Once outside again she found Lucia and Durante in the shade of the terrace on loungers, Lucia looking several degrees brighter than the day before. Zia had played down her dust-up with Gerardo to the couple, not wanting them to worry, and hadn’t mentioned the money aspect at all. They probably knew Gerardo would do that but she didn’t want them to know Piero would. Stupid to protect him when he’d let her down so badly.

Wiping the thoughts from her mind so they wouldn’t show on her face Zia dropped a kiss on Lucia’s head. ‘I’m glad to see you out of bed.’

The older woman grimaced and managed a breath of a laugh, though it made her put a protective hand to her abdomen. ‘I came out to see Piero and have stayed for some fresh air.’

‘Has Piero gone?’ Zia asked casually. She’d lingered in the laundry in that very hope.

Lucia nodded. ‘He’s busy. He says Graziella has left Tenuta Domenicali.’

Zia glanced at her in surprise. ‘Oh? Permanently?’

Durante nodded. ‘She’s been working hand-in-glove with Binotto’s so Salvatore has bid her goodbye. And they think they’ve found a solution without that deal. He didn’t go into detail but he hopes to keep Il Rifugio.’

Zia said, ‘That’s fantastic. Big shock about Graziella, though.’ She wondered if the ‘solution’ was the one she’d hurled at Piero in rage and scorn. Despite everything, she was glad to know things were looking better for him. When she was back in Brighton’s seaside grandeur and English autumn had taken the place of sultry Italian summer, she would take comfort from knowing he was secure in his beloved home above the valley. Il Rifugio – the escape.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday passed quietly. Lucia’s phone remained in Zia’s pocket so she could continue to be the one to deal with guests. Lucia, even under the anxious and watchful eye of her husband, had a wobble when her temperature shot up. Durante called the doctor and he and Zia waited, chilled by new dread. Fresh antibiotics soon returned Lucia to the slow road of recovery but Durante was almost as exhausted as her and asked the family to resist visiting. The exception was Fiorella, who came to help with Saturday’s guest change.

Secretly, Zia acknowledged relief. She didn’t want her last few weeks at Bella Vista to be a boiling pot of angst as she came up against relatives who may or may not know who she was … and may or may not want to.

Life at Bella Vista was quiet. Sister Paola and Sister Priscilla brought a basket of peaches from the monastery but left them with Zia when she explained Lucia’s need for rest. ‘She is in our prayers,’ Sister Priscilla said with a smile, then they rumbled off in their little car.