‘Yes. When I told him I knew it was him, he said that he wanted me to have a nice place to work. Although, if that was all he’d wanted, he could have spent a great deal less.’
‘So it was an altruistic move, after all?’
‘My father does care about Ilaria. Did you notice that the harbour was a little different when you arrived yesterday?’
He shook his head. ‘I noticed that nothing seemed familiar. I was only here for less than a day and it was a long time ago.’
It seemed like yesterday. But it had been a long time.
‘The ferry that we were on was hit by a larger ferry that had just left the harbour. It had always been a bit of a tight squeeze for the ferries to get in and out of the bay, and my father had a separate ferry terminal built, so that things were much safer for both the ferries and the smaller boats in the harbour. Two men from here drowned as well as my brother, and he made sure that their families would always be provided for. He built the hotel
on the other side of the island as well, which has provided employment and allowed people to stay on the island.’
‘So he does his good deeds by stealth.’ Ben smiled.
‘By chequebook. He doesn’t turn up in person.’
‘Never?’
‘No. I didn’t expect him to buy a house here and start throwing parties, the way he did in London, but I’d hoped he might finally decide to come back. But he hasn’t set foot on the island since the day of the ferry accident. I haven’t seen him in two years.’
Ben was watching Jonas playing in the sand, his expression tight and pinched suddenly. Arianna wondered if there was anything that could ever keep him from his son. Maybe if Jonas became an astronaut and flew to Mars...
‘Coming here must have been challenging for you.’
‘Yes and no. When I first got here, I had to work very hard to oversee the building works for the health centre, and to gain people’s confidence. Most of the older people here remember me as a child, and everyone knows what happened, but it took a while to convince them that I could be their doctor.’
He nodded. ‘Yeah, busy can carry you through a lot of things. It did me, when Emma died, but as soon as I caught my breath I realised I was only postponing the loss I needed to feel.’
Maybe that was what she’d done too. Arianna hadn’t told anyone about the nightmares, and after all this time no one had asked. But she couldn’t shake the certainty that Ben just knew.
‘You had nightmares?’ She couldn’t look at him for fear that he’d see her own reflecting in her eyes.
‘Yes.’
‘And they passed?’
‘Yes. They did.’ His voice seemed to pull her back out of the vortex and offer her a way forward. Maybe if she just clung to him...
Or maybe if she stood on her own two feet and pulled herself together. That was Arianna’s preferred coping strategy and it generally worked.
‘Good. That’s good.’ She let out a breath and got to her feet. ‘I should make a start on lunch. Is there anything that Jonas doesn’t like?’
‘He’s at the stage where he’s beginning to like trying new things.’
‘Jonas...’ she called over to the boy. ‘What’s your favourite food?’
‘Fingers and chips,’ he answered straightaway.
‘That’s fish fingers and chips.’ Ben grinned, beckoning to his son. ‘Happy to try something different?’
‘Yes.’ Jonas’s dirty hands found their way onto his father’s knees. ‘Dad says it’s okay if I try something and don’t like it because he eats it.’
‘But if you have fingers and chips, your dad goes hungry?’
Jonas nodded solemnly and Ben chuckled, pulling a face of exaggerated dismay.
‘I’ll go and see if I have some fish fingers in my freezer then.’