by Jayne Castel
“I am not bitter and jaded,” Kay ground out, “and I don’t sound like Alessandro. That man’s charmless and egotistical. I’m not judging you, I’m just worried you’re on the brink of throwing away everything you’ve worked so hard for over for a holiday fling.”
Melissa sighed once more and took a deep breath as if she too was trying to control her temper.
“You’re entitled to your opinion but you and Alessandro are both wasting your energy in trying to convince Vinnie or myself to give the other up. It’s never going to happen. We are getting married in a month and if I can’t have your blessing then you can do as mum, dad and Vincenzo’s parents have done – and ex-communicate us.”
Kay stabbed a fork into her congealing pizza and pushed its remains around her plate. This was not going as she’d envisaged. Melissa had developed a stubborn streak she’d never noticed before.
“But what kind of family are you marrying into?” Although Kay could see she was wasting her time trying to reason with Melissa, she couldn’t give up without one more attempt, “if Alessandro’s anything to go by, you’re going to be isolated here without family and friends, with nothing but hostile in-laws to contend with.”
Melissa smiled and shook her head. “I can make friends here and Alessandro’s bark is worse than his bite. He’s Vincenzo’s older brother and he’s just being protective. Alessandro’s a bit of a confirmed bachelor. He had his heart broken a few years back and now is convinced most women are manipulative gold-diggers like his ex. Vincenzo adores him and I trust his character judgment. Maybe the reason you’ve reacted so strongly to him is you two are alike.”
“What!” Kay shouted.
“It’s okay, I take that back – don’t bite my head off,” Melissa laughed, “although I have to say it’s a while since I’ve seen you react so strongly to a man.”
“I react strongly to him,” Kay lowered her voice but her eyes still flamed with anger, “because he is rude and lays the blame for this mess on you.”
“It’s only natural he’d think that,” Melissa replied, “as you think it’s all Vincenzo’s fault. You two are just going to have to learn to live with it because I’m staying here.”
***
The train rattled through a tunnel and emerged into bright sunlight. Kay replaced her sunglasses and peered through the grimy glass. Ahead, the sign announcing the next station loomed: La Rocca Laziale. This was where she was getting off.
Kay got up, ignoring the lingering glance of the man seated opposite, and picked up her duffel bag. The train rumbled to a stop in front of a small station. Kay got off and walked along the platform. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirrored windows of the station building and was shocked to see her transformation in only a week in Italy. She was no longer pale and tense. The Mediterranean sun had bronzed her skin and her face glowed, relaxed and happy. Her long auburn hair was loose and the sun had burned coppery highlights into her curls. She wore a short linen skirt, showing off her shapely legs and a light blouse clung to her curves. In just a week she had learned to ignore and at times even enjoy the admiring gazes of Italian men. Knowing they found her attractive made her walk taller and she had turned down numerous invitations to ‘take a coffee together’ or ‘go out for a beer and pizza’. During the last five days, she had wandered through Rome, taking in the city’s monuments, museums, fountains and markets - and in five days she had fallen in love with the Eternal City.
A week was a short time but already Kay didn’t feel like the same woman who had struggled through Trastevere with an over-stuffed suitcase while cursing her sister. She had just four days left before she had to board a plane back to New Zealand and it surprised her to realise she was a little sad about that.
Her heavy trolley suitcase was still at the Albergo Gelsomina, in Piero’s care. This weekend she travelled light. Kay swung her duffel bag over her shoulder and walked out of the station. Above her, perched on a hillside above a wooded valley sat La Rocca Laziale. It was picture perfect – a classic Italian hill-town. Ochre, pink and fawn rooftops tumbled down the hill towards her. A local bus pulled into the square in front of the station but instead of taking it, Kay headed towards the taxi rank. She wasn’t visiting the town, not yet at least.
The taxi took her north, along a narrow road lined with cypresses. The midday sun blazed overhead and Kay rolled the window down so she could feel the breeze on her face. It felt good to be alive.
The road wound its way up a hill and dropped Kay off in front of a pair of wrought-iron gates overhung with mature olive trees. The gates stood ajar, as if awaiting her. Kay slipped inside. She walked down a curving driveway and found a two-storied terracotta house with a tiled roof at the end. The surrounding trees fell back and Kay saw the house had a magnificent view of the wooded valley and the pastel shades of La Rocca Laziale beyond. Her breath caught in her throat. What a lovely spot. Vincenzo was so lucky to have this house to escape to when Rome’s chaos got too much. She now knew why Melissa had gone on about it so much over the past week, and why it was here she and Vincenzo planned to marry.
Creeping rosemary bushes lined the path leading up to the house. Their resin scent filled the air. A dust-covered Fiat Punto sat on paving stones near the front door. Kay walked past it, stepped up to the covered entrance and knocked.
“Kay!” Melissa threw the door open, “I thought you weren’t coming till later. I was going to pick you up at the station!”
“I got an earlier train,” Kay replied with a grin, “I thought I’d surprise you.”
“Come in then!” Melissa ushered Kay inside, “I’ll let you dump your bag in your room and then I’ll give you a tour of the house.”
Kay’s room was on the top floor, at the end of a narrow corridor.
“This part of the house has the guest bedrooms and a bathroom,” Melissa explained, throwing open the door to a pastel blue room with a wrought-iron balcony, “you get a fantastic view from up here.”
Kay trailed after her sister through the cool, tiled rooms of the Falcone family’s country house. There was a large farmhouse kitchen with a flagstone floor and French doors leading out into a paved courtyard. Outside, a chorus of cicadas greeted the sisters. There was a barbeque area, earth oven and a huge wooden table. Beyond, steps led down to a glittering swimming pool.
“A pool!” Kay exclaimed, gazing down from the top step, “when you told me to pack my bikini I wondered why. I thought you were planning a trip to the beach.”
“After lunch, when it cools off a little, we can spend a couple of hours down there,” Melissa promised.
They had lunch in the kitchen and chatted over a glass of chilled local white wine. Vincenzo was in town running some errands so Kay and Melissa had time to relax in each other’s company. It had taken a few days for relations to thaw between them since that lunch, but once Kay gave up trying to lecture Melissa on the huge mistake she was making, Melissa slowly lowered her guard when they were together.
After lunch, Kay took a siesta upstairs. It was after three in the afternoon when the sisters, clad in bikinis and clutching towels, made their way down to the pool. The cool water was a relief after the relentless heat. Kay swam up and down the length of the pool and floated on her back, staring up at the sky.
“I could get used to this,” Kay called across to Melissa, “I can see why you raved about this place.”
Melissa grinned back at her from over the spine of the paperback she was reading. She lounged on a deck chair at the pool’s edge. “I knew you’d fall for this place too,” she replied smugly.
The crunch of tires over gravel intruded upon their peace.
“Vinnie’s back,” Melissa sung out, “and it sounds like another car just came in after him. Alessandro must have finished work early.”
Kay sat up in the water, her good mood dissipating. “Alessandro? Please tell me you didn’t invite him as well.”
“Of course,” Melissa replied blithely. She got up and wr
apped a sarong around her hips. “It’s his house too remember. I couldn’t tell him to stay away just because my little sister hates him.”
Kay glared at Melissa’s retreating back as she made her way up the steps to greet Vincenzo. She felt a rush of anger and the strong urge to get dressed, call a taxi and leave. However, such behaviour would upset Melissa, and it was childish. She would simply act as if she’d forgotten he existed and treat him with the cold indifference he’d bestowed upon her.
Kay climbed out of the pool and wrapped her sarong tightly about her. Then, wringing out her wet hair, she climbed the steps.
Vincenzo, Alessandro and Melissa were standing in the paved courtyard in front of the house chatting.
“Kay!” Vincenzo rushed over and kissed her, “I’m so pleased you could come.”
“Hello Kay,” Alessandro was wearing sunglasses that lessened the impact his gaze had on her. He kissed Kay on each cheek as his brother had done. The light brush of his lips on her skin made Kay’s throat close in excitement. She clenched her jaw in rage at her body’s betrayal.
“Hello Alessandro,” she echoed hollowly.
***
The country light faded gently in a soft wash of color. The surrounding green washed out to grey and the sky deepened to indigo. Kay took a sip of wine and slapped at the mosquito feeding on her ankle. Acrid citronella candles burnt around them but the little beasts still managed to attack her.
The four of them sat round the outside table. They sipped wine and ate wedges of rock melon topped with slivers of Parma ham while Vincenzo talked about the history of his family’s country house.
“Our grandfather got it cheaply after the Second World War,” he explained, “it was nothing but a bombed out shell but he rebuilt it. He landscaped the garden, built the pool and eventually retired here. He died ten years ago but I still feel as if he’s here every time I visit.”
“He is,” Alessandro agreed quietly, “his spirit is part of the bricks, the dirt, and the air here.”
“It will be the perfect place for our wedding,” Vincenzo beamed. “Nonno would have liked that.” He reached across and took Melissa’s hand, stroking her arm in such a tender way that Kay felt a stab of jealousy. No man had ever touched her like that.
“It’s a pity the rest of the family won’t be coming,” Alessandro said, “there’s nothing Italians love more than a wedding.”
“If they aren’t coming it isn’t because they weren’t invited,” Vincenzo replied, the hurt evident in his voice, “they’re all giving me the cold-shoulder now.”
Melissa put her hand over his and squeezed gently. “Don’t worry Vinnie, at least you’ll have Alessandro here. None of my family will be coming.”
Guilt tugged at Kay on hearing the resignation in her sister’s voice. She couldn’t stay here another three weeks for the wedding. She had a job to get back to. It was true she hadn’t taken a proper holiday in years but just a week away had made her feel like she was slacking. She wasn’t able to leave everything behind the way Melissa had.
The citronella candles had melted down to molten pools of saffron liquid and La Rocca Laziale glowed gold in the distance. Dinner ended with a digestivo. It was a shot of liqueur that was supposed to aid digestion - not that it had been a heavy meal. The oppressive heat dulled everyone’s appetite. Kay had been quiet over dinner, preferring to let the others talk. Whenever she or Alessandro rarely exchanged words, it was with exaggerated politeness. However, neither Melissa nor Vincenzo appeared to notice. By the end of the evening the happy couple were so entwined that Kay felt she and Alessandro could have gone to sleep at the table without either of them noticing.
“If you want to go to bed I’ll finish tidying up here,” Kay offered, unable to stomach any more eye-gazing and arm stroking. Melissa made a few half-hearted protests before Vincenzo literally dragged her down the corridor towards their bedroom. Kay heard their laughter disappear behind closed doors and felt loneliness wash over her. Why had she never had that with a man? Instead of love and passion she now had to clear and wash up dishes under the cold, judgmental gaze of a man who thought all women were gold-digging harpies.
Kay and Alessandro cleared the outdoor table in silence and stacked the dishwasher in the kitchen. When the last pot had been scrubbed and the dishwasher whirred into life, Alessandro turned to Kay and they made eye-contact for the first time all evening.
“So your mission failed Kay,” he said softly, “like me you discovered that the course of true love cannot be thwarted.”
The sharp cynicism in his tone made Kay wince. Despite that Melissa had accused Kay of the same jaded view of love, Alessandro’s attitude saddened her.
“It must be lonely being you,” she replied, “going through life trusting no one, looking down on human emotion as weakness.”
Alessandro’s eyes widened in surprise but heedless, Kay continued. “Yes to you it would seem I failed but if this week’s taught me anything it’s that it’s pointless trying to control other people. I’ve never seen Melissa so happy and if this is her path then I’ll leave her to follow it.”
Kay turned away. She felt too hollow inside this evening to swap barbed comments with this man.
“Kay,” Alessandro reached out and gently caught her arm, pulling her round to face him again. “I sometimes say things I don’t mean, I’m sorry.”
“Why do you say things you don’t mean for?” Kay wasn’t about to let him off so easily.
“I don’t know. Self-protection. The need to be right. I don’t know why I do it.”
Kay stared at him warily. Alessandro ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Kay hadn’t seen him like this before. The coldness was gone and in its place was nervousness and confusion.
“Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I was rude to you and you were justifiably offended. I’m sorry for that and for the things I said to you when I dropped you home. I was letting out my frustration on you when I should have been more direct with Vincenzo. However, you were so cold and superior about my brother. If I promise to be nicer will you promise to thaw a little?”
Cold and Superior! Thaw!
“Don’t do me any favors,” Kay snapped, her anger erupting, “if it’s such an effort to be nice then don’t bother!”
She turned away but Alessandro reached out again and stopped her from leaving – and this time he wasn’t so gentle.
Kay wasn’t sure how it happened. One minute they were arguing, the next, Kay’s back was up against the refrigerator and Alessandro’s mouth was on hers. She should have slapped his face. She should have pushed him away – but his kiss was like standing under a hot waterfall. It awakened a hunger she hadn’t known even existed and before she knew what she was doing, Kay’s fingers were entangled in his hair. Her mouth opened under his and her entire body was on fire. Her reaction drove him wild. He groaned. His tongue tangled with hers and his hands slid under her thin cotton shirt, spanning out across her back. She could feel him, hard against her, and his body vibrated with the force of the energy coursing between them.
It was like being given the sweetest nectar to drink after years of trekking across the desert drinking nothing but stale, rationed water. Alessandro was delicious and she drank him in. It was as if the universe had shrunk to this kitchen and this man.
There were no words needed.
When the moon sunk towards the horizon, they lay exhausted, upstairs in Kay’s room, in each other’s arms. Alessandro propped himself up on one elbow and gently brushed Kay’s hair from her face.
“We should have done that a week ago,” he murmured, “I’m no good with words Kay. I wanted to throw myself at your feet the first moment I saw you and instead I just made you hate me.”
Kay reached up and stroked his face, understanding him finally.
“Neither of us expected this,” she replied softly.
Kay drifted off to sleep against Alessandro’s chest and when she woke up the sun was streaming in through the
window. Alessandro stirred against her and opened his eyes.
“Buongiorno,” he murmured sleepily. Kay leaned across and kissed him. Moments later, they were tangled together, devouring each other as if they had been separated for weeks.
“You’ll give me a heart-attack,” Alessandro groaned when they lay panting and sweat-soaked afterwards.
Kay laughed and kissed the sweaty curls of hair on his chest, “at least you’ll die happy,” she teased.
Alessandro became serious then. He looked deep into her eyes and cupped her face.
“Please don’t leave Kay,” he whispered, “not when I’ve just found you. Please stay here a while longer.”
Kay didn’t answer for a moment. She rolled over onto her back and propped herself up on her elbows so she could see outside. The sky was a clear unblemished blue from horizon to horizon. The cicadas were singing and in the distance, and she could hear church bells chiming. How could someone’s life change so completely so quickly? For the first time she understood Melissa. Passion could creep up on you and make you its slave. Kay looked across at Alessandro. She could not give him up either.
“Alright,” she conceded with a playful smile, “I’ll stay for a few more weeks. I’m overdue a holiday and Melissa needs at least one family member at her wedding.”
Alessandro grinned and he pulled her down into his arms. Kay suddenly stiffened and let out a strangled cry.
“Oh God!”
“What is it?” Alessandro’s face creased in concern.
“We left our clothes downstairs, thrown all over the floor. When Melissa and Vincenzo go into the kitchen…they’ll know!”
Alessandro laughed, seemingly unbothered, “Yes they will, unless you can think of an elaborate excuse they’d actually believe?”
Kay stared at him in horror before the ridiculousness of the situation dawned on her. She cuddled against Alessandro’s chest and wrapped her arms around him.
