She pulled out a postcard stamped July 1959. They were always stamped and franked, sent, but none of them were addressed to a person, just to the cottage. If the postman read them, which surely he would have, it would have appeared as though Ivy was simply sending home pretty reminders of her trips – not writing to her husband who’d been dead fifteen years.

We journeyed to Positano today with Fabricio. I was certain we would not survive the precariously winding roads. But it was well worth the angst. We are staying with a friend of Fabricio for a week and tomorrow plan to go to the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta. They have an icon of a black Madonna – what will Father Anthony say?

The picture on the front does not do justice.

Perhaps Ivy wanted to feel connected to Tom while she was so far away from home. Perhaps she wanted to pretend, briefly, there was someone back in Rosella Cove who wanted to know what she was doing on the other side of the world, and eagerly awaited her return. Perhaps it was simply habit now, part of her routine, to write to Tom.

The next letter brought a smile to Nicole’s face.

15th October, 1960

My Dearest Tom,

You simply will not believe what has happened. Fabricio is here. His wife has passed away and he has finally declared his love for Lucy. I am, in some respects, most relieved as I had thought perhaps he had been mistreating Lucy’s affection for him, that she was merely a convenient annual affair. But, I suppose I was wrong. He is here. With Lucy. And yesterday he proposed. Proposed! She said yes.

I should be much happier than I am.

Of course I am glad my dearest friend has found love again after such loss. And she is ever so happy. But, and I know it is desperately selfish of me to say it, she and I have been the closest of friends for so long now, I cannot bear the thought of someone stealing her away from me.

Lucy talks of adventures the three of us will have together now he is here, but I am not naïve enough to believe her. I know how things will be once they are married. And so it ought to be, too.

He stays in the boatshed. Naturally, he could not stay with Lucy, despite how the world views such things these days. Oh, I am starting to feel my age. Still, there are morals one must stand by and rather than see Fabricio waste his money staying at The Royal, I offered him the boatshed.

We have borrowed a bed from the Tuckers and have made the space comfortable enough. He shall not be there long. They plan to marry as soon as is practical.