Dreaming of Verona: An enchanting, feel-good holiday romance

by T A Williams

  Dreaming of Verona

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Acknowledgements

  Copyright

  With love, as always, to Mariangela and Christina

  True, I talk of dreams,

  Which are the children of an idle brain,

  Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,

  Which is as thin of substance as the air.

  William Shakespeare

  Prologue

  Suzie just sat there, stunned. She could feel the wine running down her cheeks and dripping off the end of her nose, but she was too shocked to move. She was vaguely aware of the restaurant door slamming as Alexandra made her dramatic exit, but by now all her efforts were concentrated on struggling to dominate the crushing sense of embarrassment that had turned her cheeks the colour of the tomatoes on the plate in front of her.

  She risked a glance up from the table and this immediately confirmed her worst fears. All around the magnificent dining room, faces were turned in her direction, some in disbelief, some amazed and some distinctly amused. A few people were whispering among themselves and there was no mistaking the fact that she was now the object of almost universal attention. As she felt the weight of the eyes upon her, her embarrassment grew even more acute and she came close to getting up and rushing out of the room in her turn. Only the very real fear of looking even more pathetic prevented her from moving from her seat. Dropping her head, she returned her attention to the table and did her unsuccessful best to make herself invisible. She was digging in her bag for a tissue when a shadow fell across her.

  ‘Excuse me, signorina. Perhaps this might help.’

  She raised her eyes from the steady drips of Prosecco falling onto the tomato, mozzarella and basil salad in front of her and looked up. It was the immaculate waiter who had welcomed them to the elegant restaurant only a few minutes previously. The expression on his face was studiously neutral as he held out a pristine white napkin towards her. Maybe this wasn’t the first time one of his clients had been on the receiving end of a glass of wine in the face.

  ‘Do please take it. I fear there’s a real risk of you spoiling your salad if any more Prosecco ends up on your plate.’ The hint of a smile appeared on his face.

  Automatically she reached out and took the napkin, using it to dry her glasses before wiping it across her face. It came away remarkably wet in spite of the amount of wine that had ended up down her front. Alexandra’s glass must have been full before she had thrown the contents across the table at her.

  ‘Are you going to be all right, signorina?’ His tone was formal, but sympathetic.

  Suzie nodded, dabbing at the wet trail that ran all the way down to the open neck of her blouse. The sensation of wine running down her body beneath the light cotton was disconcerting and she blushed all the harder. Mustering as much resolve as she could, she made an attempt at a smile in return.

  ‘I’m fine, thanks. Just a bit shocked, to be honest. I must have touched a nerve.’ And she knew full well which of Alexandra’s all too exposed nerves she had touched, but, she told herself yet again, she had had no choice. She did her best to sound positive. ‘Thank you for the napkin. You’re very kind.’

  The waiter gave her a little bow of the head and left her to her salad – and her mopping up. As she did her best to dry herself off, she reflected on the scene which had just taken place. Tonight’s outburst signified a marked deterioration in relations between her and Alexandra and she sighed. It looked as though her visit to Italy might be about to come to an abrupt and untimely end.

  Chapter 1

  ‘His Lordship will see you now, Miss Cartwright.’

  Suzie stood up, straightened her skirt, walked over to the finely carved old door and hesitated, glancing across at the forbidding-looking lady in the twinset and pearls sitting at the desk to one side.

  ‘Should I knock?’

  ‘That won’t be necessary. His Lordship knows you’re coming.’

  Even so, Suzie gave a gentle tap on the door before turning the handle and pushing it open. Taking a deep breath, she stepped over the threshold and blinked in the unexpectedly bright light. Lord Tedburn’s study was massive. Tall leaded windows flooded sunlight into the room, illuminating an array of austere moustachioed faces in oil paintings hanging around the oak-panelled walls. The highly polished wood floors glistened in the late August sun and his huge and doubtless antique desk was positioned directly facing the door, with the sun at his back. She hesitated, turning to close the door behind her. As she did so, she heard his voice.

  ‘Good morning, Miss Cartwright. It’s good of you to come. Do come and sit down.’

  He sounded a bit less intimidating than she had feared and she did as instructed, perching primly on a velvet-upholstered chair in front of his desk, trying not to let the sun dazzle her. His face was in shadow, but she could see the outline of his body, his shoulders more hunched than she remembered, but of course the last time she had seen him had probably been close to fifteen years earlier, and a lot could happen in fifteen years. She had never spoken to him before, although she recognised him, as did all the residents of this part of rural Devon. She clasped her hands together on her lap and waited for him to finish whatever it was he was writing.

  ‘So tell me, if you would – how old are you?’ He set down his fountain pen and his eyes subjected her to a searching stare.

  She felt the colour rushing to her cheeks as she answered. ‘Twenty-eight. I’ll be twenty-nine next February.’ She wondered vaguely if she should have added a ‘sir’ at the end, but it was too late now. She had no previous experience of speaking to members of the aristocracy.

  ‘Your father tells me you’re an English scholar.’

  ‘I have a PhD in English, yes… sir.’

  ‘Do you have a particular field of interest?’

  ‘My thesis was on Shakespeare. I’ve always been interested in his plays and poetry.’

  To her surprise, there was unexpected warmth in his reply. ‘Well, well, a shared interest. I have a fine collection of his works in my personal library. I’ll have to show you sometime.’

  ‘I would like that, sir.’ Somehow, Suzie had imagined Lord Tedburn as more of a huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ man. Presumably there was more to him than met the eye.

  He returned to the matter in hand. ‘I gather you’re currently between jobs.’

  ‘Yes, sir. I was working for a charity in London until last month, but the funding was withdrawn and it had to close down.’

  ‘You speak Italian, I believe.’

  ‘Yes, reasonably well. I did A-level Italian at school and then spent my vacations looking after ten- to fourteen-year-olds at a holiday camp on the Tuscan coast for three summers while I was doing my first degree.’ She felt she had b
etter explain. ‘It helped to pay my way through college.’

  ‘Good, good.’ His chair creaked as he stood up and walked slowly round to the side of his desk. Directing his gaze not at her, but out of the windows into the deer park, he laid out his proposal. ‘Miss Cartwright, it’s my daughter, Alexandra, you see.’

  Suzie wasn’t sure if a response was required so she said nothing. It didn’t seem to matter. A few moments later he turned back to her.

  ‘She wants to go to Italy for a month and I would like somebody to accompany her.’

  Suzie began to understand why she had been summoned here to the manor. Presumably all her experience of dealing with children was going to be put to use. His next remark confirmed her suspicions.

  ‘I don’t like the idea of her going off on her own, so I’d be grateful if you felt like accompanying her, if you have no other commitments.’

  ‘When would this be, sir?’

  ‘I believe she wants to set off around the middle of September. Would that suit you?’

  ‘Yes, probably, I think so. I suppose it all depends on job interviews and that sort of thing. I’ve been applying for a number of positions.’

  He nodded slowly before responding. ‘I wouldn’t want you to lose out, so I’m prepared to pay you well for your time. Can I ask how much you were being paid in your last position?’

  She told him and waited as he did a bit of mental arithmetic, before coming back to her with a figure that almost took her breath away. He was offering her as much for one month of her time as she had earned in two months in her old job and, along with it, full board and lodging as well as unspecified ‘expenses’. Her spirits rose. Four thousand pounds in the bank and a month in Italy were not to be sniffed at, even if she would be looking after a possibly troublesome teenager. She was just about to leap at the offer when he added some extra information and she found herself having to stop and reconsider.

  ‘You need to know a few things about Alexandra, my daughter.’ He returned his attention to the deer park as he spoke and she began to realise that he wasn’t finding this conversation easy. ‘Although she’s almost twenty-six, she can still behave in a very immature manner. She appears to be quite incapable of applying herself to anything for any length of time before getting bored with it. She’s disobedient, can be rude and sometimes, I’m afraid, she’s little more than a fly-by-night.’

  ‘A fly-by-night?’ Suzie hadn’t heard that archaic expression for years. She lapsed into silence as she took in the full import of his words. She had assumed she was being employed to babysit a minor, not an adult. How on earth could she be expected to look after a woman barely two or three years younger than herself? She would have spoken up, but her natural reticence kept her silent – for now. As it was, Lord Tedburn had more to say on the subject of his daughter.

  ‘She’s far too interested in her friends, her clothes and in having a good time.’ He looked back over his shoulder briefly. ‘And I’m afraid her track record with men is no better. Her tastes leave a lot to be desired, and she always seems to gravitate towards the unsavoury and the unsuitable. Above all, I’ll be counting on you to keep your eye on her as and when any Italian men start popping out of the woodwork.’ He shook his head ruefully. ‘And they will.’

  The more she heard, the less Suzie liked the sound of this. Although it was right for Lord Tedburn to make her aware of the true state of things, she was amazed that he should speak so disparagingly about his daughter to a complete stranger and she felt a twinge of sympathy for Alexandra. What, she wondered, did her mother think about this? But then, no sooner did the thought occur to her than she remembered hearing that Lady Tedburn had died quite some time ago. Clearing her throat, she did her best to object, but Lord Tedburn was adamant, waving away her reservations.

  ‘Do you know Italy well, Miss Cartwright?’

  ‘Um, only a limited area, really. I took the train in to Florence a few times when I was working at the coast, and of course I visited Pisa and Lucca, but I didn’t see much else, I’m afraid. It was a residential position, you see, and I had very little free time.’

  ‘So you don’t know Venice and the area around there – Padua, Verona and the lakes?’

  In spite of her doubts, Suzie’s heart skipped a beat. The idea of visiting the magical city of Venice was very appealing but, above all, the name that had leapt out at her was Verona. She looked up at Lord Tedburn and explained.

  ‘I don’t know the northeast of Italy at all, but I’ve been dreaming of Verona for years now. Ever since I first started studying Shakespeare.’

  A smile appeared on His Lordship’s face. ‘Of course, the city of Romeo and Juliet. Well, you should have ample time to study it at your leisure.’ He returned to his seat and picked up the phone. ‘Alice? Please would you ask Alexandra to come and join us? Thank you.’

  As he put the receiver down, he returned his attention to Suzie. ‘I’m going to spell it out quite clearly to Alexandra. You will have my full support, I assure you. All I ask of you is to keep me informed whenever you have any worries about my daughter’s behaviour. It’s for her own good.’

  By now, Suzie felt herself seriously torn. On the one hand, the idea of visiting the place she had been dreaming about for years was enticing, but she was having ever more serious reservations. Was her presence really for the girl’s own good? To her it sounded as if this interfering father was far too controlling and, much as she would have enjoyed an all-expenses-paid month over there, she was already beginning to think of polite ways of refusing when the door opened and a slim, auburn-haired girl slouched in. Her body language screamed at them both. Without a word being spoken, it was plain to see that Alexandra didn’t want to be here and certainly didn’t want anything to do with Suzie. Apparently unaware of anything untoward, her father looked up.

  ‘Ah, good, Alexandra, come and meet Suzanne Cartwright… you know, the vicar’s daughter.’

  The girl came over and shook Suzie’s hand with about as much enthusiasm as if she were picking a rotten apple out of a basket.

  ‘Good morning.’ Nothing more.

  Doing her best to sound unfazed, Suzie gave her a smile. ‘Good morning, Alexandra. It’s good to meet you.’

  ‘Suzanne is going to accompany you to Italy, Alexandra. I’m sure the two of you will get on like a house on fire.’

  From the expression on Alexandra’s face, it was pretty clear she would have preferred it if Suzie had been inside the aforementioned burning house with the fire engine stuck in a ditch somewhere else. For a moment, it looked as if she were about to retort, but instead, she dropped her eyes and nodded, but not before Suzie had noticed another expression flitting momentarily across her face. Suzie had been expecting anger, resentment and resistance, but she felt sure the expression she had briefly glimpsed was more one of sadness. In spite of her reservations, she began to reconsider. Unaware of – or ignoring – his daughter’s unhappiness, Lord Tedburn carried on.

  ‘Now, Alexandra, I want you to hear what my instructions are to your new companion, so there can be no misunderstanding.’ Without waiting for acknowledgement from his daughter or for Suzie to protest that she hadn’t accepted the job yet, he turned back to Suzie. ‘Suzanne, while in Italy I want you to consider yourself effectively in loco parentis. It will be your responsibility to keep me informed at all times if you consider Alexandra’s conduct in any way unsuitable. In particular, I need to know if she takes up with any undesirable people – especially men. I need to know I can rely on you. I trust this is crystal clear to you both.’

  Suzie felt Alexandra’s eyes on her and she decided to prevaricate. Confrontation wasn’t her strong suit, but she took a deep breath and made a stab at it. ‘I wonder if it might be possible for me to spend a little time with Alexandra so we can get to know each other a bit better, before accepting the job? I wouldn’t want her to feel she was being forced to spend her holiday with somebody she doesn’t like.’ As she finished speaking, she
looked across and, for a second, she caught the other girl’s eye and read what might have been surprise.

  ‘Yes, of course, Suzanne.’ Lord Tedburn also sounded surprised, but he hid it better. ‘Why don’t you two girls go and sit over there and chat while I get on with my correspondence?’ He waved vaguely across to a fine leather-upholstered sofa a few feet away.

  This didn’t strike Suzie as a good idea at all. What sort of conversation would they be able to have with Alexandra’s father listening in? Taking a deep breath, she crossed her fingers and made a counterproposal.

  ‘As it’s such a glorious day, I wonder if you’d mind if we maybe went for a little walk in the gardens? It seems too good a morning for staying indoors.’ For a moment, she wondered if she had gone too far. From the expression on Lord Tedburn’s face, it was clear he was unused to people refusing his orders, but he controlled himself and gave a brusque nod.

  ‘Very well, why not? And after you’ve had a chance to talk, will you come back and see me again, please, Suzanne, so we can sort out all the paperwork?’

  Suzie followed Alexandra out of the study, back along the main corridor and through the magnificent entrance hall to the front door. It was only once they were outside and some distance from the splendid old manor house that Alexandra slowed and turned to her. She was a good-looking girl, but the expression on her face this morning was far from attractive.

  ‘So, what do you want to talk about?’ She sounded resigned, rather than belligerent, but definitely not friendly.

  Suzie decided to be as open and frank as possible. ‘Listen, Alexandra, I feel uncomfortable being asked to play the role of sneak. I’ve no idea why your father feels it necessary to send somebody along to keep an eye on a grown woman like you and, frankly, it doesn’t appeal to me at all. Yes, the idea of going to Italy – my favourite country in all the world – is very attractive, but not if you and I are going to be at daggers drawn all the time. I think it might be better if you find yourself another companion, maybe one of your friends for instance.’