Best Friend to Wife and Mother?

by Caroline Anderson

  Anita frowned. ‘We are?’

  ‘Yes, you know we are. We talked about it the other day.’

  Or not, Amy thought, because Anita looked confused for a micro-second and then collected herself, scooped up her baby and went, leaving Amy alone with Lydia.

  Two down, one to go, she thought with relief, and Lydia had to make lunch, so she could excuse herself—

  ‘Come and talk to me while I cook.’

  ‘Ella could do with a nap,’ she said hastily, using the now grizzling baby as an excuse to escape, but Lydia just shrugged.

  ‘Put her down, then, and come back. Bring the baby monitor. She’ll be fine.’

  Of course she would, and she went down like a dream, so Amy had no justification for not going back to the kitchen and facing what she felt was going to be an inquisition.

  It wasn’t, of course. Lydia was far too sensible and sensitive to do something so crass, and her smile of welcome was just that. There was a jug of what looked like home-made lemonade in the middle of the table, alongside two glasses, and Lydia was sitting there chopping vegetables while her children played outside the doors.

  ‘That was quick. She’s a good baby, isn’t she?’ she said as Amy sat down. ‘Have you had much to do with her, or is she just good with people?’

  ‘She must be. I haven’t really been around recently and nor has Leo, so I haven’t seen either of them much. I’ve been busy planning the wedding and working in London, and since Leo’s wife died...’ She gave a little shrug. ‘Well, he hasn’t had a lot of time for anything but work and Ella,’ she trailed off awkwardly.

  Lydia slid a glass of lemonade towards her. ‘Yes, I can imagine. It must have been awful for him, and it must be a nightmare juggling his work with Ella. I know what it’s like running one restaurant, never mind a group like theirs, and raising a baby is a full-time job on its own. I’m surprised he hasn’t got a nanny.’

  ‘I don’t think he needs one at the moment. His parents are close by and they’ve helped him a lot, but he likes to be hands on. Even so, I think it’s been a real struggle.’

  ‘It was good of you to offer to help him.’

  She gave a little laugh that hitched in the middle. ‘Well, I didn’t have anything else to do, did I? And he didn’t have to try hard to convince me. I love Italy, and I owe him big time. He’s done a lot for me over the years.’

  Lydia’s eyes searched her face for a second before she turned her attention back to the vegetables. ‘Like making sure you didn’t marry the wrong man?

  Her smile felt a little twisted. ‘Absolutely. That’s probably the biggest single thing he’s ever done for me. He was giving me away—or not,’ she said, trying to laugh it off, but the laugh turned into a sigh. ‘My father died eight years ago, just after I went to uni, and I suppose I could have asked my uncle or his father or someone, but I wanted Leo, because he knows me better than anyone else on the planet. So I’m really rather glad I did or I might have ended up married to Nick and it would have been a disaster. Not that there’s anything wrong with Nick, he’s a lovely guy, it’s just...’

  ‘You weren’t right for each other?’ Lydia said wryly, meeting her eyes again.

  She returned the understanding smile. ‘Pretty much. Although why it took me so long to work out I have no idea. Probably because there is nothing wrong with him!’ She gave a wry chuckle.

  ‘And it’s nothing to do with you and Leo?’ ‘No! Absolutely not!’ she protested. ‘I’ve known him all my life. It would be like marrying my brother.’ Except it hadn’t felt like that this morning, seeing him on the floor with Ella, when he hadn’t been able to look at her, or her at him...

  Lydia shrugged and gave a rueful smile. ‘Sorry. It’s not really any of my business, but—there just seems to be something, almost like some invisible connection, a natural rapport between you,’ she said gently. ‘Like with Anita and Gio. It took them years to work out what we could all see. And you seem to be so good together.’

  Amy shrugged. ‘He’s just a really great friend. Or he was, but then Nick came along just after Leo’s career took off, and then of course he got married, and Nick and I got engaged—and you know the rest. As I say, we’ve hardly seen each other recently, but he’s still just Leo and I know if I ever need him I only have to ask. He’s always got time for me, and he’s still a really good friend. The sort you can lean on.’

  Lydia nodded slowly. ‘Well, I’m glad for you that you’ve got him. Going through something like this, you need a good friend to lean on. There’s nothing like being with someone you don’t have to explain yourself to, someone who knows you inside out and loves you anyway. I couldn’t want a better friend than Massimo by my side.’

  She threw the chopped vegetables in the pot, gave them a quick stir, put the lid on and turned back with a smile.

  ‘So, tell me, what do you do when you’re not running away from bridegrooms and being Leo’s guinea pig?’

  Amy laughed, as she was meant to, and the conversation moved on to safer, less turbulent waters, but Lydia’s words echoed in Amy’s head for the rest of the day.

  Sure, she and Leo were the best of friends, but did that have to mean they couldn’t be anything else to each other? Not now, of course. She was an emotional mess, and he was still dealing with the fallout of Lisa’s death, but maybe, some time in the future...

  ...someone who knows you inside out and loves you anyway...

  Like Leo?

  And it suddenly occurred to her that for all these years, like Gio and Anita, they could have been missing something blindingly obvious that was right under their noses.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE MEN CAME BACK at lunchtime, and she found herself looking at Leo in a new light.

  She could see just from the look on his face how much he’d enjoyed the morning, and their discussions continued for a few minutes, standing outside the kitchen door on the terrace with long, cold drinks in their hands, and they were all talking Italian.

  It was the first time she’d heard them together like that, and it dawned on her with blinding clarity that, yes, it was a musical language but, no, they didn’t all sound sexy. It wasn’t the language, it was Leo talking the language.

  Which changed everything.

  They switched back to English as they came into the kitchen, but his voice still did things to her that no one else’s did, and when he scooped Ella up in his arms and smiled the smile he reserved for her, Amy’s heart melted all over again.

  The conversation over lunch was very animated, but that didn’t stop him juggling little Ella on his lap while he ate, and after lunch he handed her back to Amy reluctantly.

  ‘I’m sorry. We’re going out again to look at the olive oil processing plant this afternoon, if that’s OK? Has she been all right?’

  He looked a little worried, but Amy just smiled and shook her head slowly. ‘She’s been fine, Leo. Just go and do what you want to do. We’re OK here. Lydia’s been looking after us, haven’t you, Lydia?’

  Lydia smiled reassuringly. ‘Leo, don’t worry about us. Amy and I are getting on like a house on fire, and Ella seems perfectly happy. Just go. Shoo. We’re fine.’

  He frowned fleetingly, then gave a brisk nod, kissed the baby and left with the others, and to her relief the baby didn’t cry this time.

  ‘Have you got swimming things with you?’ Lydia asked as the door closed behind them. ‘We’ve got a heated pool, just in case you were wondering.’

  Amy frowned. ‘Yes, I have, but I don’t know if Ella has.’

  Lydia flapped a hand. ‘She doesn’t need one. I’ve got loads of swim nappies and arm bands and things. She’ll be fine, and it’ll only be us and the kids,’ she said with a smile, and Amy felt herself relax.

  ‘It sounds lovely. Really inviting.’

&nb
sp; Lydia laughed. ‘Oh, it is. I think we’d die without it when it gets really hot. At the end of a scorching day in the summer, it’s just gorgeous to sink under that water in the evening when the kids are in bed and the stars are glittering overhead. So romantic.’ She grinned mischievously. ‘You and Leo should try it one night.’

  She laughed awkwardly. ‘I think the romance might be rather lost on us,’ she said, trying not to picture herself and Leo alone under the stars.

  Lydia found her a swim nappy, and they all changed and made their way to the pool set down below the terrace at a lower level. The water felt blissful on her hot skin, and Ella seemed to love it, so they spent hours playing in the pool, and it was lovely.

  Ella, finally exhausted by all the fun, got a little grizzly, so Amy gave her a bottle and put her down to sleep in a travel cot strategically situated in the shade. She went out like a light, leaving nothing for Amy to do except chill out.

  She should have brought a book with her, but she hadn’t thought of it, so she settled herself on a sun lounger, arms wrapped round her knees, basking in the late afternoon sun and watching Lydia and the children playing in the water under the shade of a huge hanging parasol. Their squeals of delight washed over her as she gazed out over the beautiful valley below and soaked up the sun, and for the first time since the wedding that hadn’t happened she felt herself relaxing.

  Till the men appeared.

  * * *

  ‘The girls must be swimming,’ Massimo said, and led Leo across the terrace to the railings. He could hear splashing and shrieking, and he leant on the railings beside Massimo and looked down at them.

  Lydia was on the side with the youngest, wrapping him in a towel, and the other children were still in the water, but Amy was sitting on a sun lounger and he could see Ella sleeping in a travel cot in the shade just below them.

  ‘Well, hi, there,’ he said, and she looked up, her eyes shielded from him by her sunglasses.

  ‘Hi,’ she said, and wrapped her arms around her knees a little self-consciously. Not surprising. He could tell from here that her bikini was pretty insubstantial, and he felt himself willing her to unfurl her body so he could see it.

  She smiled up at them, but it looked a little forced. Because of the bikini? Another honeymoon special, he thought, and his body cheered.

  ‘Had a good time?’ she asked, and he nodded.

  ‘Great. Really interesting, but quite hot. That water looks very tempting.’

  ‘Feel free, Leo. We’ve just finished,’ Lydia said, gathering up the children’s things and heading up the steps with the baby, the older children trailing in her wake, ‘but help yourself. You’re more than welcome to use it any time you like.’

  ‘Yes, do,’ Massimo agreed. ‘I’d love to join you but I need to make a few calls before I can escape.’ And taking the baby from her arms, he went inside with Lydia and the children, leaving Leo alone with Amy.

  She didn’t look any too thrilled. Because of the bikini? She would have worn it in public with Nick, he felt sure, so why did the fact that she was alone with him make any difference? Except of course it did. It certainly made a difference to him.

  He went down the steps and crossed over to her, sitting on the edge of the sun lounger beside hers and pushing his sunglasses up onto his head so he could study her better. ‘You’ve caught the sun,’ he said with a slow smile. ‘Just here.’

  And because he couldn’t resist it, he trailed a finger over her shoulder, and the heat that shot through him should have blistered his skin. Hers, too.

  Why? It wasn’t as if her skin was that hot. ‘Mind if I join you for a swim?’ he asked, and she shifted, straightening up so her shoulder was out of reach and giving him a perfect view of her cleavage.

  ‘Actually, I’m going to go in, if you don’t mind. I’ve been out here quite long enough,’ she said, and swung away from him, getting to her feet on the other side of the sun lounger and wrapping the towel round herself quickly—but not before he’d been treated to the sight of her smoothly rounded bottom scarcely covered by a triangle of fabric, and his body reacted instantly.

  She gathered up her things with indecent haste and turned to him, not quite meeting his eyes.

  ‘Do you mind watching Ella till she wakes up? I could do with a shower.’

  He swallowed. ‘No, that’s fine. How long’s she been asleep?’

  ‘I don’t know. Half an hour? Bit more, maybe. She was pooped after the swimming. She’s had a bottle.’

  He nodded. ‘OK. You go ahead, I’ll take care of her.’

  * * *

  She walked slowly up the steps and across the terrace, resisting the urge to run away. She had been doing a lot of that recently, and look where it had got her, but the heat in his eyes had stirred something inside her that she couldn’t trust herself not to act on, and she couldn’t get away from him quick enough.

  Because it echoed what she felt for him? Or because she feared it was just the knee-jerk reaction of a healthy adult male to a woman in about three square inches of fabric? In which case doing anything other than retreating could just embarrass them both.

  She went in through the kitchen, across the courtyard and into their suite, closing the door behind her with relief. She didn’t know how long he’d be before he followed her, but she wasn’t going to hang around.

  She showered quickly, opened her suitcase to look for some after-sun lotion and found the sheet of contraceptive pills that were part of her morning routine. She lifted them out slowly, staring at them without seeing while all thoughts of Leo drained away.

  It was to have been her last course before she and Nick started trying for a baby, and she felt an aching sense of loss that had nothing to do with Nick and everything to do with the unfulfilled promise of motherhood.

  Ironic that she’d never had much to do with babies before, and yet here she was now, surrounded by pregnant women and small children, so that just when it was suddenly out of reach she saw exactly what she’d be missing.

  She hesitated for a moment, then popped the now purposeless pill out of the sheet and swallowed it, simply because she didn’t want her cycle messed up.

  She found the after-sun lotion, smeared it on her shoulders where she could still feel the tingle of Leo’s fingertip, pulled on clean clothes and emerged from the bedroom just as he appeared, Ella grizzling unhappily and arching backwards in his arms.

  ‘She’s a bit grumpy, aren’t you, sweetheart?’ Leo murmured gently, his voice rich with the warmth of his love. He looked up from the baby and smiled at Amy, and the vague sense of loss she’d been feeling was overlaid with another, much more complex emotion that was much more troubling.

  ‘I don’t suppose you fancy putting the kettle on, do you?’ he suggested. ‘I could murder a cup of tea.’

  ‘It was my next job,’ she said lightly, and walked past them into the kitchen, wondering how on earth, when her world was steadily imploding, the scent of Leo’s skin warmed by the sun could possibly be so intoxicating...

  * * *

  The next morning Lydia dropped the children off at school and ran a few errands, so Amy followed her suggestion and spent a while exploring the grounds with the baby in the buggy, taking photos either for Leo or possibly her own portfolio. Assuming she could find an outlet for them, which was by no means certain. Still, just to be on the safe side, she kept clicking, and she took lots of photos of Ella for Leo.

  He checked in on his mobile from time to time, just to make sure that everything was OK, and then Lydia collected the children from school and the men came home for lunch, and after that they all went in the pool to cool off before the men went back to work.

  It was stiflingly hot, so Amy joined them, but it didn’t take very many minutes to realise that frolicking about in the water in her skimpy little honeymoon bi
kini in front of Leo wasn’t clever. It had been bad enough yesterday when she’d just had to stand up and wrap herself in a towel, but in the water everything seemed to take on a life of its own and she’d had an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction when Ella had grabbed her bikini top. It was only by a miracle that no one else had noticed, but Leo had, and she vowed never to do it again, no matter how tempting the water was.

  Then Ella started to fuss, so she grabbed the opportunity and climbed out of the pool, swathed herself in her towel and took the baby from Leo in the water, towelling her gently dry and putting a nappy on her before giving her a drink and settling her in the travel cot for a nap.

  Leo swam to the side and folded his arms on the edge of the pool. ‘Coming back in?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so,’ she said without looking at him. ‘I thought I could take some photos of you all for the blog.’

  ‘Sure?’

  ‘Sure.’

  She forced herself to meet his searching gaze, then he shrugged and sank back under the water, leaving her to it.

  She stayed resolutely on the side, wrapped in her towel and perched on a sun lounger, and spent the next hour capturing images of them all playing in the water with the children—ostensibly for Leo, since a disproportionate number of the photos were of him, but mostly so she didn’t have to frolic about feeling hopelessly under-dressed.

  Then Ella woke, so Leo swam to the side and vaulted out, water streaming off his lean, muscular frame and plastering his shorts to strong, straight thighs, and her heart somersaulted in her chest. She clicked the shutter, capturing the image for posterity, then put the camera away in its case, giving him time to grab a towel and knot it loosely round his hips.

  ‘Your turn to swim, I’ll look after Ella,’ he said, but she shook her head and glanced back at him.

  Not better. Not better at all. To her all too vivid imagination it just looked as if he had nothing on under the towel, and it was too much for her.

  ‘I’m going to shower and get dressed, and then I’ll download the photos,’ she said, getting hastily to her feet, and with a smile and a wave to the others, she picked up her camera and headed for the sanctuary of the house.