Chapter 26
26
Sophie awoke less-than-refreshed after a night of tossing and turning, her brain running scenarios of what Andreas had wanted to say, from, ‘ You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you ,’ to, ‘ Just so you know, I’ve got back together with Kira and we’re banging like rabbits in the apartment where you thought we “made love”. ’
Jarring fully awake at that last one, she felt as though she’d run a marathon in her sleep and she groaned, tempted to curse something full of consonants – something from Andreas’s vocabulary of unintelligible swear words in his dialect.
But she was determined to be the usual Sophie today, smiling at her really rather sweet client couple and doing everything she could to make their time here memorable.
She floated into the breakfast room and headed straight for the hot-water dispenser because Sophie was nothing if not an expert at prioritisation. Unfortunately, Lucia, the troublemaking bridesmaid, and maid of honour Adelaide stopped her before she could get there.
With one longing look at the teabags in their fancy paper envelopes, she turned to her guests with as much of a smile as she could muster – which quickly drooped when she saw their expressions.
‘We haven’t mentioned this to Lily because we don’t want to stress her out,’ Adelaide said in an exaggerated whisper.
Sophie moved them surreptitiously out of sight of the bride. ‘What’s happened? I’m sure we can work it out.’
‘It’s my fault,’ Lucia said in a small voice.
‘It was an honest mistake,’ Adelaide reassured her, making Lucia look a little green.
The bridesmaid took a deep breath. ‘I broke up with my boyfriend a month ago. He’s arriving today. You might have noticed I’ve been a bit of a cow.’
‘As long as you can keep it together for the wedding, you have my sympathy,’ Sophie said, remembering her first few weddings after she’d separated from Rory.
Lucia’s expression wobbled as though she hadn’t expected the kindness. ‘It didn’t occur to me that we’d booked one room for the two of us, but now the manager said they’re fully booked.’
Alarm raced up the back of Sophie’s neck. ‘He doesn’t have a room. Oh, shit.’ She bit her lip, ignoring the surprised looks from the bridesmaids at her language. ‘Don’t worry. I can fix this,’ she said, feeling wobbly on her feet, but with a sense of inevitability. ‘He can have my room. That way, you’re all still at the same hotel.’
‘Wow, that’s so kind!’ Adelaide exclaimed. ‘But what will you do?’
‘There will be space somewhere.’ And if there wasn’t, there was a trundle bed in the attic at Andreas’s apartment, she thought, as she resisted the urge to laugh from her belly – or cry, she wasn’t sure which. ‘Let me pack my things so Elena can get the room cleaned.’
The wedding guests split up for the day’s activities – windsurfing for the more adventurous or markets and sightseeing in Limone. Sophie was thankful to discover that the parents of the bride and groom were just as active as Lily and Roman had assured her, but even they faded after two hours of admiring ceramics and tasting olive oil in thirty-degree heat.
Sophie herded the group towards a café with tables by the harbour, sheltered by white umbrellas, potted palms and a lush grapevine, while her mind whirred with arrangements for the rest of the week. With a sinking feeling, she realised she needed to discuss the schedule in detail with Andreas and if she hadn’t been so nervous last night, she could have at least got his confirmation that the weather forecast was favourable.
There was some rain due on Wednesday and Thursday, but Friday looked clear – Friday, the day she’d pencilled in for the climb to Cima Rocca and the ceremony by the summit cross, the part she’d been quietly blocking out since they arrived and she saw the familiar soaring peaks. The week had turned out even hotter than usual for mid-September. It would be nearly ten degrees warmer on the via ferrata than the day Andreas had kissed her against the rock – although she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that.
She’d been out of her comfort zone with Andreas; she was even further out, contemplating leading the bridal couple up the via ferrata. Although three of the parents had opted for the steep hike from the other side instead of the climb, there were still far too many variables. An entire massif of release forms wouldn’t make this any less stressful.
Flicking briefly through a few booking websites to find a hotel, by the time she’d filtered out places like the Imperial and the Elite Resort, which had lofty prices to match their names, and also the run-down caravans at the other end of the scale, she never quite got around to selecting and booking a room before she was interrupted.
When they arrived back from the city walk, it was almost time for the winery tour in the hills, which hopefully would be a few degrees cooler. Lily and Roman were absent when the appointed time came and Sophie worked very hard not to indulge her anxiety. It wasn’t uncommon for engaged couples to want to steal a little extra private time.
But she was surprised when Lily phoned her, asking if the minibus could collect them in town on the way through. Although pink-cheeked from the hours of windsurfing, Lily looked off when she ducked into the minibus and Sophie’s stomach dipped. The bride was definitely avoiding her gaze.
The drive took them up high, the road winding through villages perched on the steep, green hills overlooking the lake, to a charming, stone cantina surrounded by bushy olive trees, hanging with green fruit. Grapevines snaked along the hill in terraces, creating orderly stripes of lush leaves.
Lily’s steps faltered as she climbed out of the minibus and stared at the sign for the boutique winery so Sophie was relieved when Lily came straight to her after greeting Signor Cozzaglio, the owner. Looking furtively for a quiet spot, Sophie led her to the corner of the terrace that was set up for the wine tasting while the others headed into the olive grove, Roman urging them on when they looked back for Lily.
Sophie tensed, awaiting her next challenge.
With her arms tight around herself, Lily blurted out in a whisper, ‘I’m pregnant!’
For a moment, Sophie couldn’t respond. It wasn’t the first time this had happened during a wedding she’d planned. She’d experienced that tightness in her throat before as memories assailed her and she shoved them right back down again. But this time, her stomach swooped with worry – worry upon worry that had been building since yesterday, since June – since those brief weeks six years ago where she’d also carried the beginnings of a small life inside her.
‘Are you okay?’ she managed to ask. ‘Shall we find a doctor?’
‘No – I mean yes, I’m okay and nothing seems to be wrong I’m just—’ Lily couldn’t seem to find the words. Sophie knew how she felt, unable to stop her own memories – shock, fear, excitement. There had been joy in there, but it certainly hadn’t been the only emotion.
Joy was far from what she was feeling now, as much as she wished she could be happy for her client.
‘You only just found out?’ she guessed.
Lily nodded vigorously. ‘It sounds terrible, but I wanted to drink and enjoy my wedding – and the climbing! And now I don’t know?—’
Oh shit, the climbing. Sophie didn’t even know what was appropriate for a pregnant woman. She needed Andreas, as much as those words made her uneasy.
‘I don’t want anyone in my family to know yet,’ Lily said through her teeth. ‘I can’t even get my head around it myself. We kind of vaguely wanted kids, but not this soon. I had a suspected chest infection a month ago and the doctors don’t take chances with me any more. The medication must have interfered with the pill.’
The practical challenges were at least something Sophie could cope with. ‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll help you cover your tracks – you can spit during the wine tasting and I’ll make sure we have some discreet non-alcoholic options for you otherwise and if there’s anything else you need, come straight to me – anything.’
Her tone must have given something away, because Lily studied her curiously. ‘I appreciate it. And I’m sorry for upsetting all our plans.’
Tears pricked behind Sophie’s eyes. Damn it, she wished she hadn’t been right about weddings always making people cry. ‘Don’t apologise. You and Roman have been a dream couple to work with and even if you weren’t, this is my job.’
Lily shook her head. ‘You’ve gone above and beyond, Sophie. It’s like your calling.’
Lily had to stop talking before the urge to cry grew unbearable. A few tasteful tears during the ceremony were professional; bawling when the bride told her she was pregnant was not.
‘But do you think I can still do the via ferrata? I really want to!’
Sophie’s head spun. ‘Honestly, I have no idea, but I’ll find out for you as soon as I can.’
* * *
Andreas wasn’t answering his phone.
Sophie paced the beautiful terrace with ancient grapevines creating a thick canopy of shade. The wide waters of the lake shimmered far below while a falcon played on the breeze in her eyeline. The contented murmur of the guests enjoying sips of wine and morsels of homemade bread with olive oil reached her ears from behind her and in front of her, the Monte Baldo massif with its gullies and ravines and the enormous row of peaks filled her vision.
But Sophie could only appreciate it abstractly as her phone calls rang out in her ear, over and over. Kira’s phone appeared to be switched off. Andreas might be driving back to Marniga and unable to use Bluetooth – she would have been more surprised if he had managed to connect his phone to the old Panda with his technological prowess, or lack thereof. Or he could be back already and simply not answering his phone. He might be busy.
Her stomach twisted as her fevered brain pictured all kinds of ways he could be ‘busy’ right now, no matter how unlikely those scenarios were.
Hoping her smile held up, she made her apologies to the wedding party and rushed to where the minibus was parked on the gravel drive. ‘Could you take me back to Limone?’
Pulling her rented Fiat 500 into the car park in Marniga an hour later, a few drops of rain plopped onto the windscreen, as though the weather was reflecting Sophie’s dread. Billowing storm clouds churned over the lake. She should have hurried to the apartment before the rain started in earnest, but a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror revealed just how many tears she’d swiped off her cheeks on the drive here, so she took a moment with her make-up remover wipes and concealer.
Keeping everything together in front of Andreas would not be easy. She should never have told him about her own experience, or had to listen to his gentle voice telling her he wished he’d been there, although she knew he avoided emotional entanglements. By the time she was ready – not ready , but resigned to the awkwardness of the next few minutes – the rain was falling in sheets.
Holding her handbag over her head, she rushed up the cobbled lane to the stone steps that led to Andreas’s apartment and paused, the irrational images of him with Kira still stabbing her brain.
She tried Andreas’s phone one more time, but there was still no answer.
What if they were ‘occupied’ right now? Chances were low. He’d told her clearly that he hadn’t been with Kira like that for a few years. Why would they start up again right now?
But why weren’t they answering their phones?
Grumbling quietly at herself, she set her shoulders and stomped up the steps as loudly as she could, rapping sharply on the door.
‘Andreas? Kira?’
At first, there was no answer, then when she was about to knock again, she heard light, quick footsteps approaching. The door swung open to reveal exactly the scene Sophie had been trying not to imagine: Kira, her blue hair mussed, wearing a kimono robe and apparently nothing else.
It was all too much. Calm, collected Sophie was going to snap. She froze on the doorstep, grasping desperately for the threads of her dignity and expecting any moment for Andreas to appear, also half-dressed and dishevelled, and make her misery complete.
And that’s when the lightning flashed, a crash of thunder alarmingly close.