The Secret That Changed Everything

by Lucy Gordon

  She did what was expected of her, speaking Venetian, making the occasional error and leading the laughter at her own expense. As the evening moved on the mood became increasingly friendly. Rico, in particular, was happy to talk to Charlotte. The subject was his vineyard but he seemed unable to take his eyes off her, as Lucio in particular noticed.

  There was a brief, awkward moment when her cell phone rang and she answered it to find Alex.

  ‘I’ve been talking to Ellie,’ she said. ‘She’s worried about you, and we were both think—’

  ‘I can’t talk now,’ she said hastily. ‘I’ll call back. Bye.’

  She shut the phone down and switched it off, cursing herself for not doing so before. Everyone was looking at her with interest, as though speculating who her caller might be.

  She turned her brightest smile on Rico. ‘I really look forward to seeing your estate,’ she said.

  ‘And I hope you will come very soon, perhaps tomorrow,’ he declared fervently.

  ‘That would be excellent,’ Lucio said before she could reply. ‘May I suggest an early start?’

  They all agreed on an early start.

  ‘Then I think we won’t stay out too late tonight,’ Lucio said. ‘An early start tomorrow means an early night now. Are you ready, my dear?’

  ‘Quite ready,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, surely, just a little longer—’ Franco protested.

  ‘I look forward to tomorrow,’ Lucio interrupted him.

  As they strolled back to the hotel she said, ‘Were you wise to risk offending him? After all, if you’re going to do business—’

  ‘I’m the buyer. I make the terms. And if he rakes you with his eyes like that again I’ll—I don’t know...’

  ‘Knock a few thousand off the price you offer?’ she suggested.

  ‘I had something else in mind,’ he growled.

  ‘Nonsense! Money’s far more effective. He badly needs to sell that vineyard.’

  ‘He told you that?’

  ‘Not in so many words, but it came through. He’s had a lot of “expenses” recently, by which I think he means gambling debts. His wife said the word casino in a certain tone that spoke volumes. They’re planning a lavish wedding for their daughter and counting on the money from the vineyard. So you’ve got the advantage.’

  ‘I’d still rather punch his lights out.’

  ‘Only the money matters. Cling to that.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am! You’re really getting the hang of this.’

  ‘Right. I think I missed my vocation. I should have gone into big business. Since I’ve been here I’ve seen a whole new future opening up, chief of a money-making enterprise, giving orders left, right and centre—’ She stopped, glancing up at his face. ‘All right, I’m only joking.’

  ‘And I fall for it so easily, don’t I?’

  ‘You have your moments.’

  ‘Fine, go ahead. Have fun. My time will come.’

  My time will come. She’d said this to herself so often that hearing it from Lucio caught her by surprise. Suddenly she glimpsed thoughts and feelings inside him that she had never suspected. Was he really holding his breath for what could happen between them? Just like herself?

  ‘I suppose I shouldn’t have dragged you away like that,’ he mused.

  ‘No, you shouldn’t. I was still eating a lovely cake.’

  ‘Then I’ll buy you another one.’

  ‘First you bought me a car, now a cake,’ she teased. ‘What next? You think money buys you out of any situation, don’t you?’

  ‘Of course it does. You just taught me that, and I’m learning. Let’s go in there.’

  He indicated a little café just up ahead, and soon they were sitting at a table, being served with cake and sparkling water.

  ‘You can drink alcohol if you want,’ Charlotte said. ‘Are you afraid that I’ll be tempted if I see a bottle of wine? No need. I’m quite grown up. Honestly.’

  He made a face and ordered some wine. ‘I was trying to be considerate.’

  ‘Thank you for the thought but there’s no need.’ She gave a blissful sigh. ‘Oh, I did enjoy today.’

  ‘I’m glad to see you in a happier mood.’

  ‘Whatever do you mean? I haven’t been grumpy, have I?’

  ‘Not with me, but whoever you were talking to on the phone earlier today. I heard you from the next room. You sounded ready to bite their head off.’

  ‘Oh, that! Yes, I wasn’t at my best.’

  ‘This person did something to annoy you?’

  She made a wry face. ‘You could say she’s been annoying me since the day we met, twenty-seven years ago.’

  ‘Family?’

  ‘Sister. Well, half-sister. I’ve always been fond of her but I can’t help resenting her, too. She’s so beautiful, so elegant. Men have always pursued her and she has to fend them off. Honestly, sometimes I could have murdered her for being so gorgeous.’

  ‘Don’t underestimate your own looks.’

  ‘Oh, come on!’ She turned to regard herself in the wall mirror, giving a disparaging flick to her long hair. ‘I’m not beautiful.’

  ‘You’re striking,’ he said, recalling how her hair had looked spread out over the pillow. ‘I have no complaints.’

  ‘That’s because you’re a gentleman with perfect manners.’

  ‘Liar!’ He grinned. ‘Well, I had to say something. Was that her who called you during the meal?’

  ‘No, that was my other sister Alex.’

  ‘Is she gorgeous, too?’

  ‘She’s pretty, but she has something more important than looks. She has charm. And don’t you dare tell me I’m charming.’

  ‘I swear it never crossed my mind. I’m much too afraid of you.’

  ‘Good. Keep it that way.’

  ‘So how did Ellie offend you?’

  ‘Nothing special,’ she said quickly. ‘She was just concerned about how I was managing.’

  ‘But you sounded annoyed.’

  ‘Yes, well—they have their own ideas but it doesn’t concern them, and I don’t want them interfering.’

  ‘Is this what you hinted at the first night? You mentioned an older brother and sister who were twins and a younger sister. But you said there was a big family secret, and you were the last to know. It made you feel like an outsider.’

  ‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘My father is my mother’s second husband. Before him she was married to a man called Clay Calhoun, but the marriage broke up, she left him and met Cedric Patterson soon after. They planned to marry, then she discovered that she was pregnant by Clay. But Cedric still wanted her. They married and she had twins, Ellie and Matt, which my father raised as his own.

  ‘But recently we found out that my mother wrote to Clay telling him about her pregnancy. If he’d responded she might never have married my dad. But he didn’t because he never got the letter. Sandra, the new woman in his life, kept it from him and then they got married.

  ‘She died a couple of years ago, and Clay died last year. His daughter Jess was going through his things when she found a box belonging to Sandra, and the letter was in it. That’s how she learned that her father had two other children.

  ‘I think she had to search for them on the internet. At last she found Ellie and told her. So just a few months ago she and Matt discovered that they were Clay’s children, and not our father’s. She told Alex first, I guess because she’s always been closer to her, but she delayed telling me.’

  ‘Hell!’ Lucio exclaimed.

  ‘Yes, that’s how I felt. You remember the hotel in Rome where we met?’

  ‘The Hotel Geranno.’

  ‘Right. I’d just been down to their internet café and found an email from Alex telling me all about it. From Alex, not from Ellie. She couldn’t even be bothered to email me herself, not about that nor the fact that she seems to have found “Mr Right”. I felt I’d come at the end of a long queue.’

  Lucio took her hand and squeezed it. ‘They
shouldn’t have done that to you.’

  ‘I felt so unwanted, unnecessary, surplus to requirements, don’t call us, we’ll call you—or perhaps not.’ She sighed. ‘Until then I’d always felt so pleased about having a family—a “real family” as I called it. With a family you weren’t alone. Only then I discovered I was wrong.’

  ‘But Ellie and Matt are still your siblings even if you do only share one parent now. And Alex is your full sister.’

  ‘Yes.’ She sighed.

  ‘But that doesn’t help much, does it? Is there no one in the family who could help you? Your parents?’

  ‘I can’t talk to them about this. A while back my father’s mind started to go. These days he’s very confused and looking after him is my mother’s priority. Nothing else really matters to her, so when I called her—’

  ‘She wouldn’t talk to you about it?’ he asked, frowning.

  ‘Not exactly. She confirmed it had happened, but she said it was all a long time ago, and why should I worry about it? Obviously it involves Matt and Ellie because they’re Clay’s children, but I’m not, and she didn’t seem to think it concerned me.’

  ‘But a family upheaval like that concerns everyone.’

  ‘That’s how I think, but my mother doesn’t seem to understand. I used to feel close to her—well, sort of. The twins were special and Alex is gorgeous. I’m the middle one and I don’t stand out like the others. I’ve always felt that, and sometimes I’ve acted a bit daft, trying to attract attention, I suppose. Some of them call me the rebel of the family, some call me the idiot—’

  ‘Stop right there,’ he interrupted her. ‘You’re going to put yourself down and I won’t have it.’

  She smiled. ‘Well, I can’t help remembering what that man at the party said about women who—’

  ‘That’s enough! He knows nothing.’ Lucio laid his hand over hers. ‘At least, he doesn’t know what I know.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she choked.

  ‘You’ll sort it with your family one day.’

  ‘Will I? I don’t know. They’ve made me feel so shut out. You know that saying, “Home is the place where they have to let you in”. Now it’s as though they wouldn’t let me in.’

  ‘That feeling won’t last. You need time to get over it, but it’ll happen. After all, you have another home now.’

  She studied him curiously, aware of the mysterious sensation that had overcome her before in his company, as though their minds were in harmony. Even Matt, the sibling to whom she’d always felt close, hadn’t given her such a feeling.

  Had he ever? she mused. His failure to tell her what the others knew had left her feeling distant from him. But even in the past, had she felt as she did now with Lucio, that she’d found a friend to confide in? In time he might be more, but best friend was the least she would settle for.

  ‘Is something funny?’ he asked, watching her.

  ‘I was just thinking what a wonderful brother you’d make, which I suppose is a bit funny in the circumstances.’

  ‘Not really. You and I need to be friends, allies, comrades.’

  ‘That’s true. We always could read each other’s minds, couldn’t we?’

  ‘From the first moment,’ he agreed. ‘Remember that argument we had at that café near the Trevi Fountain? I kept having a weird sensation that I knew exactly what you were going to say next. And you usually did.’

  ‘That must have made me very boring,’ she said lightly.

  He shook his head. ‘No, you’re never boring. Don’t put yourself down. You were in a bad way that night, and you needed someone. I’m glad it was me.’

  He raised her hand and laid his cheek against the back.

  ‘So that’s why I got lucky,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve always wondered.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, I could tell that you’re not the kind of girl who goes in for one-night stands. Even if you are the rebel of the family, it was the first time your rebellion had ever taken that particular form, wasn’t it?’

  She nodded.

  ‘But it happened with me. I’m not conceited enough to think you fell for my “looks and charm”. You felt sad and lonely and I just happened to be there.’

  ‘It was a bit more than that,’ she said huskily. ‘You made me feel wanted.’

  ‘I’m glad. And you know what I’m even more glad about? That it was me and nobody else. You were so vulnerable. You could have been hurt.’

  ‘But not by you,’ she said, smiling.

  ‘No, not by me. You made me feel wanted, too, and I guess it filled a need, just at the right time. It’s almost enough to make you believe in fate. You needed me, I needed you, fate brought us together.’

  ‘You didn’t need me,’ she said. ‘Don’t forget I saw you in the hotel, surrounded by admirers. Or do I mean worshipers? There wasn’t a woman there who wouldn’t gladly have changed places with me.’

  ‘And did you see me inviting them?’

  ‘You wouldn’t have had to try very hard,’ she said wryly.

  ‘If you mean that I lived a self-indulgent life in those days, I don’t deny it.’ He pulled a self-mocking face. ‘But that’s over. I haven’t slept with another woman since I found you.’

  ‘You mean since the day I told you about the baby?’

  ‘No, I mean since that night in Rome. Yes, I don’t blame you for looking cynical, but it’s true.’

  ‘But why should you? I mean, you didn’t expect ever to see me again.’

  ‘I know. But somehow you were still with me. There were times I was tempted but you always stepped in and made me back off. I found myself living like a monk.’

  He saw her gazing at him in astonishment. ‘It’s the truth, I swear it. Say you believe me. But only if you mean it.’

  For a moment she was lost for words. This was the last thing she’d expected to hear.

  He made a wry face, misunderstanding her silence.

  ‘I guess I can’t blame you. I probably wouldn’t believe me either.’

  ‘But I do,’ she murmured. ‘I do believe you.’

  Incredibly, she really did.

  ‘Do you really mean that?’ he persisted. ‘Truly?’

  ‘Truly.’

  ‘Thank you. Not many people would, given the way I’ve lived, dashing around, enjoying a superficial life. But once there was you, something changed.’

  ‘But suppose you hadn’t made me pregnant, and I hadn’t come to find you?’

  ‘That doesn’t bear thinking about.’

  She knew a surge of pleasure so intense that she struggled to hide it. She managed by retreating into cynicism.

  ‘Oh, come on!’ she jeered lightly. ‘If it hadn’t been me it would have been one of those willing ladies.’

  ‘Most of those “willing ladies” have husbands or make a career out of being available. And they’re all the kind of people that I can’t get close to—not as we’ve grown close. I can talk to you like nobody else. I’m close to Fiorella but there are things I can’t confide in her about. She’s been hurt too much, I have to protect her.’

  ‘And that’s my big advantage?’ she teased. ‘I don’t need protection.’

  ‘Hey! You’ve missed no opportunity to tell me that you can look after yourself. I’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve said it as a way of slapping me down.’

  ‘Some men need slapping down, preferably as often as possible.’

  ‘Duly noted.’ He gave a mock salute.

  ‘But I guess in future I’ll have to find another way.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll think of something.’ He grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘But seriously, of course you need my protection. As though I’d let you of all people run any risks. But I do know that you’re strong and independent. If it came to a battle between us I’d back you against me.’

  ‘So would I. Let’s agree on that.’

  ‘I guess we should be going,’ he said. ‘It’s late and you shou
ld be in bed.’

  ‘I’m not a child to be sent to bed.’

  ‘I’m making sure you’re all right. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?’

  ‘Just be careful not to push your luck.’

  ‘Let’s go.’

  Together they strolled out. The street was narrow, and above it was a fine strip of sky, glittering with stars. Charlotte gazed up entranced.

  ‘It’s as though they’re pointing the way home,’ she said. ‘Just a few yards and then— Whoops!’

  ‘Careful!’ he said, grasping her as she stumbled, nearly losing her balance. ‘If you don’t look where you’re going I guess you do need someone to keep an eye on you, after all.’

  ‘Well, perhaps you’re right.’

  His arm was now firmly around her shoulders, and it was natural to lean her head back against it.

  ‘You’re still not looking at the road,’ he reproved her.

  ‘With you to guide me I don’t need to. I leave everything in your hands.’

  ‘Hm! Why does that submissive act fill me with suspicion?’

  ‘I can’t think.’

  She slipped her arm about his waist and, like this, laughing and holding on to each other, they drifted on their way.

  CHAPTER NINE

  EARLY next morning a motorboat collected them from the hotel and drove them to Piazzale Roma, the car park on the edge of town, beyond which no wheeled vehicle was allowed. Here they all loaded into Franco’s palatial car to be driven over the Liberty Bridge onto the mainland, and from there another fifty miles to the vineyard.

  There Rico met them and gave them a conducted tour through his magnificent fields. What little Charlotte had seen of vineyards was enough to tell her that this was a splendid place, and the greatest favour she could do for Lucio was stay in the shadows.

  She could tell that he was impressed by what he saw and heard, although his outward response was muted, as befitted a man with money at stake. Occasionally Rico would address her in Venetian, but only as a courtesy. Serious business was conducted in Italian, and increasingly she sensed that all was going well.

  She particularly liked the house; not a palace like the ones she saw in Tuscany, but sprawling with an air of warmth and friendliness. Children could live happily here, she thought, wandering through the rooms.