1786814773 by Debbie Rix

Author:Debbie Rix [Rix, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786814760
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2018-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

SANT’ANTIOCO

October 1959

As the day of the family’s departure from the island approached, Rachael’s life became a round of domestic tasks – packing up belongings, cleaning the cottage and ensuring their final bills were settled.

She also had to prepare Angela for the family’s return to city life – the hustle and bustle of London would be so at odds with their rural existence on the peaceful island. The cottage and the garden beyond were Angela’s whole life. At nearly two and a half years of age, she spent many happy hours playing with a friendly lizard or a wriggling worm in the garden.

‘That child will be a scientist – or a doctor perhaps,’ George often said, as he observed his granddaughter. ‘She is obsessed with how things work… have you noticed? Yesterday, she found a worm that didn’t move. She brought it inside, put it into a matchbox and insisted that we “took its temperature”. The thing was obviously dead, and I didn’t really know what to say.’

‘What did you do?’ asked Rachael, packing a pile of George’s books into a cardboard box.

‘I held the thermometer against the worm’s lifeless body. I was in two minds as to what I should say: to pronounce it miraculously recovered, or to be honest and tell her it had died in spite of the best of care. I chose the latter and she accepted it quite happily. “We did our best,” she said, phlegmatically. Can you believe it? Extraordinary.’

Rachael smiled. ‘She is extraordinary. I think she is very like her father – don’t you? There is so much of József in her. She has passion, a desire to rush in and be involved – just like him. But you’re right – she is also very analytical. I think she gets that from you…’

He nodded ruefully. ‘Possibly,’ he said, a little smugly.

On the surface, Rachael appeared to have accepted her separation from Tommaso. She went about her chores – she cooked, cleaned, shopped and packed. But he was never far from her thoughts. With every box she filled, her mind wandered to their last days together. Whenever she went into the garden to pick tomatoes for lunch or to sit on the veranda soaking up the last rays of autumn sunshine, she was aware of the little gate leading down to the water’s edge and the rope Tommaso had put there to protect her child. The rope was a little frayed now, but it remained a constant reminder of his kindness and love to her and her daughter.

One afternoon, she and Angela were sitting on the veranda preparing vegetables for supper when she heard the familiar sound of a scooter winding its way down the lane. Convinced it was Tommaso, she stood up abruptly, knocking the chopped fennel to the ground; she removed her apron and smoothed her hair, in anticipation of him appearing at any moment. He had come to whisk her away, she thought – to tell her he had broken his engagement and defied his family.

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