The Secrets of Ice Cream Success (33 page)

‘
When I got to
the hospital your mother was in a terrible state. She was worried
sick that her illness may cause harm to you or that she may die
before you were born. The doctors decided an emergency C-section
was the best way forward to protect you and allow them to treat
your mother properly. My God, Carlo, you were so small when you
arrived.’

‘
They operated
on your mother the following day and after the operation when I was
finally allowed to speak to her I couldn’t bring myself to tell her
I knew about Randy. But as I watched her, looking so small and
frail, I knew in my mind that Randy was wrong; she would not have
left me. Though I believe now I may have been fooling
myself.’

‘
Your mother
asked to see you and they brought the incubator into the room for
her, though she was not allowed to hold you as you were so tiny.
She knew she was dying and asked me there and then to make sure you
grew up to be a good man. She knew you were a Leodoni, even if I
didn’t.’

‘
Later that
evening I was told that Randy had appeared at the hospital
demanding to see her, but I was angry, Carlo, so angry with him. I
refused to allow him into the ward. Your mother died later that
night while you slept peacefully next to her bed.’

Carlo wept openly. His
emotions, already fully stretched, were now running rampant as his
father revealed the truth behind his birth.

Luigi wiped away his own tears
and continued. ‘After your mother died you were kept in hospital
for two more weeks. During this time Randy demanded to see you,
certain you were his son. He threatened to take the matter to the
courts. I wasn’t willing to have your mother’s name dragged through
the mud in public and I had promised her I would raise you well, so
I had no choice and eventually I relented to see him. Randy and I
argued and fought for hours in the study at the factory, but I was
firm in my resolve. I would raise you as my child whether you were
or not as Helena had wanted.’

Carlo wiped his eyes on his
dusty sleeve and took a deep breath. ’I can’t believe this.’ he
said, shaking his head.

‘
Tell me about
it.’ Luigi replied, but then he paused. ‘What time is
it?’

‘
Dunno.’ Carlo
said, looking at the clock on the opposite wall, which had
previously moved both backwards and forwards but was no longer
measuring the passage of time.

‘
How long have
I been back?’ Luigi asked?

‘
About ten
minutes.’ Carlo said, with a shrug. ‘Why?’

Luigi swore. ‘Because I’m
almost out of time.’ He took a deep breath and plunged on. ‘Randy
wasn’t willing to let me have my way and he was ready to get a
court order to command a DNA test. I couldn’t allow that, I wasn’t
as certain as your mother that you were mine, so I struck a deal. I
offered Randy my Empire. Leodoni’s was to be his. Not immediately,
but once you reached an age when we would be financially able to
cope without the company. When that time came I would retire and
leave the company to Randy, if and only if, he allowed me to raise
you as my own son promising never to tell you that he may be your
father.’

‘
But then
Randy might be my father.’ Carlo blurted out.

‘
No, he
isn’t.’ Luigi answered with a smile.

‘
How can you
be so sure?’

‘
Well, for one
thing, I raised you and know you better than you know yourself and
I can tell you now, you are one hundred percent as much a Leodoni
as me and your grandfather.’ Luigi laughed. ‘But also… I had your
DNA tested. I never told Randy, but you are and always will be, my
son.’

Carlo started to gently weep
again. ‘I’m not sure what to say.’ he sniffed. ‘It’s all so much to
take in.’

Luigi put his arm around his
son, but found it passing through his shoulders as once again he
began to slowly fade at the edges.

‘
Carlo,
there’s one more thing.’

Carlo sniffed and choked back a
small chuckle. ‘How can there possibly be any more after all that?’
he smiled.

‘
I’m afraid
there is, just one more. Now that you know the truth; the secret
that was keeping me here; the secret that I was protecting you
from; it cannot hurt you anymore. I didn’t know it but that’s why I
was here. Your friend Newton worked it out. There is no longer
anything holding me here.’

‘
I’m here!’
Carlo shouted. ‘I’m here!’

‘
Yes you are.
And I am more proud of you than you can ever know.’

‘
But you can’t
leave me! Not now, I need you!’ Carlo wept, as his father slowly
continued to fade.

‘
I don’t think
you need me, Carlo. Not anymore. Look what you achieved. In the end
it wasn’t me or Randy or Lucy that pulled Leodoni’s back, it was
you. You are a better man than I.’

‘
I miss you.’
Carlo whispered through the tears.

‘
My beautiful,
boy. I will tell your mother how you have grown.’ Luigi said,
standing and floating to the centre of the study.

Carlo looked up and could see
smoke through the barely visible form of his father. In the
distance he could make out shouts and enquiries as the firemen
neared the back of factory’s remains.

Luigi looked up and smiled, a
slight look of relief on his face. ‘You will be OK now, Carlo.’

Carlo could see the shadows of
his rescuers cast upon the smoke and realised his father’s presence
was slowly merging with the swirling clouds up into the night
sky.

‘
I love you.’
Carlo said, watching as Luigi disappeared.

‘
I love you
too, son.’ Mr Leodoni replied. ‘I love you too.

Carlo sat in bed watching the
rain trickle down the window feeling pretty depressed. He had been
pulled from the rubble five days earlier and had been in hospital
ever since where the stream of visitors was hardly overwhelming.
The school term had started keeping visits from Abi, Ben and Norton
to a minimum, though Newton had been a Godsend. Already so far
beyond everyone else at the school by the age of fourteen he had
been granted permission to study an advanced college curriculum
which allowed for plenty of time for him to “think”, much to Norton
and Ben’s amusement, time which Newton had used to spend with
Carlo.

On learning that Newton had
read the diary before it had been destroyed, Carlo felt able to
open up and fully recall what his father had told him, some of
which had been written in the diary, some of which hadn’t, and
between them they were able to piece together a full account of the
Leodoni’s secret.

The diary had recounted how Mr
Leodoni had decided to use tiny amounts of Mrs Leodoni’s ashes in
the Ice Cream and Newton recounted how he now regretted ever eating
a single cone. Carlo sympathised and both agreed that parents were
weird.

Newton had found it strange
that Mr Leodoni had allowed Randy to continue working at the
factory after all that had happened. It was clear from the diary
that the relationship was extremely strained, yet they abided as
colleagues for over a decade both harbouring the secret. Carlo, who
knew his father’s thinking better than most, thought Luigi was
merely protecting his son. Much like the diary, it was probably
easier for Luigi to do so if he was close to the source of the
secret, no matter how difficult it was for him to pretend that all
was well between him and Randy for so long. From Randy’s point of
view, he had sacrificed a lot in his own mind, so there was no way
he would leave the factory if it was due to be his one day.

The final entries in the diary
were of most interest to Carlo as Newton tried to give a good
account of Luigi’s notes. It seems in the weeks before his death
somehow the authorities had become suspicious of an illegal
substance in the Leodoni’s produce and Mr Leodoni had suspected
Neil was the culprit having been over looked for promotion in
favour of Lucy. The local authorities were in the process of
starting an investigation into the allegations when Mr Leodoni had
died.

But in his final entry, Newton
said, Mr Leodoni had expressed his suspicions that it was actually
Randy who had informed the authorities having discovered what Luigi
had been doing with the ashes, resulting in a huge argument. It was
Luigi’s belief that, disgusted, Randy was going to have Leodoni’s
closed down and force Luigi to hand the factory finally to him as
had been promised 14 years earlier.

The rest of the story Carlo,
Newton, Abi, Ben and Norton had all played a part in. Discussing it
back and forth with Newton had given Carlo a headache, but they
finally settled on a version of events that they agreed was likely,
and could relay to the rest of the gang, minus the Leodoni
secrets.

They had already known thanks
to Randy that the investigation had halted after Luigi’s death when
the allegations were withdrawn. Newton thought this fitted with
Luigi’s suspicions about Randy, who clearly thought the allegations
were unnecessary now that he about to be named owner of the factory
via Luigi’s Last Will and Testament, as well as becoming Carlo’s
guardian via a court judgement as the most suitable adult to
continue supporting Carlo.

‘
Must have
been a bit of a shock.’ Newton said. ‘He had wanted you but was
promised the factory and then fourteen years later he lost the
factory but gained you. Somewhat ironic.’ Carlo didn’t see the
funny side.

But to Newton, at least, much
now started to make sense.

‘
Don’t you
see? Randy told Herbert, his nephew, your family secret. Herbert
told Mr Hill. Mr Hill jumped at the opportunity to buy the factory
from Randy. But no one guessed you would be given the factory
instead. Given what we know, I doubt Randy would have sold it to
Hill’s anyway. He had waited so long to get it.’

‘
And then he
assumed I would just give it to him when things got tough.’ Carlo
said.

‘
But that was
all him. The sabotage and issues with hiring staff; everything. He
was trying to force your hand. Neil never returned simply because
Randy never invited him back. Remember how bad the new guys were
initially? He wanted that entire calamity to discourage you enough
to want to leave.’

Carlo suddenly felt guilty for
suspecting Neil of sabotage.

Beyond all the guess work the
one thing they could be sure of was that in the end, Randy had
despaired of ever owning the factory or selling it to Hill’s. The
explosion was his last act allowing Mr Hill to have his final
victory, Carlo, who he still believed to be his son, to have the
insurance money, whilst he would take Mr Hill’s money and leave
town, unknowingly beaten by the ghost of a former friend who had
continued to deny him the only things he wanted.

Newton put down the evening
newspaper, which had a dramatic headline on the front page
declaring “Hill Implicated In Leodoni Explosion!” above a picture
of an angry Haverton Hill being arrested.

‘
The others
will be here soon.’ he said to Carlo who was still staring out the
window. ‘Norton wants to push you out in the
wheelchair.’

‘
I’m not being
pushed out of here. I’m walking.’ Carlo said, still staring out of
the window.

‘
It’s OK. I
imagine Ben will substitute and Norton can push him
instead.’

A few minutes later, Abi, Ben
and Norton arrived to escort Carlo to Abi and Ben’s house where he
would be staying for a few days. His uncles were on their way from
Italy and Carlo could foresee an argument looming regarding his
future, but he was determined to stay. There was an ice cream
factory to rebuild, two more years of school to complete and this
is where his friends were. Why would he leave?

As Ben Hurtled down the ramp to
the car park in a wheelchair being pushed by Norton, Abi put her
arm through Carlo’s as they walked next to Newton. ‘How did it go
with Vicky yesterday?’

‘
I have no
idea.’ Carlo said. ‘She apologised in case she upset me, but I have
a feeling she was told to say that by her grandfather. He was there
too. To be honest I don’t think she really understands what she
said wrong. But then she prattled on about more stuff I don’t
really care about.’

‘
So you’re
breaking up with her?’ Newton asked.

‘
No, we’re
going to the cinema together next week.’ Carlo replied, sounding
glum. ‘I have no idea how it happened.’

Newton and Abi laughed as Ben
screeched to a halt in the wheelchair, a breathless Norton jogging
up behind him.

‘
What are we
going to do tomorrow then?’ Ben asked, hopping out of the
wheelchair as they reached the edge of the hospital
grounds.

‘
We’re
working.’ Carlo answered.

‘
Aww! We did
that all summer.’ Ben complained.

‘
Hey, you all
asked to help, remember.’ Carlo said.

‘
It was fun!’
said Abi. Ben made a face.

‘
That’s one
way of looking at it.’ Carlo said, shaking his head. ‘If I ever
complain about a boring school holiday again, remind me of this
one.’

‘
What work are
we doing tomorrow? I don’t want to do work! It’s bad enough that
school has started.’ Norton said, sounding as if nothing could be
more torturous.

‘
We’re
collecting my things tomorrow from Uncle Randy’s.’ Carlo said as
they walked slowly back to Ben and Abi’s house.