The Commanding Italian's Challenge

He didn’t believe in that sort of foolishness. Yet he couldn’t take his eyes off the colourful arc.

A tremor moved through him. Turning, he shoved his drink into Alberto’s startled hands.

‘You make the speech. You brought this to fruition.’

‘It wasn’t just me,’ Alberto replied, a sombre look in his eyes.

Maceo nod grimly. ‘No, it wasn’t. And I should do something about that, no?’

Alberto was smiling as Maceo strode out of his own meeting, totally uncaring of the stunned looks he received as he walked out.

For the first time in endless weeks purpose flowed through his veins.

* * *

‘Are you going to mope today as well?’

Faye looked u

p, startled, from the book she’d been half-heartedly reading.

‘Excuse me?’

Her mother set her teacup down. ‘I may be a little loopy, but I’m not stupid.’

‘You’re not loopy, Mum. Please stop saying that.’

Her mother gave her a sad little smile. ‘We both know what I am, Faye.’

‘Mum...’

Her mother reached across the small table where they were having tea and laid a hand on her arm. ‘It’s fine, sweetheart. You don’t need to say it. You never need to say it.’

Tears that hovered just beneath the surface of Faye’s emotions rose. Rapidly she blinked them away. ‘I’m not sure what you’re talking about.’

‘You check your phone a hundred times a day. You perk up when the postman arrives and wither when he leaves you empty-handed.’

Faye started to protest, but her mother wasn’t finished.

‘That letter you keep in your pocket and read a dozen times a day when you think I’m not looking...’

Faye’s mouth dropped open.

Her mother smiled. ‘I’m not stupid,’ she repeated softly.

A tear escaped.

Her mother brushed it away. ‘Tell me,’ she invited.

So Faye told her. About Carlotta’s initial contact. About Luigi’s bequest. Selectively about Maceo. Even about Matt, at which her mother echoed Maceo’s words so eerily, her heart lurched.

‘He’s a deplorable human being. Don’t waste another moment’s thought on him.’

But when she reached the hardest part she stopped. ‘I can’t, Mum...’

‘It’s something to do with what happened to me, isn’t it?’

Miserable, Faye nodded. Then the words came tumbling out.