The Millionaire Tycoon's English Rose

CHAPTER TWELVE

AS THEY drove to the airfield next morning Francesco asked lightly, ‘Why are you and Mamma thick as thieves these days?’

‘Not just us. Olympia and Polly, too, and Della, when she’s here instead of hunting backgrounds for her series. There’s a big party to be planned for the wedding anniversary.’

‘I’d forgotten. How many years is it?’

‘Thirty-five. Hope says she and Toni always celebrate in style, but this year it’s going to be special. It’s all being planned well in advance, so that everyone has time to get here, wherever in the world they live. It’s going to be the party to end all parties.’

He thought, but didn’t say, Let’s hope you’re still alive to be there.

But she could read his thoughts. ‘And I’m going to be there, too. I’ve promised Hope that when this jump is over I’ll concentrate on the party. You know, it’s lovely the way she’s welcomed me into the family. In fact, they all have.’

‘Maybe they’re trying to tell you something.’

‘Maybe. I know they’ve turned this jump into a family occasion. Hope and Toni are going to be there, also Carlo and Della, and maybe some of the others.’

When they reached the airfield Francesco dropped Celia by the steps into the main building and gave her into the hands of a young woman who would help her change. When she had gone inside he turned to find Carlo and Della approaching him. With his new sharp eyes Francesco saw how Carlo had his arm protectively around Della’s shoulders, but so lightly that she wouldn’t feel it as a constraint.

‘Are you all right?’ Carlo asked, giving him a meaningful glance.

Francesco grimaced. ‘Surviving.’

‘She’ll be fine,’ Della told him. ‘Women are a lot tougher than men allow for. In fact, the truth is that we’re a lot tougher than men, full-stop. Isn’t that so, caro?’

‘Yes, dear,’ Carlo said in a comically robotic voice. ‘No, dear. Anything you say, dear.’

‘You two are turning into Mamma and Poppa,’ Francesco observed.

Carlo grinned, not in the least offended by the comparison. He drew his wife closer and dropped a swift kiss on the top of her head.

‘I’ve got him well trained.’ Della chuckled. ‘You’d better watch out. Celia will have you in line in no time.’

‘She already has, or we wouldn’t be here,’ Carlo said. ‘Francesco, we’ll see you later.’

They wandered off, arms entwined.

Francesco watched them, wondering if he and Celia would ever reach such a pitch of perfect understanding. Or would today be the end of everything, one way or another?

Then he saw the door open and Sandro come out, led by his dog, with Celia’s hand tucked in his arm. He brought her over, followed by a man dressed in the same kind of gear Celia was wearing. Relieved, Francesco recognised Sandro’s skydiving partner from the previous occasion.

‘Just dropped by to tell you not to worry,’ he told Francesco. ‘Celia and I will jump out together, and I won’t let her go until I know she’s safe.’

‘Who’s worried?’ Francesco said cheerfully. ‘But, thanks.’

‘We’ll be back for you in a few minutes,’ Sandro told Celia, and the two men departed discreetly.

‘Everything all right?’ Francesco asked. He did his best to sound cheerful, but he could hear the strain in his own voice and doubted he was enough of an actor to hide it.

‘Everything’s fine,’ she said, sounding too polite, too cautious. She was making allowances in case he backed off.

He grew frantic. He must convince her that he was really behind her in this. It had never been as important as now.

‘That huge thing on your back is your parachute?’ he said, putting as much interest in his voice as possible. ‘How do you open it?’

‘This ring, here-in the front. I just pull it and the parachute opens.’

Suppose it didn’t open? It might not and then she’d crash to earth and die. He must stop this madness, for her sake.

But the desperate thoughts that screamed through his head stayed silent on the outside. Instead, he asked brightly, ‘What about the other bits and pieces? There are too many to count.’

‘This is my two-way radio, so that someone on the ground can warn me if I look like I’m coming down in the wrong place. I can guide the parachute in different directions using these rings. And don’t worry-I know exactly where they are and can find them easily.’

‘I’m sure of it,’ he managed to say.

She laughed then in delight, putting her hand up against his face.

‘I love you,’ she said.

He took her hand and kissed the palm. ‘Come back to me, Celia.’

‘But I did,’ she said.

‘No, I mean-’

‘Oh, you can be so stupid sometimes,’ she breathed. ‘I did come back to you. Didn’t you notice?’

‘You mean-when you came to Naples-it was really-All that stuff you said-You returned to me?’

‘At last the truth gets through,’ she said fondly. ‘It took long enough.’

‘I’ve always wondered, but you never exactly-’

‘I have to be going now,’ she said. ‘I love you.’

He kissed her palm again, horribly conscious of Sandro, who had reappeared nearby.

‘I love you,’ he said quietly. ‘Now you must come back to me again-or what shall I do?’

‘Time to be going,’ Sandro called.

She drew back from Francesco, letting Sandro take her away in the direction of the light plane.

‘Come back to me,’ Francesco called. ‘Come back to me.’

He waited for her to respond to the sound by turning her head, but she didn’t. It was as though everything in her was focused on what would happen next. The last few moments might never have been. He wondered now if she even remembered that he existed.

In fact, he did her an injustice. In her usual methodical way Celia was trying to order him out of her mind, so that she could concentrate on what was about to happen. But his ghost, so tractable before, had become rebellious. It insisted on staying with her every step across the tarmac, reminding her that he existed, and that if she died he still had to find a way to go on existing, however empty it might be.

Now she was at the helicopter, and a hand was reaching out to pull her aboard.

‘Good luck!’ Sandro said from the ground.

‘Thanks,’ she replied mechanically.

She heard the door slam, cutting off all sound from outside. Now the only sound was the crackling of the radio and a disembodied voice that came from some mysterious other place.

Come back to me.

Her diving partner touched her shoulder to check all was OK.

She’d met him before, a strong hearty type called Silvio, whose geniality made him pleasant company. She nodded, strapping herself in.

He did a quick check to make sure she’d done it right, and pronounced himself satisfied.

‘Check your radio,’ he said.

She exchanged a few words with her guide on the ground, and found that everything was working perfectly.

Silvio clapped the pilot on the shoulder to indicate that they were ready.

The whine of the engine that had been in the background now grew higher. Above them the blades whirred, and suddenly they were whisked up into the air, going higher and higher at an incredible speed.

At first her stomach seemed to be falling away from her, but then it steadied itself and she was calm again.

Now Silvio’s voice reached her on the radio.

‘It’ll take us a few minutes to reach our height, then we’ll circle a couple of times and return in this direction, so that we can make the jump and land on the airfield, where all your friends can see you.’

‘See me make a fool of myself, you mean,’ she said lightly. ‘With my luck I’ll land on the control tower.’

‘Nah, that hasn’t happened for ages-at least six weeks,’ he clowned.

She chuckled. This was how she liked her adventures to be-light-hearted and relaxed.

But the silent companion in her head was reproachful, reminding her that it was his life she was dicing with, as well as her own.

‘Getting near,’ Silvio said. ‘I’m about to touch the button that will slide the door back, then I’ll jump, taking you with me. When we’ve jumped, we’ll hold on to each other with both hands as we start the fall. Then we’ll release hands and pull the rings to release our parachutes.’

‘Nearly ready,’ said her guide from the ground. ‘Helicopter just coming into sight. All set?’

‘All set?’ Silvio asked her.

‘All set,’ Celia confirmed.

She felt Silvio’s hand tighten on hers, drawing her to the open door.

‘Now,’ he said.

A sudden pull and they were both free in the air. He seized her other hand and they began to float down, both at full stretch, supported on a blanket of air.

This was when it should happen-the feeling of glorious escape that always came as she launched herself into the unknown. This was her freedom.

But it didn’t happen.

‘All right?’ Silvio asked through the radio.

‘Wonderful!’

Silvio released her hands. Now-now it would come. The exhilarating sense of liberation, the thing she lived for. Now!

But no rush of joy possessed her. Instead, she realised that the wind was roaring past her, and it was time to pull the ring that would open her parachute.

She yanked, and felt the tug at her back as the parachute streamed up behind her.

‘Yeee-haaah!’ she cried up into the void.

It was good to be floating down through the fierce, blustering air, and perhaps if she shouted her joy aloud she would recapture the joyous freedom that had always possessed her before.

But then she had an alarming sensation, as though someone had seized her and was throwing her around the sky.

‘What’s happened?’ she cried.

‘The wind has changed course,’ Silvio told her. ‘Don’t worry. Pull the upper left ring and you’ll turn.’

She scrabbled for the ring, but the wind was fierce on her fingers, making it hard to take hold. She managed it at last, and felt her body swing in the other direction.

‘Pull the lower left ring,’ Silvio told her. ‘It’ll help you navigate.’

This time she managed better, and felt the parachute respond. Even so, she wasn’t safe yet. She knew that. It was going to take all her cool head to avoid a crash-perhaps a fatal one.

But that mustn’t happen. Because she’d promised. She’d given Francesco her solemn word, and she must keep it.

For herself she wasn’t afraid, but she was swept with a terrible fear for him. She’d promised him, and she was about to betray him.

And then something happened that she could never afterwards explain.

She saw him-not as others would understand seeing, but in a way that had never happened to her before. He was there behind her eyes, a presence so intense that he was visible as nothing else had ever been. She didn’t know what his face was like, but she did know the expression it wore at this moment-terrified, tortured with the effort of concealing his fear for her sake, facing a desolate future without her.

The desolation was there inside her head, too, all around her: a life that was empty because the only person who counted had gone. She had done this to him, and the knowledge of what she’d done was there, howling, shrieking at her, making her understand things to which she’d wilfully blinded herself before.

Come back to me.

Silvio’s voice through the radio made her calmer.

‘Lower left a bit more. You’re nearly there-A bit lower-lower-’

And then there was the blessed feel of the ground as she landed heavily, going down on to her knees at once and rolling over. When she stopped she could hear the sound of distant cheering. The whole family had been watching her, their hearts in their mouths. But there was only one who mattered.

Francesco. She must get to him.

Silvio, too, had landed. Now he pulled her to her feet, got her free of the parachute and drew off her mask, freeing her face.

‘They’re heading this way across the airfield,’ he said. ‘But it’s some distance.’

‘Can you see Francesco?’

‘He’s way out in front. Here.’ He took her shoulders and turned her slightly. ‘He’s right ahead, and there are no obstacles between you.’

‘Thanks.’

She began walking, carefully at first, then faster, faster, running at top speed, running with total abandon, as she’d never dared to run before.

And now it was there-the rush of intoxicating joy, the glorious freedom that she’d awaited in vain during the dive. It had come at last, possessing her as she hurtled confidently towards the arms that waited to enfold her.

‘You really mean it?’ he said, later that night.

They were curled up in their own bed, warm with satiated desire, and warmer still with the comfort of opening their minds and hearts to each other in a way that was new.

‘I mean every word,’ she assured him. ‘I’m finished with all that. No more diving, jumping and suchlike.’

‘You don’t have to give it up now if you’re not sure. I’ll wait until you’re ready.’

‘I am ready. I knew that today.’

‘I guess that would be about the time you were blown off course?’ he said, trying to make a joke of it.

‘No, it was when I landed and ran to you. I couldn’t see you, but I knew you were running to me, and we’d find each other. And then I knew I didn’t need anything more.’

After that there was a long silence as they held each other, not even kissing but absorbing warmth and comfort from each other’s presence

‘Always?’ he murmured.

‘Always.’

After a while he ventured to ask,

‘Does that mean-no more craziness?’

‘I didn’t actually say that,’ she said hastily. ‘But there’s more than one way of being crazy.’

‘Well, I guess if you were sensible all the time I wouldn’t know you.’

‘Mum and Dad used to take risks,’ she remembered. ‘But they stopped when I was born. After that Dad took up sending messages into other galaxies.’

‘Does he get anything back?’ he asked, startled.

‘Only stuff he can’t understand. He’ll tell you all about it when he comes for the wedding.’

He kissed her. ‘What did your mother take up?’

‘Me. She said I was mad enough for both of us. I’ll probably find the same.’

‘Are you telling me-’

‘Be patient.’

Just as she thought he’d gone to sleep he murmured, ‘I’m glad it happened this way.’

‘Glad we quarrelled?’ she asked.

‘Glad we quarrelled, parted and found each other again.’

‘Could it actually have been a good thing that I told you to get out?’ she wondered, and held her breath, for the answer was important.

‘Yes, or I might never have learned to confront it. You dispelled that darkness as nobody else could. And since then we’ve learned things about each other, and ourselves, that we needed to know.’

And solving problems was what would keep them together, she thought, glad of his wisdom.

But there was one more step before his darkness was finally banished, she thought. One more thing that only she could do.

‘So now the door’s open for us,’ she said. ‘The one that leads to the rest of our lives. Come in, my darling. Come in.’

Della had said that Hope’s life was colourful enough to throw the other women into the shade, and it was true. She’d loved and been loved by several men, and had mothered six sons-four of them her own, two by other women. All of them looked to her as their mother.

It had been her dream to surround herself with daughters-in-law, and although the wedding of Francesco and Celia was still in the future she considered the dream fulfilled. On this day that she would share with her husband-the man who had always been her true love, even while she herself had only half known it-they would be surrounded by the children and the grandchildren they considered theirs.

Every member of the family who could manage it had travelled to Naples. Some stayed at the villa; some took rooms in nearby hotels. The celebrations had already lasted several days, as Hope had given a series of small parties so that she and Toni could spend time with everyone.

‘The big party, with everyone, will be a crush,’ she had told her husband. ‘So packed that there will be no time for words except for speeches, which aren’t the same.’

She had been right, but now the time had come she found that no words were needed. As she stood looking around the garden, where dinner was being served under coloured lamps, she saw that all her sons were there, and all the women who loved them. Beside them were their children-some fast-growing, some babies, but all providing the promise of plentiful activity, the wellspring of her life.

By now everyone knew what had happened at the hospital, and they looked at the couple walking among them with new eyes. Both were in their late sixties, together for thirty-five years, yet now they had the glow of young lovers.

There they stood, arms entwined, while the speeches proceeded and the toasts were drunk.

‘And I’ll swear, they never heard a word of it,’ Carlo said later. ‘They were in their own world and nobody else existed.’

‘Did you see Franco there at all?’ Della asked.

‘No, he was the only person who didn’t accept.’

Later that night, in the privacy of their room, Toni read again the letter his brother had written.

I know you will understand why I cannot be there. I rejoice with you, but I’m still learning to cope with my own loss. I’m going away for a while, to Switzerland, where Lisa and I went on our honeymoon. I shall revisit the places of our first happiness, and I like to think she will be there with me, as she will always be in my heart.

Toni looked up, smiling, as his wife came and rested an arm about his shoulder.

‘Do you remember how we planned our honeymoon?’ she asked, glancing at the letter which, like Toni, she had read many times before.

‘Yes, and we never took that trip,’ he remembered. ‘Luke got the flu, and then Francesco caught it from him-’

‘And then I caught it, and you nursed me so tenderly,’ she recalled with a smile.

She put her other arm about him and kissed him.

‘I think it’s time we took that trip, carissimo,’ she said. ‘We’ve waited far too long.’