Chapter Four
SUMMER RAINS, which the weathermen had been promising with unseemly gusto for the past week, arrived in force on the day they were leaving for Tuscany.
‘Gardeners have been praying for a downpour!’ they had boomed on the television, pointing to large swaths of the country due for a drenching that would last well beyond the weekend. ‘They’re in for a treat!’
Francesca, who had always been consumed by weather patterns because she was such an avid gardener, could barely muster an interest. All those plants that had been curling up in the dry heat? Oh dear.
‘I have far too much on my mind at the moment,’ she twittered with high-pitched, girlish excitement the night before when they had all sat down to dinner together. ‘George will be fine looking after the garden for a while. They’re only plants, after all.’
Now, waiting in the hall for Francesca and Gabriel, Jennifer contemplated the forthcoming ten days in a vineyard with strangers with consternation.
She had driven over with her bags having vaguely told her mother that she would be going to Italy with Gabriel and Francesca, not on holiday as such, but because she had the time now that she was on summer break from school and Gabriel had thought that his mother could do with the company and the change of scenery.
‘He’s going to be working out there,’ she had said as she’d tried to dodge minefields and stick to the truth as much as she could, ‘and I’ll be with Francesca…er…keeping her company. You know she’s been down in the dumps recently, and a change is as good as a rest!’
Her mother had looked understandably startled at plans that had come out of the blue, without warning, but she’d barely managed to get a word in as Jennifer had waxed lyrical about Francesca needing a break…
and Gabriel, isn’t he a brilliant son, thinking of her coming along because he knew that she’d always wanted to go to Italy and how wonderful it would be for his mother to have her along…
She and Gabriel had agreed that his mother was to keep the business of any upcoming announcements of an engagement to herself.
He had told her, just before they’d parted company the night before, that he would take care to explain to his mother why their relationship had to be kept under wraps.
Top secret…hush-hush…don’t breathe a word…
She heard the sound of footsteps and glanced up at the impressive staircase to see them both heading down with Gabriel in front, carrying Francesca’s bags.
A Louis Vuitton suitcase and a matching pull-along.
Their eyes met, and Gabriel could instantly spot Jennifer’s nervousness. She was smiling, but the smile was a little too upbeat, too many teeth on show. Brittle. He knew her so well.
She was in a pair of light, ankle-length khaki trousers and a navy blue short-sleeved T-shirt that was cropped and fitted loosely to the waist. Her hair was tied back into a plait at the back, and if she was wearing any make-up, then it was minimal.
She looked much younger than her age. Was it the scattering of freckles?
He didn’t know. She’d always looked younger than her age.
Even when she’d been seventeen, leggy and outdoorsy and always with that long mane of hair…
She’d had a day and a half to change her mind. He’d almost been surprised that she hadn’t, because he knew that what he was asking of her was a lot. There were favours and then there were favours.
But at least he’d managed to persuade her to accept financial compensation from him.
Of course, she’d dug her heels in and refused, but in the end he’d convinced her that it would be for the best.
‘It’s not just about helping you out for the sake of helping you out, Jen,’ he’d told her.
‘You know I’ve told you countless times that I’m willing to give you or lend you the money to buy a place of your own, but this is different.
This time I’m asking you to do something for me.
If I pay you for what I’m asking you to do, then it stops being a favour and becomes a business transaction.
Better that way. Keeps things nice and tidy. ’
So here they were now. On their way to Italy. All systems go. Happy mother…more or less happy friend…and his stress levels, thankfully, were down to near zero.
His mother had flown down the final stairs, lively as a cricket now that she was no longer fretting about him and thinking about the grandchildren she was never going to have.
By the time he very slowly hit the bottom of the staircase, there had been hugging and chatter and a couple more hugs.
Jennifer had managed to usher his mum through the door, handing her over to Gabriel’s driver, who was there with an umbrella so that they wouldn’t get wet as they walked towards the car.
They would be flying on Gabriel’s private plane.
‘Well?’ Jennifer whispered as she ducked out of the insistent drizzle, taking shelter in the doorway with its portico, ‘Have you told her?’
‘You mean that it’s all top secret? Don’t breathe a word? Walls have ears?’
‘This isn’t funny, Gabriel!’
‘No, it’s not. We’re also not undercover secret agents exchanging time-sensitive information. We can look natural when we have a conversation. In fact, it would be very convincing if we look natural instead of conducting our conversations in dramatic whispers. Relax. It’s all going to be fine.’
‘That’s easy for you to say,’ Jennifer grumbled. They were both standing back, still by the front door, while Francesca was ushered towards the car and helped in.
‘You take life too seriously. Always have. Look at my mother. She’s complaining about me having too many cars. Haven’t heard her complain like that in months. Anyway, rest assured, all is well. I’ve obeyed your instructions like a good little boy, and my mother is duly sworn to secrecy.’
‘I know you’re being sarcastic, but good. That’s clever. Not making it out to be anything definite. Just something that’s casual.’
‘Not that casual.’
‘Casual enough to have an ending in a few weeks’ time,’ Jennifer insisted.
‘Are you having sudden misgivings?’ Gabriel asked sharply.
‘No. I told you I would go through with this and I wouldn’t let you down now. Besides, it feels a little too late to come clean anyway.’
Gabriel half nodded. He looked past her to where his mother was now happily settled into the back seat of his black Range Rover, contentedly glancing across at them as they chatted by the door.
She looked the best she’d looked in…in as far back as he could remember.
‘My mother looks like a different woman,’ he murmured absently, re-focusing on Jennifer and then letting his eyes linger on her earnest, pink-cheeked face, and then noticing all sorts of sweetly endearing things that had got imprinted in his head over the years…
the soft curve of her mouth, the tiny mole on her cheekbone, those adorable freckles…
‘Doesn’t she? I haven’t seen her wearing makeup and dressing as though she really cared about how she looks in…’
‘A hell of a long time?’
‘A hell of a long time,’ Jennifer parroted quietly.
Their eyes collided, bright blue and bottomless black.
‘I’m really grateful,’ Gabriel murmured sincerely, ‘that you’re doing this for me, Jen. I know I’ve said that before, but I can’t say it enough. Just seeing my mother today has made me realise…’ He raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head briefly, frowning.
‘Realise what?’
‘Realise how badly I took my eye off the ball,’ he confessed heavily.
‘Not just over the past few weeks and months, but over the past few years. She worried about my prioritising work over everything else, and she worried about the fact that I flitted from one woman to another, but she never made a big deal of it. It was easy not to pay attention to the little remarks she made.’
He wondered…but before he could be tempted into saying anything, he was interrupted by Jennifer saying sharply, ‘Don’t. You mustn’t.’
His driver was scurrying over with the umbrella, which Gabriel took from him, but they didn’t rush to the car. Despite the rain, the atmosphere was warm and sticky. He wasn’t ready to drop the conversation yet.
‘Don’t what? Mustn’t what?’
‘Don’t think that worrying about you had anything to do with your mother’s health issues.’
The observation dropped into the space between them, leaving a brief but electric silence in its wake. All of a sudden, Gabriel realised that had been exactly what was going through his head.
Had been for a while.
Had maybe even accounted for his urgency in wanting Jennifer to agree to do what he’d asked her to do, pretend a relationship that might give his mother something to hold on to.
Had he somehow been responsible for his mother’s heart problems?
It made him hark back to those dark times when, as a young child, he’d wondered whether he’d been responsible for his dad running off, before he’d realised that he’d had nothing to do with the terrible choices his father had made.
Jennifer had read his mind. For a few seconds, Gabriel was shaken by the accuracy of her observation. Did he like that? Well, he was rather uneasy with it…
‘Okay. Let’s make a run for it. Or walk. The rain seems to be giving up. So much for the accuracy of weather reports.’
‘I know. They’re always wrong. When they say storm, I plan for a picnic.’
Gabriel laughed, and then she felt the weight of his arm over her shoulders. Her whole body tensed because she hadn’t been expecting any physical contact between them, and yet of course there would be some!
‘Did you just stiffen up on me?’ he whispered into her ear as they reached the car. ‘We should try and do away with the tension. Doesn’t fit in with a couple in love.’