She put her signature to the document and waited while Captain Falieri added his own, as witness.
Then she turned away. ‘I must talk to my son,’ she said.
Gravely, Captain Falieri inclined his head, and watched her walk out.
Rain was falling. Heavy, relentless sheets of rain that swept in off the North Atlantic, rattling against the windowpanes, spitting down the chimney.
The cottage felt cold, so cold.
Damp and unused.
Captain Falieri’s expression darkened as he brought her cases indoors.
‘You cannot stay here,’ he said bluntly. ‘I will take you to a hotel.’
Lizzy shook her head.
‘No. I would rather be here. I’ll be all right.’
She turned to him and held out her hand.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘For doing what you could to make this as…simple…as possible.’
He took her hand, but he did not shake it. Instead, he bowed over it.
‘I wish…’ he said, and he straightened and looked into her eyes. ‘I wish that matters had been…otherwise.’
Her throat tightened. She could not cope with kindness.
Nor with pity.
‘Thank you,’ she said again. ‘You had better go now. I’m sure the pilot will wish to start his return flight.’
A private plane had flown her to a military airfield further south, and then Captain Falieri had driven her and Ben to her cottage.
‘If you are sure?’
She nodded. ‘It would be best for Ben.’ She swallowed. ‘A complete break will be the easiest for him. As it was when—’
She could not continue. Memories pressed upon her, heavy and unbearable. Could it really have only been a few weeks ago that she had stood here in the hallway admitting entrance to two strangers?
She felt the vice close around her heart again.
She turned and went into the kitchen. Ben was sitting at the table, slumped over it, dejection in every line.
‘Captain Falieri has to go now, Ben. Come and say goodbye.’
Ben lifted his face to her.
‘Can’t we go back with him, Mummy? Can’t we? I don’t like it here. It’s cold.’ There were tears in his voice. The vice inside her crushed even more tightly.
‘No, my darling, we’ve come home now. Our holiday is over.’
Tears quivered in Ben’s eyes.
‘I don’t want it to be over,’ he said.
There was nothing she could say. Nothing at all. She wanted to sit at the table and howl with him, pour out all her grief and heartbreak. But she could not. She had to be strong for Ben.