The Italian Matchmaker(115)

32



When Manfreda hobbled laboriously on to the terrace, followed by Rosa and Eugenio, she was pleased to see that peace had been restored. The large diamond on Cosima’s finger shone almost as brightly as the light in her eyes.

Rosa put down the tray of drinks and embraced her cousin. She only felt a mild twinge of envy for the beautiful diamond and Cosima’s good fortune. ‘I’m happy Luca’s not the liar I thought he was,’ she said, then turned to Luca and added, ‘I’m sorry I doubted you.’

‘It’s all resolved. Cosima’s agreed to marry me. I’m dizzy with happiness.’

‘We must tell Mamma,’ said Rosa.

‘We’ll tell no one until I’ve told my daughters. Then I’ll ask Toto for your hand in marriage and announce it for all of Incantellaria to hear!’

Manfreda sat back in her chair, content. ‘Everything is as it should be,’ she said, folding her hands in her lap.

‘Well, almost,’ interjected Luca. ‘Rosa, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for some time.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Are you the intruder at the folly?’

Eugenio was quick to reply for her. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! What would Rosa want with the folly?’ But as he spoke he knew he was wrong. ‘Rosa?’

She poured a drink for herself and sat down. ‘No, I’m not the intruder. At least, not the original intruder.’

Eugenio looked at her in surprise. ‘So that is where you disappear off to at night?’

‘You know?’

‘Of course I know. I watch you leave and I watch you return, but I don’t know where you go.’

She took his hand, horrified. ‘You must think I . . . ?’

‘I trust you,’ he interjected. ‘At least, I want to trust you.’

‘Please don’t tell Mamma!’

‘Just tell us the truth.’

‘Who’s the original intruder?’ Luca asked, intrigued.

‘You know the strange lights in the palazzo and the reports of noises in the middle of the night? The place is haunted and has been for years, but not by the dead. I like to walk up the beach in the middle of the night.’ She smiled apologetically at Eugenio and squeezed his hand. ‘Don’t be angry with me, it’s a way of clearing my head and having time alone. I love the darkness. I feel exhilarated when I’m walking that path in the dark. The sea looks beautiful beneath the moon and I can hear everything, even the rattling of my own thoughts. But then, one night, I felt compelled to walk up to the folly. I make no secret of my fascination with my grandmother, Cosima. Her life was tragic but I see the romance of it. It would make Mamma mad, but the folly attracted me like a magnet. I wanted to be near Valentina and I was curious to see whether Romina had changed it or whether she had seen what I saw in there and kept it just the way it was.’ Rosa felt a frisson as she held everyone in her thrall. ‘So I walked that path I know so well and reached that darling little house. But there was a light on inside. The flickering of a candle that shone through the gaps in the shutters. I could either turn around and go home, or open the door and see who was in there. Incantellaria is a sleepy little place, nothing much happens here. Now was my chance to live an adventure of my own. So I opened the door.’

‘Who was it?’ Luca asked.

Rosa grinned secretively. ‘Let me make a telephone call. Then I’ll show you.’

‘You have to tell us!’ Cosima exclaimed.

‘No, I want you to see for yourselves.’ She turned to her husband. ‘I’m sorry.’

Eugenio’s fears dissolved in the sweet light of her smile for only he knew how hard it was for Rosa to apologise.

Cosima gave Manfreda an affectionate hug. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered into the old woman’s ear.

‘Don’t thank me. This is what you deserve. It is time to open your heart to happiness.’

Alba and Fitz watched the sun descend into the sea. The land was bathed in a dusky purple light.

‘This is the best time of day,’ Alba said contentedly.

‘I don’t want it to end. I don’t want to return to my life. I want to stay here with you, pretending that it’s thirty years ago. That we’re young and in love.’

‘We’re not the same people we were.’

‘Do people change that much?’

‘Yes, life moulds us. Incantellaria has moulded me. I watched the arrogant girl in a mini skirt and clog boots sink with the Valentina.’

‘No, she’s still there inside you,’ said Fitz, grinning raffishly. ‘I can see her.’