Epilogue
The view from the terrace of Sheenagh and Ferdinando’s comfy, contemporary apartment was stunning. The green domes of the duomo stood out against the September-blue sky and the cream, peach and pink buildings of the city sat in rows before it, like guests at a wedding.
Jade sat beside Leo under an awning, sipping tè freddo.
Opposite them, Sheenagh and Ferdinando occupied woven chairs bookended by potted lemon trees. Sheenagh’s eyes were anticipatory. ‘Lovely to see you.’ She glanced at Jade and back to Leo.
‘And you.’ Jade contemplated adding something to end the uncharacteristic froideur between them, then decided Leo’s upcoming announcements would do it for her.
‘The heat eases a little, now August is over.’ Ferdinando sounded compelled to offer small talk.
Leo grinned at his parents. ‘You’re being very patient. Shall I tell you what I’ve decided?’
‘Yes!’ Sheenagh sat forward.
‘Sì.’ Ferdinando reached for his wife’s hand, as if whatever was coming they’d face it together.
‘I’m so grateful that you offered me the opportunity to return to Villa Panorama.’ Leo paused, his tone giving nothing away. Then he flashed a grin. ‘Can I start tomorrow?’
‘YES!’ Sheenagh bounded up, dragging him from his chair and into her arms, her face wreathed in smiles.
Ferdinando, eyes unexpectedly glassy with tears, rose too, and made it a group hug, apparently too choked to speak.
Leo, laughing, let himself be squeezed and squashed and his cheeks resoundingly kissed. When he finally freed himself, he extended his hand to Jade, turning to her with a molten gaze. ‘Also . . .’
‘You’ve made up?’ Sheenagh didn’t wait for confirmation, but yanked Jade up into an embrace too. ‘I’m so happy. Mairead would have been ecstatic! Oh, Jade.’ She squeezed Jade still harder. ‘Just don’t dare dump him so that he leaves Como again.’
Relaxing as the rift between them seemed to magically heal, Jade giggled. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
‘Hey!’ Leo faux-glowered at her. ‘The correct answer is “of course not”.’
She slipped her arm about his waist. ‘Of course not.’ Then she was swallowed up in a hug from Ferdinando, while Sheenagh telephoned Massimo and demanded that he arrange a celebration dinner for them all in Lounge Panorama that evening.
‘With champagne,’ she cried. ‘And mocktails for Sofi.’
It was an hour of joy and excited chatter before Jade could extricate herself, pleading work.
She looped her arm through Leo’s as they crossed the railway lines and entered the city walls.
Underneath the Broletto, the old town hall that stood on stilts beside the cathedral, rows of children sat in rapt attention as a puppeteer group gave a show from within a blood-red velvet booth.
The children burst into delighted laughter as one of the puppet-voices rose.
Leo’s arm tightened on hers, warm and heavy. ‘Embarrassing that Dad nearly cried.’
She stroked his forearm. ‘They love you.’
He tilted his head so he could whisper in her ear, his breath hot on her skin. ‘And I love you. Ti amo, tesoro.’
Tears stung her eyes. ‘Ti amo anch’io. Love you back.
’ She’d never completely stopped. ‘Your parents can’t wait to see you working at Villa Panorama again.
Good job I have Luigi and Nina now, with you, Geneva, Rosalie and Erin all deserting me.
’ Though her tone was light, her mood dipped.
‘I’m still uneasy about Geneva, even if she has a job now.
I think it’s the man who lives with her.
He didn’t sound friendly. All she’s told me is that he’s called Ubaldo.
I am glad I can meet my mother sometimes, though.
’ The words ‘my mother’ still felt awkward on her tongue.
‘Your relationship may grow. Perhaps she’ll open up to you in time.’ His voice was gentle. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve spoken to Joey again?’ She’d confessed about barging into her father’s life with a phone call.
She shook her head as they cut the corner of Piazza Duomo, past the row of busy cafés.
‘I expect that will remain a one-off. But if you’d told me at the start of summer that I’d know my mother and have spoken to my father by now .
. .’ She shook her head in wonder. ‘And it’s taken ages for me to accept my sisters, but now that they’re leaving tomorrow, I’m hoping they’ll soon come back.
They’re beginning to mean a lot to me, despite me being so horrified when I learnt they existed.
’ Jade sighed. ‘I’d been so busy thinking that I couldn’t have Gran back that I didn’t realise that having Erin and Rosalie is having her back.
They’re one-quarter Gran, as I am, and I can tell them things, just like I told her.
I’ve changed our WhatsApp group from Joey’s kids to Sisters, but I wish I could think of something more meaningful to let them know that .
. . Oh!’ She halted so suddenly that her arm slipped from Leo’s.
‘I’ve thought of something. I wonder if they’re in the apartment? ’
Impatiently, as if he’d been the one to halt, she took his hand and bustled him to the corner where Three Sisters waited under its blue tarpaulin hat, dragging him through the black gate and the apartment’s back door. Despite hearing laughter from the salotto, she swerved into her bedroom.
Leo barely had time to glance at the bed and say, ‘I like where we’re going so far,’ before Jade slid Gran’s jewellery box from the dressing table and cradled its weight.
He eyed it for a second, then followed her silently as she entered the salotto and set the box carefully on the small table.
He settled himself in a chair as if he knew that this wasn’t about him, but he really wanted to watch what evolved.
Rosalie was in a fit of giggles. ‘Oh, Jade! We walked along that breakwater with the big silver sculpture. And lake water was splashing over. I was fine in sandals, but Erin picked her way along in her white Converse and white trousers.’ She held up her hands and wiggled her shoulders as if taking mincing steps.
‘Note the word “white”.’ Erin rolled her eyes in Jade and Leo’s direction.
Rosalie only laughed harder. ‘Then this man jogged by and splashed us. And Erin made this noise like a donkey. Oowah-eeyoo!’
‘White trousers.’ But Erin was grinning. ‘It splashed right up my bum.’
‘And then.’ Rosalie was almost choking now. ‘She slipped and landed on her knee. And swore, and the same jogger turned round and wagged his finger at her.’
Laughing too now, though ruefully displaying a black smear on her trouser leg, Erin just said, ‘White trousers. White shoes.’ Then she caught sight of the box in Jade’s arms. ‘What’s that?’
Shyly, Jade knelt beside the table, letting her hand linger on the smooth, cool jewellery box. ‘Years ago,’ she said, ‘when it was just Gran and me, she gave me this.’ Feeling for the key, she wound it, then opened the lid to set the tinkling folk tune of ‘La Bella Gigogin’ free on the air.
‘Pretty,’ breathed Erin, craning her neck. ‘Are they Gran’s necklaces and stuff?’
Jade nodded. ‘And some things of Nonno’s.
’ She showed them their grandfather’s gold cufflinks, square and no-nonsense like Nonno, and old-fashioned floral jewellery of Gran’s, enamelled with turquoise and green, as airy and dainty as she’d been herself.
Laying each piece on the table, she shared any memories she could attach to the dully glittering array.
‘The pearls were her favourites. Nonno wore these gold cufflinks when he attended trade dinners. Gran got married in the silver locket – I think her parents gave it to her.’ On and on, until almost every piece was arranged on the table, gems winking as if gradually waking up.
Deliberately, she’d left the ring compartment till last. Now she caressed the perfect circles with her fingertips.
‘These are Gran’s engagement and wedding rings, and Nonno’s wedding ring.
’ She swallowed a lump in her throat. ‘I thought we could have one each – but Nonno’s ring might need to be resized for any of us to wear it,’ she said doubtfully.
‘Really? You’d share their most personal things with us? Thank you, Jade.’ Erin wiped beneath her eye, but a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek.
Rosalie, in contrast, jiggled with joy. ‘Are you sure? That’s really lovely of you.
Aw.’ She slid to her knees next to Jade and gave her a big hug, eyes shining.
‘But I’d love to have Nonno’s ring as it is, because I’ve been wanting one for the other thumb.
’ She exhibited her left hand, where a thumb ring already gleamed, and then the right, which was bare.
Jade gave a watery smile. ‘Try it.’
When Rosalie reverently slipped the ring onto her right thumb, it was found to be a perfect fit. Wordlessly, she waved her hand in front of her eyes, finally succumbing to happy tears.
Erin joined them on the rug, still sniffing. ‘As symbolic gestures go, Jade, this totally rocks. Choose the ring you want and I’ll have the other.’
‘Let’s both try both and see which fits best,’ Jade said huskily. Soon, she’d settled on the pretty diamond engagement ring on her right ring finger.
Erin found the wedding ring, set with tiny matching diamonds, was perfect on her left index. ‘I’m almost speechless.’ She extended her hand to admire the effect.
‘I wouldn’t even have thought that possible.’ Jade was torn between laughter and tears. ‘We should toast this moment. Have either of you ever tried Ledaig, Gran’s favourite whisky?’
‘Not yet.’ Erin beamed. ‘But I love a wee Scotch, as any good Scot should.’
Rosalie lifted her arms in a mock cheer. ‘Bring it on!’
‘Shall I be barman?’ Leo jumped up and strode to the kitchen, returning in moments with four delicate crystal glasses and a bottle half full of gleaming amber liquid. Solemnly, he poured the whisky that originated on the Isle of Mull, like Gran.
Erin raised her glass with a flourish. ‘To Gran.’
‘To Gran.’ Rosalie lifted her glass too.
‘To Mairead,’ Leo said.
Jade held her glass aloft and looked up, as if Gran floated above them somewhere. ‘If you’re here, Gran – everything’s worked out as you wanted. Slàinte Mhath,’ she said in the traditional Scottish toast, which Leo and Erin echoed, and Rosalie had a stab at.
If Jade had been a fanciful person, or as fey as Gran, she might have thought she heard a faint, well-loved Scottish voice. ‘I know, m’darling. With a wee bit of help.’
But, as she was down-to-earth Jade, she poured more drinks all round and gave Rosalie and Erin her own big news. ‘Leo’s joining his brother in Villa Panorama, so he’s definitely staying in Como.’
As Erin and Rosalie toasted the news with whoops and grins, Leo kept his own drink poised in mid-air. ‘And?’ he prompted meaningfully, his grey-blue eyes fixed teasingly on hers.
Blushing, Jade beamed at her sisters. ‘And Leo and I are back together.’ She tossed back the contents of her glass in one shot. When her throat had recovered, she gasped. ‘For good!’