‘Rosa implied that more than one person killed the Marchese.’
‘I thought it was just Falco.’
‘Could have been a slip of the tongue.’
Romina shrugged. ‘I’ll ask my son. I think he’s closer to that family than I previously thought.’
‘It’s important for the article. I like to get my facts right.’
‘Leave it to me.’
That afternoon, when Rosa returned home, Cosima was still in her bedroom. She had been waiting all morning to talk to her, and couldn’t wait another minute. As she reached the top of the stairs she could hear her cousin humming. She didn’t bother to knock, but turned the handle and walked inside.
Cosima was sitting at her dressing-table, gazing at her reflection in the mirror. Dangling from her ears were the most magnificent diamonds. Rosa gasped, envy and fury rising in an uncontrollable swell.
‘You should have knocked!’ Cosima exclaimed, placing her hands over her ears in an attempt to hide the diamonds.
‘I’ve already seen them, you fool! Don’t think I don’t know about you and Luca. I saw you together. So, he’s given you diamonds!’
‘Yes.’ Cosima braced herself.
‘I’m happy for you,’ said Rosa briskly.
‘You are?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be? I don’t fancy Luca. Sure, I enjoy flirting with him, but I’m married.’
‘I’m sorry now that I didn’t tell you.’
‘Why should you? I don’t feel obliged to tell you everything.’
Cosima couldn’t fail to notice the strain in her cousin’s voice. Rosa’s deliberate calm was more than a little disconcerting. Any moment she expected an object to come flying at her head.
‘He gave them to me last night,’ she confessed.
‘Can I see?’ Rosa sat on the bed. Cosima hesitated a moment before taking the earrings off and handing them to her. She stood up to let her cousin take her place in front of the mirror. Rosa was quick to push the little sticks through her ear lobes and stared at her reflection with childish pleasure. ‘I’ve never seen anything more beautiful,’ she whispered. ‘They must have cost a fortune. As much as a house. He’s obviously a millionaire. Trust you to find a rich man.’
‘I never set out to find a man at all,’ said Cosima uneasily.
‘I should have been a little more cunning, but I was young and innocent when I married Eugenio. I had no understanding of life. Not like you, with all the wisdom of middle age.’ She sighed. ‘Lovely, but where are you going to wear them? Is he going to take you off to Naples?’
‘No! I’ll wear them just for him.’
‘Maybe he’ll sweep you off to London.’
Cosima was horrified. ‘I’ll never leave Incantellaria.’
‘Why not? I’d give anything to leave this sleepy little place.’
‘I can’t!’ Cosima’s voice cracked.
‘Why ever not?’
‘Because I’ll never leave Francesco.’
Luca spent the morning in bed. Outside the sky was grey; it looked like rain but there was sunshine in his heart. He couldn’t believe his luck, how suddenly his life had turned around, how one woman in a magical little town could transform him. He had left London feeling lost and empty, having walked away from his life of twenty years. He didn’t know what he was going to do; he was floating aimlessly like a piece of driftwood on the sea. Now his life was gaining purpose: loving Cosima and loving his children. That’s what had been missing all along: love. Not the selfish love he had initially felt for Claire and the distant idea of love he had felt for his daughters, but the love that puts itself above one’s own desires: loving another more than oneself. The realisation filled him with energy. Too excited to lie in bed he took a towel down to the little bay for a swim.
‘He’s in love,’ said Ma, enjoying a pre-lunch Bloody Mary.
‘And it’s not with my girl,’ added Caradoc happily. ‘My money’s on the widow.’
‘The one who lost her little boy?’
‘Yes. I never thought he’d crack her,’ said Ma.
‘Luca’s very handsome and sweet,’ said Stephanie. ‘I’m not at all surprised. The waitress at the trattoria’s mad for him.’
Caradoc’s eyes lit up. ‘That’s my girl! She’s mad for me too!’
‘Pipedreams,’ Ma scoffed. ‘You’re a silly old man!’
‘One is never too old to dream,’ protested Nanni, wondering where that naughty little journalist had got to.
‘I hope he marries her and gives her another child,’ said Stephanie wistfully.