The Wedding Arrangement

CHAPTER FIVE

TERESA’S flat was in reasonable condition, but too large for one person. As soon as they entered Luke’s eyes were drawn to a low table on which stood a photograph of an elderly man.

‘My husband, Antonio,’ Teresa said with pride. ‘This is where we lived together. Now he is gone, and this place is too big for Tiberius and me.’

Tiberius turned out to be an imposing black cat, sitting on a window sill, washing his face and observing proceedings with the indifference of one who knew that he would be all right, whoever else wasn’t.

‘Please move us on to a lower floor,’ Teresa pleaded. ‘I’m too old for those stairs, and Tiberius doesn’t like heights.’

‘In that case,’ Luke said at once, ‘you must take my flat, and I’ll move into yours.’

There was a cheer of approval from the residents, and they all trooped downstairs to Luke’s flat.

‘We can start on the exchange tomorrow,’ he said. ‘It’ll need redecorating-’

‘Oh, no,’ Teresa said quickly. ‘It’s lovely as it is.’

‘It’s not,’ he said, surprised. ‘It’s a dump.’

‘But redecorating will be expensive,’ she said anxiously.

‘Only to me, not to you. And, since it’s so small, the rent will be lower than you’re paying now.’

Teresa was ecstatic. ‘Lower rent? Then Tiberius can have fish every day.’

‘I guess he can,’ Luke said, amused.

The old lady was as excited as a child who’d been promised a treat. She insisted that everyone must return to her home to celebrate and, since the tenants of the Residenza were always ready for a party, it was only a moment before the procession was making its way upstairs again.

Luke was the hero of the hour. Minnie, watching him cynically, could only wonder at the ease with which he was winning everyone over. His clever stunt with Teresa did nothing for the rest of them, but they didn’t seem to notice that.

He made his way across the room to her. ‘Aren’t you pleased that I’m doing the right thing?’

‘Never mind me. It’s them I want you to please.’

‘The truth is that hell will freeze over before you concede that I might have one good point.’

‘Well-’ she floundered.

Then she saw him looking at her with one eyebrow cocked and something on his face that might have been real humour.

‘Maybe just one,’ she conceded.

He grinned. ‘That really had to be dragged out of you with pincers, didn’t it?’

‘Of course it did. I’m a dragon, remember?’ She held out her hand. ‘Goodnight.’

‘You’re not going?’ he asked, scandalised.

‘I ought to do some work-’

‘Work won’t do your headache any good,’ he said shrewdly.

She stared. ‘How do you know I have a headache?’

‘Something in the way you keep closing your eyes. It’s true, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, but it’s just a little one.’

‘It’ll grow into a big one if you don’t take care of it. No work. Come with me.’

‘Why?’

‘We’re going to have a civilised coffee and a civilised talk, and celebrate our truce.’

‘Haven’t we already done that?’

As she spoke he was curving his arm around her, not touching her but shepherding her in the direction he wanted to go. She smiled and went with him, content to get out of the noise and glare.

Having urged her towards the stairs, he got in front of her.

‘Just in case you fall,’ he said. ‘It’s a long drop.’

‘Hey, I won’t fall apart because of a little headache,’ she protested. ‘I’m as tough as old boots.’

‘Sure, I can see that by looking at you.’

As they went down, the noise faded behind them and she felt as though she were being engulfed by peace and quiet. It was a strange sensation to enjoy with Luke, but pleasant.

Coming out of the arch into the street, she took deep lungfuls of air, turning her face up to the sky with an expression of ecstasy.

‘I suppose I look crazy,’ she said when she opened her eyes to find him watching her.

‘No, you look like someone who should do that more often. Feel better now?’

‘Yes, it’s a bit stuffy in that courtyard.’

They began to stroll through streets where trattorias were still open, their lights gleaming on the cobblestones. Luke saw an all-night pharmacy on the corner and slipped in for a moment.

‘Just something for your head,’ he told her, emerging, ‘in case you find you’re not as tough as you think.’

‘Sometimes I’m not,’ she agreed. ‘Sometimes I just want to lie down and go to sleep.’

‘You missed a trick there,’ he said. ‘Never admit a weakness to the other side. I shall pounce on it and use it to undermine you.’

She gave a rueful laugh. ‘Will you?’

‘Well, maybe not this time.’

‘Besides, I already know your weakness.’

‘I don’t have one,’ he said at once.

‘You’re a man who suffers badly if he doesn’t get enough sleep. Look at the way you were after Netta’s party. One night without sleep and you collapsed into a crumpled heap. You’ll never take over the world like that.’

‘I guess I won’t. Dammit! What a pity you noticed.’

‘Never mind. I won’t tell anyone. I’ll just “pounce on it and use it to undermine you”.’

With every step Minnie felt she was walking deeper into calm content. The battle was far away. She would fight him tomorrow.

He steered her into a café where they could sit at a table on the pavement. The owner evidently recognised Minnie, for he held up a tall glass, raising his eyebrows in a question.

‘What’s that?’ Luke asked.

‘They do a delicious dish of strawberries, cream and ice cream. I used to eat it a lot before I moved to the Via Veneto and became pompous.’

He ordered coffee for them both and a sundae for her.

‘Take this for your head,’ he said, offering her what he’d bought in the pharmacy.

‘Thanks. I’ll leave it for a moment. It may not get bad enough for me.’

He watched with pleasure as she tucked into her sundae, thinking that it was like watching a child let out of school.

‘They all lean on you, don’t they?’ he said suddenly.

‘What?’

‘The night we met, you came out to defend Charlie, and he’s not the only one, is he? Rico let out a few interesting things while we were in the police station. You’re in and out of that place, hauling them out of the consequences of their own mistakes. Shoplifting, low level smuggling, selling hot goods in the market-’

‘It’s all minor stuff. They’re family.’

‘They not your family. They’ve just latched on to you and loaded you with all their problems.’

‘Why shouldn’t they? I’m the strong one. I like it.’

‘OK, you like it, but even the strong one needs a rest some times. Does anyone ever think of you?’

‘Yes, Netta. She’s been better than my own mother.’

But, even as she said it, she knew what he meant. On the surface Netta was the matriarch of the family, but in fact it was herself, and it was a lonely position.

She tried to remember the last time she’d walked through the streets of Trastevere like this, and she couldn’t. It passed across her mind that under other circumstances Luke would have made an ideal friend.

Suddenly she realised that they were being watched. A young boy was standing on the edge of the circle of light, trying to attract their attention.

Luke noticed him and smiled. ‘Hey there!’

As the boy came forward Minnie saw that he was holding a puppy.

‘Is that-?’

‘That’s my friend,’ Luke said. ‘And his friend. So they’re OK. Good.’

‘I’m glad to see you well, signore,’ the boy said with formal politeness. ‘I wanted to thank you for helping us the other night.’

‘That’s all right,’ Luke assured him. ‘It all ended happily.’

‘But you were arrested-I know they must have fined you-and I have some pocket money-’

‘There’s no need for that,’ Luke said. ‘It’s all sorted, and nothing for you to worry about.’

‘You are sure?’

‘Completely sure,’ he said gently. ‘But perhaps you shouldn’t stay out so late another time.’

Right on cue a window opened somewhere above them and a woman’s voice screeched, ‘Giacomo, come home at once.’

‘Yes, Mamma,’ he called back in a resigned voice. He thrust the puppy towards Luke. ‘He, too, would like to thank you.’

Luke rubbed the animal’s head. There was another screech, and Giacomo hurried away.

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Luke asked.

‘I guess I really did misjudge you. If there’s one man in the world I wouldn’t have thought-’

She was confused, less by discovering that there really had been a puppy, but by the kind way he’d spoken to the boy.

‘It comes from having younger brothers,’ he said, picking up her thought.

‘Are you a mind-reader?’ she asked in wonder.

‘Well, it’s easy with you, since I know where you’re coming from. I’m the devil and all his works, and anything that doesn’t fit that pattern takes you by surprise.’

She began to laugh and choked slightly, waving a hand before her face as if to fend him off while she got over it. He took hold of her hand and held it until she’d finished coughing.

‘I suppose there’ll come a day when we’re not on opposing sides,’ he mused. ‘When that happens, there are things I’d like to discuss with you.’

It was hard to know how to answer him since his eyes were on her hand, not her face. But he didn’t seem to expect an answer and, after holding her fingers between his for a moment, laid his cheek briefly against them and let them go. When she looked up he’d gone inside to pay the bill.

They walked on slowly. The moon was rising, making lovers draw back into the shadows, as she and Gianni had once done, she remembered. But there was no ache tonight, only a sense of peace that was almost happiness.

Even a group of lads kicking a football about down a side street couldn’t disturb her. When the ball accidentally came flying in her direction she kicked it back with a neat movement that made Luke look at her with new respect.

‘I can do more than stand up in a courtroom, you know,’ she said, and they laughed together.

At last they came full circle to the Residenza and he saw her to her door.

‘Have those pills before you go to bed,’ he said.

But she shook her head.

‘I don’t need them now. I haven’t had a headache for-I don’t know. It slipped away without my noticing.’

‘I’ll say goodnight then.’ He held her hand for a moment before turning away.

Back in his own home, he called Hope at the villa. When they’d discussed inconsequential things for a few minutes he said, ‘I expect you see a lot of Olympia?’

‘She and Primo were here tonight.’

‘Next time, give her a message for me, would you?’

‘Caro, is that wise? She and Primo love each other so much-’

‘And I’m really glad they do. I wouldn’t spoil it for the world. Mamma you told me once that everyone you love changes you in some way. So tell Olympia-just tell her I said thank you.’

Over the next few days the exchange took place. Luke had Teresa’s furniture moved down for her, then he set about moving some furniture into his own place. This caused much hilarity among his tenants, as various items were hauled up five floors of stairs too narrow for them. The men turned out to help, and enjoy a laugh and a beer. The rest of the tenants came out to line the stairs, cheering and applauding as each item reached another level without doing anyone an injury.

After that it was Luke’s turn to give a house-warming party. It was colourful and noisy and it competed with other Residenza parties as one of the best there had ever been. Minnie was working late, but she slipped in at the last minute to share a glass of wine and see how happy Teresa was.

‘But I know you’ll miss this place,’ Minnie said, ‘because it was the home you shared with Antonio.’

The old woman shook her head wisely. ‘My home with Antonio is in here,’ she said, pointing to her heart. ‘And it will always be there. Bricks and mortar are nothing. You must be ready for what life offers you next.’

A stillness came over Minnie, and she had a strange sensation of hearing distant sounds from mysterious places, inaudible to anyone else but conveying a message to her. She turned away and saw Luke standing nearby. It disturbed her that he might have witnessed that eerie moment.

‘I’m sorry you couldn’t arrive sooner,’ he said.

‘I tried, but I brought you a house-warming present. Here.’

It was a book about Trastevere, full of history and local colour. When he tried to thank her, she gave him a brief smile and slipped hurriedly away, running down the stairs to her own home, desperate to be alone. She locked the front door behind her, and stood for a moment with her back against it, as though barring the world. Teresa’s words had got to her, and she could hear the distant music again.

She poured herself a glass of wine, took the photograph of Gianni from the shelf and curled up on the sofa, watching his face, waiting for the moment when he would become real.

She had done this many times before, and had devised a technique for making it happen. It was important to be patient. Trying to rush things would make it harder, so she let herself relax, holding the picture loosely in her lap, looking down on it with eyes that were vague and almost unfocused. Gradually the outlines of the room blurred, faded, retreated, leaving only him behind. And then he was there.

‘I don’t know what’s the matter with me.’ She sighed. ‘Everything’s in a muddle and I don’t understand.’

He spoke in her mind. Is it him?

‘Partly. He’s playing a sort of game, but it’s not a game to them.’

But if they benefit from it-?

‘Will they? There’s something going on here that I don’t understand.’

Maybe it’s really very simple, and Netta’s right.

‘No,’ she said quickly.

Carissima, why are you angry?

‘Because he’s taking them away from me.’ She sighed, facing the truth at last. ‘My family, my friends, the people who looked to me-now they look to him. Since I lost you, they’re all I have, and they’re all I want.’

But suddenly there was silence. She waited for a long time, hoping for something more. But it was over.

Carissima, why are you angry? How often in their squabbles had he said that to her, gently teasing? She was the one with the temper, he the relaxed, good-natured one who waited until the storm had blown itself out.

Suddenly she felt very tired and lonely. She drew the picture up to her chest, folding her arms across it, hanging her head and thinking of Teresa, who could take Antonio with her wherever she went.

All about her the building was growing silent, lights going out. A couple remained on the outside staircase, but after a while even they moved away, unseen by anyone except Luke, who was looking out of his window, watching for the moment the staircase would be empty.

At last he slipped out of his front door and silently went down to Minnie’s home. Watching her face, just before she’d left the party, he’d seen real hurt there, and it troubled him. He knew he was being unwise. Her power to make him feel protective was something he should fight, but he wasn’t sure how.

One window of her living room looked out directly on to the staircase. The curtains were half open and he stopped to look in. The lights were low inside, but he could see her curled up on the sofa beside a small lamp. Then he realised that her lips were moving and her eyes were directed at Gianni’s photograph, resting in her lap.

He drew in his breath and stood quite still, unwilling to believe what he saw. But he had to believe it when she drew the picture up against her chest, her arms crossed over it as though clinging on for safety.

No, he thought despondently. Not clinging. Embracing. Because there was nobody else in the world that she wanted to embrace. She had found comfort, but not from himself.

He crept away. This was no place for him.

As part of furnishing his new home, Luke bought a couple of self-assembly bookshelves, which he set about putting together, soon realising that he had no gift for this. Trying to use a screwdriver, he slashed the back of his fingers, leaving him bleeding.

With no sticking plaster in the place, he was forced to wrap his hand in a handkerchief and go out to the pharmacy at the end of the street. As he emerged on to the staircase he saw a woman on the level below him, going down the last flight to the ground, then under the archway that led into the street. She was severely dressed in dark clothing and for a moment he was sure it was Minnie. He called down, but the woman didn’t seem to hear him, and in another moment she had vanished.

He ran down the stairs and out into the street, but it was crowded and although thought he glimpsed her, he couldn’t be sure. As he made his way down the street there was no sign of her.

In the pharmacy he bought a large packet of sticking plaster. On leaving he turned left down a small alley which would lead him to the Residenza by a back street. The little alley meandered for a while before emerging near the rear of a church. From here he could see the graveyard. It was a pleasant place, small and grassy, crowded with headstones that were warmed by the afternoon sun. While he stood watching, Minnie emerged from the church.

She was no longer alone. The other members of the family were with her, having probably come on ahead and met her in the church. They were walking in a little procession, led by Netta, with Minnie beside her and the Pepino brothers following. Luke stayed quite still, almost hidden among the trees.

They were all here together, dressed as mourners, which meant that this was a special day, Gianni’s birthday or the anniversary of his death. He wondered what it meant to her after four years. Did she grieve for that charmer as a memory, or as a husband? Was he still alive for her?

Unwillingly he remembered the picture in her apartment, the way she’d embraced it as though it was the only comfort on earth. How often did she renew those flowers she kept beside it? How often could you renew love before it wore out?

They were drawing nearer, towards a grave that lay a little apart from the others. Netta was weeping as she approached it, and so were some of Gianni’s brothers, but Luke was barely aware of their grief. His eyes were fixed on Minnie.

Alone among the family she was quiet. Her face was pale but composed as she knelt by her husband’s grave. Then she rose and turned her attention to comforting Netta.

They were gathering around the grave now, loading it with flowers and talking to Gianni as though he were still one of them. From their smiles some of them seemed to be cracking jokes with him.

Luke knew he should move on, but something impelled him to stay a little longer and see this through to the finish. They were rising to their feet, moving slowly away.

Then, at the last minute, Minnie paused and turned for a last look, and Luke drew a sharp breath as he saw everything he would have liked to deny.

Her face was no longer composed but ravaged, desolate, anguished. All her life’s joy was buried there, and Luke covered his eyes, suddenly unable to endure it.

When he raised his head again Minnie was looking directly at him with an expression of indignation and anger. He groaned. She would think he had been deliberately spying on her.

She turned away, contemptuously it seemed to Luke. He stood watching as the family disappeared into the church, then he hurried away, seeking to get back to the Residenza as fast as possible.

He needed time alone to think. Before his eyes she had changed into someone else. He’d known her, or thought he had, as sharp, funny, cool, in control. The other night he’d watched as she’d talked to Gianni’s picture, but she’d done so with a gentle melancholy. The grieving, devastated woman of today was different, terrible.

Inside the flat he waited, listening, until night fell and the building was quiet. At last he descended the stairs to her apartment. The lights were on, but the curtains were closed. What was happening behind them? Had she taken shelter in her private world with Gianni, the world that excluded everyone else, especially him?

After a long time the curtains parted, revealing her face, but at once she let them fall.

‘Minnie,’ he cried, knocking on the door. ‘Minnie, please open up. I must see you.’

There was no sound or movement, and he thought she was going to ignore him. But then the door opened a few inches.

‘Go away,’ she said.

‘I’ll go when we’ve talked. Please let me in.’

Reluctantly she stepped back from the door. When he’d closed it behind him Luke stood looking at her. Their brief friendly intimacy of the other night might never have been. Now she was really his enemy, and for reasons that had nothing to do with the Residenza.

‘I came to say I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘You were spying on me, and you think “sorry” covers it?’ She spoke with her back to him.

‘I wasn’t spying. I’d been to a shop and happened to walk back that way. It was pure chance; please believe me.’

When she turned he was shocked by her face, which was pale and dreadful, as though she were living on the edge of endurance. ‘All right, I believe you,’ she said tiredly. ‘But it’s none of your business, and I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Do you ever talk about it, with anyone?’

She shrugged. ‘Netta sometimes-no, not really.’

‘Don’t you think you should?’ he asked gently.

‘Why?’ she asked wildly. ‘Why can’t I have some privacy? Gianni and I-this is mine. It’s mine. Can’t you understand that? It’s between Gianni and me.’

‘Except that there is no Gianni,’ he said, suddenly harsh. ‘He’s just a memory now. Or maybe no more than a fantasy.’

‘What does that matter? He made me happy then and he makes me happy now. Not many people ever have that kind of happiness. I want to keep it.’

‘But you can’t keep it. It’s gone, but you’ll turn your back on life rather than admit it.’

‘Who cares about life if I’ve got something better?’

‘There is nothing better.’

‘People who say that don’t know. They don’t know what it’s like to be so close to someone that it’s as though you were one person. Once you’ve had it, you always have it. You can’t let it go. Why should you try to make me?’

He’d been asking himself that, and the answer scared him.

‘Can’t you see that you’re too young to live with a ghost?’ he said, almost imploring.

‘The only thing I can see is that you have no right to interfere in my life. What I do or don’t do has nothing to do with you.’

‘You can’t prevent me wanting to stop you throwing your life away.’

‘It’s mine, to do with as I please,’ she said, angry and frustrated that he wouldn’t understand. She paused, took a deep breath and spoke with an effort. ‘Look, I’m sure you’re a nice man-’

‘Be honest. That’s not what you really think of me.’

‘All right, No! I think you’re a smug, patronising, interfering, arrogant so-and-so, who’s playing games with my mind for the fun of it. I don’t like you. You’re too damned sure of yourself. Is that honest enough for you?’

‘It’ll do for starters.’

‘Then please go and leave me alone.’

‘Why? So that you can have another chat with a man who isn’t there?’ he demanded harshly. ‘Which of you dislikes me most? Him or you?’

‘Both of us.’

‘Do you do everything he tells you?’ he shouted.

‘Get out!’

He hadn’t meant to say his last words but her stubbornness was causing something cruel and dangerous to rise in him, and it made him leave, fast, shutting the door sharply behind him. Outside, he stood on the staircase for a moment before going slowly down to the ground and out of the courtyard, to spend the rest of the night wandering the streets of Trastevere in a black mood.