Hadn’t he told her right at the beginning that sex was one of the most important things to him? Hadn’t he had confidence in the success of their marriage because they’d been so compatible?
If that part was over, what did they have left?
No matter what he said, there was no way a Ferrara would endure a sexless marriage.
He would take a lover, and that would be harder to handle than anything she’d had to handle in her life before.
Lack of sex, and the implications behind that proved more of a sleep disturber than too much sex and Fia grew more and more tired.
During the day she threw herself into her work. She spent time at the Beach Club and made some suggestions for changes that she thought would increase the popularity of the restaurant. She increased the volume of seating outside and altered the menu. When Santo told her that bookings had doubled, she was happy because she wanted so badly to please him.
Only with Luca could she really relax and then only if Santo was too busy to join them.
She took to checking his schedule so that she could be sure to pick times when he was tied up in meetings.
But Chiara’s birthday party was looming and there was no avoiding the big Ferrara family gathering. Fia knew that seeing Cristiano and Laurel together would simply emphasize the cracks in her own marriage. Cristiano and Laurel were bound together by love. She and Santo were bound together by Luca.
Perhaps going away as a family might be good for them, Fia thought bleakly.
The plan was that after the party in the afternoon, the adults were going out to dinner and she squashed down her nerves and told herself that this would be a chance to get to know his family. And an excuse to add some glamour to her life.
Conscious that she spent a large proportion of her day dressed in unflattering chef’s whites, she decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to wear one of the dresses Santo had insisted on buying her. She tried to remember which one had attracted the most enthusiastic response from him and in the end decided to wear the blue silk.
When she tried it on it felt and looked so good that her spirits lifted. Maybe things weren’t as bad as she thought.
No marriage was perfect all the time, was it?
Santo was under a lot of pressure at work and taking a few hours out every day to spend ‘quality time’ with her simply increased that pressure. It was no wonder he had to work late.
They flew by helicopter, much to Luca’s excitement, landing in the grounds of Cristiano’s luxury palazzo in the hills above the pretty town of Taormina. From here she could see Mount Etna, and beneath her the sparkling expanse of the Mediterranean.
‘This is Laurel’s favourite place.’ Santo urged her towards the terrace, carefully carrying the box containing the cake Fia had made. ‘She had a difficult childhood and was brought up in care so she’d never had a home of her own. Cristiano bought this for her as a surprise.’
He loved his wife so much he’d bought her the one thing she’d never had—a beautiful home.
What would it be like, Fia wondered, to be loved like that?
As they rounded the corner she felt daunted by the number of people. ‘Who are they all?’
He scanned heads. ‘The man by the tree is my uncle and the woman next to him is his wife. The two women supervising the pool are cousins of mine—they work in marketing for the company—’ the list was endless and then he moved on to the children ‘—Rosa is the one in the pool, you already met her with Dani. Chiara and Elena are together under the tree and the rest are children of cousins, friends, people we know—’ He shrugged dismissively and she thought again how different his life was from hers.
‘Fia!’ Looking as lean and fit as ever, Laurel walked up to her and kissed her on both cheeks. ‘Welcome. Isn’t it hot? I just want to go and lie down in the air-conditioning. Chiara is feeling a bit overwhelmed, I’m afraid. I’m starting to wish we’d kept it smaller.’
‘Does smaller exist for a Ferrara?’
Laurel laughed. ‘Good point. Are you finding this family overwhelming too? I know I did. Fortunately you get used to it.’
The difference was that Laurel had a husband who adored her.
‘I made the cake. I hope it’s all right.’ Feeling ridiculously nervous, Fia removed the lid of the box and Laurel gasped as she saw the cake.
‘Oh, my goodness, it’s perfect! A fairy castle—’ Delight spread across her face. ‘How did you do that?’
‘I used the picture you sent me of her favourite toy.’
‘The fairies even have wands—’ Laurel’s tone was awed as she examined the detail ‘—and wings. How did you make the wings?’ Her response was everything Fia had hoped for.
‘Spun sugar. I broke quite a few trying to get them right.’