English Rose for the Sicilian Doc

by Annie Claydon

  ‘I’ll miss a lot of things. Taking a siesta really is a very civilised thing to do.’

  ‘I think so. When I was in England I used to hate the way everyone would eat at their desks, without stopping work. I always try to take some kind of break at lunchtime, even if it is only for twenty minutes.’

  ‘How long were you in England for?’

  ‘I spent almost seven years there, as a child, but my sister and I always used to come and stay with our grandparents for the summer holidays. I studied in Rome and then went back to London after I finished medical school, and ended up staying three years. I stayed for a relationship, but...we went our separate ways in the end.’

  ‘I’m sorry. It’s hard when that happens, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah. Not a choice I’d want to have to make again.’ He turned the corners of his mouth down.

  ‘But this is a wonderful place to come back to.’ He’d carried on the way that she had, and had made a good life for himself. Maybe she and Matteo had more in common than she’d imagined.

  ‘I like it. And my work’s here. It feels more like home than anywhere else.’ He turned his head lazily to look at her and she felt the connection that had been missing today. A feeling she couldn’t quite put a name to, until the pleasure response flared through her.

  She didn’t want to talk about the bad things. It was too peaceful here, the breeze from the sea cooling the shaded patio. Rose reached into her bag and slid her phone across the table.

  ‘I was wondering... I’d be really interested to see what you see. If you don’t mind, that is.’ Suddenly that was important. Seeing the world through his eyes, maybe learning a little about what made Matteo tick.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  WHEN PEOPLE HELD things up, asking endlessly what colour this or that looked like to him, Matteo usually felt a surge of impatience. But this was different. Rose really wanted to understand, and it was strangely touching.

  ‘Of course I don’t mind.’ He picked up the phone, saving the colour profile that he’d set for William. Then he adjusted the colour settings, getting them as close as he could to his vision of the world.

  ‘Here.’ He felt a little thrill of anxious excitement as he handed her the phone.

  She swung it around slowly, taking in everything around her, and Matteo watched. There was something very special about watching Rose when she was on one of her voyages of discovery, and the fact that she was discovering something about him made it all the more exquisite.

  ‘This is similar to William’s. Not quite the same, though.’

  ‘No, William has no green colour receptors in his eyes, so sees no green at all. I have some, not enough to actually be able to see the colour green but I see slightly different shades of colour from William.’

  She nodded, swinging round and pointing the phone straight at him. This seemed suddenly very personal. He’d been told how he looked to other people and hadn’t taken a great deal of notice, but what Rose saw mattered.

  ‘What do you see?’

  ‘You look...much the same.’ Matteo smiled and she laughed. ‘You look exactly the same when you do that.’

  ‘Can you switch the view?’ Suddenly he wanted her to know how he saw her.

  ‘I think so...’ She fiddled for a moment and then held the phone to her chest, brushing her hair back with her hand and pressing her lips together, the way women did before having a photograph taken. That wasn’t going to make much difference. Her lips might look redder to most people, but one of the things about a green deficiency was that it affected many shades of red as well.

  ‘Here goes...’ She looked into the phone, and her eyes widened. ‘Oh. I look a bit pale, don’t I? Not very well.’

  Matteo laughed. ‘You look fine to me.’

  ‘My eyes look...’ She seemed lost for words. Did she really see what he saw, a pale, ethereal beauty, with shining gold hair and startlingly blue eyes? Or was she filtering the information, and finding fault with her appearance.

  ‘Very blue. Gorgeously so.’ Matteo reckoned that it was all right to apply his own value judgement, since she was trying to see things through his eyes.

  She gave a tremulous smile. ‘They stand out more. It’s almost as if all the other colours are faded down and they’re turned up.’

  ‘Blues always look more intense to me.’

  She nodded, putting her phone down on the table. ‘I wish I could show you what I see.’

  Suddenly he wanted that too. Matteo had always stalwartly defended his right to see things in his own way, and through his own eyes, and had never felt that he wanted anything different. But he wanted to know everything about Rose.

  ‘So what kind of vision would you like? If you could choose.’

  She laughed. ‘Ground-penetrating radar, definitely. It’d save an awful lot of trouble. Or, actually, CT vision. I can’t wait for tomorrow, when we’ll get to see what’s inside the clay egg.’

  ‘It might be nothing.’ Matteo knew just how badly she wanted to find some clue about the skeleton they’d found, and he wanted it too. But too many expectations always led to disappointment.

  ‘I know. I’m hoping for something, though.’

  ‘Me too. We’ll find out soon enough. I called the guy you put me in contact with, by the way. He’s run me through all the differences between scanning human tissue and archaeological remains. You are bringing the bones, as well as the egg, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes, if that’s okay. The plan is to scan everything, and when we have all the information a decision can be made about re-interring the bones.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. We can do whatever you want, the hospital’s happy to get as much good PR out of this as they can.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She smiled lazily at him. ‘So what kind of vision would you like? If you could have anything you wanted.’

  ‘Not X-rays. Skeletons walking along the street would be far too much like work to me.’ Suddenly Matteo knew exactly what he wanted to be able to see. The sea, the sky, and the gorgeous blue of her eyes. ‘Actually, I think I’ll stick with what I have. I don’t want to change a thing.’

  * * *

  Professor Paulozzi, the site director, was going to be overseeing the transportation of the bones and artefacts to the hospital and the scanning process. When they arrived at the hospital they were directed straight to the radiology labs, where it seemed that a lot of activity was taking place.

  Matteo was alone, though, dressed in scrubs and busy covering the patient’s couch with plastic sheeting. He turned to greet her as Rose was ushered inside, wheeling the heavy metal boxes.

  ‘I think we’re ready.’ He grinned. ‘Looks as if Professor Paulozzi’s going to have some company in the viewing gallery. Quite a few of our doctors want to see this, too.’

  ‘So that’s what all these people are doing here.’ Rose felt a stab of pride that she was the one who was going to be alone with Matteo in the lab. ‘Do I have to get changed?’

  ‘No, you just have to wear the protective apron. I just feel a bit more at home when I’m dressed appropriately.’ He laughed at the idiosyncrasy.

  ‘Are you ready to start? Can we begin unpacking?’

  ‘Sure. But I need you for ten minutes so that I can run through some safety procedures. This is my lab, and the procedures we go through aren’t advisory.’

  ‘I’m in your hands entirely. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. To the letter.’

  As he led her into a small, screened-off area adjoining the lab she heard him mutter that today would be ground-breaking in more ways than one.

  The protective apron was heavy and cumbersome, although Matteo didn’t seem to notice the weight. Professor Paulozzi was holding court behind the glass screen of the viewing area, obviously relishing telling the ho
spital staff who were squashed into the small space all about the site and their finds.

  ‘Bones first?’ Matteo was suddenly calm and businesslike. Someone turned out the light in the viewing area and they were suddenly alone.

  One by one, carefully and painstakingly, he scanned the bones. Rose’s back was beginning to ache from the weight of the apron by the time he got to the jawbone, but Matteo’s concentration never wavered as he looked at the real-time results of the scan on the screen.

  ‘I’d say...our girl’s around sixteen.’

  They’d already agreed, from the shape of the pelvic bones and the features of the skull and jaw, that these were the bones of a woman. Bone fusion and growth indicated a teenager, and the development of the teeth bore that out.

  ‘Yes, I agree.’ Rose smiled. Our girl. This wasn’t just an academic exercise to Matteo, but she imagined that no one who lay on the couch in front of him was. In his concentration, he’d glanced up at the top of the couch a few times, a reflex action to see how his patient was doing.

  ‘Can we take a look at her leg now?’ Rose had her own theories about the left femur and had deliberately packed it so that it would come out of the box last. Matteo nodded and she carefully placed the delicate bone in front of him on the scanning area.

  ‘What do you think?’ She wanted to hear Matteo’s assessment before she voiced her own.

  Matteo stared at the screen, his face becoming fixed and grave. ‘This bone’s been broken. There’s clear evidence of healing, so it happened pre-mortem.’

  ‘How long?’

  He puffed out a breath. ‘Six weeks maybe. It’s obviously been set, a break like that wouldn’t have healed so well otherwise, so there was some medical help available. And look, there. There’s a clear notch, which looks as if it was done about the same time as the bone was broken.’

  Rose felt a thump of dismay in her chest. She’d seen bones with those kinds of marks on them before, but this one was partially healed and she hadn’t been sure. The CT scanner had picked up the new growth in the bone and shown the shape much more clearly.

  ‘I think that’s from a sword or an axe. The blow was what would have broken her leg.’

  ‘Poor kid.’ Suddenly Matteo’s detached professionalism was gone. ‘She was lucky to have survived it, there are quite a few main arteries...’ He shook his head as if trying to expel the thought.

  ‘What’s that whitish area?’

  ‘Some kind of metallic deposit.’ He adjusted the scanner and the image became clearer. ‘Yeah, I think that’s rust. As if there was a small chip of metal left in the wound, and over the years it’s degraded down.’

  He looked round as a long beep sounded from the intercom between the viewing gallery and the lab. Rose remembered suddenly that everything they were saying was being relayed through to the people watching.

  ‘Shall I answer that?’

  Matteo nodded. ‘Yeah, you’d better. Sounds as if someone has something urgent to say.’

  She listened carefully to Professor Paulozzi’s instructions and turned back again to Matteo. ‘Can you get a sample? With the minimum of damage to the bone?’

  ‘How big a sample do you need?’

  ‘Just a very small amount. If we can test the rust deposits, we may get a clearer idea of what did the damage.’

  ‘I can’t make any promises, the bone’s very fragile. But I’ll give it my best shot.’

  One word from Professor Paulozzi, and Rose nodded. ‘Go for it.’

  Matteo worked quietly, his concentration seeming to block everything else out. The sample was obtained and sealed in a collection vial, leaving the bone almost untouched. Rose had never seen such precise work before, but Matteo’s surgical skills, and the fact that he could see exactly where the small instruments should pierce the bone, made what had seemed impossible a reality.

  He stepped back from the couch, stretching his arms. ‘Are we done with the bones?’

  ‘Yes. Unless you saw any other irregularities?’

  He shook his head. ‘So we’re onto the mystery object now.’

  She placed the clay egg onto the scanning area. Matteo started with a low-level scan, cautious at first. ‘It’s hollow. Looks quite crudely made, and there is something inside. Do you see that fault line around the edge, where the seal must have been made?’

  Rose nodded. ‘Can you get a better image of what’s inside?’

  ‘I think so.’ Suddenly the white mass at the centre of the image resolved a little and Rose gasped.

  ‘It’s metal?’ Her hands began to shake.

  ‘Yep, that’s why we were getting a flare pattern on the first image. Is that what I think it is?’ He indicated a slim curve, with a kink at one end, slightly to one side of the main mass of jumbled shapes.

  ‘Yes... Yes, it’s the wire from an earring.’ Rose stared at the screen, catching her breath. ‘And do you see there? It’s a fibula...a brooch for securing clothing... That crossbow shape is typical.’

  They turned to each other. There was no question in Rose’s mind, or on Matteo’s face. They had to open the clay vessel.

  The intercom buzzer sounded, insistently. ‘Answer it.’ Matteo voice was husky, as if he had a lump in his throat.

  Rose hurried across the room, listening carefully to Professor Paulozzi’s instructions. ‘Can you gauge the fault line and prise it open there?’

  ‘I can try. I haven’t done this before, but I’m willing to give it a go.’

  ‘Okay. Well, there’s no pressure, because something of this age could crack at any time. But if you can get it open in two pieces that would be really good.’ Rose was so eager to see what was inside she would have been happy to smash the egg on the floor right now, but she’d have Professor Paulozzi to answer to afterwards.

  ‘Okay then.’ He grinned. ‘No pressure.’

  Carefully, meticulously, he widened the fault line and eased the two halves of the egg apart. Rose held her breath as he lifted the top off, placing it into the container she’d put at his side.

  The smooth edges were almost perfect in places, showing the marks of where each half of the egg had been finished. And inside... They almost bumped heads as both Rose and Matteo craned to see what was inside.

  ‘It’s a pair of gold earrings, with what looks like glass beads...’ Rose was conscious that the people in the viewing gallery couldn’t see what they saw. ‘Some beads, maybe amber or glass, two fibulae and a ring...’

  ‘Can we get a better view on the scanner?’ The jewellery must have been wrapped in something, and was coated with a fine debris that had solidified over the years.

  ‘Yep.’ Matteo manipulated the image on the screens, turning it slowly.

  ‘Stop... That’s it. The ring has an image of two clasped hands.’ She looked up at Matteo. ‘That’s probably a betrothal ring. And...can you move across to the left a bit? Yes, just there.’

  The fibulae lay together, and on the screen Rose could see indentations along the side of each one. Words. She twisted her head, trying to see what they said.

  ‘Amat et... Amatur...’ Matteo could make the Latin inscription out.

  ‘Loves and is loved.’ Rose whispered the words. He moved the image slightly, and the letters on the other brooch moved into focus.

  ‘A... E...’ He spelled the letters out slowly.

  The buzzer on the intercom sounded again and they both ignored it. Matteo’s face suddenly creased into a smile. ‘Aemilia. That’s her name.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  TWO SATURDAYS SPENT in Rose’s company. And already he was contemplating missing out on the opening of a project he’d given his heart and soul to, for a third.

  Finally, Matteo forced himself to choose. The choice would always be the same, had always been the same si
nce he’d made that one life-defining choice that had brought him back from England to Sicily. But this time, choosing his work and his community over a woman seemed more difficult.

  He picked up his phone and dialled. It wasn’t such a big deal. It was one Saturday, and Rose would still be there afterwards.

  ‘This clinic. You helped build it?’ Rose sounded genuinely interested.

  ‘The project was a partnership between the local community and a women’s centre in Palermo.’

  ‘So it’s just for women, then? What about the men in the area, don’t they need a clinic?’

  Matteo smiled. That was just the point he’d made to Dr Isabella Mori, the director of the women’s centre. ‘Yes, they do. There are going to be specific sessions which are held with women in mind, but it’s open to help anyone.’

  ‘Sounds fascinating.’ She paused, as if waiting for something. If it was an invitation, she probably didn’t know what she’d be letting herself in for. ‘I don’t suppose that visitors are allowed, are they?’

  ‘Yes, it’s going to be quite a party. Almost everyone from the area...’ Matteo bit his tongue. That wasn’t really the way to discourage Rose.

  Another pause. ‘So anyone can go?’

  Something warm reached out for his heart and Matteo ignored it in favour of considering this rationally. But even his rational mind found it difficult to resist Rose’s enthusiasm.

  ‘If you and William would like to come, you’d be welcome...’ He added the obvious caveat. ‘Although I should warn you that my family can be a bit overwhelming at times. They take welcoming visitors very seriously.’

  ‘We’d love to come, thank you. It would be really interesting to see what you’ve been doing.’ She completely ignored his warning, and equal measures of panic and anticipation made Matteo’s heart beat a little faster.

  He wondered whether Rose knew what she was getting herself into, because he was pretty sure that he didn’t. But it was done now, and all he could do was call his aunt and uncle and try to persuade them not to smother Rose with hospitality.