by Lily Zante
He stared at her pensively. She had seen that look on him before, when he wasn’t quite sure whether he ought to say what was on his mind.
“Well, say it then,” she insisted, glaring at him as she stood in a confrontational pose before him.
Nico was silent again. He blinked, then looked away before throwing his hands up in the air and raising his eyes to hers. “I know what happened to you. I know how hard this trip must have been for you.”
Ava gulped. Come again?
“What?” she asked in a whisper, it was as if the wind had been knocked out of her lungs and she was gasping for air.
“It is the worst thing that could happen to a person.” He looked right into her eyes and saw the surprise on her face. The contempt in her eyes was replaced by genuine surprise.
Ava stared at him vacantly as thoughts clashed in her mind. What on earth was he talking about? When she didn’t respond, he continued, “I could feel you were very sad, that first day at the airport when you landed.”
Ava’s eyes rolled upwards. She was thinking back to that day when she landed. “My flight was delayed and I lost my luggage. Big deal,” she said and turned around and carried on walking.
Nico followed hard on her heels. “I’m not talking about that,” he said softly. “I know this trip was meant to be your honeymoon.”
For the second time, Ava stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around and stared at him impassively.
How did he know?
“Shit happens,” she said at last.
“So-so you’re okay about it all?” asked Nico, stopping and staring at her incredulously.
“Yes, I’m pretty much over it now. Shit happens all the time, you know. You just have to get on with it.”
Nico put his hands to his face. “And you think we’re passionate. I think you Americans are cold-hearted and callous.”
“Oh really?”
“Shit happens? That’s all you have to say about it?”
“Pretty much,” returned Ava slowly. She was starting to wonder how he could have known anything at all. Had Connor phoned the hotel?
“Did you love him?” asked Nico. From the crazy way he was looking at her face Ava could tell he was more than a bit concerned.
“Once, yes, very much so. But people change. Looking back now, it was the best thing he could have ever done for me.”
Nico shook his head, not quite sure whether he was hearing right or not. “Wait, wait,” he said, rubbing his face with his hands. He was struggling to make sense of it all.
“Dying was the best thing your fiancé could have done for you?”
“Dying? Who said he was dead!” The surprise in Ava’s voice made her words hang in the air and reverberate all around them. Several passers by stopped to listen.
Nico put his fingers to his chin. “So he’s not dead?” he asked calmly.
“Who? Connor? No, not the last I heard anyway. You thought he was dead?”
“Yes. I thought you were a widow.”
“Widow? Hell no. I was a jilted bride!” And then Ava realised what it was that Nico had believed had happened to her. She found the whole idea so ridiculous that she laughed out loud while Nico watched her with a worried look on his face. Now she knew she was definitely scaring the daylights out of him.
She put her fingers to her lips and forced herself to regain composure. “Why would you think I was a widow?” she asked, becoming more serious as she slowly started to piece everything together.
“Gina told me. She saw the papers from the travel company. They had commented that you got married towards the end of January and this trip was your honeymoon. Gina saw you’re your wedding ring and believed you got married and then when you turned up without your husband, crying and looking so sad, well, she obviously got the whole thing wrong, though she never does. I can see how she came to that conclusion.”
“A widow? What a thing to think!” cried Ava, looking down at her shoes. Her brows knitted together as she reframed all the things that had happened recently. She looked up again and examined Nico’s face before calmly declaring, “He didn’t die on me, Nico. My fiancée called off the wedding six weeks before we were due to get married. He said he couldn’t go through with it. He told me he didn’t think he loved me anymore.”
Her face was expressionless.
Nico was silent for what seemed like the longest time. “The man is a fool. And a cruel one at that.”
Pretending not to hear him Ava continued, “I cancelled everything, the wedding, the hotel, the food, the flowers, the dress. I couldn’t bring myself to cancel the honeymoon though. I love Italy. I needed to get away. I needed time away from my friends and family. So I thought I would come alone anyway.”
“And so you did,” Nico said softly, starting to move towards her slowly but the cold look on Ava’s face made him change his mind. He stopped where he was.
“Then at the airport, I saw the hotel signs you were carrying and thought you were a driver from the hotel. I wasn’t thinking straight. You took me to the hotel and then you were so nice and helpful, taking me here and there. Showing me Verona, Montova, Montagnano.” He listened, with his hands in his pockets and she found relief in finally telling her story. “But why didn’t you tell me who you were the next morning?” she asked.
Nico took a step closer towards her and started to open his mouth but Ava beat him to it. “Let me see now, you felt sorry for me right? Poor little Americano girl. You believed that her husband had recently died so you thought you would show me a good time.”
“No, Ava. That’s not it at all,” countered Nico slowly.
“But you could have told me who you were. Why didn’t you?”
“Would it have made any difference? You were here for a few days. Would it have mattered who I was? You were upset that first night when you landed, even if it was because of your awful trip and losing your luggage; it didn’t seem important to correct you. You thought I was the driver and when you burst into tears, how could I not drive you to the hotel? I’d just driven my father to the airport. I’d picked up the hotel signs along the way. You thought I was the driver and you were upset. It didn’t seem to be the most important thing to put you straight.”
“But why not tell me the next day? Why drive me everywhere and lie?”
“Because by then Gina had told me, wrongly it now turns out, that you were recently widowed and this trip would have been your honeymoon. We wanted to make your trip as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances. We didn’t think for a moment that we might have got the facts wrong.”
“So you pitied me?” she asked gruffly.
“I didn’t think you needed any more obstacles in your way. I didn’t mind taking you to Verona the next day and I thought nothing of dropping you off there where, if you remember correctly, I left you to your own devices, to visit Juliet’s balcony. I sat and waited for you. I didn’t think you needed to know.”
Ava stared at him lost for words and then stupidly said something she immediately regretted. “Yeah, I bet that’s what you tell yourself each time a young and single woman turns up at your hotel.”
She could tell by the way his jaw hardened that her words had incensed him. He was suddenly quiet. Instead he threw his hands up into the air in frustration.
“I never took you to be such a diva!” he said, staring at her in disgust. He shook his head in annoyance. “I’m not sorry I ever met you. But I am sorry I came here to Venice after you.” These were the last things he said before he turned around and walked away across the piazza. He didn’t look back.
Ava’s heart thudded as she watched Nico drift away. She could tell by his swift gait and his downturned head that he felt as wretched as she felt right now.
Why was she treating him so badly?
Chapter 20
Nico walked back to his hotel which was also the same one that Ava had checked into. Being in the hotel business had its definite advantages and being able to book i
nto an exclusive hotel such as the Hotel Sant Adelina at a moment’s notice, was definitely high up on the advantages list.
He opened the doors to the balcony and stared out, looking over the blue gray water of the Grand Canal under the orange dappled sky. This was most definitely Venice at it’s most beautiful. The famous city by the sea captured in so many films, photographed on so many postcards and it looked exactly the same; magical, vibrant and mystical.
He had to give it to them, Ava and her fiancé had chosen the two most beautiful parts of Italy for a honeymoon. Verona and Venice. He sighed loudly. What a shame their love story hadn’t lived up to the expectations of the places they had chosen. He tapped his fingers on the edge of the balcony.
So she wasn’t a widow after all. As it now turned out, she hadn’t even been married.
Why did he feel relieved to hear this news?
She had been so frustrated and ill-tempered when she had arrived at the airport, and all that time he had put it down to her being in mourning. Now he knew the truth, that she really was a bride who had been jilted by her fiancé. It all made sense. She must have thought that he was trying to hit on her from the moment she had arrived, when all he had been trying to do was to make her visit bearable, because he thought, because Gina had told him so, that she was a widow. In fact the two of them had only wanted to make her stay as pleasant as possible. He had thought at the time that it must have been an incredibly hard trip to make and he had admired her for her courage in light of her circumstances.
With a start he understood exactly her motivations. Ava hadn’t been consumed only by sadness and self-pity. She had been angry too. All she had wanted was to have a bit of peace. But in trying to help her out, he had ended up spending too much time with her and not allowing her to have that peace. And now things were a complete mess because of him.
Too much had happened in too short a time. He felt that she was the most genuine woman he had ever met. And the real test of it all was that she had gotten to know him, the real Nico Cazale. He was just a normal person to her. Such a shame it had ended like this. At least he had tried. At least he could not blame himself for not coming out here after her.
Had he come here to woo her? No. But a tiny part of him had been excited by the thought of seeing her again. He had come after her because he did not want the two of them to part in such a bad way. The last time they had been together, they had argued. And on top of that, unknown to him, Ava had had to bear with Silvia and her lies.
He hung his head in shame. He hadn’t had any inkling of the damage Silvia had done and he had been unaware of most of it. He thought Ava had left Verona early because of their argument after their kiss. He stopped in his thoughts as memories of their kiss came back to him. Remembering the feel of her soft skin and her warm, moist lips made his heart beat faster. He felt a stirring deep in his core as he recalled how close to impossible it had been for him to pull away.
In wanting to make this a memorable holiday for Ava, he had succeeded in doing the opposite. And it had all been his fault. Not only had he hurt her, but he had gotten her embroiled in the problems with Silvia. Way to go Nico, he thought miserably.
He would be sorry to see her go. He wondered how long he would have to wait to meet another woman who would see the real Nico instead of his wealth and his inheritance.
At least he had straightened things out and she was now aware of the real story. He would leave for Verona tomorrow morning and he could return to Verona knowing he had tried.
The next morning, Nico checked out of the Hotel Sant Adelina. It was still only early morning and he decided to have one last cup of espresso in the Piazza San Marco before catching the noon train to Verona. The sun was casting her silken glow over Venice again, as she normally did at this time of the year.
Before he checked out, Nico handed a small package over to the clerk in reception, asking the man to give it to Ava Ramirez.
Ava hadn’t slept well at all. It had been as bad a night as the night Connor had dumped her.
Back then, she had alternated between moments where it all seemed to be a dream and then she wondered whether it was real. After four hours of tossing and turning, she hadn’t been able to fathom what was real and what was not.
It was the same now. Only it was a different man.
She replayed the argument with Nico over and over in her head.
Had he really thought she was a widow?
She thought about all the things he had gone out of his way to do for her. The small ways he had tried to make her trip pleasant.
A shiver slid down her spine and the hairs on her arms stood up as she recalled their brief moment of passion by the bench. Theirs was a kiss that promised the allure of deeper things. She knew that as surely as she felt his strong hands caressing her face when he had kissed her.
He thought she was a widow. He had only been trying to be respectful. The thought of what could have been churned her insides and set her heart racing.
She needed to see him. She couldn’t return to Denver leaving things as they were.
She leapt out of bed, showering up and getting dressed as fast as she could. She flew out of her room and down the stairs. Where would she find him? She didn’t even know where he was staying. The queasiness in her stomach increased as she realised that she might never see him again and that he might have returned to Verona, still angry at her. Ava’s face dropped and for a moment the world around her seemed empty.
“Ms. Ramirez?” the hotel desk clerk walked up behind her. “Ms. Ramirez, a gentleman left this package for you early this morning.” He handed Ava a small brown envelope. Ava smiled at him before peeking inside. She pulled out the small black box, no bigger than the palm of her hand and walked to the large sofa nearby and sat down. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she opened the box.
Inside, nestling against a backdrop of dark red velvet, was the beautiful bracelet that she had admired from the shop window at the jeweler’s in Montova. Her heart jumped. She gingerly ran her fingertips over the intricate beadwork and metal design. She picked it up and laid it out on palm of her hand. It was breathtaking in its beauty.
She closed her fingers around it and pressed her clenched fist against her chest, taking a deep breath in as she held the bracelet against her thudding heart.
He had remembered.
When had Nico had the time to drive out to the village for this? Now she felt really foolish, as she thought of everything she had said to him yesterday. She had been in a particularly foul mood when she had arrived in Venice yesterday. And rightly so. But now the truth was out. She realised that she had seen but one side of the story and believed the worst. Nico had explained the other side. And it all made sense. As it was, he had his reasons for behaving the way he had. And he had only done it out of kindness for her.
Silvia, the child, his decision to allow her to think he was nothing more than a hotel driver, all of these things, had slowly unraveled and the fog had cleared.
It was not too late to put things right.
She raced to the reception desk, with the bracelet dangling from between her fingers and the dark velvet box in the other hand.
“The man who left this for me,” she said breathlessly, “did he say where he was going?”
“Madam, he checked out this morning,” he said, and then his eyes saw the bracelet that dangled from Ava’s hands. “Ah. A Flamentagostini? Yes?” he asked, the excitement in his voice barely concealed. Ava remembered the name of the shop.
“Yes. Flamentagostini.”
“Exquisite. Highly desirable and beautiful. And very expensive too. Be careful you don’t lose that madam.” The clerk was unable to take his eyes off the bracelet.
“But did he say where he was going?” asked Ava, anxious to find Nico before he left and completely ignoring the clerk’s fascination with the bracelet.
“No madam. I’m afraid he didn’t. I don’t think he can be too far,” the clerk added.
“Because he would surely want to see your reaction after purchasing such a beautiful piece of jewellery. Please, madam. Let me help you.” And at the nod of her head, the clerk gently fixed the clasp into place, securing the bracelet firmly around Ava’s wrist.
“May I?” he asked, looking up at Ava with great expectation. Ava nodded.
“How expensive is it?” Ava asked breathlessly, holding up her wrist to show off the bracelet to the clerk.
“Flamentagostinis are created uniquely. And nothing less than ten thousand dollars. Though this one might be a great deal more, as you can see it has a lot of detailing and many stones. We see a lot of these pieces here, as you can imagine,” he explained, casting his eyes around the hotel.
At the mention of that amount of money, Ava shot her hand away as though it had been touched by a blazing hot piece of iron.
“In fact, madam. Isn’t that the gentleman in question?” said the clerk, looking over Ava’s shoulder towards the double glass doors.
Ava turned around quickly and saw Nico taking huge strides towards the centre of the piazza.
She ran out of the hotel, flinging the doors open and ran across the piazza, tottering on her nude colored sling backs. When she was no more than a couple of metres away from him, Nico stopped and turned around.
“I’d recognize the sound of those footsteps anywhere,” he said in a friendly though detached voice. He regarded Ava with suspicion, as though he wasn’t sure what mood she would be in today.
“Nico!” said Ava breathlessly. She stopped yards away from him, clutching her hand to her chest. Her face was flushed and she was panting, but trying hard to sound normal. She caught his stern expression, then followed the gaze of his eyes as he saw the shiny bracelet she was now wearing.
“Do you like it?” he asked, his face softening a little as he put down his bag and placed his hands in the front pockets of his trousers. She wasn’t sure but she thought she caught a glimpse of relief.
