Chapter Sixteen #3
‘Giovanni’s mamma.’ But Geneva avoided Jade’s gaze, making her wonder if that were true.
Jade’s name had never struck her as typical of Gran or Nonno.
In fact, it sounded like a young woman’s choice and she wondered whether Geneva, despite everything, had chosen a name before handing her over. ‘But your marriage with Jarno ended?’
‘He tried to forgive me, but when he met someone else, well, we freed each other from something that made neither of us happy.’ Geneva folded her hands as if trying to still them. ‘We haven’t been in touch for a long time.’
Jade was beginning to feel as if she was interrogating Geneva over the sins of immaturity and failing to earn support. Still, she didn’t know if she’d ever have another opportunity to fill in all the blank pages of her own backstory, so she continued. ‘Have you had other relationships since Jarno?’
‘Of course.’ Geneva looked offended, as if Jade thought her incapable of attracting men.
‘But no one who led to marriage or children.’ Her replies were becoming shorter.
Probably she was resenting Jade’s barrage of questions.
Feeling judged, as she’d been by her parents and her husband, abandoned to face her pregnancy alone while Joey wandered off to roam free.
Around them, the café bar had filled up. The card-playing men were ever more raucous, exchanging friendly but loud insults. Parents were filling their children with sugary drinks and babies cried while their older siblings played. ‘Do you want to ask me anything?’ Jade asked.
Geneva blew out her cheeks, tapping one finger against another, as if thinking. ‘Are you happy?’
Having anticipated questions about whether she saw Joey, or perhaps her financial situation, the simple question disarmed Jade.
She deliberated over her answer. ‘Losing Gran was horrible. But I have security. Health. Friends. Lots to be happy about.’ She didn’t mention love, or Leo.
Or her half-siblings and their joint inheritance.
Geneva gave the slightest of nods, but asked nothing more, so Jade began again. ‘I know your parents are dead. Your brother doesn’t live in Como, does he?’ Gran had said that he hadn’t seen Jade’s situation as any of his affair.
‘Omar?’ A small headshake. ‘I haven’t heard from him for years.
I have seen a cousin here recently. We remembered each other, but all she talks about is her grandchildren.
’ She didn’t have to add, ‘And I have none.’ The wrinkling of her nose said it for her.
Jade knew she sometimes pulled the same face.
‘Does this cousin know who I am?’ Jade asked. When Geneva only shrugged, Jade assumed the cousin was another who’d found her life more comfortable without acknowledging living proof of Geneva’s mistake.
Needing a break, Jade fetched two fresh coffees, queuing behind a woman and two small girls who were trying to pull each other’s green ribbons from their long, dark hair.
Their giggles were like musical notes on the sugar-laden air.
Though Jade smiled absently at their antics, she spent the waiting time considering everything Geneva had said and discovered that an unexpected picture of her was forming.
Not so much a callous, irresponsible young woman who’d cast off a baby as an inconvenient misstep before going on with her life, but an overwhelmed, under-supported girl, stigmatised in her disgrace.
Honestly? Jade couldn’t say Geneva had made the wrong decision in accepting Gran and Nonno’s offer to parent ‘the baby’.
They’d given Jade the kind of happy childhood not everybody was lucky enough to enjoy, with abundant love and treats to go with the necessary food, shelter and clothing. She’d been loved.
Jade paid for the fresh coffee, sank down and took a deep breath, hardly able to believe what she was about to say.
‘Are you still looking for a job? I could give you some casual work, starting tomorrow. Mainly it will be cleaning, with some breakfast duties.’ With Geneva’s sketchy description of why she’d lost her last job, Jade would rely on Leo to supervise when Jade couldn’t.
Geneva halted in ripping open a new sugar sachet, her jaw slack, her dark eyes drilling into Jade as if suspecting a trick.
Brisk and businesslike, Jade continued. ‘The hours are early morning to early afternoon. That will leave you a few hours in the afternoons to find a permanent job.’ It would insert a tiny bit of room into Jade’s schedule while she was deciding on the permanent staff situation in between dealing with Rosalie and Erin, and their joint inheritance becoming real. And making time for Leo . . .
Geneva burst out, ‘Sì, sì, grazie.’
Her fervour seemed so genuine that Jade found herself smiling. ‘Come at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.’ Briefly she chatted about the pensione and Geneva ventured questions about how long Jade had been there, and what the clientele was like.
Once the second coffee had been consumed, Jade rose. ‘I must get back. Tomorrow morning?’
‘Sì.’ Geneva rose too, but made no attempt to shake hands or offer an embrace, as if assuming it wouldn’t be welcome.
Just as when she’d left Leo late last night, Jade again felt astonished at what she’d done. But life wasn’t always about neat solutions and everyone living happily ever after. It could be messy and incomplete.