His Brother's Child
Autor
Lucy Gordon
Lecturas
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12
Chapter 1
‘IS IT much further to Rome?’ Donna asked eagerly.
‘Another ten miles.’ Toni glanced sideways to give her a glowing smile. ‘You’re beautiful, carissima. My family will fall in love with you at first sight—just like I did.’
‘Darling, please keep your eyes on the road,’ she begged nervously.
He laughed and obeyed. ‘All right, madam schoolmistress,’ he mocked.
‘Don’t say that. I don’t really sound like a schoolmistress, do I?’
‘Of course you do. My delightful, adorable schoolmistress, always telling me off. Toni, drive more slowly. Toni, don’t be so extravagant. Toni, don’t—’
‘Oh, no!’ she cried, half laughing, half dismayed. ‘Now you make me sound like a dragon.’
‘But I like it. You’re very good for me. My brother Rinaldo will be grateful to you for keeping me in order. It’s something he’s never managed yet.’
He spoke with his usual cheery good nature, but to Donna it was a reminder that, at twenty-seven, she was three years Toni’s senior. That was something she tried not to dwell on, but it was hard when Toni still had so much of the boy in him. She regarded his profile with affection. He had vivid Latin good looks, typical of the south of Italy, where he’d been born. She remembered how her friends had envied her when he’d started to pursue her!
She’d met Toni Mantini in the hospital where she was a nurse, and where he’d been brought after his car had lost an argument with a lamppost. He’d described the accident to her with rueful humour. That was typical of Toni, she’d discovered. To him life was laughter and pleasure. His injuries were slight, the insurance would pay for the car. Why worry?
Just what there was in her serious nature that had attracted this careless Italian boy she’d never been able to work out. But when he was discharged from hospital he’d returned persistently until she’d agreed to go out with him. After that things had moved at a speed that left her breathless.
He told her that he loved her, often and passionately. The knowledge filled her with wonder. Toni was vibrantly handsome. Her own looks, she thought disparagingly, were those of a little brown mouse.
‘But no,’ he’d said when she’d voiced this thought. ‘You look like a Madonna, with your calm oval face, your dark hair and your big eyes. Near my family’s home in Rome there’s a little church with a picture of the Madonna and child. I’ll take you there one day, and you’ll see yourself. Never change, carissima. You are beautiful just as you are.’
It had never occurred to her that she might be beautiful, and she loved Toni for showing her to herself in that new light. She loved him for so many things—his eagerness for life, his boyish enthusiasm that could make him reckless, his careless laughter. But most of all she loved him because he loved her.
It was early afternoon now, and the Italian sun was high.
‘Does the heat bother you?’ Toni asked as she mopped her brow.
‘It’s a bit overwhelming, after England,’ she admitted. ‘I shall be glad to get into the cool.’
‘Poor darling. You can rest this afternoon. Tomorrow we’ll go out shopping and I’ll buy you some new clothes, and jewels. I’d like to see you in rubies.’
She laughed. ‘What a dreamer you are, darling. You know you can’t afford rubies, even if I wanted them.’
‘Who says I can’t?’
‘You’re behind with the repayments on this car.’
His face was a picture of innocence. ‘Behind? Me? Whatever gave you that idea?’
She chuckled. ‘I answered the phone to the finance company, remember?’
‘Oh, well!’ He abandoned the pretence with a shrug. ‘Just a little bit behind. Not angry with me, are you, cara?’
‘How can I be angry with you?’ she asked tenderly.
How could she be anything but passionately grateful to this young man who’d brought warmth and colour into her lonely life? He wanted her. That was the glorious, unbelievable fact that flooded the world with light and gave her a happiness she’d never even dreamed of before.
It was so long since she’d been wanted by anyone. When she was seven years old her father had left home for another woman. After the divorce he’d kept in touch with her sporadically, sometimes even taken her out. But he’d never taken her home to meet his new wife and child, and Donna had come to understand, without it actually being said, that there was no place for her in that family.
Then her mother had died. Donna was ten. Now, surely, her father would claim her? And he’d promised to do so ‘when things are a little easier’. But it had seemed the time was never right, and at last she’d lost hope completely.
She’d spent the rest of her childhood in care. There had been two foster homes, one of which had broken up in divorce. The other family had simply taken on too many children. Donna was fourteen by then, old enough to help out. She hadn’t minded. She’d liked caring for the little ones, and it was good to be needed. But her foster mother had made it clear that she was there to be useful, and it wasn’t the same as being wanted for herself.
When she’d left care at sixteen she’d made determined efforts to stay in touch, sending cards at Christmas and on birthdays, and thinking of them as ‘my family’. But the cards were never answered. One day, paying a surprise visit, she’d found strangers living there. The family had moved away without telling her.
With such a background it was hardly surprising that she’d found Toni irresistible. Everything about him was enchanting in her eyes, even his nationality. Italy had always been the country of Donna’s dreams. She’d planned to take a holiday there, and had even learned the language in readiness. But on a nurse’s pay her savings mounted very slowly, so the Italian holiday had been put off, year after year, while she continued to weave her bright dreams. She pictured Italy as a colourful, light-hearted place, full of warm families that clung together. She was sorry Toni’s family wasn’t larger, only a grandfather and an older brother. But the affectionate way he spoke of them made her eager to meet them.
And now, soon, she would do so. And soon she would no longer be lonely Donna Easton, but Signora Mantini, bearing a Mantini child.
The thought made Donna lay a hand reverently across her stomach. It was much too soon for anything to show, but already the baby was precious to her. It would be hers and Toni’s, linking them for ever as part of a true family.
When she’d told him she was pregnant she’d half expected the worst. Surely this careless charmer didn’t want to be tied down to a family at twenty-four? But Toni had been overwhelmed with joy, repeating, ‘You’re going to be a mother...’ many times in an awed voice. He’d become even more loving and tender to her, and her love for him had grown.
He’d insisted that they marry ‘as soon as you have met my family’. She never knew what was said in his phone call to his brother Rinaldo, but he’d announced that they must go to Italy immediately.
‘I’ve said only that I’m bringing my bride,’ he told her. ‘We’ll tell them about the baby when we get there.’
‘I’ll get leave of absence from the hospital,’ she said.
‘No, no! You don’t go back there. Give them notice.’
‘Toni, I don’t think that’s wise.’
‘My wife does not work!’ he announced with a lordly finality that made her lips twitch. He noticed her trying to suppress her laughter, and grinned. ‘OK, OK! I get a proper job. Perhaps I go into the business with Rinaldo and we live over there.’
‘In Italy?’ she said excitedly. ‘That would be wonderful.’
‘Good. It’s settled!’
Toni was like that. Donna could have sworn that five minutes ago he’d had no notion of working in Italy. But suddenly it was settled.
A few days later they’d loaded their things into the car and started the long journey across the Channel, through France, then Switzerland, and into Italy. They’d stopped overnight several times, because Toni didn’t want to tire her, and had spent last night in Perugia. This morning they had started early for the final stretch of road that would lead to Rome.
‘Tell me some more about your family,’ she begged now.
Toni shrugged. ‘Nothing much to tell. Rinaldo is all right, but he’s a bit of a bore. Thinks about nothing but business, as though making money was the only thing in the world that counted.’
‘Well, if you’re in business you need to make a reasonable profit,’ Donna said. ‘Didn’t you say he sends you an allowance?’
‘Oh, if you’re going to talk common sense I give up. All right, the business pays my allowance, but that’s no reason for brooding on it night and day, the way Rinaldo does.’
‘What exactly is the business? You’ve always been very vague about it.’
‘Engineering. Machine tools. One of the factories makes medical equipment.’
‘Factories? Plural?’ Donna frowned. She’d had a vague impression of the Mantini family as modestly prosperous. It had never occurred to her that they were richer than that.
‘Six factories,’ Toni said. ‘No, it’s five now. Rinaldo sold one because it wasn’t meeting its performance targets. He believes in cutting his losses.’
Donna wasn’t sure why the suggestion of wealth should disturb her, but it did. For the first time she had doubts about her ability to fit in. Then she thrust them aside. Even the owner of five factories might not live luxuriously. He probably ploughed the profits back into the business and lived modestly. She began to feel more comfortable.
‘Didn’t you ever want to go into the business yourself?’ she asked.
‘Heaven forbid! All that dreary grind! Mind you, Rinaldo was always on at me to learn about machines. He’ll be glad of you. He wants to see me married. He says it will ‘steady’ me. Also, he wants an heir to take the business over.’
‘Why doesn’t he have his own heir?’
‘Because it would mean getting married, and Rinaldo’s relationships with women are all very short-lived. He prefers it that way. He says no woman can be trusted.’
‘But he wants you to do what he won’t do himself?’ Toni chuckled good naturedly. “The way he puts it, I’m bound to make a fool of myself one way or another, so it may as well be the married way. Then at least I’ll be doing something useful.’
‘He sounds charming—I don’t think.’
‘Well, he glowers a bit, and he’s got a very nasty temper,’ Toni admitted. ‘It doesn’t do to get on his wrong side. But don’t worry. I told you, he’ll like you.’
To Donna’s relief they were coming to the end of the autostrada, the long motorway whose uninterrupted vista had tempted Toni to hair-raising feats of speed. There followed a series of turns too complex for her to follow, and then they were driving along a wide, grassy avenue lined with cypress trees.
‘This is the Appian Way,’ Toni told her. ‘A lot of Italian film stars have villas along here.’
‘How thrilling! Is it much further to where we’re going?’
‘No, we’re about five villas along.’
‘You mean—your family lives on the Appian Way?’
‘Of course,’ Toni said in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘Here we are.’
He swung the car through a wide gate and Donna found herself in grounds that seemed to go on for ever. The road ahead curved in and out of trees and shrubs. Gradually a building came into view. At first sight it seemed a simple house, with yellow walls and a red tiled roof. But as they drew nearer Donna saw how large it was, and how it branched off into wings.
Trees surrounded it and baskets of flowers, filled with geraniums, hung from the balconies. Birds called, and from somewhere Donna could hear the soft plashing of water.
It was all incredibly beautiful, but Donna’s pleasure was marred by a growing sense of unease. Only a family of great wealth could own a dwelling such as this, and she felt a shrinking inside her. What was she doing in this luxurious place?
Toni brought the car to a halt outside the big front door. There was no sign of life. The house might have been deserted.
‘Let’s go in and see who’s about,’ he said, offering his hand to help her out.
Donna’s discomfort increased when they entered the house and she saw the marble floor and sweeping marble staircase. The hallway was like a large room in itself. Doors led off to unseen regions. Between the doors were niches housing small statues surrounded by plants. In the midday heat the hall had an air of spacious coolness.
‘I’ll go and find someone,’ Toni said. ‘Wait for me here.’
He vanished down a passage, calling, ‘Is anybody at home?’ leaving Donna to study her surroundings. She hoped Toni would return quickly, before strangers found her here.
Then she noticed something. To her left a narrow corridor led to an open door, through which she could see daylight. She knew she ought to remain here until Toni came for her, but something seemed to draw her, as though by hypnotism, along the corridor to the light.
She found herself in a courtyard, surrounded by cloisters. Here the gleaming marble floor ended, and there were rough flagstones underfoot. The cloisters were about four feet wide, with the wall of the house on one side and arches supported by decorated pillars on the other. In the courtyard she could see a pool, with a fountain in the centre. Flower baskets hung from the windows above, and white doves cooed and fluttered around a dovecote.
The cloisters took up three sides. The fourth side was a wall, against which a staircase ran to the upper floor. Flowers trailed through the gaps between the supports of the stone balustrade and hung down.
Donna regarded the scene ecstatically. The place had a rustic, weather-beaten charm that spoke of centuries. Lichen grew over the stone. The walls were red, brown, faded yellow. This was the Italy of her dreams.
On one wall a few words had been chiselled into the stone. They said simply, ‘Il giardino di Loretta’.
‘Loretta’s garden,’ Donna murmured to herself. Whoever Loretta had been she’d loved this place with her whole heart. Her love still breathed through every plant, every vista of beauty.
Wherever Donna looked there were flowers—jasmine, clematis, bougainvillea, oleander—filling the air with their heady perfume. Entranced, she began to wander, feeling as if she was moving through a beautiful dream.
The fountain had the elegance of simplicity. There were no ornaments, just a pool with one tall spray rising directly from the water. Donna watched it, revelling in the cool drops that just touched her. At last she turned aside to explore more of the garden.
Here and there were small statues in niches. One in particular caught her attention. It was about three feet high, depicting two boys, one about ten, the other little more than a baby. The older boy was encircling the child with his arm, watching over him with a protective sexpression. The little one looked out at the world, his arms thrown wide, the hands stretching eagerly to grasp life. Only the older child knew that life could be dangerous as well as beautiful, and his arm stayed firmly in place, warding off evil.
Donna found a shaded stone bench and sat down, glorying in the peace and beauty of her surroundings.
‘Yes,’ she murmured happily to herself. ‘Oh, yes. This is so right, so perfect.’
She closed her eyes and sat a while, listening to the water and the sound of birds. When she opened them again she became aware that she was no longer alone. A man was watching her from the other side of the fountain. At first she had only a hazy impression of a shadow standing behind the huge spray, the details obscured by the cascading water, and the fact that the sun was behind him. He seemed to loom up, a menacing silhouette, perceived like a dream through the glittering droplets. She rubbed her eyes, but he was still there.
He came round the fountain and stood regarding her. There was a puzzled look in his eyes. At last he spoke in a cynical, drawling voice.
‘Well?’ he said in English. ‘Is it as splendid as you’d hoped?’
Now she could see him properly. He was very tall and broad-shouldered. His face was an older version of Toni’s, and she knew that this must be his brother, Rinaldo. The dark eyes were the same, so was the high forehead—indeed all the features looked as if they’d come from the same mould, but then something had changed and hardened them. Toni laughed a lot. This man looked as if he never laughed. Toni’s wide mouth was made for kissing. The same shape on his brother hinted at a sensuality that was almost cruel.
But one thing was clear to her with almost shocking clarity. Toni was a boy. This was a man.
His expression went with his voice—cool, appraising. ‘I’m Rinaldo Mantini,’ he said in the same tone. ‘Toni’s brother.’
‘Yes—I guessed,’ she said shyly. ‘You’re so like him.’
A wry grin twisted his mouth. ‘Only in appearance, Signorina. In nature we’re not at all alike. Toni is an enthusiast who jumps into life without considering the consequences. As a result he often finds he’s been taken in. I’m the opposite. Nobody and nothing fools me.’
She wasn’t sure what answer he expected her to make to that. The only thing that was certain was that he wasn’t in a welcoming mood. Donna held out her hand.
‘I’m Donna Easton,’ she said. ‘I expect Toni has told you about me—’
He touched her hand for the briefest possible moment, and his features didn’t soften. ‘Toni has told me all about you,’ he confirmed. ‘In fact, he’s told me far more than he realises.’
She frowned. ‘I don’t know what you mean by that.’
‘Don’t you? Well, never mind for the moment. You’re here as my brother’s bride, and naturally I extend you the welcome of our house.’
But although he spoke of welcome there was no warmth in his tone. Only cold irony.
Donna summoned up her courage and found an irony to match his own. ‘Your hospitality overwhelms me,’ she said. ‘I’d heard that Italians were famous for their kindness to guests, and now I see that it’s true.’
For a moment she saw astonishment in his eyes, followed by something that might have been appreciation. Then it was gone. ‘Not entirely true,’ he said, ‘since my brother seems to have left you alone.’
‘I have no complaints about your brother’s behaviour towards me,’ she said firmly, emphasising the word ‘brother’ very slightly. ‘He always treats me well.’
‘I’m sure he does. Toni likes to give. He doesn’t always give wisely, or to the right person. But his heart is good.’ Rinaldo delivered the words with a wry twist of the mouth and a wealth of meaning that left Donna feeling uncomfortable. Her temper began to simmer.
‘Toni’s told me a great deal about you, as well,’ she said. ‘He said you were longing for him to marry, and he seemed to think you’d be delighted about us.’
‘Toni has always believed what he wants to believe. Whenever he brings his fiancees here, he’s always convinced that I’ll be pleased.’
Donna stared. ‘Fiancées? Plural?’
‘You’re the fourth—or is it the fifth? I’ve lost count. The procedure is always the same. He turns up out of the blue with some totally unsuitable female in tow and announces that she’s the one. The lady and I have a short conversation, after which she departs a good deal richer than she arrived. My dear girl, you’re one of a crowd.’
Donna’s temper nearly boiled over at the blatant way he announced his manipulations. ‘If you keep blighting his engagements it’s no wonder he has so many,’ she snapped. ‘And if you’re suggesting that I’m here to be bought off you can forget it. I love Toni, and he loves me. And we’re getting married.’
‘Good, good. Don’t concede too easily. Put the price up. But there’s a limit beyond which I won’t go, so don’t waste your time trying to push me beyond it.’
‘You’re mad,’ she cried. ‘You’ve got this obsessed way of looking at things, and you can’t see the truth.’
‘But I have seen the truth,’ he replied coolly. ‘I saw it on your face a few minutes ago. You surveyed your surroundings like a dealer checking a good investment, and you were delighted with what you discovered.’
‘I was delighted with its beauty,’ she said, outraged. ‘That was all. This garden is one of the loveliest places I’ve seen. Or it was. Not now. Not with you in it. Now it’s like Eden after the serpent invaded.’
He flinched, and she knew she’d said something that had hit home. ‘I have to admit that your approach is original,’ he said. ‘In fact you’re not at all like Toni’s usual choice in women. The others have all been brazen young pieces, with their charms set out on the stall, ready to bargain. You’re more subtle.’
His eyes raked her up and down in a way that made her conscious of her own deficiencies again. ‘There’s less to please the eye.’ His voice was smooth as he uttered this casual cruelty, then added another to it. ‘You’re also a lot older than his usual girls. Much too old for Toni.’
‘I’m three years older than he is, and I’ve never pretended otherwise,’ she said deliberately. ‘Maybe he’s not the child you seem to think.’
He gave a harsh laugh. ‘You mean he’s matured? I doubt that.’
‘What you think doesn’t matter. If you imagine you can talk Toni out of marrying me, you’re welcome to try.’
‘Look, I’ve played this scene too often to be interested in the details. Just tell me how much it will take this time. I’ll go as high as ten thousand English pounds. I may even go up to twelve thousand if you’re reasonable, but the longer you try my patience, the less you’ll get.’
His arrogance almost took her breath away. She recovered enough to say, ‘You’re wasting your time. I don’t touch tainted money.’
‘Fine talk, but my money is made honestly.’
‘But you use it for a tainted purpose,’ she flashed. ‘You try to buy and sell love—’
‘On the contrary. Love has nothing to do with this.’
‘How would you know? You couldn’t recognise love unless it came with an itemised invoice. I’m marrying Toni because I love him, and also because—’ She stopped. This wasn’t the moment to speak of the baby. She and Toni must do that together.
‘Yes?’ he enquired, his eyebrows raised sarcastically.
‘I’m marrying him for love,’ she repeated. ‘His love and mine. And nothing you can do can touch that. You can threaten all you like. The bottom line is that you’re helpless.’
In the silence a very ugly look crossed his face. ‘You are very brave, signorina,’ he said at last. ‘And also very stupid. I don’t allow people to cross me and escape the consequences. It’s—bad for business.’
‘This isn’t business.’
‘It’s business all right. But I’m better at it than you. A moment ago you’d won a substantial sum. Now you’ve lost everything, as you’ll soon discover.’
‘No, you will discover that people’s feelings can’t be bought off so easily.’
‘Don’t be a little fool,’ he said roughly. ‘I could turn my brother against you in a moment.’
‘If you really thought that you wouldn’t have offered me ten thousand pounds.’
His mouth tightened. ‘I was trying to conduct our negotiations reasonably—’
‘Oh, no, you were trying to bully me. But I can’t be bullied, so don’t waste your time. Try turning Toni against me. See how far you get.’
‘You’re very confident,’ he said grimly. ‘Arrogant even. You’ll discover that in this house only one person is allowed to be arrogant.’
But the knowledge of the child she carried gave Donna courage. Toni wanted their baby. He would never turn against his child’s mother. So she didn’t answer Rinaldo in words. She let her smile say it for her, and she had the satisfaction of seeing the certainty drain away from his face. Their glances met—on one side the timeless certainty of motherhood, linked to the earth and all things eternal, on the other side a dawning unease, mixed with anger and tinged with reluctant respect.
‘You have made a very dangerous mistake, signorina,’ he said softly.
‘And you have made a very foolish one,’ she replied.
He drew in his breath sharply. But before he could speak they heard a cry from the shadows of the cloisters. The next moment, a very tall, elderly man appeared. He too had the Mantini face, but in him it was thinner, and topped off by a thatch of snow-white hair. Delight radiated from him as he hobbled towards them with the aid of a stick.
‘So this is my new granddaughter,’ he said. ‘Welcome, my dear. Welcome, welcome to our home!’
