Elisabetta gave her a sly smile. ‘So, how’s London working out for you?’
‘Great. Fine. Brilliant.’
‘You’d better stick to your day job,’ Elisabetta said. ‘You’re a terrible actor.’
Holly grimaced. ‘Yeah, I know. But I hate my day job. I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. Nor do I want to be cleaning up after people.’
‘What did you want to be when you were a little girl?’
‘I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher—but why are you even asking me this after the way you spoke to me at Julius’s? And how did you find me?’
‘Julius told me.’
Holly frowned. ‘But how does he know where I am?’
‘He made it his business to find out,’ Elisabetta said. ‘Look, I was wrong to speak to you the way I did. Richard’s parents did the same thing to me all those years ago when he brought me home to introduce me to them. They made me feel so worthless. I swore I would never treat any daughter-in-law of mine like that, but then I went and did it to you.’
‘Daughter-in-law?’ Holly said, frowning harder. ‘No one said anything about marriage. We had a fling, that’s all, and now it’s over.’
‘He loves you, Holly,’ Elisabetta said. ‘He’ll want to marry you because that’s his way. Jake would be another thing entirely. But with Julius you can be assured he’ll always do the right thing.’
Holly narrowed her eyes. ‘Did he make you come here to apologise to me?’
Elisabetta gave her a coy look. ‘Does it matter? If he’s going to marry you, then I’m going to have to accept it or lose him.’
Holly’s frown deepened another notch. ‘He shouldn’t have done that. You’re his mother. He’s lucky to have you. I wish I had a mother. I have no one. No one at all.’
Elisabetta put her hand over Holly’s and gave it a light squeeze. ‘I’m not the best mother in the world. I know that, and it upsets me if I allow myself to think about it, so I don’t think about it.’ She pulled her hand away as if she had a time limit on touch and sat back in her seat. ‘But who knows? Maybe I’ll do a better job as a mother-in-law.’
‘You mean you wouldn’t...mind?’
Elisabetta gave a short but not very pleasant-sounding laugh. ‘Of course I mind. But I’m an actor; I’ll pretend I don’t. But don’t tell Julius. It can be our little secret.’
Holly gave her a telling look. ‘You won’t be able to fool him no matter how brilliant an actor you are.’
The older woman’s gaze was suddenly very direct. ‘Do you love my son?’
Holly gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘So much it hurts to think I might never see him again.’
Elisabetta smiled a mercurial smile and popped her sunglasses back on as she got up to leave. ‘I have a feeling you’ll be seeing him very soon. Ciao.’
Holly gathered her things and made to get up but a tall shadow fell over her. She looked up to see Julius standing there, beads of rain clinging to his cashmere coat, his hair and even to the ends of his eyelashes. ‘I know my mother’s a hard act to follow, but here I am. Did she apologise?’
‘Yes...’ Holly licked her suddenly dry lips. Maybe now wasn’t the right time to talk about his mother’s ‘apology’. ‘I can’t believe what you did for me. It was...amazing. Unbelievable. I can never thank you enough.’
‘There is one way,’ he said. ‘Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’
Holly thought her heart was going to burst out of her chest cavity with sheer joy. Could this really be happening? ‘Why me? You could have anyone. I’m no one.’
He took her by the hands and gripped them tightly. ‘You’re everything to me. Everything. I love you, Holly. More than I can ever tell you. I know this isn’t a dream proposal. In fact, I can’t believe I’m proposing to you in a public place—but I can’t bear another moment without knowing you’ll agree to spend the rest of your life with me. You don’t have to come back to Argentina if you don’t want to. I can move back to England.’
Holly looked at him in stunned surprise. ‘You’d do that for me?’
‘Of course.’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘But the weather’s foul.’
‘I know, but at least we could cuddle up in bed,’ he said with a glint in his eyes.