She should enjoy the last week of her holiday and go home. It was only fair. She’d tell them now of her decision, expressing deep gratitude to them for sheltering baby Zia-Lucia. When Lucia and Durante trod back up the terrace steps, she grasped the chair arms, ready to rise, steeling herself to say the words.

Then Lucia flopped into her seat. ‘So,’ she pronounced with the air of one who’d thought long and hard but was now happy with a decision. ‘If you wish, I will tell Gerardo privately that you are here. If he wants to come and meet you, he is welcome.’

Durante added, ‘Of course, he is not force to accept.’

‘That is a risk,’ agreed Lucia, patting Zia’s hand. ‘You tell me “yes,” I will speak to him. Say “no,” and I will not. You take your time and think about it.’

‘Oh.’ Zia sank slowly back into her chair, her resolution to say thank you and goodbye flying from her mind. This was a whole new decision to wrestle with.

Chapter Nine

Two days later, Zia was still undecided. Toasted by the afternoon sun, she’d positioned a chair and table to the side of the cottage to avoid eavesdropping because Ursula was indoors on the phone to Stephan. Her friend’s cross voice still reached her occasionally. Reconciliation was evidently a way off.

Though her laptop was open, Zia’s gaze drifted down to a small tractor crawling between Tenuta Domenicali’s green vines while the possible consequences of meeting Gerardo swooped around her like the swallows above the cottage. How would Zia feel if Gerardo passed on the opportunity to meet her? Was it worth risking rejection for the chance that she might one day get an Italian passport? Maybe she should just go home and request a Resident Permit or Permesso di Soggiorno and, if she was successful, live in Italy for the required period. Then she could apply for citizenship. It wasn’t impossible for her to achieve it without the golden key of ‘by descent’ … just less likely.

Maybe living in Italy was a pipe dream anyway. She could go home to dear old Brighton and get a job utilising her Italian language skills before she ran out of money. Such a role might mean business trips to Italy and that would be something.

The rumble of the tractor drifted to her on the breeze. A figure on foot before it moved steadily from vine to vine. Curious suddenly, she turned back to her computer, adjusted the folder she was using as a light shield and tapped Tenuta Domenicali into a search window. A website flashed up and she chose the English language option.

Tenuta Domenicali is the vineyard and winery that has been at the heart of generations of the Domenicali family. On the south and west-facing slopes and terraces of the Orvieto wine region, above the town of Montelibertà in Umbria, the grapes are grown that produce the off-dry Tenuta Domenicali Orvieto Classico and the medium white Tenuta Domenicali Sangiovese.