Still Falling (13 page)

She was definitely not hungry now.
 
Tony chose that moment to arrive and Serena
pushed all thoughts of the lovers aside and rushed out to the car with barely a
word to her mother.
 
She yanked open the
car door and climbed inside before Tony had a chance to climb out and open the
door for her.

“A bit moody this morning?
 
I’m not late am I?” he asked worried.

Serena sat stock still, staring straight
ahead.

“I’m fine.
 
It’s fine.
 
Just drive.”

“Si.
 
It is as I thought.”
Said
Tony, turning his attention to the road and giving her room with her thoughts.

They arrived at the clinic at the same
time as Josephine.

“Good morning.
 
Are we a little grumpy today?” asked Jo,
making a big deal of studying Serena’s face.

“No just tired.”
 
That was becoming the standard excuse for
everything.
 
Whilst most of the time it
was true, Serena knew tired had nothing to do with the emotions she was experiencing
now.

Jo didn’t look convinced.

“Why are you at the clinic?”

“What, you don’t want company?”

“Tony is here.”

Jo laughed.
 
“This little brat will spend most of his time
chasing short skirts.
 
Come on.
 
It’s going to be a while before I can come
down to Napoli again.
 
New York next
week, then London, Paris,
Geneva.....”
 

They entered the clinic chatting like
two school girls, leaving poor Tony on the stairs forgotten.

The treatment appeared to go faster than
normal with Jo keeping her company and occasionally they stopped their conversation
to listen to amusement at Tony’s attempts at chatting up nurses in the corridor
outside the treatment room.
 

Curiosity finally got the best of
Serena.
 
“So what are the current rumours
about Marco?
 
Anything
new?”

Jo looked curiously at Serena.
 
“Normally you feign disinterest.
 
What’s happened?”

“Ummm nothing.
 
It’s just that there has been some strange
comings and goings at his lordships palace and Mama....well, as much as she
won’t discuss private matters with the royals, she won’t discuss the royals
with me either.”

“Ah huh.
Strange comings and goings hey?”
 
Said Jo nodding knowingly.

“Come on spit it out!” nudged Serena.

“Well nothing new really.”
 
Josephine was smiling now as she took a long
sip of her Latte.
 
She knew by drawing
out the gossip she would slowly drive Serena nuts.

“There is rumour that the
actress...um...what’s her name again?
 
Oh
yes Michelle something or other has dumped him like hot cakes for one of the
Spinozzi Male models....”

Jo stopped talking when she saw the sour
look on Serena’s face.

“Oh dear.
 
What’s that look
for?”

“If you had seen what I had seen before
breakfast this morning, you wouldn’t believe a word of that story!”

“Oh my!
 
Really?
 
Well what do you
know!
”
Murmured Jo quietly to herself.
 
Before they could get much further into the
conversation the nurse arrived to disconnect Serena and discharge her.

Knowing the nastiness that would follow
in a few hours as the chemicals poisoned her body, Serena made every effort to
stretch out the next couple of hours and spend as much quality time with Jo as
possible.

It was just getting dark when Tony
eventually dropped Serena off at the house keepers cottage and made sure that
her mother had everything under control.
 
The nausea had taken a little longer to hit her but despite some
additional medication the clinic had given her, it was still as intense as
usual.
 
She would not walk to the beach
tonight.
 

A week later Serena
packed her few things into a bag and prepared to return to Milan.
 
She was scheduled for tests at the hospital there to determine the
effectiveness of the chemotherapy and decide the next course of treatment.
 
Her mother had cooked up a storm again
overnight and had made Serena promise to phone from the doctor’s office to
report and if she needed more rest or chemo then she had to come back home to
get it.
 
Serena gave her mother a hug and
promised that everything would be alright and Tony bundled her into the car to
take her to the airport.
 

“Thank you Tony.
 
I couldn’t have managed without you.
 
Look after my car for me please?”

“Like it’s my own.”
He promised.

Jo met her at the airport in Milan dropped her off
directly at the hospital.
 

“Thanks Jo.
 
I could be here a long time, so I’ll just
catch a taxi home when I’m done.” And she kissed her friends cheek lightly.

“Okay, but only if you
are sure.
 
Phone me if you need
anything.
 
I mean it.”
Said
Jo looking worried.
 
They squeezed
hands and Serena went inside.

She sat tense and nervous, as the
specialist studied her file, turning pages back and forward, occasionally
grunting at something he read or nodding his bald head as if in agreement.
 
Serena waited expecting the worst.
 
Finally the Doctor looked up and cracked and
enormous smile as he closed her file and rested it on his desk.

“Well my dear, very lucky indeed.
 
As I suspected when we made your initial
diagnosis, it looks as though we may have caught this nasty little thing early
enough and beaten it.”

“Okay.” She said blankly, not really
registering what he was saying at first.
 
“Oh you mean..?”

He nodded slowly, still smiling and
maintaining eye contact.
 
“For now you
look absolutely clear.
 
You will still
take a couple more weeks to regain your strength and for the lining of your
stomach to recover to its full and of course for the effects of the last round
of Chemo to fully wear off, but you should be good as new before too long.
 
However, there is no guarantee that it won’t
come back and if it does it will be more aggressive.
 
So I want you to rest a week or two before
getting back into your old routine and I’ll schedule a review in six months to
see if it’s behaving.”
 
He leaned forward
across the desk and took her hands into his.
 

“Serena, this is very good news.” He
then passed her a box of tissues.

Serena wiped a smudge of moisture from
beneath one of her eyes.

“I know.
 
Thank you.
 
I’m sorry if I’m
emotional, I guess I’m just tired.”

“Serena, I would be worried if you
weren’t emotional.
 
Now go home and get
some rest and call my office if you have any questions or if you think
something is amiss.”

“Okay.
 
Thank you”

Serena left the hospital feeling deeply
relieved but something she couldn’t quite fathom also left her slightly
depressed.
 
She blamed fatigue but
couldn’t shake the feeling.
 
She took a
taxi home and with a cup of herbal tea phoned her Mother, Jo and the boys to
let them know the good news, before unpacking.
 
It wasn’t until then that she realised what was missing.
 
Her walk to the beach!

Her small apartment had been aired
regularly by her neighbour and the heating had been turned on low.
 
Serena even discovered fresh groceries in the
fridge.
 
She would have to pop over and
thank her neighbour when she was finished but first she desperately needed a
nap.

The flats were situated in one of several
modern buildings that had sprung up in the northwest edge of Milan.
 
Josephine’s ex husband had given her the top five of the eleven stories
as part of their divorce settlement and Jo in turn had dedicated ten of the
well appointed and spacious flats on those floors into accommodation for her
chief designers and other key staff, renting the rest out.
 
Serena’s neighbour Marie, was the only full
time model employed by Jo and together with Marie’s cat and two canaries, they
shared the top floor of the building.
 

Serena heard gentle tapping on her
bedroom door, and lifted an eyelid tentatively.
 
Marie stood cautiously in the open doorway with a steaming cup in one
hand.
 

“Hey hon.
 
Glad to see you’re back in civilisation.
 
I made your favourite tea.”

“Hi Marie.
 
Thanks.
 
What’s the time?”

“Um seven pm.”

“Oh wow! I’ve been out for nearly four
hours.”
 

“Jo said to check in on you.
 
Have you eaten?
 
I know I’m not much of a cook but I can
manage scrambled egg and toast.”

“Actually....Marie that sounds like a
great idea.”
Smiled Serena.

“Good.
 
I’ll be in the kitchen, and I have a favour to ask.”

Marie left the steaming cup on the
drawer unit by the door and did an abrupt about turn, disappearing down the
hall way.

Serena,
changed
into a simple long sleeved wrap around that swept all the way down to the
floor, brushed her teeth and tied her hair up in a loose pony tail before
collecting the still hot tea and pattering bare foot to her kitchen.
 
She was curious about the favour required of
her and frankly starving.
 
She had no
idea Scrambled egg and toast could smell so good.
 
Favour forgotten she sat down at the
breakfast bar and tucked in.

She was nearly half way through her
second slice of toast before Marie mentioned the favour.

“Um, I was wondering how you felt about
going out for a few hours tonight?
 
I
mean nothing loud or anything!” she clarified quickly after seeing Serena’s
expression.

“It’s just that I’ve been sort of forced
into this blind date thing and well I don’t want to be alone in case he turns
out to be a Cuban drug lord or something.”

Serena smiled gently.
 
Marie had to be the only fashion model on the
planet,
who
hated going out and was shy in social
situations.
 
She was still at heart the
innocent Swiss farmer’s daughter.
 
The proverbial Heidi.

“So who is he?”

“Some guy from London that apparently needs a date for some
big thing happening tonight somewhere.
 
Jo begged me and you know I can’t say no to her but I did manage get her
to agree to allow a chaperone.
 
It’s
supposed to be a quiet sedate black tie thing.
 

“So you want me to be your chaperone.”

Marie nodded quickly, biting her lip
nervously. “Yes please!”

Serena knew Jo wouldn’t set Marie up
with someone she wouldn’t get along with.
 
Serena also knew Jo wouldn’t have agreed to the chaperone if she had
known it would be her.
 
She was supposed
to be resting.

“Well, I have had too much sleep so I’ll
probably have trouble getting off to sleep tonight.”
 
Marie was already bouncing up and down with a
relieved grin pasted on her beautiful face.

“Provided we won’t be
out too late!”

“Great!”
 
Squealed Marie, clapping her hands together.
 
“We have an hour, so I’ll help you with your
hair.”

The two were finished in record time and
were just putting the finishing touches to their outfits when the doorman rang
up to tell them their Limo and Date arrived.

They arrived in the foyer to a beautiful
man with the most amazing green eyes Serena had ever seen.
 
He stood tall and at ease in a well fitted
tux.
 
After a few formal introductions it
was clear to Serena that green eyes and Marie were going to get along more than
fine.
 
They couldn’t keep their eyes off
each other.
 
Suddenly she had gone from
Chaperone to third wheel and they hadn’t even left the building yet.

It’s
going to be an interesting night.

They arrived at the Park Hyatt located
in the middle of Milan’s
famous fashion district.
 
Apart from
delivering a parcel to the editor of Vogue here when she was still an
apprentice, Serena had never had the opportunity to visit the opulent hotel.
 
It was impressive, and this was just the
Reception.
 
The lack of red carpet and
photographers as they had pulled up was a promising start.
 
The first one of the
evening.
 
They were quickly
ushered toward the function room where the supposed, sedate, black tie event
was taking place.
 
They entered the
spacious room decked out with ten circular diner tables which seated six people
each.
 
A private bar had been opened in
the corner.