Bride By Choice

THE next dish was bean and artichoke salad, which was delicious. As Lorenzo poured her a glass of light wine he asked, ‘What about your sisters? Do they feel the same as you about your father and all the rest?’

‘No,’ she said, realising the truth of the words as she said them. ‘Oh, they have arguments with Mamma and Poppa, but they’re only normal growing-up stuff. They don’t feel suffocated by the whole family thing as I do.’

‘You feel suffocated by your family?’ he asked with a frown.

‘By their expectations. Last night, when they saw us together in the street, nobody was surprised. They thought it was just the plan working out.’

‘But you’re going to trump them with Erik?’

‘It’s not about Erik—it’s not about any man. Why should everyone think that if I’m not romancing one man I must be romancing another?’

‘Because romance is natural,’ he protested. ‘Men and women pair off. That’s how the human race gets restocked.’

‘But can’t there be more to life? Suppose I see myself as an hotel manager rather than a “re-stocking agent”?’

‘Can’t you be both?’

‘Not if I marry a Sicilian,’ she said firmly.

‘I see,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘so if I were to go down on one knee and say, “Be mine forever”, I could count on you saying no?’

‘You could count on me having you placed under restraint. After what you know about me, you’d have to be losing your wits to want me.’

‘That’s very true. Thanks for the warning.’

They smiled together and she said, ‘If you knew how nice it is to be able to talk freely, knowing I’m not going to get cries of horror.’

‘That’s what friends are for.’ He gave her a sudden intense look. ‘I think you need a friend.’

‘Men and women can’t be friends,’ she said mechanically.

‘Who said that? Not you.’

‘No, Mamma. And Poppa. At different times. Poppa says it’s impossible because women just don’t understand anything outside the kitchen. And Mamma says it’s impossible because men only want “one thing”.’

‘Well, we’re going to prove them wrong,’ he said gently. ‘Men and women need to be friends because we each light up the other side of the world for the other.’

‘That’s what I think too,’ she said eagerly. ‘But from where I come from—’

‘And where I come from,’ Lorenzo agreed. ‘But they’re wrong. It can be done.’

He stretched out his hand and she took it, smiling. Out of the corner of his eye Lorenzo noticed people grinning at them. Helen looked around and understood.

‘You know what they’re thinking?’ she said.

‘Yes, they think we’re in love. Why else should a man and woman clasp hands and smile into each other’s eyes?’

For a tense moment they both fell silent. Why else?

‘If we told them the truth they wouldn’t believe it,’ she said.

‘Right. How could they understand that we’ve discovered the second most important relationship of our lives?’

‘Second?’

‘I suppose one day I’ll fall in love for good. And you’ll meet a man you don’t reject in the first five minutes.’ He squeezed her hand lightly to show he was joking. ‘And they’ll mean more to each of us than we mean to each other.’

‘Yes, I suppose they will,’ she said blankly.

‘But until then—?’

‘Friendship comes first.’ Then something occurred to her. ‘What did you mean, “fall in love for good?” How do you usually fall in love?’

‘Well—you know.’ He coloured.

‘Come on,’ she laughed. ‘Tell your friend. You’re “faithless and unreliable” aren’t you?’

‘They invented the words just for me,’ he admitted. ‘You were very clever to see through me so fast. Now, where’s our food?’

While they were waiting for the next course Helen asked, ‘Why were you suddenly on edge last night when Poppa asked about your brothers? Do you have one or two?’

‘I have one full brother and one half brother.’

‘You mean, one of your parents was married before?’

‘Not exactly,’ he said uneasily. ‘I know you’re going to think the worst of this, but my father had another relationship with a lady called Marta. And Bernardo is Marta’s son.’

‘Another relationship? While he was married to your mother?’

‘Yes.’

‘And your mother knows?’

‘She always knew. She promised Poppa that if he died she would take care of his other family.’

‘His other—? Well, of all the—’ Helen was rendered speechless, giving Lorenzo a chance to enjoy the flames that glowed in her eyes. ‘Are you telling me that she did that?’ she demanded when she’d recovered her voice. ‘She actually befriended the other woman when your father died?’

‘She didn’t have to. My father and Marta died together. But Mamma brought Bernardo into our home to be raised like her own sons.’

Helen stared at him in horrified disbelief. ‘Your mother must be a saint,’ she said at last.

‘She is.’

‘She actually—? I don’t believe this. That poor woman.’

‘Mamma isn’t a poor woman,’ Lorenzo said firmly. ‘She rules us all with a rod of iron.’

‘But her heart must have been broken.’