A Wedding in Italy: A feel good summer holiday romance (From Italy with Love Book 2)

by Tilly Tennant

  So why did she feel so utterly wretched about the whole thing? Perhaps because she’d been so looking forward to the weekend, when his night shifts would halt for a few days and they could spend some proper time together, but their disagreement had cast a shadow over everything now, and even if they ironed it out, precious hours had been lost that they could have been enjoying.

  More for something to take her mind off the atmosphere that hung heavily over the apartment than for the need, Kate went into the kitchen to make a coffee. It was as she stared at the kettle, watching as the bubbles fizzed up and down the transparent casing, that she felt the hand on her shoulder.

  She turned, and in his eyes she could see that he hated this as much as she did.

  ‘I’m not sure you understand how hard this is for me,’ she said. ‘I will make mistakes, but I’m bound to. I’m trying to make a new life and it’s so different from my old one. . .’

  He shook his head. ‘I was wrong to shout. You have given up so much to live in Rome. I know this but sometimes I forget. And this is not home for you. . . not yet, but it is hard for me to remember because it is home for me. I cannot say I think you are right about this job, but I understand why you told this woman you would do it.’

  ‘Then I have your blessing?’

  ‘We must see how long it takes. I will not be able to keep my opinions to myself if she does not decide quickly whether she wants you or not.’

  ‘But you’ll let me try?’ Kate insisted, sensing some resistance still, despite his attempts to smooth things over. All she wanted was a yes, for him to recognise that she needed to find her own way, and that sometimes it wouldn’t be his way.

  ‘It is not for me to let you try or no. I am your lover, not your king. . .’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Just as you said before. . .’

  She smiled. ‘I don’t recall the lover bit. And I think I said you weren’t the boss of me. . . a bit like I used to say to Anna when I was five. Probably not my most mature moment if I’m honest.’

  ‘We were both angry.’ He folded her into his arms and she leaned her head on his chest. But she could still feel the distance between them, even there as she listened to the steady thrum of his heart. He had made the first move to a reconciliation, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it. ‘Come,’ he said, pulling away and kissing her lightly on the forehead. ‘Mamma will be waiting for us.’

  Kate was getting used to riding pillion on the back of Alessandro’s moped, but her heart still missed a beat every time he slalomed past a truck or took a corner just a little too fast. And she could sense that his concentration wasn’t entirely as it should be today; more than once they’d had horns blasted at them as he got a little too close to another vehicle.

  So she was relieved when he killed the engine outside the building where his mother lived and helped her off.

  Alessandro opened the front door and stepped back to allow Kate in first, and then followed. The apartment was quiet, quieter than Kate could ever remember it being, and it momentarily threw her. Was everyone out? But then Abelie appeared at the living-room door and greeted them.

  ‘Ciao,’ she said, kissing them both. But it was tense, and she didn’t wear the broad smile she usually wore for Kate. She looked pale too, her pretty green eyes shadowed from lack of sleep.

  ‘What is wrong?’ Alessandro asked.

  But when she replied, she lapsed into her native Italian, speaking so rapidly that Kate struggled to keep up. But Kate could make out Mamma, and not good. Alessandro asked why Abelie had not phoned him during the night to call him home (or so Kate thought), and Abelie simply looked at Kate, and then at him, and raised her eyebrows as if he had never asked anything so stupid in his life. He turned to Kate and his expression was heavy. ‘We will eat later. I will take you to dinner at the trattoria.’

  ‘Is everything OK?’

  ‘I do not know, but Mamma will not cook today.’

  They followed Abelie through to the living room. Signora Conti was sitting in a chair. This was unusual in itself – Kate had never once visited and seen her do anything but race about in an apron preparing elaborate refreshments for everyone. But today she looked pale and tired, but not in the same way that Abelie looked tired. Alessandro’s mother looked utterly spent, as if a month of complete bed rest wouldn’t even begin to kick-start a recovery. Alessandro threw his sister a look of alarm. Abelie merely shrugged.

  ‘She says she is only sleepy, because she has been so busy. She says she will rest today and tomorrow she will be well.’

  ‘It doesn’t look that way to me,’ Kate said, and Alessandro nodded agreement. ‘Have you called a doctor?’

  ‘She says no doctor,’ Abelie said.

  Alessandro repeated the request for a doctor to his mother, but she shook her head vehemently and then began to cough. Kate raced into the kitchen, filled a glass with water and ran back in with it. Signora Conti drank deep, spluttering between each swallow, but eventually she stopped coughing and gave Kate a grateful smile.

  ‘That didn’t sound healthy,’ Kate said. ‘I don’t know much about it, but my gran once had pleurisy and it looked pretty similar to what I’m seeing here.’

  ‘Pleurisy?’ Alessandro frowned.

  ‘Pain in the chest,’ Kate clarified. ‘She had a cough and fever, and was very tired. It had come from a viral illness. . .’ She turned to Abelie. ‘Your mother was ill on the morning of the wedding. Did she show signs of illness before that?’

  Abelie shrugged. ‘I do not know.’

  ‘Has she been ill all this week since?’

  ‘She has been tired, not running in the house as much, only little work.’

  Kate was thoughtful for a moment. Signora Conti was the sort of woman who wouldn’t have let them see she was ill if she could help it, so in all likelihood they wouldn’t have noticed until she got so bad she could no longer cover it up. ‘I think you should call the doctor anyway, just to be safe. It won’t hurt to get her checked. It might turn out to be nothing, and I know she’ll be grumpy about it, but it might turn out to be something serious, in which case we’ll have done her a favour.’

  ‘She will not like it,’ Abelie said uncertainly, glancing at her mother, who appeared to be attempting to follow the nuances of the conversation, and even if she wasn’t entirely sure what they were saying, it seemed she was getting an idea because she was frowning in disapproval.

  ‘Probably not,’ Kate agreed, trying not to look at Signora Conti’s darkening expression. ‘If she doesn’t like it, you can blame me and tell her I insisted.’ It was on the tip of her tongue to add: She’s got it in for me anyway so what difference will one more reason make? But she managed to rein it in.

  ‘Kate is right,’ Alessandro decided. ‘And we will take the blame together.’

  Abelie hesitated and glanced again at her mother, who let out another loud cough, then nodded. As she hurried off to get her phone, Alessandro kneeled next to his mother’s chair and stroked her hair. He spoke to her softly, and whatever he said seemed to do the trick, because her scowl now turned into a fond smile for him. She even managed a weak one for Kate.

  Abelie returned a few minutes later. ‘He will come in two hours,’ she said.

  ‘Is there somewhere I can buy lemons close by?’ Kate asked. ‘And a bottle of whisky too.’

  ‘Mamma has lemons, but whisky. . .?’ Abelie looked puzzled.

  ‘My grandma swore by hot toddies – lemon, whisky and honey. Not exactly science but they seemed to help her feel better. I was thinking I would make one for your mother.’

  Alessandro looked doubtful. ‘She will not drink it.’

  ‘What do you suggest?’

  ‘Mamma always makes herb tea when we sneeze,’ Abelie said.

  ‘Herb tea?’ Kate asked. ‘What herbs?’

  ‘Oh, we have them in the kitchen. Sage, thyme and mint. Sometimes she puts a little honey in. But she had two cups last night and...’ She glanced at her mother. If there ha
d been a significant benefit from her herb tea, then Kate would have to assume that she’d looked a whole lot worse before, and she looked pretty bad now. Abelie shrugged. ‘We could try your. . . toddy?’

  ‘Toddy, yes.’ Kate smiled. ‘I suppose if it didn’t exactly cure her she might like the taste – I know I do. And at least the alcohol might soothe her a bit and make her feel more comfortable.’

  ‘I will take you to the supermarket,’ Abelie said, already leaving the room as she spoke. She returned a few moments later with a light jacket and a silk scarf. ‘I do not know if they will sell whisky but we can try.’

  Kate got the impression that Abelie would quite like the opportunity for a break and a bit of fresh air, and it seemed Alessandro guessed it too because he simply nodded agreement.

  ‘Va bene,’ he said. ‘I will stay with Mamma.’

  A brisk breeze chased high clouds across the sky, and the air was cooler than of late, but it was dry, and still much warmer than November back in England. While Abelie pulled her jacket tighter and shivered slightly, Kate was comfortable with hers flapping open as they walked to the nearby supermarket.

  ‘Have you heard from Lucetta?’ Kate asked.

  Abelie nodded. ‘She is having a good time. She says Venice is beautiful. Not as beautiful as Rome. . .’ She shot Kate a wicked grin. ‘Mamma said she should have stayed in Rome, but what would Lucetta do in Rome for her honeymoon? She would stay in her new bed with Gian for all of the day and night and we would soon have a tiny little Lucetta or Gian running around!’

  Kate laughed. ‘I think your mother would have been quite happy with that. I’d like to see Venice.’

  ‘Maybe Alessandro will take you.’

  ‘One day, perhaps. It seems like a long way off at the moment.’

  ‘You are worried? You think you have made a mistake? Coming to Rome?’

  ‘No, not ever!’ Kate gave a smile that looked more reassuring than it felt. ‘But it’s harder than I thought it would be.’

  ‘Did you think it would be easy?’

  ‘Not easy. Just not quite such a mountainous climb.’

  ‘You have more dress orders?’

  ‘Just the two for Nunzia.’

  ‘Tsshh,’ Abelie hissed.

  ‘I know how you feel about that,’ Kate chuckled. ‘But if one person who sees her wear them likes them enough, then they might want me to make one for them too. It grows like that, you see. At least, I think it does.’ She paused. Alessandro already knew about Piccolo Castelli and she supposed he would tell his sisters, along with mentioning his opinions about it, so what did it matter if she told Abelie now? ‘I might have a back-up plan too. I’m doing a trial run for a property agent.’

  ‘Piccolo Castelli?’ Abelie asked.

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Bruno heard about it and I told you. Do you remember at the wedding?’

  ‘Oh! I was a bit tipsy! I remember getting the note from someone and found it in my bag the next day. So it was you and your on-off boyfriend all along!’

  ‘Bruno wrote the name. He knows everybody. Property is good money – soon you will be rich and you will be able to go to Venice.’

  ‘I don’t know about that,’ Kate said darkly. ‘Alessandro isn’t happy about it.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’m not getting paid at first, until I learn the business.’

  Abelie was silent. Kate could sense her disapproval.

  ‘You think he’s right.’

  ‘You let too many people take from you,’ Abelie replied.

  ‘You could look at it as me taking from her, as she’s giving her time to train me in what might become a very lucrative position if it works out.’

  ‘But if she thinks you are good and clever and will sell lots of houses then she should pay.’

  ‘I don’t suppose she’ll expect me to sell anything yet.’

  ‘But if you do, she will pay you?’

  ‘You mean while I’m training? I don’t really know.’

  Abelie gave a short nod. She clearly felt vindicated in her disapproval, as Alessandro did. For the first time real doubt crept into Kate’s thoughts, but she pushed it out.

  ‘It’s just like making a cut-price dress for someone in the hope others will see what you’re capable of so you’ll get proper-priced orders,’ Kate added stubbornly.

  ‘You should not do that either. You are very good and dressmakers would ask for many more euros than you.’

  ‘I have to start somewhere.’

  ‘I would not have given you the name had I known they would not pay you.’

  ‘They will pay me,’ Kate insisted, trying very hard to keep the exasperation from her tone. ‘Just not at first.’

  ‘Here is the supermarket,’ Abelie replied, choosing not to respond to Kate’s assertion.

  ‘Why is everyone so angry about this?’ Kate stopped, laying a hand on Abelie’s arm to halt her too.

  ‘Because you are nice and kind. Not everyone in Rome is good and you have to be careful.’

  ‘I am careful,’ Kate huffed. This assumption that she couldn’t look out for herself, that she was like a little girl lost in the woods, was starting to get on her nerves. She was thirty, and if she couldn’t make her own decisions by now then she might as well give up.

  ‘Va bene, then all will be well,’ Abelie said in a way that did nothing to quell Kate’s vexation. Obviously she didn’t think that at all. It was easier not to push it, though. She had already agreed a trial with Shauna, and it was too late now to back out, no matter whether everyone else’s hostility to the idea had set her own alarm bells ringing or not.

  Abelie had expressed surprise at finding whisky at the supermarket, as had Kate, who was also pleased to see that it was quite a decent single malt. Not that it would matter once it had been mixed with lemon and honey. The smell of it as she prepared the toddy in the kitchen transported her to sickbeds where her grandma would fuss – plumping pillows and feeling foreheads while Kate grimaced as she tried to get the fiery liquid down. But as she’d grown older, she’d learned to appreciate the taste, just as her grandma had promised she would, and now, whenever she had one, she would think of her grandma, a woman who had been gone for almost as long as her father, and she would have to wipe away a private tear. But it was a happy tear, of fond memories and love once cherished. Her grandma had been very ill herself when Kate’s father died, but she’d still been a rock for the girls as far as she could until the end.

  Signora Conti sniffed the cup cautiously, before an encouraging smile from Kate prompted her to take a sip.

  ‘It’s good?’ Kate asked. ‘Delizioso?’

  Signora Conti seemed to mull over the question for a moment. But then she took another sip and it appeared she’d decided Kate wasn’t trying to poison her after all.

  ‘It smells good,’ Alessandro said.

  ‘It’ll put hairs on your chest,’ Kate replied. Then she caught Alessandro’s look of bewilderment and she had to laugh. ‘It means it’ll make you strong,’ she explained. ‘Although I don’t know if there’s any scientific basis for that, or whether it’ll just make her pleasantly tipsy enough to relax and not feel quite so ill.’

  There was a rap at the front door. Abelie went off to get it and returned a moment later with Maria and her youngest in tow. Kate groaned inwardly. The wicked witch of the west – all she needed to take her day to a whole new level of fun.

  But Maria’s attention, for once, wasn’t fixed on Kate. She and Abelie were conversing in low tones as they came in, and Maria went rushing straight to Signora Conti and knelt down by the side of her chair.

  ‘She is very worried,’ Abelie said, offering Kate a tense smile.

  Kate’s heart went out to Maria. They were far from best buddies, but she could appreciate only too well the anxiety for her ill mother. ‘I can understand it.’

  They watched as Maria examined Signora Conti, peering into her face and stroking a hand over her foreh
ead. And then her attention went to the cup she was holding. Maria took it from her mother and sniffed at it, before asking what it was. Signora Conti gave a fond but weary smile and angled her head in Kate’s direction.

  ‘Hot toddy,’ she said, mimicking what Kate had called it.

  Maria stood and turned to face Kate, the mug still clasped in her hand. ‘What is this?’

  ‘It’s harmless,’ Kate said. ‘Something my grandmother swore by to help with a cough and cold.’

  ‘What is in it?’

  ‘Just whisky, lemon—’

  ‘Whisky?’ Maria turned on Abelie now. ‘Why are you letting her drink this? Mamma could have had herb tea.’

  ‘Already she tried herb tea,’ Abelie said, squirming a little under her sister’s disapproving stare. ‘She was no better.’

  ‘You trusted this filth instead?’ Maria squeaked, and Alessandro stepped forward.

  ‘Enough, Maria!’

  ‘Love is blind,’ Maria scoffed, not intimidated in the slightest by his tone. ‘Kate, Kate, Kate. Kate is an angel – Kate knows all. Pah! If Kate hit you over the head and stole all your money, you would still look at her like an idiot in love! She poisons your own mother and you let her!’

  ‘It’s not poison—’ Kate began, but Alessandro cut across her.

  ‘You insult Kate, and we do not do that to our guests! She has come to help, and you will take back what you have said!’

  ‘I will never take it back,’ Maria growled. ‘I do not care how many times she comes to this house, she will never be a part of our family!’

  ‘She is already a part of it,’ Alessandro said. ‘Everybody loves her.’

  Maria threw her hands into the air. ‘I do not love her! And if you think she loves you, then you are a fool! She said in this very house that she will never marry you! Are those the words of a woman who loves you?’

  ‘Kate would not say that,’ Alessandro said, looking at Kate with the utmost faith, and she felt sick. She had said it, of course, and there had been witnesses, but she had been forced into a corner. It wasn’t supposed to come out like this.