Lucy Gordon - Wife By Arrangement

‘You’re coming back tomorrow?’

‘I’m staying overnight. You don’t mind, do you?’

‘Not at all,’ she said politely. ‘I’ll tell Jocasta.’

‘No need. I should think she’s put my things in my room by now.’

He was right. Clearly he was a favourite with Jocasta, who had not only unpacked his case but ordered the evening meal to suit him. Heather didn’t know how to protest about the way he’d taken over. After all, she kept saying that Bella Rosaria wasn’t really hers, so it was hard to complain when he took her at her word.

They enjoyed the last of the light wandering in the garden. ‘I loved playing here better than anywhere else,’ he remembered. ‘This was a wonderful place for gangs of bandits. I used to get the boys from the village in and we created mayhem.’

She smiled. ‘I wonder how Baptista felt about that in her flower garden.’

‘She didn’t mind. She said what mattered was that there should be happiness here.’ They had reached the rose arbour and sat on the wooden seat. ‘I used to come out in the evening and find her sitting in this spot, with her eyes closed.’

‘Did you ever find out why?’ she asked cautiously.

‘You mean did I know about Federico? Yes, the head gardener told me. He’d worked here for years and knew all about it. Apparently there were a lot of rumours when the young man vanished so suddenly.’

‘That was the hardest for Baptista to bear,’ Heather said. ‘Not knowing. You surely don’t think-?’

‘I doubt it, but I have to admit that my grandfather was a man who wouldn’t tolerate opposition.’

They had supper in the library, close to the open French windows. Renato’s mood had mellowed and he went on reminiscing about the villa as he’d known it in his childhood.

‘I always knew it had a special place in my mother’s heart. Perhaps that’s why it became enchanted to me too. The Residenza was just a building, but Bella Rosaria was special.’

‘Then take it back.’

He gave her an ironic look. ‘There’s only one way I can do that.’

‘No marriage,’ she said at once. ‘We both agreed.’

He shrugged. ‘My mother is a very persuasive woman, and I’m a man with a strong sense of duty.’

She rested her elbows on the table and met his eyes. ‘Rubbish!’ she said firmly. ‘I don’t know what game you’re playing, but you can forget it. No marriage. Not now. Not ever. You can take that as final.’

He grinned. ‘Suppose I don’t choose to?’

‘Oh, stop this! I know you’re only fooling but it’s not fair to give the village ideas. Do you think I don’t know why they were out in force, watching us? And the priest, practically giving us his blessing. You ought to stop them thinking things. It’s not fair.’

‘To whom?’

‘To them. They obviously like the idea.’

‘Yes, you’ve made yourself popular. And the fact that you know about sheep will be all over the district tonight. Everyone around here sees the propriety of our marriage as clearly as Mamma does.’

She laughed. ‘They’d think differently if they could have heard what you said about swimming the Straits of Messina in lead weights.’

He winced. ‘I deny it. I never said any such thing. Anyway, a man can grow wiser.’

She refused to rise to the bait. ‘I’m going to bed,’ she said.

‘You’re right. We’ll make an early start in the morning. Don’t be late. I dislike women who keep me waiting.’

This was so clearly meant to be provocative that she said, ‘I really will kick your shins in a minute,’ in a teasing voice.

‘Exactly what Mamma advised, night and morning. You see, we’re acting like an old married couple already.’

She began to laugh. She couldn’t help it. She ought to at least try to stay cross with him, but the excellent wine and the company of a man who, for all his infuriating behaviour, was still more mysteriously attractive than anyone she’d ever known, was a potent combination. Tonight he’d been pleasant company, making her like him better than at any time before.

‘That’s better than the last time I heard you laugh,’ he said approvingly.

The night in the garden, when she’d laughed on the edge of sobs, and he’d kissed her with a tenderness that had haunted her dreams since. She met his eyes and looked quickly away, confused. She no longer knew what she wanted.

They climbed the stairs together. Outside her door he took her hand, said gently, ‘Goodnight, Heather,’ and went across the corridor to his own room without waiting for her answer.

When she’d closed her door she stood for a long time, listening to the sound of her own heart beating. He would come to her tonight. She knew that beyond any doubt. Suddenly decided, she turned the key in her lock.

She undressed slowly, torn this way and that, until she crept to the door and unlocked it. Then she got into bed and lay listening to the creaks of the old house, as the night grew quiet around them, staring into the darkness.

Renato wanted to marry her. Or rather, he’d decided in favour of the marriage. That was more accurate. The family needed an heir, and Lorenzo had proved too unreliable, so Renato had reluctantly bowed his neck to the yoke. Marrying her would please his mother and satisfy his sense of duty.

Nothing else?

Yes. She’d challenged him, laughed at him, snubbed him. His pride was at stake. And he wanted to sleep with her. He’d made no bones about it. But she already knew how little physical relationships counted with him. When he’d soothed his pride and gained what he wanted-what then?

Hell is love without desire, and desire without love-desire without love-

At last she fell asleep.

WHEN they met at breakfast her mood was cool. Naturally she was glad of Renato’s restraint the night before. If he’d tried to come to her bed it would have clouded the issue and she would have been angry at his calculation.

But the apparently easy way he’d resisted her was also a kind of calculation, and of the two it was the more insulting. She blushed to recall that she’d left her door unlocked, and he hadn’t even tried it. One small victory to him. If she weakened he would control the situation, and that she mustn’t allow.

He didn’t seem to notice her reserve. His own mood was edgy. Over breakfast he spoke tersely, smiled very little and looked haggard.

The horses were brought round. Soon after they set out she realised that Renato had been right when he’d said the story of the sheep would be all over the district. Wherever they went she found none of the suspicion or hostility that she would have expected, considering that she was a stranger and a foreigner. By some mysterious bush telegraph they knew Renato had chosen her for his wife, they regarded the match as settled, and they approved.

Before long the beauty of the day had its effect on both of them, softening her mood and making him less tense. They stopped at a farm and sat in the sun, drinking rough home-made wine and eating goat’s-milk cheese. Heather had been enchanted by Sicily from the first moment. Now she found new things to delight her wherever she looked.

‘I love that,’ she said, pointing to the ruins of a Greek temple in the distance, with sheep and goats munching contentedly nearby. ‘A great, ancient civilisation, side by side with everyday reality. The sheep aren’t awed by the temple, and the temple isn’t less splendid because of the sheep.’

He nodded agreement. ‘It was built in honour of Ceres, the goddess of fertility and abundance. The more sheep the better.’

‘And seeing them in harmony like that sums up so much about this country.’

‘Do you know how like a Sicilian you sound?’ he said. ‘Talking as though this was a separate country, instead of part of Italy. We all do that.’

‘Yes, I’d noticed. And it’s more than a separate country. It’s a separate world. There’s nothing like it anywhere else.’

‘And will you leave it? Turn your back on the welcome it’s given you?’

‘You’re a very clever man.’ She sighed. ‘You’ve simply gone over my head again. Your mother has decided, the tenants have decided, Father Torrino tells me how much it will cost to repair the church roof-all because you’ve let them think it’s a done deal. It makes me feel like the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle.’

‘That’s a very good analogy,’ he said, tactfully bypassing her accusations. ‘This is a jigsaw puzzle, with all the pieces fitting perfectly. You come into our lives from another country. You have different values, a different language, and yet there’s a space waiting for you that’s exactly your shape. The differences you bring will only enrich us. We can all see it. Why can’t you?’

‘Maybe because you come as part of the package,’ she said darkly.

He gave her the vivid grin that could so powerfully disconcert her. ‘Be brave. I’m not really so bad.’

‘You are.’

‘I’m not.’

‘You are.’

They laughed at the same moment. It was pleasant to be sitting in the bright day, squabbling light-heartedly. In another moment she might have yielded. But then some perverse imp made her ask, ‘Why did you change your mind? A couple of weeks ago nothing would make you consider it.’

‘Mamma gave me a stern talking-to, and as I’m afraid of her I gave in.’ He added outrageously, ‘But very reluctantly.’

‘Oh, stop it. I’m trying to be serious.’

‘Then let’s be serious. Arranged marriages can work very well when neither party is burdened with extravagant expectations. We’ve both seen the dangers of that, haven’t we?’

‘If you put it like that,’ she said with a sigh, ‘I suppose we have.’

‘Shall we call it a bargain? Come, say yes so that I can call Mamma.’

‘I suppose she’s sitting by the phone, waiting to hear my answer?’