English Rose for the Sicilian Doc

‘And she’s here?’ For once, the man who always lived so splendidly in the moment seemed to be having trouble processing this one.

‘Yes.’ Rose began to wonder whether she should have given Matteo a little more warning. Then suddenly he smiled.

‘I love you so much, Rose.’ He wrapped his arms around her and Andrea and kissed her.

‘And I love you too. But she’ll be coming through those doors in a minute...’

His gaze flipped anxiously to the swing doors, opening and closing automatically as passengers from the plane straggled through with their luggage. Then he bent down towards William.

‘Mummy’s brought a friend home with her. I haven’t seen her in a while and I’m a bit nervous. Will you come with me?’

It was just like Matteo to include William, even when all he wanted to do was to go and meet Rebecca. William nodded gravely.

‘Don’t be afraid, Papà. I’ll come with you.’

‘Thank you.’ Matteo took William’s hand, and gave Rose one last kiss. Then he walked forward towards the doors.

Rose had shown Rebecca photographs of Matteo and their family, and she wondered whether Matteo would recognise her after all this time. But as soon as the red-haired young woman walked through the doors, her boyfriend walking behind her with their bags, he started forward.

She could see Rebecca’s smile. Matteo had his back to her and he seemed to be saying something. Reba was a sensible, confident young woman, who was genuinely fond of Matteo, and Rose had no doubts about Matteo’s wish to see Reba. There was just the small matter of breaking through their years of separation.

Matteo held his hand out, a little awkwardly, and Reba shook it. Then William did the same, and she bent to shake his hand. A little more conversation, and she stepped forward and flung her arms around Matteo’s neck, and he hugged her tight.

Rose puffed out a sigh of relief. ‘There. Papà did it, Andrea.’

Someone elbowed past him, and Matteo seemed to realise that they were in the way and ushered Reba to one side. He shook Sam’s hand, and then began to walk towards Rose, Reba clinging to him, chattering excitedly.

‘They’re staying in a hotel?’ Matteo grinned at her.

‘Back-up plan.’ Rose smiled at him. She’d wanted both him and Reba to have a little space to get to know each other again, but it didn’t look as if they needed it.

‘But Reba wants to spend as much time with you as she can,’ Sam interjected quietly.

‘So how about we take you to the hotel now and get you checked in. Then we can all go back to ours. We’ve a hammock on the patio if you want to spend the night.’ Matteo grinned at Sam.

‘A hammock?’ Sam grinned back.

‘Yeah. Takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s a great way to keep cool at night.’

‘We’ll stay...’ Reba was unable to control her excitement any more and was shifting from one leg to another as if she couldn’t wait for them to get on their way.

‘And play football?’ William asked.

‘Yes. Sam’s pretty good, but you’ll have to help me out.’ Reba grinned at William.

‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ Matteo grabbed Rose’s cases and started to walk. Their extended family, which was comprised of uncles, aunts, cousins and quite a few people who might be related and might not, from both Sicily and England, had just grown a little.

* * *

It wasn’t easy, squashing three sets of luggage, two children and four adults into the car, but they managed it. Rose and Matteo waited downstairs, in the hotel lobby, while Sam and Reba went up to their room.

‘So how’s the visitors’ centre going?’ The Roman villa up in the mountains had continued to yield important finds, which included one of the best mosaic floors on the island, and raising funds to preserve and display the antiquities had been easier than anyone had imagined.

‘It looks great. It’s come together a lot in the last two weeks. I went up there yesterday, and the concept of being able to walk around the site and see a lot of the finds in situ works really well.’ Matteo grinned. ‘And Aemilia’s model looks fantastic. Pride of place in the new museum.’

‘Good. I can’t wait to see it.’

‘We can take Reba and Sam up there tomorrow if you like. Show them around.’ Matteo curled his arm around her shoulders. ‘Thank you, sweetheart. You know how much this means to me.’