The lady doth protest too much
– Hamlet
‘It’s a baby girl.’ Gabi’s voice was joyful as it echoed down the telephone line. ‘She’s so beautiful, Cesca, like a tiny doll. She has ten perfect toes and ten lovely fingers, and everything about her is wonderful.’
Cesca smiled, standing in the telephone box and staring out through the dirty, scratched glass. After yesterday’s hangover, she’d decided to get out of the villa this morning and take a refreshing walk up to the village square. It would give her the opportunity to call Gabi as she’d promised to once a week, and then to catch up on her emails to her family and Hugh.
Putting distance between herself and Sam was also a factor, though not one she admitted to herself. But ever since last night, and their discussion about therapy, she’d felt a wave of discomfort come over her. As though it was the middle of winter and somebody had stolen her blanket, leaving her to freeze on a hard mattress. It made her want to curl into a ball.
‘That’s fantastic, congratulations to you all. I’m so happy for you.’ The news of Alessandro’s sister’s new baby was an antidote to all the angst of the previous few days. Selfishly, it also meant that Gabi and Alessandro would be able to return home in a couple of weeks, which could put an end to the stifled closeness of living with Sam Carlton. ‘What’s her name?’
‘She is called Vittoria, after Alessandro’s mother. Such a pretty name for a pretty girl.’
‘And is she sleeping much?’
‘Not at all.’ Gabi sounded insanely happy about that. ‘So we are all doing our bit at nights. I get the two a.m. to ten a.m. shift.’
‘And you like that?’
‘What’s not to like about cuddling a baby? Especially a beautiful one like Vittoria.’ Gabi’s sigh was full of contentment. ‘Anyway, enough about our wonderful news, tell me how things are going at the villa?’
Where to start? ‘Well, Sam Carlton arrived unexpectedly.’
‘Sam is there?’ Gabi’s voice rose two octaves. ‘Oh my goodness, we didn’t know he was coming. Oh Cesca, we should come home right away, he will need looking after.’
Was there anybody who didn’t run around him, fulfilling his every need? Apart from Cesca, that was. What was it about him, anyway?
She thought about the
way he looked in the moonlight last night and rolled her eyes. Even she wasn’t immune to his charms.
‘He’s fine, he doesn’t need looking after. I’ve bought him some food and he wants to be quiet and left alone. He even supervised the cleaning staff for me yesterday.’
She could almost hear Gabi’s smile in her voice. ‘He’s always been such a lovely man. So kind and helpful.’
‘Um, yeah.’
‘But are you sure we shouldn’t come back? When Mrs Carlton said we could have some time off, she didn’t tell me about Sam coming to Varenna.’
‘I don’t think she knows,’ Cesca said. ‘He wants to keep his presence here a secret. Said he wants to get away from everything for a few days.’
‘Well that’s understandable after everything he’s been through.’
‘Like what?’
‘I’m not one to gossip,’ Gabi said, ‘but it must be so hard for him being followed by photographers all the time. And the lies they make up about him, well it’s terrible.’
‘What lies?’ She held the phone closer to her ear.
Gabi’s reply was drowned out by the loud wail of a baby. ‘I’m so sorry, Cesca, the baby has just woken up. I need to change her. Can you call me back another time?’
The piercing wails were making Cesca wince. ‘OK, I’ll call you again on Friday.’ She had to shout to be heard over the cries. ‘Take care of yourself, and try to get some sleep.’
‘Oh I will.’ Still sounding absurdly happy, Gabi bade her farewell.
Cesca hung the phone back on its cradle, and leaned her head on the glass, thinking about Gabi’s words. What lies was she talking about? For a moment, she thought about going back into the café and Googling him, but somehow it felt dirty. She’d been on the receiving end of gossip a few times herself – she knew how much it hurt.
And anyway, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of her Googling him. She really wasn’t that bothered. It would only add to his smugness levels if he ever found out.