Italian Romance (4 page)

Her heavy trolley suitcase was still at the Albergo Gelsomina, in
Piero’s care. This weekend she travelled light. Kay swung her duffel bag over
her shoulder and walked out of the station. Above her, perched on a hillside
above a wooded valley sat La Rocca Laziale. It was picture perfect – a classic
Italian hill-town. Ochre, pink and fawn rooftops tumbled down the hill towards
her. A local bus pulled into the square in front of the station but instead of
taking it, Kay headed towards the taxi rank. She wasn’t visiting the town, not
yet at least.

The taxi took her north, along a narrow road lined with cypresses.
The midday sun blazed overhead and Kay rolled the window down so she could feel
the breeze on her face. It felt good to be alive.

The road wound its way up a hill and dropped Kay off in front of a
pair of wrought-iron gates overhung with mature olive trees. The gates stood
ajar, as if awaiting her. Kay slipped inside. She walked down a curving driveway
and found a two-storied terracotta house with a tiled roof at the end. The
surrounding trees fell back and Kay saw the house had a magnificent view of the
wooded valley and the pastel shades of La Rocca Laziale beyond. Her breath
caught in her throat. What a lovely spot. Vincenzo was so lucky to have this
house to escape to when Rome’s chaos got too much. She now knew why Melissa had
gone on about it so much over the past week, and why it was here she and
Vincenzo planned to marry.

Creeping rosemary bushes lined the path leading up to the house. Their
resin scent filled the air. A dust-covered Fiat Punto sat on paving stones near
the front door. Kay walked past it, stepped up to the covered entrance and
knocked.

“Kay!” Melissa threw the door open, “I thought you weren’t coming
till later. I was going to pick you up at the station!”

“I got an earlier train,” Kay replied with a grin, “I thought I’d
surprise you.”

“Come in then!” Melissa ushered Kay inside, “I’ll let you dump
your bag in your room and then I’ll give you a tour of the house.”

Kay’s room was on the top floor, at the end of a narrow corridor.

“This part of the house has the guest bedrooms and a bathroom,”
Melissa explained, throwing open the door to a pastel blue room with a
wrought-iron balcony, “you get a fantastic view from up here.”

Kay trailed after her sister through the cool, tiled rooms of the
Falcone family’s country house. There was a large farmhouse kitchen with a flagstone
floor and French doors leading out into a paved courtyard. Outside, a chorus of
cicadas greeted the sisters. There was a barbeque area, earth oven and a huge
wooden table. Beyond, steps led down to a glittering swimming pool.

“A pool!” Kay exclaimed, gazing down from the top step, “when you
told me to pack my bikini I wondered why. I thought you were planning a trip to
the beach.”

“After lunch, when it cools off a little, we can spend a couple of
hours down there,” Melissa promised.

They had lunch in the kitchen and chatted over a glass of chilled
local white wine. Vincenzo was in town running some errands so Kay and Melissa
had time to relax in each other’s company. It had taken a few days for
relations to thaw between them since that lunch, but once Kay gave up trying to
lecture Melissa on the huge mistake she was making, Melissa slowly lowered her
guard when they were together.

After lunch, Kay took a siesta upstairs. It was after three in the
afternoon when the sisters, clad in bikinis and clutching towels, made their
way down to the pool. The cool water was a relief after the relentless heat.
Kay swam up and down the length of the pool and floated on her back, staring up
at the sky.

“I could get used to this,” Kay called across to Melissa, “I can see
why you raved about this place.”

Melissa grinned back at her from over the spine of the paperback
she was reading. She lounged on a deck chair at the pool’s edge. “I knew you’d
fall for this place too,” she replied smugly.

The crunch of tires over gravel intruded upon their peace.

“Vinnie’s back,” Melissa sung out, “and it sounds like another car
just came in after him. Alessandro must have finished work early.”

Kay sat up in the water, her good mood dissipating. “Alessandro?
Please tell me you didn’t invite him as well.”

“Of course,” Melissa replied blithely. She got up and wrapped a
sarong around her hips. “It’s his house too remember. I couldn’t tell him to
stay away just because my little sister hates him.”

Kay glared at Melissa’s retreating back as she made her way up the
steps to greet Vincenzo. She felt a rush of anger and the strong urge to get
dressed, call a taxi and leave. However, such behaviour would upset Melissa,
and it was childish. She would simply act as if she’d forgotten he existed and
treat him with the cold indifference he’d bestowed upon her.

Kay climbed out of the pool and wrapped her sarong tightly about
her. Then, wringing out her wet hair, she climbed the steps.

Vincenzo, Alessandro and Melissa were standing in the paved
courtyard in front of the house chatting.

“Kay!” Vincenzo rushed over and kissed her, “I’m so pleased you
could come.”

“Hello Kay,” Alessandro was wearing sunglasses that lessened the
impact his gaze had on her. He kissed Kay on each cheek as his brother had done.
The light brush of his lips on her skin made Kay’s throat close in excitement.
She clenched her jaw in rage at her body’s betrayal.

“Hello Alessandro,” she echoed hollowly.

***

The country light faded gently in a soft wash of color. The
surrounding green washed out to grey and the sky deepened to indigo. Kay took a
sip of wine and slapped at the mosquito feeding on her ankle. Acrid citronella
candles burnt around them but the little beasts still managed to attack her.

The four of them sat round the outside table. They sipped wine and
ate wedges of rock melon topped with slivers of Parma ham while Vincenzo talked
about the history of his family’s country house.

“Our grandfather got it cheaply after the Second World War,” he
explained, “it was nothing but a bombed out shell but he rebuilt it. He
landscaped the garden, built the pool and eventually retired here. He died ten
years ago but I still feel as if he’s here every time I visit.”

“He is,” Alessandro agreed quietly, “his spirit is part of the
bricks, the dirt, and the air here.”

“It will be the perfect place for our wedding,” Vincenzo beamed. “Nonno
would have liked that.” He reached across and took Melissa’s hand, stroking her
arm in such a tender way that Kay felt a stab of jealousy. No man had ever
touched her like that.

“It’s a pity the rest of the family won’t be coming,” Alessandro
said, “there’s nothing Italians love more than a wedding.”

“If they aren’t coming it isn’t because they weren’t invited,”
Vincenzo replied, the hurt evident in his voice, “they’re all giving me the
cold-shoulder now.”

Melissa put her hand over his and squeezed gently. “Don’t worry
Vinnie, at least you’ll have Alessandro here. None of my family will be
coming.”

  Guilt tugged at Kay on hearing the resignation in her sister’s
voice. She couldn’t stay here another three weeks for the wedding. She had a
job to get back to. It was true she hadn’t taken a proper holiday in years but
just a week away had made her feel like she was slacking. She wasn’t able to
leave everything behind the way Melissa had.

The citronella candles had melted down to molten pools of saffron
liquid and La Rocca Laziale glowed gold in the distance. Dinner ended with a
digestivo.
It was a shot of liqueur that was supposed to aid digestion - not that it
had been a heavy meal. The oppressive heat dulled everyone’s appetite. Kay had
been quiet over dinner, preferring to let the others talk. Whenever she or
Alessandro rarely exchanged words, it was with exaggerated politeness. However,
neither Melissa nor Vincenzo appeared to notice. By the end of the evening the
happy couple were so entwined that Kay felt she and Alessandro could have gone
to sleep at the table without either of them noticing.

“If you want to go to bed I’ll finish tidying up here,” Kay offered,
unable to stomach any more eye-gazing and arm stroking. Melissa made a few
half-hearted protests before Vincenzo literally dragged her down the corridor
towards their bedroom. Kay heard their laughter disappear behind closed doors
and felt loneliness wash over her. Why had she never had that with a man?
Instead of love and passion she now had to clear and wash up dishes under the
cold, judgmental gaze of a man who thought all women were gold-digging harpies.

Kay and Alessandro cleared the outdoor table in silence and
stacked the dishwasher in the kitchen. When the last pot had been scrubbed and
the dishwasher whirred into life, Alessandro turned to Kay and they made eye-contact
for the first time all evening.

“So your mission failed Kay,” he said softly, “like me you
discovered that the course of true love cannot be thwarted.”

The sharp cynicism in his tone made Kay wince. Despite that
Melissa had accused Kay of the same jaded view of love, Alessandro’s attitude
saddened her.

“It must be lonely being you,” she replied, “going through life
trusting no one, looking down on human emotion as weakness.”

Alessandro’s eyes widened in surprise but heedless, Kay continued.
“Yes to you it would seem I failed but if this week’s taught me anything it’s
that it’s pointless trying to control other people. I’ve never seen Melissa so
happy and if this is her path then I’ll leave her to follow it.”  

Kay turned away. She felt too hollow inside this evening to swap
barbed comments with this man.

“Kay,” Alessandro reached out and gently caught her arm, pulling
her round to face him again. “I sometimes say things I don’t mean, I’m sorry.”

“Why do you say things you don’t mean for?” Kay wasn’t about to
let him off so easily.

“I don’t know. Self-protection. The need to be right. I don’t know
why I do it.”

Kay stared at him warily. Alessandro ran a frustrated hand through
his hair. Kay hadn’t seen him like this before. The coldness was gone and in
its place was nervousness and confusion.

“Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I was rude to you and you
were justifiably offended. I’m sorry for that and for the things I said to you
when I dropped you home. I was letting out my frustration on you when I should
have been more direct with Vincenzo. However, you were so cold and superior
about my brother. If I promise to be nicer will you promise to thaw a little?”

Cold and Superior! Thaw!

 
“Don’t do me any favors,” Kay snapped, her anger erupting, “if
it’s such an effort to be nice then don’t bother!”

She turned away but Alessandro reached out again and stopped her
from leaving – and this time he wasn’t so gentle.

Kay wasn’t sure how it happened. One minute they were arguing, the
next, Kay’s back was up against the refrigerator and Alessandro’s mouth was on
hers. She should have slapped his face. She should have pushed him away – but
his kiss was like standing under a hot waterfall. It awakened a hunger she
hadn’t known even existed and before she knew what she was doing, Kay’s fingers
were entangled in his hair. Her mouth opened under his and her entire body was
on fire. Her reaction drove him wild. He groaned. His tongue tangled with hers
and his hands slid under her thin cotton shirt, spanning out across her back.
She could feel him, hard against her, and his body vibrated with the force of
the energy coursing between them.

It was like being given the sweetest nectar to drink after years
of trekking across the desert drinking nothing but stale, rationed water.
Alessandro was delicious and she drank him in. It was as if the universe had shrunk
to this kitchen and this man.

There were no words needed.

When the moon sunk towards the horizon, they lay exhausted,
upstairs in Kay’s room, in each other’s arms. Alessandro propped himself up on
one elbow and gently brushed Kay’s hair from her face.

“We should have done that a week ago,” he murmured, “I’m no good
with words Kay. I wanted to throw myself at your feet the first moment I saw
you and instead I just made you hate me.”

Kay reached up and stroked his face, understanding him finally.

“Neither of us expected this,” she replied softly.

Kay drifted off to sleep against Alessandro’s chest and when she
woke up the sun was streaming in through the window. Alessandro stirred against
her and opened his eyes.

“
Buongiorno
,” he murmured sleepily. Kay leaned across and
kissed him. Moments later, they were tangled together, devouring each other as
if they had been separated for weeks.

“You’ll give me a heart-attack,” Alessandro groaned when they lay
panting and sweat-soaked afterwards.

Kay laughed and kissed the sweaty curls of hair on his chest, “at
least you’ll die happy,” she teased.

Alessandro became serious then. He looked deep into her eyes and cupped
her face.