When Celestria appeared at Pendrift Hall, Julia and Archie were in the drawing room having coffee with Elizabeth, who had joined them for dinner. She stood in the doorway with her small suitcase, looking as radiant as if she had just enjoyed a full night’s sleep.
“Hello, everyone!” she said, beaming, relishing their surprise.
“Good God, Celestria!” exclaimed Archie, standing up. “Where did you come from?”
“The station,” she said. “I got a cab.”
“It’s so late. You should have telephoned,” said Julia, rising to greet her. “This is a lovely surprise. You do look well.”
“Hello, Grandma,” she said, bending down to kiss her. The old woman smiled, and Celestria noticed the change in her immediately.
“When did you get back from Italy?” Julia asked.
“This morning.”
“You must be exhausted,” she said, noticing her niece’s eyes shining with unusual brightness.
“Not at all. I slept on the train.”
“To what do we owe this pleasure?” said Archie. It wasn’t like Celestria to make an impromptu visit.
“I’d like a drink first. A glass of red wine would be nice,” she said, looking around the room she had lived in every summer but never really noticed. Archie walked over to the drinks table and poured her a glass. “Pendrift Hall is a magical house,” she said.
“It’s special, isn’t it? There’s none other like it,” Archie replied, his eyes full of sadness.
“It’s special because of the people who inhabit it,” said Elizabeth firmly, looking on her son and daughter-in-law with pride. “We all imprint ourselves onto it over the years. It’s certainly been loved.”
Archie handed Celestria the glass. She took a swig and felt it trickle down into her empty stomach.
“Mama tells me that you are thinking of selling.”
“How does she know?” Archie asked, affronted.
“She probably knows the ghastly Weavels,” said Julia, lighting a cigarette. “Nothing about Pamela would surprise me.”
“It’s true,” said Elizabeth stoically. “Pendrift Hall is in trouble; that’s all there is to it.” Now she looked more like her old, disgruntled self.
“Well, I’d like to honor my father’s promise,” said Celestria. The three of them stared at her.
“What promise?” interjected Elizabeth, glancing at Archie.
“I heard you talking in the little sitting room,” she admitted to Julia, unabashed. “Papa said he would help you out.”
“Ah,” said Julia, looking embarrassed. “Monty was always there.” She raised her eyes to her husband. “Now he’s not, and everything falls apart.”
“I am now very rich. I’ve inherited my grandfather’s fortune, along with Mama and Harry. I can’t keep my share all to myself; it’s more than even I could spend in a lifetime, and I certainly won’t need it where I’m going!” The wine made her feel deliciously light-headed. “Papa would never have let you sell Pendrift.”
“He most certainly would not,” agreed Elizabeth, clicking her tongue.
“So neither will I.”
Julia blinked, her eyes now shining with tears. “You really want to save our home?” she asked, dazed. “I didn’t think you liked it here.”
“It’s not just your home, it’s our home. All my happiest memories are here. I just never knew it.”
“My dear girl,” said Elizabeth. God had indeed performed a miracle. Father Dalgliesh had been right; help had come from the most unexpected place. “I thought you the most selfish of all my grandchildren.”
“Papa thought so, too,” Celestria replied. “And perhaps I still am selfish, because this is giving me pleasure. You see, I’m in love. He’s highly unsuitable, and Mama is furious. But Grandpa would have celebrated it and encouraged me to follow my heart. I haven’t changed that much, after all. If I were unselfish, I’d marry Aidan Cooney to make Mama happy. But as it is, I’m going to return to Italy after Grandpa’s funeral and make Mama very unhappy indeed.” She shrugged unapologetically.
“Good God, girl!” Archie exclaimed suddenly, turning pink. “Your father would be very proud of you, Celestria.”
“Thank you,” said Elizabeth humbly. “And thank you, God, for giving Celestria a big heart. Now, tell us about your young man? What does he do?”
Perhaps it was the wine, or the fact that Celestria no longer needed approval from anyone, but she told it to them straight, without reserve, and although Archie dropped his coffee cup and stained the carpet, no one was in any position to criticize.
The following morning, Celestria awoke late to the sound of Bouncy in the garden below, kicking a ball across the lawn with Purdy. She stood a while at the window, gazing out. Bouncy made her smile, running over the grass on his short legs, laughing with abandon. It gave her pleasure to know that, thanks to her, he would grow up here. Maybe he’d never know how close he’d come to leaving it. She raised her eyes to the sea that glittered innocently in the pale light of morning. Of the family, only she knew that her father hadn’t drowned there. Only she knew the extent of his deception. But by saving Pendrift, she was somehow erasing some of his malice, preserving his memory as she would have liked to remember him. No one would be any the wiser. They’d all thank her, assuming that she was simply taking up where he left off, doing what he would have done himself, had his life not been so cruelly cut short.
But she knew. Not a day would go by when she wouldn’t wonder where he was and what he was doing, and whether his duplicity had brought him happiness. She doubted it was possible to build happiness on foundations that were warped with pain. He had selfishly sought pleasure without considering the hearts he had broken along the way. Well, she wouldn’t allow him to hurt her family any more. The knowledge that she was preserving their memory of him gave her the deepest sense of satisfaction.
As she walked across the lawn to the snake path that led down to the sea, she was suddenly hit on the shin by the football. Little Bouncy squealed with laughter. “Thorry,” he said, his lisp as sweet as ever. Purdy came bounding over the grass to catch it.
“You kick very well. I think you’re going to be a skillful footballer.” The little boy jogged over to her. “I see you now have Mummy all to yourself,” she said, recalling the time Nanny nearly lost him to the sea.
“Mummy’th my betht friend,” he replied as Purdy ran past, almost knocking him to the ground. Bouncy ran after the dog, trying to catch his Labrador tail.
“And Grandma?” added Celestria, a little mischievously.
“Grandma playth with me, and Daddy throwth me in the air.”
“I bet Grandma doesn’t play football.”
“Grandma is very old,” he said innocently. “Wilfrid and Sam play with me, and Purdy,” he added, springing up to run to the ball. He gave it a good kick. It flew over the grass. Purdy ran after it, and Bouncy ran after Purdy.
Celestria raised her eyes to one of the drawing room windows, where Julia stood watching them. For her, Celestria’s gift was even more precious. Pendrift wasn’t just her home; it was her children’s home.
Down on the beach Celestria sat on the sand, enjoying the solitude and the gentle rhythm of the waves. She allowed her memories to take her back to the summers of her childhood, knowing that she would never spend another summer here again. One chapter had closed; another was about to begin. She didn’t know where it would take her, but she was confident that, with courage and patience, she would find happiness with Hamish.
Suddenly she heard a familiar voice behind her. She swiveled around to see Father Dalgliesh striding across the sand. “I was told I could find you here,” he called out above the sound of the sea. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Please do,” she replied, watching him sit down.
“This is a surprise,” he said, catching his breath. “Julia tells me you’ve saved Pendrift. Your gift is generous.”
“Not really,” she replied. “My grandfather has made me very rich. I’m just pleased I’m in a position to do it. It’s what Papa would have wanted.”
“Of course,” he said. “I’m sure he’d be very proud.” There was a long silence. He took off his glasses and pulled out a handkerchief with which to clean them. “How was Italy?”
“It was beautiful,” she replied.
“I don’t know Puglia. What’s it like?”
“Dry, stony, flat, cliffy. There are parts that remind one of Cornwall, except the sun shines, and the sky is that incredible blue.” While she told him about the cemetery, the little church attached to the Convento, and the old fortress, she grew more certain than ever that Puglia was where she belonged, in spite of all the unhappiness Hamish had suffered there. If it hadn’t been for Natalia, he wouldn’t be the man he was today. Because of Natalia, she loved him. If it hadn’t been for Freddie, Gaitano, and Daphne, she might never have changed. What was the point in running away from all that?
“You look very refreshed,” he said, putting his glasses back on. It was true. She was more beautiful than he remembered her. She was no longer troubled, as if in Italy her spirit had at last found peace. “I’ve wanted to talk to you ever since you ran off,” he began, but Celestria stopped him by touching his hand.
“Father, please. I’m so ashamed. I was misguided, not to mention foolish.”
“You were confused; it was understandable. I wanted to tell you because I didn’t want you to feel embarrassed. But you were gone—”
“I remembered your eyes for days afterwards.”
“My eyes?”
“Yes, you looked at me with such compassion, and yet in your eyes I saw a reflection of my own ugliness.”
He shook his head. “You’re beautiful.”
“Perhaps on the outside, but I was ugly on the inside. Even my own father thought me spoiled and demanding. Mama thinks she’s changed because she saw a vision of my grandfather the night he died.”
“She did?”
“She might have found God, but she’s still the same person. Some people are too old to change, or perhaps too set in their ways. I’m not, and Italy has changed me. As much as I love Pendrift, I feel disconnected here, as if I no longer belong.”
“That’s because so much that was familiar to you has changed.”
“I know. My father was such a big presence; without him it just feels empty.”
“Give it time.”
She shook her head and her hair fell over her shoulders in yellow curls. “No. I’m going back to Puglia.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You’re going back?”
“Yes. I met a man, Father.”
“Ah.” He fought his disappointment.
“He needs me.”
“And you? Do you need him?”
“More than I realized.”
“Then you must go. But you’ll be missed.”
She smiled at him knowingly. “You’ll miss me, won’t you?”
He smiled bashfully. “Yes. But I’ll be happy to know that you are happy. Perhaps it’s too much to expect you to remain in a place that has brought you so much unhappiness.”
“No, that’s not true. This place has made me grow up. I love it more now than I ever did. But I love Puglia, too. I thought I’d want to leave it and start afresh somewhere new, but I don’t want to run away from the place that has offered me another chance.” She chuckled, knowing that Father Dalgliesh couldn’t possibly understand. “If it hadn’t been for Puglia, I would have turned out just like Mama, and imagine what a fright I would have been! Mama was bad before, but now she’s found God, she’s even worse. You wait, she’ll be down here soon enough arranging the church flowers and collection bags.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Then we have time for a walk?” he suggested.
“I’d like that,” she replied, standing up.
“So would I. At least this time it’s not raining,” he said, setting off along the beach towards the path that led up to the cliff top.
“I see you’re wearing a matching pair of socks.” She laughed, slipping her hand through his arm.
“You noticed?”
“I always noticed, Father.”
Hamish sat in Saverio’s bar playing Scopa with Leopoldo, Manfredo, and Vitalino. It was raining. The air in the bar was thick with smoke and condensation. The men of Marelatte gathered around the small tables to drink coffee and complain about their women. Hamish remembered the time he had suddenly seen Celestria talking to Salazar. He recalled the sense of outrage that Robert Montague’s daughter had invaded his inner sanctum that had combined with the overwhelming urge to protect her from the situation in which she was so clearly out of her depth. He stared blankly at his hand of cards and recalled how deftly Celestria had crept under his skin from the first moment he saw her running her fingers over the vines on Natalia’s tomb. Her allure had shone out as brightly as those two candles. It had disarmed him. He had been ashamed of his outburst and, for the first time in three years, painfully aware of what he had become. When he had discovered she was the daughter of the man who had seduced his wife, there was no other option but to avoid her. He knew himself well enough to know that she would be hard to resist. He wanted to hate her, but he couldn’t help falling in love with her. She had opened his heart and poured honey on the wounds with her humor and compassion, and suddenly he had felt hopeful again. He had rediscovered a sense of romance. Beauty had sprung out of tragedy like a flower sprouting from a rock. He had believed her carefree smile and clear gray eyes incapable of such selflessness. He had misjudged her, and he had misjudged himself. He now felt a different man; but would she come back to him?
“What’s on your mind, Hamish?” Leopoldo asked gruffly, rubbing his bristly chin. “Your eye hasn’t been on the game tonight.”
“It’s love,” said Vitalino with a smirk. “Another drink to drown your sorrow, friend?”
“I have no sorrow,” Hamish replied, smiling devilishly. “I’ll outwit you all, you’ll see!”
“You think your luck’s in?” Manfredo teased. “You’ve lost every game so far!” He caught his father’s eye and shrugged.
“Can’t you see he’s shaved his face? Only a woman could do that to a man. It’s a tragedy, it really is.” Vitalino laughed, shaking his head. “His eye’s not on the game because his mind is on a beautiful angel of a woman.”
“If she can make you shave, how much lower can she drag you?” Leopoldo growled.
Hamish laughed, throwing his head back like a shaggy lion, but inside he was riddled with doubt. “She has the power to do anything she chooses,” he said, giving in.
“Even take you away from us?” Vitalino ventured. His smile sat uneasily on his face. “She wouldn’t do that, surely?”
“Would you miss me?” Hamish joked, slapping him on the back.
They all laughed, but Hamish remembered his promise to Celestria with foreboding. He belonged in Marelatte.
He left the bar with Vitalino. The rain had stopped, leaving the wet earth sugar-scented and glittering. The clouds had drifted out to sea, exposing a great black hole in the sky studded with stars, and there, shining in the midst of such splendor, was the moon. Hamish knew that that moon would always make him think of Celestria.
“I’m going crazy,” he confided to his friend. “Marelatte seems incomplete without her.”
Vitalino chuckled. “You seem incomplete without her.”
“I’m afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“That I didn’t give her a good enough reason to come back.”
“Aren’t you a good enough reason?”
“I should have told her how I feel.”
“Didn’t you? Women need to know.” Vitalino considered himself an expert.
“Not enough.”
“Women need a bit of poetry. You’ve lived here…how long? And you still haven’t picked up the Italian way of wooing women? It’s all in the words and the way they’re spoken. That’s why the Italians are the best lovers in the world. We’re famous for it. You’re too economical with your words, that’s the problem. Perhaps it’s because you are Scottish. But trust me, women like it laid on with a trowel.”
“You talk a lot of shit, Vitalino.”
“It’s shit that works.” He puffed out his chest, but Hamish still dwarfed him. “So you think she’ll return to her world and forget about you?”
“Yes.” Hamish’s voice cracked. “It’s only when they leave you that you realize how much they mean to you.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. If she loves you, she’ll come back.”
“She’s very young. The young are fickle.”
“They also love with passion.”
Hamish smiled, recalling the times they had made love on the slope above the old fortress. “That is true.” He turned to his friend and shook his head apologetically. “I’m doubting myself. I’ve found someone special. I’m terrified of losing her.”
“I understand. I envy you. No sooner have I settled my heart on one woman than another steals it away. I spend my life chasing it around town!” They both laughed. Vitalino noticed that Hamish walked without his stick. “Where’s the old man’s wand?” he asked.
“Don’t need it,” Hamish replied.
“I’d get it back if I were you. Women are suckers for a vulnerable man.”
“I can’t. Saverio’s wife has flown off on it!”
Vitalino chuckled affectionately. “You might have lost your heart, but at least you haven’t lost your sense of humor!”