Next morning’s family meeting produced an interesting development. Once everybody was seated, the baron held up a formal-looking white envelope and brandished it at them. ‘This arrived in the post for me this morning. I’ll read it to you.’
As the others sat back and listened, he read out the letter. It was from the mayor’s office at the town hall informing the baron that there would be a public meeting at six o’clock on Wednesday evening to discuss the plans to develop the castle into a tourist attraction. Members of the family and/or their representatives were invited to attend. When the baron reached the end of the letter he looked around the room. In case the full ramifications of this had not registered with everybody, he proceeded to spell them out.
‘Under normal circumstances in a situation like this I would expect the architect in charge of the project to be there. I imagine the mayor will have assembled a number of so-called experts to try to prove that we shouldn’t go ahead with our plans, and it really needs a qualified and experienced person to reply to any technical questions, not just us as the owners of the property. The problem, of course, is that the architect in question happens to be the mayor’s son and the two haven’t spoken for years.’
Alice and Simonetta exchanged glances but it was the elderly baroness who spoke up.
‘You’re totally right, Lodovico, the architect must be there, but he probably knew that this day would come and I’m sure he can handle it. I do think either you or one of the children must be there as well. And Alice, of course.’
The baron looked determined. ‘I most certainly will be there. I have no intention of letting Cesare Montorso claim that I’m deliberately staying away. I know the man; if I don’t go, he’ll say that I have no concern for the local people and consider myself far too high and mighty to get involved with the common man. Well, I intend to be there to prove him wrong.’ He let his eyes sweep across the room again. ‘Naturally if Alice would like to come, and if either or both of you children would like to come, I’ll be more than happy, but this is something I’ve got to do, and I agree with you, mother, we will need the architect by our sides.’
Alice was delighted to hear the steely resolve in his voice. With his rather woolly, absent-minded manner, she had somehow been expecting him to delegate responsibility elsewhere, and she was pleased to find him prepared to step up to the mark. An image of him dressed in one of the suits of armour from the corridor crossed her mind and she smiled to herself. Clearly, if the mayor was looking for a fight, the baron was up for it. As for Luca, she felt sure that this meeting would prove far more stressful than a normal public meeting because of the presence of his father, but as the baroness had said, he must have known when he took the job that at some point a confrontation would have been likely. Simonetta’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
‘Good for you, Papà.’ She sounded genuinely proud. ‘I’m definitely going to be there. Achille, what about you? Can you make it on Wednesday evening?’
‘Of course. I have a meeting in Parma that afternoon, but I’ll make sure to be back in time. I agree with you completely: we need to show a united front.’
Simonetta transferred her attention to Alice. ‘And of course you must be there, Alice. Would you be kind enough to call Luca and tell him about this, please? I’m afraid it’ll come as unwelcome news to him.’
News of the meeting certainly didn’t come as welcome news to Luca when she called him on his mobile, but from his voice it sounded as if it wasn’t that much of a surprise. ‘I was wondering if he might do something like this. In fact, I’m impressed that he’s actually behaving like a proper public official and including the populace in the decision-making process – or at least trying to give that impression. With the referendum coming up, a public meeting makes a lot of sense.’
‘And how do you feel about being there? It’ll mean seeing and probably talking to your father again.’
‘I’ve known from the start that this was going to be almost inevitable. To be quite honest, although part of me is dreading it, deep down inside I’d like to see the man again, even if it’s just to discover if he’s really become as bad as people say. As for possible objections, I’ve been preparing some ammunition, so I should be able to field any awkward questions.’
Wednesday’s meeting took place in a large room in the town’s Community Centre and when Alice walked in with the family she was mildly surprised to see that almost all the seats were already taken. Whether this was because the mayor had made sure that all his supporters were in attendance or whether this indicated genuine interest on the part of the population of Varaldo remained to be seen. Seats in the front row had been kept for the family so Alice and the others had to walk down the central aisle to take their places. Simonetta offered to take her grandmother’s arm, but the proud old lady shrugged off the offer and managed it all by herself. Alice and Luca walked side-by-side and she was pleased to see him being greeted by a good number of people as he made his way through the crowd. Among these were Giorgio from the restaurant, Alice’s landlords, and Emilia from the stables. There was no sign of Luca’s twin brother, but this was no doubt because he was back home looking after the farm single-handed.
Alice sat down next to Luca and, in spite of the circumstances, a little tingle of pleasure ran through her as she felt his warmth beside her. In front of them, a table had been set up on one side of the stage with a dais on the other. Behind the desk was the town clerk and another staff member from the municipio. A few minutes after six the mayor appeared on stage and made his way over to the dais and waited while the town clerk called for silence. Alice kept a careful eye on Cesare Montorso. Tonight he was looking smart, business-like and even affable, smiling and waving to faces he recognised in the audience. If he noticed his son in the front row, he gave no sign of acknowledgement. When he started to speak, he produced a brief outline of his main objections to any development of the castle and then called two expert witnesses: one from the university of Bologna and one from something called the Italian Rural Life Society. Simonetta whispered in Alice’s ear that she had never heard of this group, and Alice turned towards Luca on the other side of her to check with him but when she saw the concentration on his face she decided not to bother him with questions.
She could see that his attention was totally focused on his father. She could only imagine what must be going through his head after over fifteen years apart. The fact that his father was looking presentable and sounding professional probably came as a surprise after the horror stories circulating in the village, and Alice wondered whether Luca might be having second thoughts about his decision to support his father’s sworn enemies.
The white-haired professor from the university of Bologna launched into a long rambling discourse about medieval castle building without really making any particular point relevant to this meeting. The man from the so-called Rural Life Society did his best to convince the audience that the town would instantly be inundated with floods of tourists and that this would completely change the character of the place as traffic chaos ensued. It was quite clear that he was one of those people who were not prepared to accept change of any kind and Alice wondered how many people in the audience would in fact sympathise with this view. When he finally sat down again, the Town Clerk turned towards the baron and asked if he or his representative had anything to say.
As already agreed, the baron deferred to his architect and Luca stood up and climbed the half dozen steps onto the stage. As he passed in front of his father, he gave him a formal nod and Alice clearly heard him say, ‘Good evening, Mr Mayor.’ The mayor gave no sign of even hearing this and his face remained impassive as Luca walked up to the dais and looked out over the audience.
‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Luca Montorso and I’m the architect responsible for the project to open Varaldo Castle to the public. For those of you who don’t know, the mayor is my father, and it grieves me that he has chosen to let his personal animosity towards me and the Varaldo family stand in the way of what will be without question a blessing to the town. The castle is almost a thousand years old and has a unique place in Italian history. It deserves to be opened to people from all over the country and, indeed, the world, to visit and explore. Up till now, few of us have ever seen inside the castle, and I salute Baron Lodovico for his decision to share his home with the world.’
He went on to list the advantages he believed this would bring to the town and followed this with a well-reasoned demolition of the objections of the two ‘expert’ witnesses. By the end, Alice sensed that many in the audience had been swayed by his words and for the first time she saw an expression of frustration or more on the face of the mayor. After Luca had finished speaking, there was a round of applause and the face of the mayor darkened even further. As his son left the stage, he leapt to his feet and strode across to the dais. Alice saw concern on the face of the town clerk who looked as though he was trying to catch the mayor’s eye to dissuade him from doing anything silly, but Cesare Montorso was beyond listening to reason. He stared malignantly down at his son with a look of such bitter hatred in his eyes that it actually drew a gasp from members of the audience.
‘Traitor! How can you betray generations of your forefathers by working for scum like the Varaldo family? They deserve to be wiped off the face of the earth.’ He stabbed a finger towards Luca. ‘And you with them!’
By now he was screaming at the top of his voice, oblivious to the remonstrations of the town clerk who repeatedly beat his gavel on the desk in front of him, but in vain. Alice even saw the clerk eyeing the security guard at the side of the stage when the mayor suddenly rattled off a string of foul expletives directed at the Varaldo family and his son, turned and stormed off the stage. There was stunned silence in the hall for several seconds after this outburst before a hum of conversation started. Alice turned to Luca who had returned to his seat beside her and laid a hand on his arm.
‘He’s not well, Luca. He needs help.’
‘He certainly does.’ There was a mixture of shock and pity in his voice. After a few seconds’ pause, he stood up and glanced down at her. ‘This won’t take long.’
She saw him climb up onto the stage and have a few words with the town clerk who listened intently before giving a sign of agreement. As he banged his gavel for silence, Luca walked back across to the dais and waited for almost half a minute before the audience quietened down.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I feel I must apologise for my father’s behaviour. He’s not a well man or he wouldn’t have used the language that he did. On behalf of the Montorso family, I’m truly sorry.’
With a nod to the town clerk he came back down the steps again as everybody started leaving the hall. Alice and the Varaldo family also stood up, waiting their turn to file out. As they did so, a number of people came past to offer their verbal support, and it was increasingly clear that the mayor had shot himself squarely in the foot.
The baron insisted on taking the family out for dinner at the Casa Rosa along with Alice and Luca. They all sat down around a large table and started chatting sporadically. It was hard to gauge how they were all feeling. On the one hand, Alice was sure that they had all sensed the mood in the hall swing in favour of their application, but at the same time, there was no doubt that all of them had been stunned by the mayor’s incredible outburst. The fact that this violent reaction had almost certainly had an adverse effect on his cause and might even lead to his political downfall would definitely help their cause, but it was tragic in its own way, particularly for Luca and his brother. In spite of everything, she almost felt pity for the mayor. Pity, however, was not something that the restaurateur was feeling. He arrived at their table looking decidedly buoyant.
‘Well done, Luca. I’m sure the public will share your view that opening the castle to the public will be a very positive step for everybody. I don’t think your father did himself any favours tonight, and I’m sure that’ll help sway any floating voters. Now what can I get you to eat? Leonardo has had me working all afternoon making fresh pasta. How about a salad with ham and parmesan followed by a plate of tagliatelle noci e gorgonzola? The sauce is made with walnuts from our own tree.’
They were happy to agree with his suggestions and he went off to fetch wine and water for them. He returned almost immediately with slightly sparkling white wine and a rich red wine and saw that everybody was served before leaving them to it. The baron raised his glass towards Luca and proposed a toast.
‘Architetto Montorso… Luca, that was an excellent speech. Thank you most warmly. Cheers.’ They all took sips of wine before the baron carried on, this time in more sober tones. ‘I’m afraid I was appalled by your father’s behaviour, but I confess to feeling almost sorry for the man. He obviously needs help. Maybe tonight’s outburst will push some of his close friends into persuading him to seek medical help. It’s tragic, really.’
Alice was interested to see that the baron’s reaction had been similar to her own. The mayor totally losing it on stage hadn’t been a pretty sight and she could imagine the conflicting emotions running through Luca now. He was sitting to the right of her with the baroness on the other side of him and they were deep in conversation. Achille was sitting on the other side of Alice so she started to chat to the man who would one day inherit the baronetcy. She remembered the conversation she had had with Silvia, the lovesick housemaid, and decided that this was as good a time as any to approach Achille about it. She waited until most of the others were chatting animatedly before turning towards him, lowering her voice before bringing the subject up as tentatively as possible.
‘I had a chat to Silvia a little while ago. She’s nice, isn’t she?’
His cheeks immediately blushed red and he glanced furtively up the table towards his father who was still fully involved in conversation with Lady Beatrice. ‘Silvia’s lovely…’ His voice tailed off poignantly and she tried again.
‘It’s nothing to do with me, so do tell me to mind my own business, but I get the feeling there’s a real spark between you two.’ Alice caught his eye for a second before he dropped his gaze to his glass. ‘Or am I mistaken?’
She had to wait a few seconds for his answer, delivered in a whisper. ‘You aren’t wrong – at least as far as I’m concerned. I think the world of her.’
‘Well, if you want my opinion I feel sure she feels the same way about you.’
‘You really think she does?’ He looked up at her eagerly, an expression of joyful hope on his face. ‘Honestly?’
‘Honestly. I’m sure.’ She didn’t tell him that it had been Silvia herself who had given her this idea. ‘Does this mean you haven’t told her how you feel?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve been wanting to, but I’ve never had the courage to say anything. What if she were to tell me she didn’t feel the same way or, even worse, what if she were to be so outraged that she decided to go off and leave. I couldn’t bear that.’
Alice struggled not to smile. Here he was, the future Baron Varaldo and he sounded more like an insecure teenager.
‘Well, if you want my advice – and like I said it’s no business of mine so just ignore what I have to say if you wish – but I think it’s time the two of you sat down and had a talk.’ A thought occurred to her, not for the first time. ‘What do you think your father’s reaction would be if you told him you were in love with Silvia?’
‘That’s the other thing. I’ve been asking myself that for ages now. I must admit I’ve been afraid he would disapprove, but since you and Simonetta have been able to persuade him to accept Luca as one of us, and to accept Tommaso as Simonetta’s boyfriend, I’ve been coming round to thinking that maybe Papà’s not so set in his ways after all. Do you really think I should speak to her?’
‘I most certainly do.’
During the excellent meal, Alice gradually managed to get Luca to start talking, and by the end he was sounding more like his normal self again. When the party broke up, she stood with him outside the restaurant while the others climbed into Achille’s car and set off back to the castle. As they disappeared from sight, she reached over and caught hold of his hand.
‘Feeling better?’
He turned towards her and she saw a smile on his face in the orange glow of the street light. ‘I’m fine, thanks. Having you beside me was a great help.’ And, to her delight, he leant down and kissed her softly on the lips. ‘Definitely a great help.’ Then, to her acute disappointment, he pointed across the road to where his car was parked. ‘I’m afraid I have to get back to Parma now. I’m desperately trying to get some plans drawn up for the City Council and there’s going to be a meeting tomorrow, so I’m afraid I’ll be burning the midnight oil.’
‘That’s a real shame. I was going to ask if you wanted coffee at my place.’
‘And I would have said yes like a shot. Anyway, can we still have dinner tomorrow?’ He stopped and corrected himself. ‘Sorry, tomorrow’s no good. I’ve got another appointment, but let’s make it Friday. I promise. Okay?’
‘I can’t wait.’ She kissed him in return and felt a thrill as he responded, but all too soon he stepped back and shot her a regretful glance.
‘See you on Friday.’