by T A Williams
Sophie managed a little smile of gratitude for his attempts to cheer her, but a cold feeling of dread settled in her stomach and refused to go away. She counted off the minutes, her mind turning over and over, and one thing emerged with clarity. Although there was now the very real possibility of their being unable to log in and, therefore, failing to complete Uncle George’s prescriptive conditions, the loss of the castle and the massive financial bonus the sale of it would provide was nothing compared to the prospect of losing her sister. Just as their uncle had hoped, these three months had brought them back closer than ever, and if she had to choose her sister or the money, Sophie knew without a shadow of a doubt which choice she would make.
At ten o’clock, and every ten or fifteen minutes from then on, Sophie kept calling and calling, but still without success. Chris forced a mug of hot tea and a slice of her own apricot tart into her unresisting hands but she couldn’t eat a thing. She sipped the tea, lost in her thoughts as the minutes ticked by, and it was almost eleven when finally her phone rang. She almost knocked it off the table in her rush to answer it, and the sensation of relief that flooded throughout her whole body as she heard her sister’s voice threatened to reduce her to tears.
‘Hi, Soph. There’s been an accident on the motorway. We’re…’
‘Are you all right?’ This was all that mattered.
‘We’re fine. We’ve been stuck in a tunnel since eight o’clock. We’ve been trying to call but there was no signal.’
‘Thank God you’re all right.’ Sophie beamed across at Chris and, at the same time, felt tears running down her cheeks. ‘I’ve been so worried.’
‘Listen, Soph, there’s a problem, a big one. We’re still only at Arma di Taggia and we’ve had to come off the autostrada onto the coast road, but it’s absolute chaos with all the traffic and it’s stop-start all the way. I’ve got a horrible feeling we aren’t going to get back in time to sign in. Soph…’ Her voice broke. ‘…we could lose the castle.’
‘It doesn’t matter, Rach. Really, it doesn’t. The only thing that matters is that you’re safe.’ She felt a cold wet nose nudge her knee and a large paw land on her thigh. She looked down and saw a pair of brown eyes staring up at her, clearly troubled. She caught hold of Jeeves’s paw and squeezed it gently. ‘You’re safe, Rach, that’s all that counts. Just drive safely and if you’re late, you’re late.’
When the call ended, she wiped her eyes and relayed to Chris what Rachel had said. He pulled out his phone and checked the map.
‘Arma di Taggia is about thirty kilometres from here. Under normal circumstances that’s barely twenty minutes. Maybe the traffic will clear or they’ll get back onto the motorway. They can still make it.’ He set down his phone and stood up. ‘Anyway, like you say, the important thing is that they’re safe. This calls for a drink.’ A few seconds later he handed her a big glass of cold wine from the fridge. ‘Now drink up and try to eat something. If she doesn’t get back in time you can call the lawyer and explain. I’m sure he’ll understand.’
Sophie took a big mouthful of wine and gave him a wry smile. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure. He struck me as a particularly pernickety sort of chap.’
‘He’ll understand; you wait and see.’
Rachel phoned forty minutes later to relay the information that they were once more back on the autostrada, heading for home. By this time it was a quarter to midnight and Sophie couldn’t keep her eyes off the clock on the wall. Gradually, the hands crept upwards until, inexorably, they reached twelve. Sophie took a deep breath and looked across at Chris.
‘Well, that’s it. We’ve missed a day. Unless Signor Verdi turns out to be a whole lot more flexible than I think, we aren’t going to become millionaires.’
He stretched his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her to him, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. ‘I still think it’ll be okay, but if it doesn’t work out, so what? Whatever happens you’re going to walk away with a lot of money, even if it isn’t millions after all, but like you said the important thing is that you’ve still got your sister. You had lost her for a while, but now you’ve got her back and that’s priceless.’
Rachel arrived at almost half past midnight, looking weary and despondent. Beside her was a tall man with a friendly face – albeit looking a bit strained under the present circumstances – and Sophie took to him immediately. He, like Chris, was being very supportive and, by the sound of it, had been having the same conversation with Rachel in the car that Chris had been having with Sophie here. Sophie ran across to them and hugged her sister as if her life depended on it, close to tears. Her sister hugged her in return and they stayed like that for some moments before rushing upstairs to Uncle George’s study. The Labrador followed on behind, clearly bemused at so much activity in the middle of the night. Sophie and Rachel reached for the computer, although Sophie’s watch was telling her they were well into the new day. They looked on as the screen lit up and then, to their horror, the red outline of their hands began to flash and an error message appeared.
Error: incomplete sequence. Failure to log in correctly previous day. Contact administrator.
Sophie removed her hand for the screen but kept hold of her sister’s.
‘It’s too late to call him now but I’ll text Signor Verdi and tell him what’s happened. He’ll understand, I’m sure.’ She tried to make her voice as confident as possible although, deep down, she had a sinking feeling. It looked like the dream was over.
They trailed back downstairs and Sophie pulled out the lukewarm pie and the rest of the dinner she had prepared, but neither she nor Rachel managed to eat very much at all. Finally throwing in the towel at one o’clock, Sophie stood up and announced she was going to take the dog out for a quick pee and then go to bed. All of a sudden she was feeling immensely weary. Chris stood up and gently pressed her back into her seat.
‘Leave Jeeves to me. I’ll take him out for a quick run and then I’ll dry him off and drop him up to your room in a little while. Why don’t you go to bed? You look worn out.’
Sophie protested weakly but he insisted. As instructed, she went up to her room, brushed her teeth and fell into bed. In spite of her tiredness, however, she was still wide awake when she heard the door creak open and saw her dog come trotting in. Before it could close again, she called out.
‘Chris, are you there?’
‘I thought you’d be asleep by now.’ His voice was little more than a whisper.
‘Will you come here, please?’
He came in and followed Jeeves across to her bedside. She looked up, caught hold of his hand and smiled at him in the darkness. ‘I really don’t feel like being on my own tonight, Chris. Would you feel like keeping me company?’
He did.
Chapter 26
Next morning Sophie was woken as usual at seven by a cold wet nose from the floor nudging her bare arm. She glanced over at Chris’s sleeping form beside her. There was a hint of a smile on his sleeping face and he looked satisfied with life. She would have felt the same way, had it not been for that damn computer and the collapsing motorway bridge. Without waking him she slipped out of bed and pulled on her shorts and sandals, doing her best to keep the happy dog from making too much noise as he bounced around, ready for his walk. Outside, she was delighted to find that the rain had finally stopped and the sky above was clear blue once more, although the ground underfoot was still running with water and scattered with puddles.
She and Jeeves went out of the front gates and across the square. At this time of the morning there was nobody to be seen and Sophie savoured the peaceful atmosphere of Paradiso, her enjoyment tinged with the realisation that her days here were almost certainly numbered. It dawned on her that Signor Verdi might insist upon their vacating the castle the very next day. That would be a most unwelcome birthday present for her sister and would pose the major problem of where to house the guests who were arriving from Toledo and Rome for the party. Thought of Rachel made her
realise once more just how awful it would have been if she had lost her, now that she had found her again. No amount of money could possibly have compensated for that.
She and Jeeves splashed along the muddy track until they were out on the open headland. After the rain, the air was cooler and crystal clear. For the first time she was even able to make out the highest snow-covered peaks of the Maritime Alps away to the west. The sea was a brilliant blue and the trees and plants were looking brighter as a result of all the rain which had washed away the layers of dust accumulated over the hot, dry summer months. Paradiso looked like paradise all right, but somehow she felt sure it wasn’t going to be their paradise for much longer.
Still, even that thought wasn’t enough to dampen her spirits completely after the night she and Chris had just spent together. All her doubts and fears had been banished and she now knew with absolute certainty that he was The One. He was kind, he was bright, and she found him extremely desirable. He was also patently smitten with her and the icing on the cake was that he remained her best friend. It seemed ridiculous to her now that she could ever have doubted that they might end up together.
Back at home, she found Chris in the kitchen, making tea, and her heart leapt at the sight of him. Sidestepping the muddy dog’s effusive greeting, he gathered Sophie in his arms and kissed her until she thought she was going to faint – not that she would have minded. Finally releasing her, he stared straight into her eyes.
‘You’re going to have to forgive me, Soph. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind and you’re understandably worried, but I can’t hide the fact that I’ve never been so crazily, madly happy in my whole life. Sophie Elliot, you’re the very best thing that’s ever happened to me.’
She leant forward and kissed him softly on the lips. ‘Funny you should say that. I was thinking the exact same thing.’
‘And now, to show my devotion to you, I’ll do my best to clean and dry your dog. Tea’s in the pot. Come on outside, Jeeves, you and I have a rendezvous with the hose and the towel.’
They disappeared out through the back door and Sophie helped herself to a mug of tea, sat down, and checked her phone. There was no response from Signor Verdi and she had a feeling this was a bad sign – although, she reminded herself, it was still early and her text to him had been sent in the middle of the night. She was still sitting there, staring at the screen when, to her surprise, Rachel and Gabriel appeared in the kitchen only a few minutes later.
‘Hi you two, I thought you’d have a long lie-in after yesterday’s ordeal.’ Sophie couldn’t help herself: she jumped to her feet and flung her arms around her sister. ‘You can’t believe how relieved I was to hear your voice last night, Rach. I was fearing the worst. I couldn’t have faced losing you. Not again.’
Rachel, looking equally emotional, gave her a warm hug and a kiss. ‘I feel the same way. Whether we really have lost the castle or not, you’ve got to hand it to Uncle George. His plan worked.’
Rachel made coffee and dug eggs and ham out of the fridge while Sophie got to know Gabriel. Just like Rachel had said, he was different from the hunks she had dated at university – still a good-looking guy, but much less flashy and much less full of himself than so many of them had been – and it immediately became clear that there was a good brain inside the head on his shoulders. She could see what had attracted her sister to him and she could also see quite clearly that he thought the earth of Rachel. Castle or no castle, log-in or no log-in, at least there was no doubting that both sisters had emerged from these three months with something a whole lot more important than money.
Sophie kept checking her phone but there was still no response from Signor Verdi. She was beginning to get a bad feeling about this when, around mid-morning, as they were all outside sitting by the pool, Dan and Jen arrived. He brought with him a bottle of champagne and some jaw-dropping news.
‘I had a phone call half an hour ago from a mutual acquaintance.’ There was a little smile on his face. ‘Massimo Verdi – he was George’s lawyer. You know him, don’t you?’
Sophie looked up in surprise. ‘Yes, but I didn’t realise you knew him. I’ve been waiting for a call from him myself.’
Dan’s smile broadened. ‘That’s why I’m here. He asked me what I thought he should do.’
He had lost her now. ‘What he should do about what?’
‘About your little problem.’ He glanced across at Rachel and Gabriel. ‘By the way, I’m relieved you two weren’t involved in that awful bridge collapse – apart from getting stuck in the resulting jam for hours.’
‘So he told you about that…?’
Rachel looked as puzzled as Sophie was feeling. Dan took pity on them and explained.
‘You see, George and my father were the very best of friends. They knew each other from way back at school and they went into business together. I grew up calling him Uncle George just like you did. He used to come round to our place most Sundays for lunch and he always brought me a book to read. In fact, my love of history’s probably down to him. When I told him my plan – my Machiavellian plan I think you called it – he asked me to come over and keep an eye on you two. He loved you both very dearly and he didn’t want anything bad to happen to you.’
‘He asked you to keep an eye on us?’
‘I’m sorry for the secrecy but he made me promise not to say anything until you’d completed your full three months here. He wanted you to do it all by yourselves. I was waiting to tell you tomorrow at the big party, but in view of what happened last night, I don’t think he would have minded me telling you one day early.’
Sophie and Rachel exchanged bemused glances and Sophie felt she had to come clean. ‘That’s amazing, Dan, but did the lawyer also tell you we missed the deadline for signing in yesterday? According to the strict terms of Uncle George’s bequest, we missed out by one day, so it’s not the happy ending after all.’
‘Ah, but it is, you see. That’s what I was here for. Although George trusted the guys who produced the little bit of software that logged you in every day, he had a healthy mistrust for the inflexibility of computers and he wanted me to be here in case anything like last night were to happen. It’s patently obvious that his plan worked and you two are loving sisters once more. It would be criminal to deny you his bequest because of something over which you had no control. For him, family was all-important, and that’s the way I feel as well. There was no way I was going to deprive you of what’s rightfully yours.’
‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’
‘Yup. In spite of your glitch yesterday, I was able to confirm to Signor Verdi that you have indeed completed everything George wanted of you and he’s now able to go ahead and transfer the castle into your joint names, to do with as you please.’
Sophie knew she was probably looking totally blank but she was unable to do anything about it. Deus ex machina, in the shape of the handsome American, had just handed her and her sister a fortune. She sat back and did her best to digest what she had heard, as a sensation of exaltation came bubbling up inside her. Jen had looped her arm with Dan’s and was hugging him tight and Sophie knew everything was going to be all right. Rachel jumped to her feet, quite sure about what was needed.
‘I’m going to get six glasses. If ever a bottle of champagne was merited, it’s now. Come to think of it, there’s still Uncle George’s bottle of Dom Perignon in the fridge. I’ll bring that, too. I reckon my birthday party starts now, don’t you, Soph?’
Sophie caught her eye and nodded. ‘I feel like it’s mine too, plus Christmas thrown in for good measure.’ Catching hold of Chris’s arm and hugging him close, she looked around at the others. ‘I’ve got myself the most wonderful man in the world, a share of a medieval castle, a knight in shining armour all the way from America and the best sister a girl could ask for. I’m delighted I’ve finally got to meet Gabriel and Jen, and I’ve got my faithful dog at my feet. What more could I ask for? Apart from a glass of champagne.
’
She felt a movement at her feet and felt a big black paw land on her thigh. A pair of big brown eyes stared up at her and, for a moment, it almost looked as though he winked. She looked down at him affectionately.
‘And, Rach, bring a couple of dog biscuits, will you? We all need to celebrate.’
Chapter 27
366 days later
Jeeves hit the water with a splash. Sophie stood back and watched as he doggy-paddled up and down, clearly having a whale of a time. The same could be said about her over the last twelve months – not the doggy-paddling but the enjoying herself.
A lot had happened in a year. The castle had been bought by the owner of a world-famous fashion house in Milan for a whole heap of money, and with part of the proceeds Sophie had bought Dan’s former residence here in Paradiso. Installing the pool had been one of the first changes she had made – partly for her own sake as she was now living here full time and partly for the benefit of her dog. Needless to say, she had not chosen Dario-the-cheater’s pool company to install it.
Rachel was now the proud recipient of a First-Class Honours degree from Exeter University – and her sister’s heartfelt admiration – and was about to embark on a three-year doctoral course at Florida State University. She and Gabriel had arrived a couple of weeks back and the first thing Rachel did was to show off the engagement ring on her finger. They were already making plans for a wedding next year.
Dan and Jen had wasted no time and were already married, and their big news was that Jen was expecting a baby next spring. Sophie and Chris had gone over to the wedding in New York a few months back and had followed it with a trip down to Florida along with Rachel and Gabriel. Now the six of them had congregated here in Paradiso once more to celebrate all these events, as well as to inaugurate the new charitable trust established by the two sisters to keep the memory of Uncle George alive. And, of course, it was Rachel’s birthday. Sophie was also celebrating something else. Her book, Behind the Castle Gates, had just come out and she was basking in its unexpected – at least to her – success.
