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

by T A Williams

  ‘Do you know why he was over here in Italy this weekend?’

  ‘Not just to watch the race?’

  He shook his head. ‘He flew over on Friday. You see, it was the third anniversary of Grazia’s accident and he met up with her family for a memorial service in their local church in Brescia. After staying there overnight, he came across here yesterday afternoon. He told me it had been an emotional time and that’s why he was late getting here. He gets on very well with Grazia’s parents and he stayed on to comfort them.’ His tone was deadpan. ‘It was this time three years ago, just before the race, that the call came through to him from the highway patrol. You can imagine all the memories that must have been flooding through his brain. He told me to say he was sorry he had to go off, but he needed to get his head straight. That’s what he said – he wanted to get his head straight.’

  ‘I just hope he can.’

  When the time came to leave and go back down the lake to see the professor as agreed, Suzie saw that her kit, rescued from the lake by some kind people, was already strapped on the roof of Tommy’s hire car along with his own gear and James’s. He asked her if she was sure she felt well enough to drive. Otherwise, he said one of them would be happy to drive the Mini back to the professor’s house in Bardolino and then drop her back in Verona. She told him she felt fine and gave them both a warm hug and a kiss before they left.

  ‘Once again, Tommy, thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my life and for being such an understanding friend.’

  He kissed her chastely on the cheeks. ‘I’ll always be your friend, Suzie.’

  As she was getting into her car, she heard her name being called. It was Beppe. As she turned towards him, he caught her in a bear hug, and when he released her he gave her a meaningful wink.

  ‘Next time you come to the restaurant, your dinner’s on me.’

  ‘That’s very kind, Beppe, but what for?’

  ‘I’m not sure how much you remember, but you were coming up fast on James and me when you hit that log. For all I know, you might have overtaken either or both of us. As it was, we both carried on to the finish, blissfully unaware of all the drama unfolding behind us. Your friend Tommy saved you, I won the race, you’re all right and he’s a hero. If that’s not worth a free meal, I don’t know what is.’

  Suzie gave him a big kiss on the cheek and, as he turned away, she surreptitiously pulled out a tissue. Puzzlingly, although her lips were smiling, the tears were once again pouring down her cheeks.

  She drove down to Bardolino very slowly and carefully, just in case, but her head was feeling pretty normal again by now. When she got there, the professor was initially appalled at the state of her bruised and battered face, but she was quick to assure him that it was just cosmetic, and that she would be as right as rain soon. The dog greeted her warmly and positioned himself strategically between her and the cake, adopting his ‘they never feed me’ expression that Suzie knew of old and ignored. The hopeful thump of his heavy tail on the floor carried on all the way through their tea and cake. The professor, however, was thinking of things other than cake.

  ‘I’ve been wondering. Now that we have all the papers in order, I wonder if you think it might be possible to bring forward the opening of the research centre.’ This had been planned for mid-February. ‘I was wondering whether we could maybe even make it sometime in January. I’m sorry to give you extra work, but I’d like to speed everything up if we can and it would be wonderful to open the doors of the research centre a bit earlier than planned.’ He glanced across at her and grinned. ‘I’m not getting any younger, after all. Do you think that might be feasible?’

  Suzie had already been thinking along similar lines. ‘I’ll make sure it is.’ She gave him a confident smile. ‘We’ll get there. I’ll do a bit of chasing and I promise we’ll be ready before the end of January, even if I have to paint the walls myself.’ It occurred to her that one advantage of this change of plan would be to give her a valid reason for contacting Michael and, hopefully, of seeing him again sooner than she had hoped.

  A little later on she took the bus back to Verona, and returned to the flat. As she walked in, Alex took one look at her and almost had a fit.

  ‘Good God, Suzie, you look like you’ve just headbutted a brick wall. What the hell happened?’

  Suzie gave her an encouraging smile and told her all about it. As she did so, she checked herself out in the mirror on the kitchen wall and had to admit that she was a pretty scary sight. Apart from the cut above her eyebrow and a black eye – or, rather, a bloodshot eye surrounded by blue and purple bruising – she also had a big lump in the middle of her forehead, along with scratches on her left cheek. Still, she told herself, it could have been worse. Much worse.

  ‘Tommy saved my life.’

  Alex grinned at her. ‘Of course he did. And was that the cathartic moment that made you realise you love him? Have you spent every minute since then wrapped in each other’s arms?’

  Suzie managed to smile back. ‘Afraid not. You see, somebody else showed up just as I was kissing Tommy.’

  ‘Michael?’

  Suzie nodded and recounted the events of the previous day, including Michael’s surprise arrival and sudden departure. After that, she poured herself a glass of mineral water and went on to tell Alex the reason Beppe had given for his sudden disappearance, and she read sympathy in her friend’s eyes.

  ‘I suppose his head must have been swirling with memories. Little wonder he bailed out. Anyway, I’ve got my conversation exchange with Beppe on Wednesday. I’ll see if I can wheedle any more information out of him.’

  ‘You do that, but the thing is, Michael didn’t even kiss me. He didn’t even shake my hand. He just left.’

  ‘Remember what Beppe said, and what your mum said, and what I’ve been saying. Give him time.’

  Suzie sat down at the kitchen table opposite her. ‘I know, but it’s just so bloody frustrating. Somehow I don’t think it’s meant to be. The stars just haven’t aligned for us, I’m afraid.’ She stifled a sigh. ‘Anyway, what about you? Everything ready?’

  The reason Alex had stayed on in Verona on Friday afternoon had been to collect her two paintings from the framers. On Saturday afternoon she had then taken them to the Castelvecchio in readiness for the exhibition opening, scheduled for next Friday night.

  ‘Yes, I’ve handed them in. I worked that evening and then last night I went to a party.’

  ‘Oh, yes? Any good?’

  Alex shook her head. ‘It’s the funniest thing. There was booze, the whole place reeked of marijuana, there was loud music and boys, but I felt like a fish out of water.’ She snorted. ‘It sounds crazy but, at the ripe old age of almost twenty-six, I felt old, really old.’

  Suzie laughed. ‘Think how an old woman like me would have felt. Did you manage to have a good time all the same?’

  ‘Yes, I suppose I did. I danced a bit and had a few beers, but my heart wasn’t in it. Even when this totally gorgeous guy I’d never seen before offered to take me back to his place for the best time of my life I was just, sort of… no, can’t be bothered.’

  Suzie found herself giggling. ‘I think that’s a thing called maturity. Well, your father would have been pleased, and I’m proud of you.’

  ‘Talking of my father, I almost forget. Hot off the press: he’s coming here next Friday night for the opening of the exhibition, although he’s flying back again straight away the next morning. I’ve booked him into our old hotel for the night.’

  ‘Wow, that’s great.’ The more Suzie thought about it, it really was good news. ‘And how did he sound?’

  ‘To be honest, he sounded good. He and Rafe have done a lot of talking and the wedding’s set for the beginning of February. And of course you’ll be getting an invitation, by the way. Rafe called me last night and told me it had all gone remarkably well. Now that Father’s got to know Melanie a bit better, he seems to have calmed down, and he sounded pleased that s
he and Rafe are happy together, even if she hasn’t got a title.’

  ‘Brilliant! So do you think this means he might let you off the hook as far as James is concerned? Surely he can hardly let his son marry a commoner and then insist that his daughter goes through with an unhappy marriage for the sake of the family tree.’

  Alex looked more than a little embarrassed. ‘To tell the truth, Suzie, I think I may be changing my way of thinking about James. I’ve met quite a few men since I started doing the course and there was that guy at the party last night, but there’s no getting away from it – I haven’t met anybody I like anything like as much as I do James.’

  ‘I told you he was the man for you.’ Suzie was delighted at what she was hearing.

  ‘The other thing is now that I’m proving to my father – and myself – that I can be independent, it occurs to me that it doesn’t matter if I end up with James. I’m my own person now and I’ll hook up with whoever I want. If it happens to be somebody Father approves of, then so be it, but the decision will have come from me.’

  ‘Terrific news. So what happens now? Isn’t there still the problem of you and him being like brother and sister?’

  There was no doubt about it. For once, Suzie wasn’t the one with the bright red cheeks. Alex’s face was positively glowing.

  ‘Um, that might not be so much of a problem after all. Somehow, bit by bit, I’m coming round to realising I actually quite fancy him. You see, I’ve been dreaming about him.’

  ‘Oh, yes… and…?’

  ‘Well, let’s just say they haven’t been the sort of dreams a sister would have about a brother.’

  Suzie reached across, took hold of both her hands, and gave them a squeeze. ‘That’s the best news I’ve heard all week. You and James look good together and there’s absolutely no doubt that he’s potty about you. So, when are you going to see him next? Christmas?’

  ‘At the weekend. He’s coming back over for the exhibition as well.’

  ‘And you’re going to tell him about your dreams?’ Suzie grinned at her. ‘Or maybe let the dreams become reality?’

  Alex was still red in the face and looking unusually embarrassed, so Suzie relented and let her off the hook, secretly delighted things appeared to be working out. And not just for Alex with James. It also looked very much as though things were finally coming good between Alex and her father, and Rafe and Melanie had now reconciled with him as well. The Tedburn family finally appeared to have managed to set its house in order. Suzie felt really happy for all of them, but she wouldn’t have been human if she hadn’t felt a little bit envious. She and Michael were hopefully still friends, but that was as far as it went.

  Chapter 26

  The week passed quickly. True to the promise she had made to the professor, Suzie contacted the plumbers on Monday morning and did her persuasive best to get a commitment that they would install the new toilets as soon as possible. Fortunately, the boss of the company had known Professor Macgregor-Brown for years and as a result on Wednesday a van arrived and work started. Suzie immediately went out and bought doughnuts for the two plumbers and made sure she was always on hand to make drinks for them whenever they wanted from then on, determined to keep them there at all costs.

  Interestingly, while British tradesmen normally tended to function best on liberal quantities of tea, she discovered that Italians preferred coffee, and one of the men in particular managed to consume a never-ending succession of powerful espresso shots each day. Suzie felt sure that she would have been awake for a week if she were to do the same, but it didn’t appear to hamper him in his work and maybe it actually helped. Whatever it took, she was determined to keep the plumbers on site and working.

  She had received a text message from Michael on Monday morning, apologising but not explaining his sudden departure. She sent him a photograph of her face so he could see how the bruising was developing and he replied immediately telling her she was already looking a lot better, but saying little more. After that, radio silence resumed and she felt disappointment descend upon her once again.

  As soon as the plumbers moved up to the first floor, Suzie set about clearing the big rooms downstairs completely. She slaved away, polishing the floors and cleaning everything from top to bottom before borrowing the car and scouring the furniture factories in the area around Verona – of which there were surprisingly many – until she found somewhere that could supply and deliver a fine-looking conference table, desks and several dozen chairs before the end of the year. The new computer system was scheduled for installation during the first week of January and the boxes of books that kept arriving began to fill the bookshelves. Gradually, it was all taking shape. And the harder she worked, the less time she had to think of Michael and what might have been.

  * * *

  James and Lord Tedburn arrived together late on Friday afternoon and by this time Alex had got herself into a real state. Torn between wearing something suitably formal for the opening of the exhibition – not to mention something conservative for her father’s benefit – and something alluring for James, she had begun to panic now that she had disposed of all her designer dresses. Suzie even offered her the posh dress Alex had bought for her, but Alex thanked her and chose a skirt and the best top she could find in her seriously depleted wardrobe. The fact that it had a fairly revealing neckline would no doubt please her boyfriend, although it might not create quite the right effect for her father.

  Nevertheless, when the two men arrived at the flat, Alex was looking really good, and Suzie sensed no disapproval on her father’s part and a lot of attraction on James’. As for herself, she decided to wear the smart dress and put her hair up, but no amount of makeup would cover her bruises, so she didn’t bother. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any small children at the opening party to be terrified by her appearance.

  The four of them sat down together in the comfortable living room – which Suzie and Alex had scrupulously tidied and cleaned in advance – and gradually they all relaxed. Alex positioned herself beside her father and, before long, was chatting to him quite freely. For his part, he also looked and sounded far more relaxed than Suzie had expected. She distinctly got the impression that he approved of their new lodgings, even though they were a far cry from the five-star luxury of the hotel where he was staying. Then, at six, after a bottle of very good champagne brought by James, they set off and walked through the quiet streets to the Castelvecchio.

  Every time Suzie saw this magnificent medieval castle which also housed a museum, she never failed to be impressed. Tonight, with the façade floodlit and an unexpectedly large number of people milling about, all decked out in their finery, it looked even more impressive. It gave her an idea of what it must have been like back in the days of the man who had ordered its construction. Cangrande della Scala, the most famous ruler of Verona, had been known both for his military achievements and for his interest in the arts, especially his patronage of Italy’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. Not that this had prevented him from meeting an untimely death by poisoning. The Middle Ages had been a dangerous time here in Verona.

  Inside the castle tonight, however, the atmosphere was far from poisonous. This was the first opening night of a major art exhibition that Suzie or Alex had ever visited and, as Alex commented in hushed, awestruck tones, it was a hell of a lot more impressive than the annual opening of the local art club exhibition in their Devon village.

  The exhibition turned out to be a triumph for Alex. Best of all, both of her paintings had little red stickers on the labels when they got there, signifying that they had already been sold. She whispered gleefully in Suzie’s ear that the money she would get from the sales would be more than enough to pay for return tickets to England for both of them at Christmas, as well as a few presents. And then, just as it looked as though things couldn’t get any better, one of her paintings was singled out by the judges as being of special artistic merit. Suzie could see that Alex was on cloud nine and she was de
lighted for her. She was also really pleased to see Lord Tedburn looking and sounding happy and proud of his daughter.

  Suzie wandered around the exhibition with a glass of Prosecco, pleased to see that very few of the works on display appealed to her as much as Alex’s. She met several familiar faces and stopped to say hello. Little by little she was beginning to get into Veronese society and she already felt a growing sense of identity with the inhabitants of this gorgeous historic city. It was while she was standing in front of the larger of Alex’s paintings – a marvellously atmospheric woodland scene where tree trunks and boughs entwined in a serpentine way – that she was joined by none other than Lord Tedburn himself, and there was a broad smile on his face.

  ‘Hello, Suzie. I love my daughter’s work, don’t you? All these years I’d never realised how good she could be.’

  ‘I think the course she’s doing at the Academy has been very useful for her. And, of course, she got a lot of great advice back at the beginning from a good friend of ours.’

  ‘Is that the portrait painter she’s been telling me about?’

  ‘Michael Turner, that’s right.’

  ‘I must go and thank him.’

  Suzie was puzzled. ‘You know where he lives?’

  Lord Tedburn shook his head. ‘Not at all, but I understand he’s just arrived here tonight. Alexandra told me she’d seen him talking to the judges.’

  If there had been any more than a dribble of Prosecco left in her glass, Suzie might well have thrown it in her own face this time as she literally jumped at the news.

  ‘He’s here? Michael’s here?’ She turned and cast her eyes around the room.

  ‘Yes, I believe so.’

  She was already thinking of the most polite way of asking to be excused before running off to see Michael when Lord Tedburn changed the subject and she had to stand there, desperately fidgeting to be off, but doing her best to listen politely.