Chapter 42

Two months later Nicola announced, in a matter-of-fact tone, that she thought it would really be much more convenient all round if she moved in.

‘It would make it so much easier for me to help with your mother,’ she suggested, with irrefutable logic.

Maria and Nicola had become firm friends. Nicola proved to be a practical person who enjoyed looking after the home and did not find household duties onerous. Her background, which in many ways had been a difficult one, had cultivated the independence which characterised her.

In the past few weeks Timothy had learned a great deal about her. When she was eight her parents were both tragically killed in a car crash. She and her brother had been cared for after that by their grandmother, who had battled to bring them up despite failing health. Clive, of whom she was obviously very fond, had been protective of his little sister, and done his best to act in the guise of parent. The arrangement had worked well all the time Nicola was at school. But by the time she had completed her secretarial course and found her first job, Granny Price had become too ill to cope, and had died shortly afterwards. With the proceeds from their parents’ house divided between them, Nicola and Clive had been able to go their separate ways, each buying a small flat. They always remained in close contact – Nicola described Clive as her ‘best friend’.

‘He’s five years older than me, which seems a lot when you are still very young.’

‘That’s strange,’ said Timothy. ‘My brother was five years older, also. What a coincidence!’

‘I didn’t know you had a brother. Why isn’t he here to help with your mother?’

Then Timothy explained in detail all that happened to the family, how Carlo had been killed in the war, and how their father, unable to live with the loss, had finally left. When Timothy spoke of the violence to Maria, Nicola was moved to tears.

‘Aren’t there any other relatives?’ asked Nicola.

Timothy then embarked on the story of Claudia and Maria, explaining the events that had happened to cause a rift between them.

‘So they haven’t been in contact – for how long?’

‘It must be almost forty years now. I’m thirty-four – going on thirty-five – and I was born five years after Carlo, whose birth coincided with the time that Stefano came on the scene at the girls’ family home.’

‘Do you think he really did pursue Claudia?’

‘How do we know? But it seems their father, Hugh, was in touch with them both. He was something of a go-between. He told Maria that Claudia was extremely bitter, and heart-broken to the point that she was ill. She took herself off for a year to recover. In fact she delayed her teaching career until she had revived sufficiently to put her heart into it. But apparently, even when she returned, she looked dreadfully thin and miserable.’

‘And what’s your mother’s take on it?’

‘She’s bewildered. Stefano swore to her that he had never proposed marriage to Claudia. He said she was not his type, and I’m sure she wasn’t. I think my mother was pretty attractive in those days, and liked a good time. I think she would have appealed to him far more.’

Nicola was thoughtful. ‘I wonder,’ she said.

‘Wonder what?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. Just my feminine curiosity, trying to work things out. What I’m wondering is, why did she go away for a whole year? It seems a long time to get over something like that. Is Maria still sad that she doesn’t have any contact with her sister?’

‘It’s the one great burden she now carries. Up to recently she had two, but fortunately your arrival in my life cleared away one of her concerns. So now I’m working hard on trying to track Claudia down. As soon as I’ve achieved that, I’ll go and see her, and try my hardest to persuade her to see Mum. If I told her how ill Mum is now, I’m sure … I do so wish she and Claudia could be reconciled before ….’

‘Yes,’ agreed Nicola. ‘That would be very good indeed.’