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Tina glanced across at the housekeeper, who gave a quick nod before bustling back in to pack up the last of the kitchen, and suddenly her mother’s change of mood in the last few days made some kind of sense.
And even though that was what her mother did, finding her next partner with unerring precision, Tina couldn’t help but smile at seeing her so happy. ‘That’s great, Lily.’
‘That’s not all,’ her mother continued, her eyes sparkling. ‘He wants me to come to London with him. He says I will be the bridge between the Venetian and the British, unifying the collection and giving it purpose. He’s taking me to dinner tonight to talk about the details. He thinks we should be there for a month at least.’
She took a deep breath, looking around her as if trying to work out what she’d been up to before the call. ‘Well, I guess we should get to work. It will be such a relief when it’s all done.’
Relief? The one hundred and eighty degree change in her mother’s mood from when she’d first arrived in Venice would be something worth celebrating if only Tina wasn’t left with a bad taste in her mouth. Where was her relief? Where was her upside?
She’d been the one to make the sacrifice here—forced to spend a month with a man she hated while her mother not only got on with her life but prospered. Where was the justice?
‘Don’t you mind about the move any more? When I came here, you were so angry with Luca, with me, with your situation—with everything! How can you be so happy now?’
‘Don’t you want me to be happy?’ There were shades of the Lily of old in her question, shades of indignation that once would have been the spark set to combust into something more.
‘Of course I do, Lily. It’s just that—’ She threw her hands out wide in frustration. ‘It’s just that I’m still stuck with Luca while you seem to be getting on with your life now as if this is nothing but a minor inconvenience.’
‘Oh, Valentina.’ Her mother nodded on a sigh. ‘Please don’t be angry with me. Sit down a moment.’ She pulled her down alongside her on a sofa. ‘I have something I should say to you—Carmela will tell me off if I don’t.’
She frowned. The idea of Carmela reprimanding her mother was too delicious. ‘What is it?’
Lily shook her head and took her daughter’s hand. ‘I know we haven’t always been close, but I do know I treated you appallingly when you arrived. Even before you arrived. But I was so scared,’ she implored, ‘don’t you see? I had nobody else to turn to and Luca was threatening to throw me out onto the streets and I believed him. I had no idea he would come up with the apartment—he never hinted. I believed he would do his worst.’
Tina nodded. ‘I know.’ And it was good to be reminded of how afraid they’d both been; of how Luca had ruthlessly manipulated them both to get what he wanted. It was such a short time ago and yet just lately it had been so much harder to remember. ‘It’s okay.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Don’t say anything. This is hard for me and you have to listen. I’m sorry I haven’t been a better mother to you. I’m sorry I got you involved in all my mess. But please don’t begrudge me this slice of happiness. It’s been so long since I felt this way about a man.’
‘I’m happy for you, Lily, truly I am. But please be careful. You’ve only just met the man, surely?’
Her mother smiled and shrugged, looking into the middle distance as if she was seeing something that Tina couldn’t. ‘Sometimes that’s all it takes. Little more than a heartbeat and you know that he’s the one.’
‘Is that how you felt with Dad, then? And Eduardo and Hans and Henri-Claude?’
Lily dropped her head and sighed. ‘No. I’m ashamed to say it’s not. I’m not proud of my track record, but this time it’s the real thing, Valentina. I know it. And what I want for you is to know this same happiness. Is there no chance that you and Luca—’
Tina stood, unable to sit, needing to move. ‘No. None.’
‘Are you sure? Has he said nothing about staying?’
‘Of course I’m sure, and no he hasn’t. Because he won’t. He’s not a man to change his mind, Lily, and I don’t want him to. In fact, I can’t wait for this month to be over. I can’t wait to get home and see Dad again.’
‘Oh. I see. It’s a shame, though. Especially after what you’ve been through, losing his baby and everything. Surely he realises he risks putting you through all that again.’
