AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘She gave it to the boy,’ called the artist before she could say anything, gesturing with a grin towards the family, who were all still gathered around admiring it.
Luca laughed and slapped his cousin on the back. ‘I told you she doesn’t like glass.’
His cousin shrugged as a woman came running from another room, a large bunch of flowers in her arms that Matteo took from her, thanking her for remembering.
‘Thank you for delivering these,’ he said, handing Luca the flowers. ‘Tell her I will come and see her soon.’
They left then, Matteo kissing her cheeks again as he bade them farewell, before the boat set off, the flowers lying inside on one of the long loungers.
‘Who are they for?’ she asked, curious, when Luca hadn’t spoken for a while.
He looked straight ahead, his jaw grimly set. ‘Matteo’s mother. It’s her birthday today but he has to take his daughter to the hospital for an appointment. He won’t have time to visit her.’
‘Where does she live?’
‘There,’ he said, pointing to a walled island she belatedly realised they were heading towards.
She shuddered. ‘But surely that’s...’
‘Yes,’ he said grimly. ‘Isola di San Michele. The Isle of the Dead.’
CHAPTER TEN
THE brick walls loomed larger the closer they got, dark walls with white detail in which was set a Gothic gateway framing three iron gates.
Behind the walls the heavy green stands of cypress and pine did nothing to dispel the sense of gloom and foreboding.
She shivered.
‘You must have been here before,’ he said as the boat pulled alongside the landing.
She shook her head. ‘No. Never.’
He frowned. ‘I remember now. You didn’t come to Eduardo’s funeral.’
She sensed the note of accusation in his voice. ‘I didn’t make it in time. My flight had engine trouble and was turned back to Sydney. By the time I arrived, the funeral had already been held and Lily was barely holding herself together. There was no chance to pay my respects.’
He studied her, as if trying to assess if she was speaking the truth. Then he nodded. ‘So you can pay your respects now, if you wish. Or you can stay with the boat if you prefer. Some people are not fond of cemeteries.’
‘No,’ she said, thinking nothing could be more forbidding than those imposing gates. Nothing could be worse than waiting to the accompaniment of the endless slap of water against the boat. ‘I want to come, if you don’t mind. I liked Eduardo. I’d like to pay my respects.’
Once again he paused, as if testing her words against what he knew of her. Then he gave a careless shrug. ‘Your choice.’
Inside the imposing walls she was surprised to find the gloom fall away, replaced by a serenity that came with being in a well-tended garden. The sounds of motors and the chug of passing vaporettos seemed not to permeate the thick walls. Only birdsong and the crunch of gravel underfoot punctuated the silence. Here and there people tended graves, or just sat under the shade of the cypress trees in quiet reflection.
Luca led the way, past rows of neat graves adorned with marble cherubs and angels and freshly cut flowers. Everywhere she looked seemed to be bursting with the colour of fresh flowers.
He carried the bunch in his arms almost reverently. Flowers might soften a man, she thought, but not Luca. They only served to accentuate his overwhelming masculinity. Big hands, she thought, and yet so tender, the way they cradled the flowers.
Like he might cradle a child.
What would have happened had their child lived? If he had not been born too prematurely to be saved? Luca would not have welcomed the news that their one night of passion had ended with more than a face slap and that he was a father, but would he have wanted to meet his child? Would he have cradled him in those big hands as gently as he cradled those flowers and smiled down at him? Could he have loved him?
She dragged in air, shaking her head to escape the thoughts. There was no point in thinking what-ifs. Nothing to be gained but pain layered on pain.
Through different garden rooms they walked, and around them the closely packed lines of graves went on.
‘It’s quite beautiful,’ she said softly, so as not to interrupt the pervasive sense of calm. ‘So peaceful and well maintained. More like a garden than a cemetery.’
‘Their families look after the graves,’ he said, turning down a side path. ‘They are all recently deceased. Space is limited, they can only stay here a few years before they are moved on.’
