Gino’s Arranged Bride

CHAPTER SIX

GINO was getting used to hearing Steve’s car draw up late at night, then pause, then the front door. He no longer went to the window, but sometimes he would join Laura in the kitchen afterwards, trying to read the progress of the relationship in her face.

He knew he should be glad for her, since she seemed to have found the ideal man, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Trying to analyse his unease was frustrating, because the best he could come up with was that Steve bore a marked resemblance to Laura’s ex-husband. And that made him more uneasy than ever.

One night, after she had returned, he emerged into the dark corridor in time to hear Laura and Nikki talking in the child’s room.

‘Go to sleep, now,’ he heard Laura say from the door.

‘But you did have a lovely time, didn’t you, Mummy?’

‘Yes, I did, and it’s time you were asleep.’

‘But-’

‘Goodnight,’ Laura said, laughing but firm as she closed the door.

‘She’s a little monkey,’ Gino observed as they went downstairs together.

In the kitchen they settled down to have one of their late-night chats over a cup of tea. Gino wondered how many more times this would happen.

‘You’re bursting with news,’ he said, looking at her glowing face.

‘I told him about Nikki. Everything’s wonderful.’

Something hit him in the stomach. ‘That’s great.’

‘He was so supportive and understanding. Oh, Gino, I’m so happy-’

The doorbell rang.

‘Who’s that at this hour?’ Gino muttered, rising and making his way towards the door.

Afterwards he realised that he should have guessed, or at least been on the alert. But he was off guard, and it came as a total surprise when he opened the door and saw Steve Deyton.

‘Hi!’ Steve said cheerily. ‘You must be Gino. Laura’s told me about you.’

He grasped Gino’s hand and pumped it up and down, while contriving to slip past him into the hall.

‘Laura left her scarf in the car,’ he said, ‘so I thought I’d bring it back. Hello, darling!’

This was to Laura who’d come out into the hall, smiling as she saw him, opening her arms to be enclosed in his.

Then it happened.

There was the sound of footsteps scampering downstairs, an eager cry of-

‘Mummy, is that-?’

Steve, facing the stairs, raised his eyes and caught his first glimpse of Nikki. Time seemed to stop. From where he was standing Gino saw everything in his face, the frozen shock, the horror, the revulsion.

What broke Gino’s heart was that Nikki saw it too.

Laura, facing the other direction, didn’t know what was happening. But she heard Nikki check, felt Steve grow tense, and drew back to look at his face, just in time to see him adjust his expression.

She knew at once. She’d seen that hasty adjustment too often to be mistaken about it. She stepped back from him as though he were poison.

Incredibly, Gino thought, the only one not stunned to silence was Nikki. She descended the last stairs and came forward to Steve.

‘Hello,’ she said calmly. ‘I’m Nikki.’

‘Hello, Nikki,’ he said mechanically.

His eyes moved from side to side like a man desperately seeking a way out. Nikki, watching him, knew everything.

She took a step closer to Gino. Her hand slipped into his and squeezed it hard. He squeezed back.

‘What are you doing down here you rascal?’ Gino asked, hoping his voice didn’t shake. ‘You were supposed to be asleep ages ago. Come on. Upstairs with you.’

Without a word she went with him. Hand in hand they went up together, and along to her room. Nikki kept a tight hold of his hand until she was in bed and he was tucking her up.

They looked at each other. There was a calm determination about the child that he had to respect, and no way was he going to insult her with comforting platitudes that she was too intelligent to believe.

‘He isn’t magic, like you,’ she said at last in a voice that was too grim for a child.

‘I guess not everyone can be magic,’ he said gently. ‘Maybe we should feel sorry for people who aren’t. They’re not special, like us.’

She nodded.

‘I suppose you meet a lot like him,’ he ventured.

‘Yes. I don’t really mind-’ her voice wobbled.

Gino abandoned words and enfolded her in a bear hug. They were sitting like that when Laura came in. Her face was tight, angry, and she looked as if she’d been crying.

‘Here’s Mummy,’ Gino said softly.

There was no movement from Nikki.

‘Nikki?’ he whispered, leaning over slightly, trying to see her face.

Still there was no answer, except her deep, regular breathing.

‘She’s gone to sleep,’ he said.

Gently they lowered Nikki back onto the pillows. Somehow she’d taken hold of Gino’s hand again and he had to ease away carefully. But he managed it without waking her, and they crept out of the room.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

‘I will be.’

‘Come here,’ he said, opening his own door and showing her in. ‘You need some of this.’

From his wardrobe he took out a bottle of Chianti and opened it.

‘I bought it because I was feeling homesick,’ he said, producing a glass and filling it. ‘Drink. It’ll do you more good than all the words in the world.’

Laura sat on the edge of the bed, which was almost the only place to sit, and sipped the wine.

‘It’s good. And who needs words anyway? It was all over as soon as I saw his face.’

‘You wouldn’t marry him now?’

‘Not in a million years, not after he hurt her. But he wouldn’t ask me now, I know that.’

‘What happened after I left?’

‘He was embarrassed. He kept giving this little nervous giggle and he couldn’t meet my eyes. We were supposed to be going out on Friday, but he’d suddenly remembered that there might be a problem about that.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Gino asked cynically.

‘Yeah,’ she echoed with a little wry smile.

‘Then he said he’d call me to arrange something else. He won’t of course. It’s over. How could I have got him so wrong?’

‘I guess you wanted to believe in him.’

‘Yes, I wanted it too much. I was a fool.’

‘You’re not a fool just because you want to feel loved and wanted. It’s what we all want.’

‘But I have no right to want it,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have let myself forget that. I can’t take my happiness at Nikki’s expense.’

‘There wouldn’t have been any happiness, not with him.’

‘You were right about him. Now you can say I told you so.’

‘Do you think I will?’

‘No, you’re too good a friend for that.’

‘Laura,’ he asked hesitantly, ‘were you very much in love with him?’

She was silent a long time.

‘I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘I thought I was. Now I’m just full of anger and bitterness towards him for reacting like that. If he hadn’t-I don’t know. What’s the point of talking about it now?’

She finished with a disconsolate sigh. Gino sat down beside her on the bed, and slipped his arm around her.

‘You’ve still got your brother,’ he said.

She gave a shaky laugh. ‘Poor Gino. First Nikki, now me. You ought to set up as an agony aunt.’

‘I’m not “poor Gino” and I’d rather you turn to me than anyone else. More Chianti?’

‘I’d better not. I’m going to bed now.’

‘You’ll feel better in the morning,’ he said, wishing he felt more sure of that. ‘Come along, I’ll walk you home.’

He escorted her solemnly along the corridor, and opened her bedroom door.

‘Thank goodness you were there,’ she mused. ‘It would have been much worse for Nikki otherwise. Goodnight, Gino.’

‘Goodnight.’

When she had closed the door he hesitated, wondering whether to go away or knock and give her another chance to talk.

After a while he heard the sound of weeping. And then he knew that he had no place here.

As Laura had predicted, Steve did not call her. Nor did he come into the pub again. He was allowed to fade into the past, and never mentioned by any of them.

Gino fell into the habit of dropping into The Running Sheep just in time for one drink before Laura was ready to leave. She never had to walk home alone.

‘Thank you,’ she said one night.

‘What for?’

‘Everything,’ she said simply.

When they’d walked a little further she asked, ‘What happened to your girlfriend, the one with the voluptuous figure.’

‘She found a better man. I left the field in defeat.’

‘You mean you dumped her?’

‘Certainly not,’ he said, shocked. ‘I’m a gentleman. I never dump a lady. I let her dump me.’

She shot him a sideways glance. As she’d guessed, he was grinning.

When they got in there was a message waiting for her by the phone. Call Mark.

‘Mark?’ Gino queried.

‘Just a friend,’ Laura said vaguely. ‘Why don’t you go and put the kettle on?’

‘You’ll make an Englishman of me yet,’ he predicted, and headed for the kitchen.

She joined him a few minutes later and announced that she would have to be out the next evening too, although not at the pub.

‘You’ve got a date,’ Gino said.

‘No, of course not. I just-have to be out.’

‘With Mark.’

‘Stop fishing and pour me some tea. Mrs Baxter, you’ll be in tomorrow night, won’t you?’

‘Yes, I’ll be here. Gino and I will look after Nikki so you’ll be all right, wherever you’re going.’

‘That’s lovely,’ Laura said brightly. ‘Goodnight, you two.’

She left them and went upstairs. Mrs Baxter muttered, ‘It’s always the same. Mark rings. She drops everything to go out, and won’t tell anyone where she’s going.’

‘A woman of mystery,’ Gino mused.

‘I’ll say. And it’s no use asking her, because she just clams up.’

He discovered that this was true. For some reason he felt piqued by Laura’s determination to keep the secret from him.

‘I’ll drive you there,’ he offered when she was ready to go the next evening.

‘No thanks, I can drive myself.’

‘Suppose there’s an emergency? How do I contact you?’

‘On my mobile.’

‘You’re being very annoying, you know that?’

‘Goodnight, Gino.’

Laura picked up a small bag that she’d set waiting in the hall, and whisked herself off, leaving him staring at the front door, speechless.

‘Claudia and Sadie are coming home from holiday tonight,’ Nikki said.

‘Not till the early hours,’ Mrs Baxter reminded her.

‘And then it’s back to work to the stresses and strains of the packing department,’ Gino mused. ‘I don’t know how I’ll stand the excitement. Good heavens! Whatever’s that?’

‘It’s a nut cake,’ Mrs Baxter said, producing it from a cupboard. ‘I bought it this afternoon, for everyone.’

‘It’s made with lots and lots of different kinds of nuts,’ Nikki assured him. ‘It’s gorgeous.’

It was a pleasant evening. Mrs Baxter was an army widow who had travelled extensively, and had a fund of funny stories. But when she had told a few of them she said, ‘Of course the best thing of all is my family. I’m going to become a grandmother some time next month. I’m so looking forward to that.’

She glanced at Nikki, who had begun to yawn. ‘I think it’s time you went to bed, don’t you?’

Nikki nodded and agreed without argument. When she’d gone Mrs Baxter produced a bottle of sherry.

‘You haven’t eaten your cake yet,’ she told Gino.

‘I’ve been too busy laughing at your stories. Don’t you have any more?’

Before Mrs Baxter could speak the phone rang. She answered it, and Gino saw her turn pale.

‘Yes-yes-I’ll be there as quickly as I can,’ she assured someone.

‘What is it?’ he asked when she’d hung up.

‘That was my son. My daughter-in-law has gone into labour a month early, and there are complications. Oh, dear, I need to go to them as soon as possible.’

‘I’ll call you a taxi while you pack,’ he said at once. ‘And I’ll stay here, so Nikki can’t come to any harm.’

The taxi arrived a few minutes later. Gino saw Mrs Baxter into it and waved her off with many expressions of good luck.

Now he could he settle down with his uneaten slice of nut cake. It was delicious. After arguing with his conscience for a moment he decided that he could easily buy another cake for the others, and cut himself a second slice. It was as delicious as the first.

As he mulled over the thought of a third slice, he became aware that something strange was happening. The cake had started to move. Before his eyes it grew larger, then smaller. He reached out to touch it, but it wasn’t where it ought to have been.

A feeling of nausea attacked him. His head was swelling like a balloon, while his throat became tighter.

He couldn’t breathe. Struggling to his feet, he kicked the chair over. He fought for air but only managed to make a horrible noise, and tearing open his shirt gave him no relief. The tightness was inside. Iron fingers seemed to grip his throat as though someone was intent on choking the life out of him.

He wasn’t aware of falling but he knew he must have done when his head hit the floor. Half in and half out of consciousness, he saw the furniture looming over him, menacing.

He must reach the telephone in the hall and call for help. But there were lead weights on his limbs and it was a huge effort to move them. Slowly he dragged himself an inch forward, then another inch. The pounding in his head grew louder, like a drum banging.

He knew now that he was dying.

Blackness swamped him, he didn’t know how long for. He was partly drawn back by a scream.

‘Daddy, Daddy!’

Someone was shaking him. The mist cleared a little, just enough for him to make out a pink rabbit. He stared, trying to make some sense of it, then of the blue rabbit that appeared beside it.

‘Daddy!’

Nikki’s face appeared, frantic and tearful. The rabbits were on her pyjamas, he remembered. Yes, that was it. But why was she here when she should be upstairs, asleep? Laura would be annoyed that he wasn’t doing a better job of babysitting, but he wasn’t going to see Laura again. He was dying. He knew that.

Then he lost sight of her, but he could still hear her from the hall, screaming, ‘Ambulance! My daddy’s dying-’

With every moment it grew harder to breathe. It would be over soon. But Nikki was there again, plumping down on the floor beside him, crying to him.

‘They’re on their way, but they say you’ve got to be calm-if you fight for breath it gets harder. Try to be calm slowly-slowly-slowly-’

She wasn’t making any sense. He couldn’t breathe at all, never mind slowly. But gradually her voice seemed to penetrate his subconscious. Without meaning to, he ceased fighting and lay, his eyes on her, feeling the world slip away from him.

In the distance a bell shrilled-voices-strangers wearing green and yellow coming into the kitchen, kneeling beside him, Nikki talking through her tears. Someone fitted an oxygen mask over his face, and then he really did pass out.

Laura, returning home, found the house empty and a note on the kitchen table. Printed across the top was the word Paramedics. It said, ‘Your husband collapsed and was taken to Canning Hospital. Your daughter came with him.’

The roads were quiet and even in the cranky old car she made the hospital in a few minutes. Entering the Emergency department she saw Nikki almost at once. The little girl threw herself into her mother’s arms, sobbing wildly.

‘What’s happened?’ she asked tensely.

‘We’re not quite certain yet,’ a tired young woman doctor told her, ‘but your husband may have a nut allergy.

‘My-?’

‘Could you let us know his name? Your little girl just said “Daddy” when she called the ambulance.’

‘You did that?’ she looked at Nikki.

‘I woke up. There was a noise downstairs, a big clatter, and I went down. He was on the floor, choking, and he was a terrible colour-’

‘So she did exactly the right thing and called the ambulance,’ the doctor said. ‘Almost certainly saved his life. His throat swelled up so much that he was choking to death.’

‘The woman on the phone said I should try to calm him down,’ Nikki said, ‘and I did try, but I don’t know if it worked.’

‘The paramedics seem to think that it did,’ said the doctor. ‘You helped him a lot. We’ve inserted a tube into his windpipe and he’s breathing through that at the moment.’

‘Is he going to be all right?’ Laura asked in alarm.

‘I think so. I’ve given him an injection and it seems to be working. It would help if I knew the precise nature of the allergy.’

‘But I don’t know-’ she faltered.

‘He was eating the nut cake, Mummy,’ Nikki explained. ‘I know because he still had a bit in his hand, and there’s lots of different nuts in it.’

‘And he wouldn’t have started it if he’d known he was allergic,’ Laura said. ‘So there must have been something in there he’d never had before.’

‘Could I have his name please?’

‘Gino Farnese,’ she said in a daze. ‘Can I see him?’

‘Yes, of course, but I’m not sure that your little girl should see him as he is. He doesn’t look very nice right now.’

At these words Nikki clutched her mother more tightly, and her mouth set in mulish lines.

‘I’m sure he doesn’t,’ Laura said. ‘But I guess he must have looked pretty scary when he collapsed. Nikki didn’t lose her head, and I think she needs to see that he’s still with us.’

Despite her resolute words Laura almost cried out at the sight of Gino lying in the hospital bed. His face was still swollen and the tube in his neck looked brutal, although she knew it was keeping him alive. She bit her lips to keep back her emotion.

At that moment Gino opened his eyes and saw them. His swollen mouth moved in an attempt at speech.

‘Don’t talk,’ she said urgently. ‘I know everything that happened. Nikki told me.’

‘Mrs Baxter,’ he mouthed. ‘Baby-early-’

‘Her first grandchild is due,’ Laura remembered. ‘It came early? She had to go?’

By the way he relaxed she knew she’d got it right.

‘Nikki-’ His lips shaped Nikki’s name.

‘She found you and called the ambulance.’

‘Said-keep-calm-’

Gino’s eyes closed. He looked as if the effort had exhausted him.

Nikki climbed into Laura’s lap, and the two of them sat, arms entwined, silently watching the bed. Now that the first shock was abating, the place where it had been was filling up with horror as she realised how close to death Gino had come.

And it had happened without warning, out of the blue, because of a weakness he had never known that he had. Nothing and nobody was safe, she brooded. Life could snatch everything from you, just like that.

‘Is he really going to be all right?’ she asked a nurse who came in to glance at some charts.

‘His results are getting better all the time. The swelling’s going down and we’ll be able to take the tube out soon.’

‘Then I’ll come back tomorrow.’

‘Oh, no, Mummy-’ Nikki was up in arms at the thought that Gino could survive without her protection.

‘We must go home, darling.’

‘But he might die if we’re not here,’ Nikki sobbed.

‘No.’ It was a croak from the bed. Gino’s head was turned towards Nikki. ‘Not die,’ he whispered. ‘Because-of-you.’

‘He needs to sleep,’ Laura told Nikki. ‘We’ll come back tomorrow.’

But Nikki had one more thing to do before she was ready to leave. Carefully negotiating the tubes she edged forward and kissed Gino’s cheek.

‘’Night,’ she said.

‘’Night,’ he murmured.

He closed his eyes. When he opened them again the nurse was still there, but the other two had gone. She glanced up and smiled at him.

‘Your daughter’s a real character,’ she said. ‘You must be very proud of her.’

Your daughter. He frowned, wondering if the nurse had really said that, but he was too tired to think about it. He drifted into an unquiet dream.

They found Sadie and Claudia at home, having arrived so recently that they were still in their outdoor clothes.

‘We couldn’t think why the house was dark and empty,’ Sadie said. ‘Where did everyone vanish to?’

Laura told the story and they exclaimed over Gino’s misfortune and Nikki’s quick thinking.

‘But now it’s time to go back to bed,’ Laura said. ‘It’s two in the morning.’

As she got into bed Nikki said, ‘He is going to be all right, isn’t he?’

‘He is, now,’ Laura said, tucking her in. ‘Darling, did you really tell them he was your daddy?’

‘I suppose so. I just said the first thing that came into my head, about how he was choking to death, and our address. I didn’t think much about the rest.’

‘Darling, please don’t think of Gino as your father.’

‘It’s just-wouldn’t it be nice if-?’

Laura’s heart ached for her daughter, to whom life never gave anything she wanted.

‘It can’t happen, pet. Please don’t think about it.’

‘But he’s special,’ Nikki insisted.

‘Yes, he is. Very special. I know he’s your best friend-’

‘And yours too.’

‘And mine too. I hope he always will be, but he doesn’t belong to us, and he never can.’

Nikki didn’t argue further. At nine she could accept disappointment without rebellion, being so used to it.

She snuggled down and gave her mother a smile.

‘It would have been nice, though,’ she said, and closed her eyes.

‘Yes,’ Laura whispered. ‘It would.’

She held Nikki’s hand until the child fell asleep. As she slipped out of the room she heard the phone going in the hall downstairs.

She found Claudia taking the call, looking shocked.

‘It’s the hospital,’ she said. ‘They seem to think you’re Gino’s wife and they want you to go back as fast as you can. He’s taken a sudden turn for the worse, and they’re really worried.’