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“Yes. You are right. The wine is excellent. We have a good team producing a great product.”
“Okay, so I have been researching vineyards. Smaller. Less developed. Less productive, let’s say. I have identified one that I would like to buy. It’s close to Santa Lucia. El Campo di Ama.”
“Yes. I think I know it,” says Mama her eyes glittering in the candlelight. “The turn-off is before the main road to Siena.”
“That’s right. So…” I take a deep breath because I know what my parents’ reaction is going to be. “I have met the woman that I love, and I want a home for us.”
There is silence for about a minute before my mother clutches a linen serviette to her face to stifle her squeals of delight. Tears well up in her sparkling eyes.
“Mama. Are you alright?”
My mother can’t speak. She shakes her head and suppresses a mumbled prayer using the serviette. My father puts his arm around her and smiles at me.
“Well, this is news indeed.” He smiles warmly looking from me to my emotional mother. “We thought you would never get over that American girl you met all those years ago. This is wonderful news, Gianni. Your mother is overwhelmed with happiness, as I am.”
“What if I tell you the woman I want to marry is the American girl I met all those years ago?”
“No. Seriously?” Papa exclaims. “That would be a miracle, wouldn’t it? How did this happen? You have to tell us everything.”
I sip my wine and think about where to start. As I tell the story of how I found Libby, my mother forgets to be emotional and asks all sorts of questions. My father berates me for not telling them sooner and for not inviting her to stay at our family home.
“Papa. Soon, okay? We are just getting to know each other again.”
“Yes. Alright,” he says but he is sulking like a petulant child.
“We need time to be sure that this is what we both want. And we need to figure out what happens next. And there’s Luisa to consider. It’s complicated.”
“Nonsense, Gianni,” my mother says sitting tall and upright. “Love is not complicated. Love is the most straightforward thing in the world. You love her. She loves you.” She slaps her hands together then turns her palms to the ceiling. Her mouth is a perfect upside-down smile. “When I met your father, I knew he was The One.” She reaches out to stroke my father’s face. “Oh, there were other boys who were interested, believe me.”
“There were. Your mother was a great breaker of hearts. She still is!”
“Oh, Carlo, stop.”
“She is right, again, of course,” Papa looks lovingly at my mother. “Love is simple, no?”
Over dinner, I expand on my plans for the future. Selling the gallery is only one of the important changes in my life. I want to know more about the wine-making process. I want to create a productive organic vineyard that has a restaurant serving dishes based on local produce and a gallery space showing contemporary artwork from the region, including Libby’s, of course.
As I explain my plans to my parents it occurs to me that Libby doesn’t know anything about this yet. In my imagination, I can see it all so clearly. I can’t wait to share my ideas with her. She is so much a part of my dream, that for her to not be excited about it would crush me. I am nervous about my plan. What if Libby wants to stay in New York? What if that’s where she needs to be for her painting career to succeed? What if she decides, after everything, that she is happy alone and without me? I feel there is something on her mind that is keeping her from me. Perhaps, now that her career is about to take off, she won’t want me around.
These questions arise out of nowhere and unnerve me. None of my plans would work without her. I’m so looking forward to seeing her on my next trip to New York which coincides with the private view of her solo show. I have so much to tell her, but the phone is not the way. I need to see her face-to-face.
Chapter 34
Olivia
Iamsonervous.Although I feel very proud of myself. I walk around my echoey apartment that’s empty of all my art pieces that were shipped out for the show. I haven’t moved the sofa back into the lounge yet. But I’ve rolled up the floor covering and taken the protective plastic off the furniture. It all seems a bit surreal.
“Thank goodness,” Contessa says, “I didn’t like the feel of plastic on my paws.” She struts through to the kitchen, waving her tail in the air.
It’s eerily quiet like the calm before a storm. Ghosts of my sold-off collection still inhabit the spaces on the sideboard and floral wallpapered wall, including the picture of the bridge that sold for a staggering sum at auction. I lean against the door. My head spins and I feel a bit sick. I should feel ecstatic that I will never need to worry about money ever again. I can happily live and paint for the rest of my life on the big fat cheque that was paid into my account. Henry was very grateful for his cut. He even tried to argue with me that I was giving him too much. But he did the all-important research and restoration, and he was there with me on the night, so he earned every cent in my mind.
The sparkle of my happiness is tarnished because Gianni doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that I sold his painting. When he calls up, I want to tell him, but then I feel it is never a good time. Each time I hang up, I promise myself that I will tell him when I see him face to face. I must be prepared for his response. He could take the sale of his gift as a huge personal insult. He could use it as a measure of my character and find it sadly lacking in integrity. I can see how it looks from his point of view. All I can do is hope that he understands and will forgive me.
In my bedroom, I change out of my paint-splattered overalls and into the dress that I bought for the occasion. Desmond and Sandy helped pick it out for me. It is a classic wrap-around midnight blue that looks amazing with my pink hair. No, the color hasn’t washed out yet, but it’s not as bright as it was and, I have to admit, I like it.
I check the time. Mrs Peabody is coming to pick me up soon.
“No. You cannot possibly arrive in a taxi. I won’t allow it,” she tells me on the phone when she calls to run me through some details. “You are the star this evening. We’ll go together. And of course, there will be room for Desmond and Sandy.”
