As if sensing my frustration, Luca sighed. “I’m not going to let this go. We need to talk, but we’ll do it in the morning.”
Silence soon filled the room, and I realised he was keeping his word. With that in mind, I got ready for bed. My anger soon subsided and along with it, the desire to break down also abated. I wasn’t going to break down. Not for him. Not for anyone.
The next morning, I sat bolt upright in my bed, hearing alarm bells ringing. In my dozy state, I knew I was missing something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. I was confused as to why Luca wasn’t there, too. All too soon, however, I remembered. It was then I realized I hadn’t been hearing alarm bells at all; it had been my mobile. I didn't feel like talking to anyone, though, so I blindly silenced it when it rang once more.
Sighing with disappointment, I felt a pain in my stomach, so I decided to just get up and take a shower. I had a mission to accomplish, and it needed to have been done yesterday.
Once I walked out of my room, I was half expecting to meet Alessandro or Luca, but there was no one around. It was all eerily quiet; it was too quiet.
I proceeded down the stairs, feeling for all the world like I was a naughty teenager for daring to sneak out of my room. I stopped about halfway down and mentally slapped myself. Why the fuck are you sneaking around?! Ridiculous!
Once I reached my familiar office, which I had been forced to neglect for the past few days, I half-expected Luca to be in there, taking over—like he has with everything else. Prick! Everything was in its proper place, however, and it was extremely quiet.
I slowly and calmly walked over to my desk. Sitting down, I pulled my temporarily forgotten mobile out to see who had been trying to reach me. As it turned out, it was the very person I had come in here to call. I picked up my office phone and dialled the number I knew by heart. I was racing to find some answers. After two rings, she picked up.
“Aunt Trudy.”
“Clara, thank God. I’ve wanted to speak with you for days. How are you?”
I sank back in my chair. “I’m fine. I’m just a little bit disappointed that you felt you couldn’t come to me with this and that I had to learn what I have about your troubles from Luca instead of you.”
Trudy sighed. “I’m so sorry. I really am. I wanted to tell you, but I felt ashamed.”
“Why? There’s no need to be. If you needed help, I would have been there for you—no matter what.”
“I know you would have, but things just got out of control.”
I felt the tears well at her confession. “What happened? Please tell me.”
Trudy sighed again. “I have a problem … a gambling problem. It took Luca coming round to my house to realise it.”
“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” I was starting to get mad again.
“Oh, no. Of course not. He doesn’t seem the type. Has he hurt you?” She heard me hesitate. He had hurt me—just not in the sense she was referring to. “Clara?”
“No. He hasn’t hurt me at all. He’s just been a pig-headed, domineering, self-centred, egotistical, judgmental prick.”
“Oh… I found him quite charming myself.”
“Aunt Trudy, please. Can we get back to the point?”
She cleared her throat. “Of course. Sorry. If I’m going to tell you this, then I may as well tell it to you from the beginning. When I was younger, I met a man with whom I fell in madly love. I’ve never told you about this because it breaks my heart to think about it, let alone talk about it. It was a whirlwind romance, and before long, we were talking of marriage and children. This all happened during the month of December in 1957.
“He was on his way back from a contract in London. He worked on many engineering projects, which sometimes had him working in all sorts of places.
“We were both eager to see each other and plan our wedding, which was to take place the following May. I was excited because I hadn’t seen him in a few days, but most especially, I wanted to tell him that we were expecting our first child.”
This news hit me hard. As far as I knew, Trudy had never been married and had never had any children. What she was telling me was shocking beyond words.
“When it happened, I knew. I just knew something was wrong. Before I even got the phone call, I had a feeling that he wasn’t with me any longer. It was like a part of me had been ripped away from the inside. He was just … gone.”
I placed a hand on my heart. “Oh Trudy, what happened?”
“He was on a train which had collided with another train. The collision caused the bridge to collapse, and many people perished… My John was one of them.”