‘No, Fliss was quiet and a little shy and very kind, but I’m bright enough to accept now that if she hadn’t been ill, we wouldn’t have stayed together so long. She never disagreed with me. She thought everything I did was fantastic.’
‘I’m not like that.’
‘We were too young, and university isn’t the real world.’ He sighed. ‘I wasn’t ready for such a major commitment, but I did love her.’
‘I’m sure you did.’ Jo removed his cufflinks and tugged down the sleeves of his shirt. ‘But I know I’ve grown up a lot since I was a student.’
Gianni kicked off his shoes and peeled off his socks. ‘I’m so comfortable with you. I’ve never had that with a woman.’
‘Comfortable like an old armchair that’s been worn in?’ Jo scoffed.
‘No...’ Gianni tugged her down to him. ‘I can just be myself and if I’m grouchy, you’ll complain.’
‘Darned right I will,’ Jo interposed, running an appreciative hand down over his ridged abdomen, skimming his waistband, tracing the zip. ‘I’m feeling much more confident now.’
‘Will I survive the night?’ Highly amused, Gianni lay back with a flourish. ‘I’m all yours.’
‘Always,’ she muttered, the upswell of emotion threatening to overwhelm her. ‘I love you. I need you.’
‘I love and need you too, Jojo,’ he groaned with pleasure.
EPILOGUE
JOSTOODOUTSIDELadymead and simply savoured the view of the old Tudor house with the glow of lights behind the mullioned windows. It had taken five years and there had been many problems along the way but the house was finally finished. Temporary repairs had ultimately given way to a full restoration once the various permissions were granted and finally it was finished. The fantastic skyline of the house with its parade of elaborate chimneys and little turrets made her smile fondly. Repointed, the ornamental brickwork looked fabulous.
‘Was it worth marrying you-know-who for?’ her great-aunt Sybil whispered from behind her.
‘So worth it, I’m dizzy thinking about it!’ Jo laughed, turning round to see the older woman clad in a long emerald-green gown.
‘Your costume is spectacular,’ Sybil commented at the sight of the younger woman garbed like a Tudor queen.
‘You look amazing, Sybil.’
‘You don’t think it’s a bit mutton dressed as lamb?’ Sybil asked with a grimace.
‘Not a bit of it. You’ve got the looks and the figure and, for goodness’ sake,’ Jo chided, ‘you’re not so old that you have to be thinking that way!’
Sybil grinned. ‘I knew you’d sort me out.’
‘Is he planning to ask you tonight?’
Sybil went pink. ‘I think so. He’s been going on so much about what a special night this is and I can’t think why our celebration party for Ladymead should be special for him in the same way it is for us.’
‘Federico is a law unto himself.’ Jo sighed, confident that Sybil’s hopes would be met with a marriage proposal.
The changes through the last five years paraded at speed through Jo’s brain. She had become a mother twice over, or maybe three times over since the first set had been twins, non-identical, a boy and a girl called Lorenzo and Alice, now lively four-year-olds. Trixie had been unbearable over her accurate prediction until Sybil pointed out that the twins weren’t that surprising an arrival when Jo’s mother and her uncle had been twins. Their toddler, Gabriele, had been more unexpected. Not a planned pregnancy, that last one, although Gabriele was such an adorable little boy nobody wanted to hand him back. The twins were dark of hair and eye, like Gianni, but Gabriele was blond like his mother, with big brown eyes, a mixture of both parents.
Fiona never had come back to work at Ladymead. Gianni continued to have a business connection with her firm but little personal contact. Sybil had taken over supervision of the work with Federico showing great interest and proffering advice.
‘He’s weaselling his way into her affections,’ Gianni had said uncharitably when, near the end of that first year, Sybil finally agreed to a dinner date with his father.
Two years later, Gianni’s tune had changed. ‘He’s totally gone on her. I hope she doesn’t hurt him. He’s surprisingly sensitive.’
Jo counted the transformation of her husband’s relationship with his father her biggest success. It had taken a long time and an abundance of tact for Gianni to accept that his mother might not have been as honest as she could have been about her marriage. But once he had realised how the marriage had functioned from his father’s point of view he had been gutted when he had to look back at his mother through the lens of an adult. Ever since that evening when the two men had talked in depth, Gianni had dropped his guard with his father, invited him into their lives and begun talking to him as the parent Federico was. Federico had been too strict a parent and he was well aware of the mistakes he had made.
‘Let’s go in...’ Sybil tucked a hand in the crook of Jo’s arm. ‘This is so exciting! Parties at both houses and Ladymead finally alive again!’
‘Where’s Gianni?’ Sybil asked.