An hour later, an overwhelmed Carla sat on the terrace next to Joel.
‘Are you all right?’ Joel asked. ‘The awkward introductions have passed, now everyone needs to spend time getting to know each other. Seems to be going well so far,’ he added, looking across to where the twins were talking to Stéphanie and Bruno, while Josette was talking to Mario and his son, Antoine.
Carla nodded absently. ‘It’s just that I hadn’t given a single thought to my own reaction to Mario’s family. I was too busy worrying about the twins and their feelings. And Josette’s too, of course.’ She looked at Joel. ‘I’d forgotten that Mario’s son is my brother – well, half-brother.’
‘He seems a nice man,’ Joel said. ‘You’re both too old for any sort of attention-seeking sibling rivalry, so I expect you’ll get on,’ he said, a teasing note in his voice.
‘I’d forgotten I’ve become an instant auntie too,’ Carla said, hearing Stéphanie, Antoine’s daughter, laugh at something Ed said. ‘That the twins have a cousin. Suddenly, I’ve got more family than I know what to do with. Family that are strangers, with a history I know nothing about – any more than they know about mine. It could all end in a big disaster.’
Joel took her hand. ‘Stop worrying. Comme une famille – as a family – they look good. In a year or two, after a few lunches and dinners with them, celebrating birthdays, Christmas and various other things, you’ll wonder why you were so anxious over everything. So stop stressing about things. Relationships will sort themselves out.’ He stood up. ‘I’m going to go and potter in the garden. I think you need to talk to your relatives. I’ll be back in time for a cup of tea and a slice of the cake I saw in the kitchen earlier. If you need me, come and find me.’
Watching him walk away, Carla realised he was right. She did need to talk to her new family. Before she could make her way across to anyone, she saw Bruno say something quickly to the others and begin to walk towards her. She smiled up at him as he reached her side.
‘I was going to ring you, but when Mario invited me to accompany him today I decided I’d rather see you. I can’t believe I’m related to the beautiful lady I rescued earlier this year. My uncle is delighted with me and I’m glad I was there, but right now I wish we weren’t related.’
Carla laughed. ‘Just as well you didn’t know at the time or you’d have been in a bit of a quandary – to save me or to leave me.’
‘No quandary at all. I’d always opt to save you,’ Bruno said seriously. ‘Any chance of us being kissing cousins?’ He added, laughing.
Carla smiled. ‘As much as I like you, I’m afraid not. Friends though, I hope?’
‘Of course. At least I’ll get to see you on family occasions,’ and Bruno smiled at her.
Carla glanced over to where Mario, Antoine and Josette had now joined the twins and Stéphanie. ‘How’s Mario taken all the unexpected family news?’
‘On the one hand he’s delighted about you and the twins, but on the other hand, he’s upset over the unhappiness that Amelia caused for others as well as suffered herself.’
‘I think we can all agree with that,’ Carla said.
Bruno looked at her. ‘Josette was the love of his life, you know. I know he loved his wife, Concheta, but he never forgot Josette. The one thing he longed for when he knew Josette was back in Antibes was to see her, for her to be free and for them to get back together.’
Carla let out a regretful sigh and shook her head. ‘I know that’s not going to happen and I’m sorry about it too, in a way. It would make for a lovely and very satisfying end to their young love.’
Bruno nodded. ‘He showed me the letter she wrote explaining why their getting back together was not possible. He has an argument for every single reason she put up, he told me, but felt he had to accept her decision.’
‘He’s being extremely intuitive,’ Carla said. ‘And I hope he’ll be equally understanding when…’ she stopped. ‘Sorry, I’m getting ahead of things here.’
Bruno looked at her questioningly, but she shook her head and, after waiting for a few seconds, he spoke again. ‘One thing he is determined on, though, is embracing you and the twins as his family. Now he knows about you, he will try and make up for all the missing years. I hope you’re ready for the full onslaught of an Italian man intent on gathering his family to his side.’
‘I’ll warn the twins,’ Carla said, smiling at the thought. ‘Right, I think it’s time to get everyone round the table for cake and tea. I’ll go put the kettle on.’
‘I’ll give you a hand with things,’ Bruno said.
Josette, seeing Carla go indoors followed by Bruno, guessed that tea was on its way and she wanted to be able to text Gordon to join them. But it was imperative she talked to Mario before that could happen. She looked around. The twins and Stéphanie were getting along well, Antoine was wandering off in Joel’s direction and Mario… was walking towards her. The tight feeling in her tummy increased and she felt nauseous. It was time for her to face things and tell Mario the last painful reason she couldn’t marry him.
‘Josie amore mio,’ Mario said. ‘Isn’t this wonderful? Two halves of our family meeting for the first time. If only you would change your mind about marrying me, life would be perfect. Maybe one day I’ll be able to persuade you?’ The sentence hung in the air. ‘I’ll play the long game if I have to,’ he added softly, looking at her intently.
Josette bit her lip. ‘I’ve already told you over the telephone and in my letter the main reasons why I can’t marry you, but there is also another reason,’ she said. ‘And that reason is a man.’
Mario stilled. ‘Gordon?’
‘Yes. He also has asked me to marry him and… and I’ve said yes.’
Mario turned slightly away from her but not before she saw the emotion etched across his face.
‘I’m sorry if this is painful for you. I’ve never met anyone I wanted to marry other than you, until now. Sadly the right time for us to marry passed long ago. And whereas you had a good family life with Concheta and Antoine, I wasn’t that lucky. My time to marry, though, has finally come now I’ve met Gordon.’ Josette took a breath. ‘I’ve explained to him, that you and I will be forever linked via Carla and the twins. He knows when I marry him he has to accept me and all my baggage and be happy to be part of my newly discovered family unit. A family unit which will always include you.’ She looked anxiously at Mario and reached for his hand. His fingers gripped hers. ‘Gordon doesn’t see any of this being a problem. For my sake, I hope you don’t see any problems either?’
Mario shook his head as he looked at her. ‘To think we finally came back into each other’s lives, only for it to be too late and to learn that there is no hope for us in the future. I can’t say I’m not hurt that you’re marrying someone else, because I am. But I do wish you every happiness with Gordon. If anyone deserves to be happy it’s my Josie.’ He squeezed her hand tightly.
Josette blinked hard. ‘Thank you. That means everything to me.’
Mario caught hold of her other hand and, pulling her towards him, pressed his lips against her forehead gently for several seconds before moving back and saying. ‘I want you to promise me a couple of things though.’
Josette looked at him and waited.
‘If you ever need help of any kind, you let me know. Promise? Good. The other thing is – you tell me if this Gordon doesn’t treat you right. I have friends who’d be only too willing to show him how to treat a lady.’
Josette laughed. ‘Mario Grimaud – only a true Italian man would dare to offer something like that!’