Who's Sorry Now (2008) (42 page)

‘Isn’t it fortunate, Momma, that my sisters already have the bridesmaids dresses you made?’ Carmina said.

Carlotta glanced up from her needlework, surprised. ‘But those are for Patsy’s wedding, later in the autumn.’

‘I’m sure she won’t mind if the dresses are worn for my wedding too, particularly considering there is so little time.’ Carmina patted her stomach with a meaningful smile, and Carlotta shuddered.

Only a few items on her list lacked a tick, indicating the last remaining matters needing to be dealt with, the date being the most pressing. She really must speak to Luc, and try once more to pin him down on that.

He was still playing the reluctant groom. She was furious about his sulks, found it deeply embarrassing to be so snubbed. Her parents would give her quizzical looks whenever they asked if they might hope for a visit from their future son-in-law any time soon. Carmina had convinced herself that he was looking forward to the day every bit as eagerly as herself, but stubbornly refused to admit it.

It was no more than guilt that he felt for Gina now, and a misguided sense of loyalty.

Carmina also made a point of avoiding Alec Hall. She had no wish to see him any more, and he was the very last person who needed to know what was going on and why. Her parents had taken little persuasion to keep her delicate condition quiet while she made the necessary preparations, so by the time Alec discovered the facts, it would be too late. She and Luc would be man and wife.

‘I will ask Patsy how she feels about that,’ her mother tartly commented, pressing her lips together in a tight line, making it perfectly clear that she wasn’t happy about any of this.

She’d deliberately left the arrangements entirely to Carmina, which was a great disappointment in a way. Carlotta had looked forward to arranging her own daughters’ weddings for years. First there had been Maria, and next would come Carmina and Gina, but nothing was turning out quite as she’d hoped. Everything was going wrong. She wished she could put her finger on when things had started to go awry, how Gina came to be in that horrible prison, but she couldn’t seem to work it out in her head. It was all too frightening and dreadful.

‘Why do we need to ask
her
permission?’ Carmina sneered. ‘I shall be married long before she is, and there isn’t time to make a fresh set, so it’s perfectly reasonable that my sisters should be allowed to wear their own bridesmaids dresses.’

Carlotta sighed and promised she would do her best.

Patsy was puzzled. Everything seemed to be happening so fast. First Carmina was pregnant and rushing into a hasty marriage with Luc. Then she wasn’t pregnant after all and the wedding was off. Now it was on again, and poor Gina was in jail.
 

She remembered how things had suddenly started to go missing from the hat stall, swiftly followed by the break-in at Hall’s Music Shop and then, quite out of the blue, Gina was arrested and sent down on remand awaiting trial. How had that come about for goodness sake? Gina was the last person on earth Patsy would have considered as a possible culprit of such a crime. The whole thing seemed incredible.

While his younger siblings moped about with long faces, Marc was beside himself with grief, talking of employing a top rank lawyer to defend his sister.

All the Bertalones were naturally devastated except for Carmina, the sister closest to Gina in age, who seemed to be happily engrossed planning the wedding of the year.
 

Carmina alone seemed content, positively bubbling over with happiness. She still served on the ice cream cart, still helped Papa for a few hours each day in the ice cream parlour when he was making his famous peach gelato or rum tortoni, and gave a very good impression of a cat who has swallowed a whole tub of ice cream.

Yet Luc, the supposed bridegroom, the man who had jilted Gina for her more beautiful sister, never came near. Patsy hadn’t set eyes on the young man in weeks. He never called at the house, either to discuss the arrangements or even to see his bride. Most strange!

Something was badly wrong. This entire scenario smelt very fishy indeed.
 

When next Patsy came for supper, as she often did on a Friday, the sensitive subject of the bridesmaid’s dresses was tactfully broached by an embarrassed Carlotta. Except that she became so agitated that she reverted to rapid Italian.

‘I wonder - in view of the circumstances - whether you would mind very much if the bridesmaids dresses were worn at Carmina’s wedding too? If you do mind, then they can wear something else, of course. We can buy them something new, if necessary. I really have no wish to spoil your wedding, Patsy.’

When this had been translated to her by Antonia, Patsy looked stunned for a moment but soon rallied. ‘No, of course I don’t mind. You certainly mustn’t go to any expense on my account.’

The entire household seemed strangely muted. No longer did Gabby and Giovanni happily squabble over Sorry or Ludo. Marta no longer bossed anyone around, Antonia seemed to be constantly staring into space instead of being absorbed in a book, and Lela sat sucking her thumb in a corner. It was a scene far removed from the happy, bustling, loving family she’d come to know and love. There wasn’t even a jig-saw or marble in sight.

Patsy smiled at Carlotta, noting how the older woman’s face had become lined with worry, with dark circles under her eyes. ‘By all means let the girls wear the dresses. Marc and I can’t even think about our own wedding with all of this going on.’

Carlotta hugged her. ‘You are like another daughter to me. So kind, so thoughtful, always thinking of others, just like my Gina.’ Whereupon, she fled to her room in floods of tears.

Patsy sighed. ‘It must be so difficult for her.’ Then, as she thoughtfully considered Carmina, her future sister-in-law, she quietly added, ‘I’m surprised you have the heart to organise a big fancy wedding in the midst of all of this?’

Carmina was not in the mood for one of Patsy’s lectures. She thought she might go round and see Luc instead. They certainly needed to talk, to start making serious plans for their future together such as where they were going to live. And she fully intended to insist he work in the family business as they had a family to think about now. Yet she hadn’t set eyes on him for days. Dear, darling Luc was still stubbornly doing his utmost to avoid her. She smiled to herself. He wouldn’t be able to do that for much longer. Not now they were about to become man and wife in very truth. Her plan had worked out better than she’d hoped. Quite inspired. Her timing perfect. All she’d really needed was to get rid of Gina.

‘My wedding isn’t going to be either big or fancy, but the fact that my sister is in jail is difficult for me too,’ Carmina complained, reaching for her handkerchief and casting Patsy a sideways glance to see if she was convinced by this show of misery as she dabbed at her eyes.

‘Of course it is. It must be unbearably difficult for you, as it is for us all. Even more so considering your particular circumstances. I do understand your distress, Carmina. And how unfortunate, strangely coincidental in a way, that your pregnancy should be confirmed just as Gina is arrested.’ Patsy gave her a questioning look.

Carmina ground her teeth together but said no more. She merely shrugged her shoulders in that expressive way she had and walked away.

Patsy watched her in silence, making a private vow to keep a close eye on the situation.

It was one hot afternoon of this blissful Indian summer when Patsy was idling across the market in search of a strawberry ice to cool herself that she again spotted Carmina in deep conversation with Alec Hall.

This time they were clearly engaged in an argument, a fierce row in fact. Patsy stopped in her tracks, not wishing to draw too near and appear as if she were eavesdropping. She half turned away and pretended to be examining a collection of pretty buttons on a nearby stall. Even so, she couldn’t help but overhear some of what was said.

‘This is all your doing,’ Alec spat the words at the girl and Carmina put back her head and laughed. He said something else that Patsy couldn’t quite catch and then shouted, ‘But I thought that was all over.’

Carmina made as if to turn away but he grabbed her arm and gave her a little shake.
 

Patsy didn’t catch his next words either but whatever it was soon wiped the smile from Carmina’s face. She blanched, then she was spitting back at him, her fury such that her voice rose to a pitch which carried easily back to Patsy.

‘I don’t care what
you
want! It’s what
I
want that matters.’

Patsy half smiled to herself when she heard this. Wasn’t that ever the case where Carmina was concerned? Now she was shaking herself free of his grip and stalking away, head held high. Alec stood where he was, clenching and unclenching his fists, the steam of his rage seeming to radiate around him.

Now what was all that about?

Patsy found the whole situation deeply troubling. Why would Carmina suddenly find herself pregnant just as Gina is arrested? The timing may not be important, yet somehow Patsy was convinced it couldn’t be a coincidence.

What if Luc’s claims that he was innocent were justified? If so, then they needed to look elsewhere for the father of this child. Could it be Alec? Patsy recalled witnessing that kiss, and now a furious row. No one exchanged such heated words unless they’d once been close. How close had Alec and Carmina really been?

Could this whole terrible mess of Gina being charged with burglary be yet another of Carmina’s lies?

A chill ran down Patsy’s spine at the thought. Dear heaven, surely even Carmina wouldn’t go so far as to have her own sister arrested so that she could get her thieving little hands on the man she coveted?

When Marc came to collect her after work that evening, he found Patsy in a thoughtful mood as she tidied away after a busy day on the stall. He watched in silence for a moment as she locked away the hat trimmings, ribbons and sewing materials she’d been using. Then, as she pulled down the metal blinds, carefully locking each one with a large padlock against intruders, he quietly reminded her that October was just around the corner and no decision had yet been made about their own wedding.

‘At least Carmina’s marriage plans seem to be coming along, even if ours aren’t.’

He again begged her to at least come and view some flats with him. But with her mind still on the fierce argument she’d witnessed between Carmina and Alec, Patsy put Marc off yet again, making some excuse about being too busy preparing the autumn collection.

‘So finding time for us isn’t high on your list of priorities?’

He sounded so bitter, so sad, that Patsy longed to fall in with his plans but in her heart she felt this wasn’t the right time to be thinking of their own happiness. ‘Perhaps we should consider postponing our wedding for a little while.’

Marc looked at her, his face grim. ‘Oh, Patsy, I really don’t want to do that. I want us to find a nice flat together, enjoy a simple ceremony then settle down happily as man and wife. I don’t want any of this other stuff, all this worry about Gina being in prison, unwanted pregnancies or Carmina stealing Luc from her. And my little sisters are so looking forward to wearing those dresses Momma has made them.’

Patsy clicked the last padlock in place. ‘They’re going to wear them at Carmina’s wedding instead.’

Marc was startled into silence, then his shoulders seemed to droop, his dark good looks to turn almost grey, if that were possible. ‘Why is all this happening? It’s dreadful!’

Patsy put her arms about his broad shoulders and kissed him, her eyes filling with a rush of tears to see this strong man she loved so much bowed by worry over his family. She wondered if she should voice her suspicion that these two events could be linked, that she believed Carmina might have played a part in Gina’s arrest?

She hadn’t been fooled in the slightest by Carmina’s display of emotion over Gina’s plight. Those were nothing more than crocodile tears, and she still hadn’t visited her sister in prison.

Dare she tell Marc about the row she’d witnessed between Carmina and Alec? And if she did, could she prove its significance? She had no proof, not a scrap. Only a bad feeling growing inside.
 

But Patsy’s courage to broach this difficult issue failed her and, instead, she said, ‘I don’t understand what’s happening either, love, really I don’t. I only feel that right now Gina needs you more than I do. Our happiness can surely wait for a little while, perhaps till the spring? Of course, you could always call the wedding off completely if you wanted,’ she teased, but Marc quickly put a finger to her mouth.

‘Don’t even think such a thing, let alone say it. I just don’t want you working too hard on this flippin’ hat stall, that’s all. But I accept that perhaps we shouldn’t rush into starting a family too soon. You’ve every right to concentrate on your job and wait until you feel ready before having babies. There is, as you say, plenty of time.’ Marc chuckled softly as he tweaked her nose. ‘And I’m well aware that you’re a very independent-minded young woman, and have every right to be so.’

‘Oh, Marc, I do love you so much.’

‘And I you. I want only to look after you.’
 

Patsy laughed. ‘Now don’t spoil it by robbing me of the independence you’ve just now assured me is my right. I’m not looking for a minder, only a husband, remember. So kiss me again. We can still do that, at least.’