Her hair gleamed under the light too, tendrils dancing beside her cheek bones. ‘Durante told me. I was shocked. Are you relieved?’

He tried to smile. ‘Like getting rid of a hornet in my underwear. Except that Papà’s hurt. He’d been alone for a long time and had feelings for Graziella. She was a user but she also made him happy.’

‘It’s a shame for him.’ Her voice dropped, softened. ‘How about you? You must be relieved to know you can keep your home.’

He smiled faintly. ‘I daren’t count that chicken until we know we’ve got a suitable deal.’

She took a step towards the door. ‘I think it will be OK. You’ll get what you want – leave Tenuta Domenicali and create beautiful garden structures, here in Il Rifugio, forever.’

He sucked in air as if someone had elbowed him in the stomach. This beautiful, intelligent woman cared he had stability even though she didn’t know what her own next step would be. He wasn’t sure he’d cope as well in her situation. Slowly, testing the words, he said, ‘It’s what I’ve longed for.’

‘Then I hope you get it.’ She smiled. ‘I’m glad we cleared the air. I expect we’ll meet at Bella Vista when you call to see Lucia and Durante because I want to stay till my very last day. Then I’ll drive home to my own life.’ For a moment, the smile reached her eyes. ‘I wish you happiness, Piero.’

He watched the open door long after she’d stepped out through it, wondering if she’d felt this lack of satisfaction when, last night, he’d been the one to say ‘I wish you happiness’ to her.

‘I wish you happiness’ was easy to say. Being happy was harder. The road to happiness was strewn with obstacles and traps, doubts and difficulties, choices, conflicts and sacrifices and he felt as if he’d just hit standing water in a summer storm – he could aquaplane right off into the scenery.

He needed time to think.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Zia resolved to wring whatever enjoyment she could from her last few weeks in Italy.

Lucia was pottering about nicely now. Durante had begun keeping the Bella Vista grounds again. Zia still serviced the cottages with Fiorella but that didn’t absorb all her time. She hiked around the country park, finding steep outcrops that gave a view of the town as well as the mountains, providing a different perspective to the one she was used to. Sometimes she drove into the centre of Montelibertà to eat at a trattoria and once she FaceTimed Harry from there and showed him the piazza. Another time she took the train to Rome and strolled the streets, dodging scooters.