Tori’s head as he walked, and admired the greenery that dressed the gardens with beauty.
No wonder Elsa had talked so lovingly of her days spent here with Edmondo. He could see why. It was peaceful, it was calming and it was exactly what he needed to calm the tempest of emotions that still ran through his veins like molten lava.
Try as he did, he couldn’t get the image of that man with his wife out of his head. Punching him had alleviated the tension but only a little. His brows snapped together as he recalled the sorry state of affairs between him and his wife. If he hadn’t arrived when he had, if he’d come just a few days before the wedding as he’d originally planned—he would have forever remained ignorant of her deception.
It made him wonder how long she’d been making a fool out of him for. A slow burning rage seared his soul and only the sight of a man hunched over the ground distracted him enough to take his mind off his current problems. Carlos walked over to him, seeking a respite from his troubled mind.
The man looked up when he saw Carlos.
“Good morning,” said Carlos, nodding his head. The man stared up at him then looked across at Tori and nodded.
“Good morning,” he said, in a thick Italian accent, then continued with his work. It didn’t look as though he was in the mood for much company but just then Tori shrieked in delight causing the man to look at her sharply.
“What is it Tori, what do you want?” Carlos asked. The little girl clapped her hand.
“You want this?” the old man pointed to a bush of vibrant pink flowers. Tori held out her soft and fleshy hand, and her face flushed with excitement.
“I think she has her eyes on your basket.” He pointed to the assortment of gardening tools that lay on the grass. The man had pulled some weeds out and thrown them into the basket. He got up slowly from his gardening stool and picked up his bucket. “You want this?” he asked Tori, showing her the bucket full of weeds. In answer she clapped her hands even harder and excitedly bobbed her legs against Carlos’ body as though this would somehow bring her closer to the object of her desire.
“I’m sorry, I cannot give this to you, little one. It’s dirty.” He pulled a face signifying his distaste but managed to frighten Tori instead.
“It’s alright, Tori. Hush now,” said Carlos as he hugged the whimpering child.
“This is Tori?” the man asked him. Carlos nodded, suddenly wary when a stranger asked him about his child.
The old man nodded. “My granddaughter looks after your baby.”
Carlos suddenly understood. “Lizzi?”
“Si,” the man nodded.
“I’m Carlos.”
“I am Salvatore.”
They shook hands.
“You arrive here last night?”
“Yes,” replied Carlos and understood that this had been the man who had turned up late last night to pick Lizzi up.
“You work here?” Carlos asked. “The place is beautifully kept.” He marveled that one man could look after all of this.
“No, not me.” Salvatore said, shaking his finger. “This is not mine. Nico, he has people to do this but I look after it every day now. Little things, big gardens, lots to do. I tidy up and keep it beautiful. Edmondo…” He rolled his eyes heavenward. “Edmondo—he loved this place.” The old man placed his hand on his heart.
“I see,” said Carlos, “Edmondo was your friend.”
“No, no.” Salvatore shook his finger at him again. “Not my friend. My son and Edmondo’s sons are friends. Edmondo loved this garden. I look after it.”
“I see,” said Carlos, although he didn’t really.
Salvatore got back down onto his gardening stool again and Carlos presumed that the conversation was over.
“Goodbye, Salvatore. It was nice to meet you.” Carlos said, but the gardener was hunched over his plants and was diligently working away.
Carlos spent the rest of the morning in the pergola and the gardens. He had intended to go back to the park that they’d been to last time but that could wait for another day. Unfortunately, now that he had arrived early, he had no option but to remain here until the wedding. He could still salvage something from his vacation and carve out quality time for himself and Tori. Just enough to get through the wedding. He didn’t want to spoil the big day for Ava and Nico, and he couldn’t spoil anything for Elsa. She’d had such high hopes for his extended stay in Italy. He hung his head. Elsa had been so happy when he’d left Denver. He hated that out of all the people who would be affected by what had happened—it would be Elsa who would be hurt the most.
Chapter 27
“What blood?” asked Ava.
“What fight?” demanded Nico.
Gina threw her hands up and shook her head, as she surveyed their puzzled faces but gave nothing away. The suspense stretched out. Ava felt her shoulders tense up. The effects of their mini-vacation had instantly vanished the moment she and Nico set foot back at the Casa Adriana.
Nico had done the right thing in getting her to go away. It was only when she’d been away that she had realized how much she had taken on. Two days with Nico and nothing and nobody else had done wonders for her well-being. She’d been so relaxed up until this very moment. Nico, too, had been calmer, happier and more relaxed than she’d seen him in ages. He was back to being the man she’d fallen in love with in Venice.
Now she couldn’t wait for their honeymoon but they had to get through the wedding first.
“And?” asked Ava, growing impatient. Gina looked as though she didn’t know where to start.
“Slow down, and start at the beginning,” suggested Nico.
“A man came in here asking to talk to Rona.”
“Rona?” Ava asked.
“Who?” Nico wanted to know.
Gina shrugged. “I don’t know, I have never seen him. “He came in and Rona took him out into the car park.” She pointed towards the exit as though they might have forgotten where it was.
Ava’s heart began to beat faster and her body tensed. She already didn’t like the sound of this but knew she had to hear it all the way through.
“Then later guests came and told me that two men were fighting in the car park. They said there was blood.”
“Blood?” asked Nico. “In the car park?”
“Two men?” asked Ava, already wishing that she’d agreed to Nico’s suggestion of staying away another night. “Which two men?”
“I take responsibility for that.” A voice behind her startled her by its familiarity. A voice she hadn’t expected to hear. She turned around and smiled widely. “Carlos!” It was one good thing to come out of today.
“Look at you, Ava,” he said, walking towards her with Tori fast asleep in the stroller. “Mid-morning nap,” he explained and gave Nico a hearty handshake.
“This is a surprise,” said Nico enthusiastically.
“Yes, it is.” Ava looked down at her niece fast asleep.
“Pregnancy suits you,” said Carlos, beaming at her.
She blushed. “You take responsibility for what?” she asked as Nico stepped closer.
Carlos opened hi
s mouth but the office door opened just then and Rona rushed out. She stopped when she saw four pairs of eyes on her.
“You’re back,” she said to Ava and Nico, her voice uncertain, her face flushed. Her gaze darted to Carlos for the briefest of seconds.
“We just arrived,” said Nico, appearing not to notice that the atmosphere was thick like glue.
It didn’t take much for Ava to see that something had gone terribly wrong while they had been away.
“What happened?” she asked Carlos again because she could tell by the way Rona averted her gaze that she wasn’t going to get a proper, or an honest answer from her sister.
“I punched a man and I think I might have broken his nose. He’s threatening to sue.” Carlos told them in a calm manner.
“You got into a fight?” Nico looked alarmed.
“Carlos, what happened?” Ava demanded. “Why did you punch this man?”
“Are you going to tell her or shall I?” His cold words delivered in that icy tone, with barely a glance at Rona told Ava most of what she wanted to know.
“I—uh—” Rona looked pained, as though she had a pin stuck to her sides. She stared at Ava ashen-faced. “I made a mistake.”
“She made a mistake and goodness knows what else she’d have done if I hadn’t turned up when I did,” said Carlos, his voice filling with anger.
Ava’s eyes met Nico’s.
“Come on,” said Nico, and put his arm on Carlos’s shoulder. “Leave Tori here, she’s sleeping. Let’s go into the gardens.” The two of them disappeared into the gardens.
Ava placed her hand over her swollen belly. “Gina, would you mind keeping an eye on Tori for a while?”
Gina nodded and pushed the stroller to her side of the desk.
“Let’s go into the office,” said Ava. “I need to hear this.” She already knew that whatever had happened, it was Rona’s fault.
“Lizzi’s in there,” said Rona, following after her and when Ava entered, sure enough, Lizzi was at her desk doing something on the laptop.
“Hi,” said Ava, surprised.
“Hi, Ava. Rona asked me to help out.” She explained.
“Sure,” said Ava, as though the events of this morning were commonplace and regular.
“Let’s go into Edmondo’s…into Nico’s office,” suggested Ava. She’d been vibrant and full of energy after her small break but ten minutes back at the hotel had her craving to be back there again, to lie in bed with Nico for hours and to talk about their future, their baby, their plans and their life together.
It had taken merely minutes for the effects of her mini-vacation to disintegrate.
She sat in Nico’s chair and put both over her hands over her belly. “You might as well start from the beginning and tell me everything.”
Rona stood with her arms folded. She looked deathly, with her hair scraped back into a ponytail; she looked naked without her signature big hair.
“The business didn’t suffer—I’m up to date with everything. I’ve even started a new spreadsheet for—”
Ava held up her hand. “Just tell me what happened. We can talk about the business later.”
Rona nibbled her lower lip. “Nothing happened,”
“Evidently the facts say otherwise.”
“Carlos punched a man.”
“So you both keep saying.” Ava’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “I want to know why and I want to know who he is.”
Rona appeared to consider the request, and let out a long, angry sigh. “His name is…Ruben Dametto.”
Ava shook her head, not recognizing the name or understanding what he had to do with Carlos. “Why would Carlos punch this man—this man that even I don’t know? I can’t imagine why Carlos would know him, let alone punch him.” But even as she said it, she had an inkling of the confession that was coming.
“Because he caught me and this man—Ruben, talking, more like arguing, in the parking lot.” Rona rolled her eyes upwards.
“You can’t be serious?” Asked Ava slowly. This was what she had feared it might be. “You were arguing because?”
“Because…because…this is going to sound worse than it is…”
“It already sounds bad enough to me.”
“I didn’t sleep with him,” protested Rona.
Ava’s face blanched. “I wasn’t even going to go there,” said Ava, shocked. “Were you going to sleep with him?”
“No!” Rona reacted violently. “What do you take me for?”
“I don’t think you’d want to know.” Sarcasm dripped from her tongue. Why, oh why did her sister not see and appreciate the saint of a husband she already had?
“I didn’t go looking for this. I didn’t want this.”
“And yet it happened to you anyway,” said Ava in a subdued voice. “Is he the reason you would leave Tori with Mom when you snuck out in the evenings the last time?”
Rona threw her hands into the air. “I didn’t sneak out.”
“Is he the reason?”
“Yes.” The admission struggled to come out of Rona’s mouth. Ava looked horrified.
“You told me nothing happened!”
Rona kept quiet.
Ava put her hands to her face, as though she’d seen an ugly truth for the first time. “This is all my fault,” she gasped.
“Your fault? What are you talking about?”
“I should never have called you over. I thought I was doing Mom a favor.”
“Mom? You thought you were doing Mom a favor?” shrieked Rona, her face ugly. “How?”
Realizing she’d said too much, Ava retracted her words. “Mom was worried about you. She said you seemed happier here. And…” she stopped herself before she made matters worse.
“I thought you called me over because you needed my help?”
“I did need your help. You can see I still need your help.” She could never tell Rona that another reason for calling her over had been to separate her and Kim. It didn’t matter now because Rona had been a great help anyway and things had worked out. Except for this huge mess that now threatened to break her and Carlos up.
“Carlos will think I encouraged this. You told me there was nothing going on during those times when you went to Gioberti’s.” Rona had lied to her, or evaded telling the truth. It was all the same in the end.
“I’m sorry. But nothing did happen. Nothing. We only talked.” Rona insisted.
Ava looked at her sister with uncertainty. Knowing the question was wrong she asked it anyway. “Did you and Gioberti…?”
“No! And I never did whatever it is you think I’ve done with anyone. It was just this one guy…”
“Ruben?” Ava checked, needing to make sure they were still talking about the same man. Her sister had a penchant for disguising the truth.
“I—” Rona closed her eyes. “I needed to get away. Things with me and Carlos haven’t been so great lately.”
Ava made a low noise before resting her head against the headrest. She couldn’t be responsible for things turning sour in her sister’s relationship. Rona never really appreciated what she had in Carlos but seeing Carlos’s face earlier Ava knew how much the man was hurting. The way he looked, she wasn’t so sure he was about to forgive his wife anytime soon, if at all.
“Shouldn’t you have tried to mend things with Carlos?”
“I did try.”
“Shouldn’t you have tried harder?” Ava asked. When Rona refused to say anything or look her way, Ava prompted. “Why did you think fooling around with Rupert might help?”
“His name is Ruben,” said Rona, looking at her sheepishly. “It’s not at all how you think it is.”
Ava pursed her lips. “Then tell me how it is. Tell me what makes you throw away a beautiful marriage and break up a family just because of this Ruben?”
“We’re not splitting up. What happened meant nothing. It was a stupid flirtation that got out of hand. It’s not what you’re thinking.” Rona’s face flushed scarle
t with denial.
“Then tell me what it is. I can’t understand why you would feel the need to go out with another man while you have a husband. You’re married or had you forgotten that the moment you got on the plane?”
“I was lonely,”
“Lonely? That’s hardly an excuse. You could have watched TV, or read a book, or come and seen me and Nico, or played with Tori. You could have done anything but go out in the evenings craving the company of men who might get the wrong idea and think you’re nothing but a slut. Are you wearing your ring?” she snapped.
Rona held it up, almost like a middle finger.
“He knew I was married. I told him I was married. I didn’t hide it from him. He had split up with his girlfriend. In the beginning, the last time, I’d go to Gioberti’s just to be amongst people; to sit there and have an uninterrupted meal. And I got talking to Gioberti.”
“Gioberti is a flirt.”
“I know that. I steered clear of him.”
“Thank heaven you had some sense,” Ava mumbled.
Rona ignored her. “I saw Ruben there a few times. His brother works there—”
“He’s a waiter?”
“No,” replied Rona, testily. “His brother is.”
“One saving grace then.”
“It wasn’t a romance, it wasn’t love, it was…”
Ava watched and waited patiently.
“It was,” Rona placed her hands on the desk then hung her head. “It was the attention. And that he listened. It was friendly talk. We talked about Carlos, a little. He wanted to know why I was alone. You remember last time Carlos returned to Denver because they needed him at the restaurant?”
Of course she remembered.
“Ruben had just broken up with his girlfriend. We had a common thread and we would meet, eat and talk.”
“Did you keep in touch with him when you returned to Denver?”
“No, never, I swear.”
“And you ran into him the moment you arrived here?”
“I didn’t go anywhere in the beginning. I just needed to get away from Carlos, we were bickering all the time.”
“What about?”
Rona paused. “He worked harder than ever and he was always putting work first. He thought…he thought he needed to give me things…because he thought I looked at you and wasn’t content with what I had.”