Chapter Nineteen
Wednesday brought another stormy day. Occasionally, the sun popped out as if to apologise for the rowdy behaviour of the purple clouds, turning the colours of Villa Panorama’s garden especially vivid and making sparkles of the raindrops that clung to palm fronds.
Inhaling the musky, woody scent, Leo used a sunny spell to jog through the dripping, gleaming garden to meet his parents for afternoon coffee. In their office, he found his father in an expansive, happy mood.
‘Leo,’ Ferdinando cried, smoothing back his hair. ‘Tell your mother it’s time we left this office to someone else. Massimo can manage. We will spend more time with friends, enjoying lunches that take all afternoon.’
Though her husband had spoken in Italian, Sheenagh answered in her clipped Scottish English. ‘Massimo can’t do what the three of us do between us. We’re semi-retired and already enjoy at least two of those lunches each week.’ Then she gestured to her computer screen. ‘I just need to finish this, Leonardo.’ She twinkled over her glasses at Ferdinando. ‘As your father’s apparently fully retired this afternoon, he can make the coffee.’
Ferdinando laughed and levered himself from his chair to approach the machine at the side of the room. ‘I would retire completely, if you would let me,’ he mock-grumbled, placing the first white mug ready to receive the coffee stream.
Leo laughed as he settled into a grey mesh office chair. ‘Getting old, Papà?’
‘The point is that I’m still young. And I want to retire to enjoy it.’ Ferdinando placed the first cupful aside in a cloud of rich, coffee-scented steam and reached for a fresh pod and mug.
Sheenagh used two fingers on each hand to accomplish a quick burst of typing. ‘But semi-retirement gives us the best of both worlds.’ She clicked her mouse, as if that provided a full-stop to the subject.
After the first cup of coffee accompanied by biscotti, and despite his declarations about retiring, it was Ferdinando who received a business call. He jumped from his office chair, the phone clamped against his ear, proclaiming into the instrument, ‘Let’s ask Massimo. He has the figures.’
When he’d bustled from the room, Sheenagh signalled her wish to continue the coffee break by making fresh cups for herself and Leo. ‘It’ll be interesting to meet Jade’s sisters tonight.’
Leo watched her quick movements, twice as dextrous with the little pods as Ferdinando’s stubby fingers had been. ‘Yes. It’s been a big thing for Jade to deal with. At least Erin and Rosalie seem OK.’ Glad though he was that his mum had made things up with Jade with the invitation to her and her sisters, he hoped for some Leo-and-Jade alone time. She’d insisted she could manage without him at Pensione Three Sisters today, and he wondered if she was initiating Rosalie and Erin in some of the tasks that kept a pensione running. Stood down from his voluntary position and still waiting for the bank to replenish his account, he’d barely known what to do with himself today.
It had shocked him how much he’d missed Jade being nearby. He was getting in deep...
Still, he felt a wriggle of unease when Sheenagh leant forward conspiratorially as she placed his drink before him. ‘I told Jade I was happy to hear you’re together again.’
‘Seeingeach other.’ He corrected her automatically. When his mother’s face fell, he softened his voice. ‘It’s such early days. I don’t want you to be disappointed, though I’m a different person than I was all those years ago.’ He’d never felt about Isabella or any of his other girlfriends how he felt about Jade – with not only liking and lust, but admiration for the person she was. ‘I’ve matured, but I can only put my mistakes behind me andseewhere this leads.’
Sheenagh’s smile returned, her eyes sparkling like the raindrops in the sun he’d admired earlier, causing him to turn the conversation towards his mother’s uncomfortable subjects rather than his own. ‘Did you meet Geneva when you cleared the air with Jade?’
Occupying herself with stirring her coffee, Sheenagh shook her head. ‘She wasn’t around.’
‘She’s not what I expected.’ He frowned. ‘She was such a negative figure in Jade’s history that I’d never thought anything good about her. Now that I’ve been working beside her for a few days... she’s so normal, speaking to everybody politely and working hard.’
Sheenagh frowned. ‘Leaving your child the instant she’s born and not communicating for nearly forty years – until you realise that she has a share of a pensione – isn’t necessarily “normal”.’
Leo studied the neat, contemporary furnishings of his parents’ office. ‘Before I moved to the UK, this room was full of old-fashioned furniture. Now it’s unrecognisable. I just accept it is what it is today.’
Sheenagh tutted. ‘You can’t compare a change of office furniture with a human who gave up her baby.’
‘No,’ he answered. ‘I was just thinking that things change.’ When Sheenagh only sipped her coffee in silence, he added, ‘She and Jade have talked, but Jade keeps a noticeable distance between them.’
‘Smart woman. You must learn from the past.’ Sheenagh sounded irritated.
Leo took several long, leisurely sips of his coffee, enjoying the bitter-caramel taste. ‘But on that basis, Jade shouldn’t have anything to do with me, either. I left her too. So maybe we shouldn’t be so fast to judge Geneva...?’
Sheenagh raised a sandy, sceptical brow. ‘You’re putting a spin on things.’
‘Am I?’ he asked mildly, but let the subject drop, confident that he’d given his mum something to think about.
At least, when they all met in Lounge Panorama that evening among the tables full of tourists, Sheenagh was her usual warm self with Erin and Rosalie. ‘Welcome to Villa Panorama.’ Judging by the long hug she then bestowed on Jade, she was also glad they were back on good terms.
Ferdinando shook Rosalie and Erin’s hands. ‘Me and my wife, we loved your grandmother. She and Rocco were one eccentric Scot, one sensible Italian. Sheenagh and me? The same.’
‘I’m Scottish myself.’ Erin smiled at the sally as she shook hands. ‘It’s great to meet you both. Thanks for inviting us.’ She wore a plain white dress with a string of turquoise beads.
In contrast, Rosalie looked like a beach babe in denim short-dungarees and a lilac T-shirt, both liberally embroidered with ladybirds. ‘I was given some red and black embroidery silks,’ she told Jade when she saw her inspecting the embroidery. Then she dispensed a beaming, ‘Hey!’ along with each handshake.
