Treasured Lies (31 page)

When she smiled at him, her dark eyes again disappeared behind her chubby rose-coloured cheeks.

Chapter 32

The morning after their delicious Positano picnic whizzed by in a whirlwind and Rosalina was torn between exploring every market stall dotted along the beach and getting back on board
Evangeline
so they could weigh anchor and head home. Although it was sad to leave Positano, she would forever have precious memories of the time they had together at the glorious seaside village. Jimmy pulled up anchor just after breakfast and Archer declared they should arrive in Livorno around midday. Rosalina quickly turned her attention to the meals she was planning for the family gathering.

Archer and Alessandro disappeared into the office again and Rosalina had no intention of interrupting them this time. She headed to the kitchen to begin cooking. Ginger offered to help, and to her delight, so did Helen. In no time she had several dishes on the go. The three of them worked together well and Rosalina slipped into her own blissful world of chopping, slicing, dicing, and sampling the food to create some of Nonna's favourite dishes from the recipes Rosalina knew by heart.

‘Ginger, can I show you how to make the pumpkin and mozzarella arancini balls?' Rosalina asked as she tugged the large bowl of cooked Arborio rice forward that she had already mixed with mashed pumpkin, onion and garlic.

‘Sure.' Ginger sidled up next to Rosalina.

‘Okay, so wet your hands slightly and roll a heaped tablespoon of this mixture into a ball, like this.' As Rosalina demonstrated, Ginger copied. ‘Now, press a cube of mozzarella cheese into the centre of each ball and make sure it's completely concealed within the rice.'

‘So did you cook this for Alessandro?' Ginger asked as she copied Rosalina.

Rosalina's shoulders ached with dread as she wondered where this question was going. ‘I guess I probably did. It's a traditional Italian dish.' She resisted the urge to look at Ginger.

‘Cool. I'd love to learn how to make it for him.'

Rosalina's relief was instant. The last thing she wanted to do was have a confrontation with Ginger. Especially not in front of Helen.

‘Okay, what do I do now?' Ginger presented her arancini for inspection.

She'd done a great job. ‘Now we roll it in flour, then dip it in the egg and coat it in the breadcrumbs.' She demonstrated with her own. ‘This way it will have a nice crunchy outside and be yummy and moist on the inside. Okay?'

‘Yep. Got it.'

Rosalina left Ginger with the rolling and turned her attention back to the other meals and the table setting. She could picture the layout now, lovely crisp white tablecloths, the good gold-trimmed crockery and the polished silverware. The good crockery only came out on special occasions, such as all her sibling's engagement and wedding announcements and Nonna's seventieth birthday. The last time was when Nonna prepared a mammoth feast to celebrate Rosalina's return from Australia after five years abroad.

Today she planned on setting the table up in the paddock nestled between the back of the villa and the bottom vineyard. It would be the perfect setting. She had invited all her family and although both her father and youngest brother, Filippo, were invited, it would be extraordinary if they both turned up. The animosity between them was as mature as her father's special blend of red wine he kept secured in the dark recesses of the wine cellar. Despite many attempts to find out what happened between them, Rosalina still had no idea of the reason behind their hatred for each other.

In fact, Filippo's friendliness towards her was very shallow too. Fortunately, being seven years her junior, she'd never really had much to do with him growing up. Then again, maybe that was the reason for their rift. Her oldest sister was seven years older than her, but there was one sister and three brothers between them and they were all very close. Rosalina often wondered if Filippo was an accidental pregnancy, but she'd never voice that aloud. As it was, the tragedy of his arrival was never spoken of.

Archer came into the kitchen just after ten o'clock and was no doubt looking for coffee. Rosalina happily set about making it for him.

‘I'll go see if Alex wants a coffee.' Ginger skipped off down the hall.

‘How are my two favourite women going?'

Rosalina shared a smile with Helen, it was the first time they'd done that and it felt good. Archer sipped his coffee and when he put his mug down Rosalina noted the unusual look on his face; it was a curious mix of nervous anticipation and relief. ‘I'm glad I caught you two alone, I have something I wanted to show you.' Rosalina's mind flashed to the pearl necklace. So much had happened she'd forgotten all about it.

‘Here, Mum, come and have a seat beside me.' As Archer pulled back a bar stool for his mother, Rosalina grabbed her coffee and moved to stand at the bench opposite Archer and Helen.

‘When we were going through the boxes the other day we found something that I think you should have.' He eased forward on his seat, slipped his hand into his pants pocket and removed the little present. ‘This is for you, Mum.' Archer slid it towards her and Rosalina watched his Adam's apple bob up and down.

A tapestry of wrinkles lined Helen's forehead. ‘What is it?'

‘It's a gift Dad and I bought for you a very long time ago.' Helen blinked several times and confusion drilled onto her pale blue eyes. ‘Open it, Mum, so I can tell you.' She threaded the white satin ribbon through her fingers.

‘The man who wrapped it was so slow, like he had all the time in the world, and Dad was ridiculously patient.'

Her eyes met his. ‘Really. That's not how I remember him. Nothing ever happened quickly enough for Wade.'

Archer smiled. A genuine full smile. ‘Open it. You'll love it.' Helen tugged on the ribbon and it gradually released.

‘Dad and I rode a couple of donkeys along some cobblestone streets to get to the store. I think we were at Santorini, but I'm not sure. You should have seen his donkey, the poor thing looked like it was about to buckle under his weight.' Archer spoke with boyish glee and Rosalina let her imagination drift to the boy he may have been, at least the boy he was before tragedy changed his life forever.

Archer explained the overcrowded alley where the jewellery store was and went into great detail about the old man behind the counter. It was amazing what he remembered about that moment.

Helen had the box completely unwrapped now, but she paused with her fingers hovering over the lid. ‘Wade was uncanny at finding things in the most unlikely places.' She ran her tongue over her lips. Finally she folded back the lid. Inside, curled around a nest of black satin lining was a simple yet elegant pearl necklace. The pearls were almost identical in size and colour and the galley lights showed off their lovely luminous shine.

Helen cupped her mouth as her eyes pooled. Rosalina noticed her trembling fingers. Archer must have decided to make this a joyous moment and jumped in to lift the pearls from the box. ‘I reckon Dad looked at every single pearl in that shop. I had no idea there could be so many different types. You wouldn't believe how long he took to choose these.'

‘Really?' Helen's eyes remained on the pearls as she reached out to touch the necklace. She smiled and for the first time ever, Rosalina noticed the dimples in her cheeks, just like Archer's.

‘Oh yes. The shopkeeper had this enormous magnifying glass and Dad must've scrutinised everything in the store. He looked at rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I thought he was never going to make up his mind.'

Archer undid the clip. ‘Would you like me to put it on you?'

She nodded.

‘As soon as Dad spied this necklace he said this was it. I don't know what was different about this one, most of them looked the same to me, but there was something about this string of pearls that grabbed him.'

Archer draped the necklace around her neck and she ran her trembling fingers over the strand as he did up the clasp.

‘It's beautiful,' Rosalina said.

‘Yes it is, isn't it?' The look on her face was one of complete reverence. ‘Thank you, Wade, it's wonderful. I'm so glad you found it.'

Archer didn't correct her this time. Instead he tugged his mother to his chest with a huge sigh. ‘Me too, Mum. Me too.'

***

As Archer had predicted,
Evangeline
cruised into Livorno's Marina Di San Vincenzo just before midday. Unlike most marinas they'd visited over the previous months, this marina not only supported Archer's superyacht, it was capable of holding even larger ones. In fact, compared to some of the ones they passed on their way to their designated berth,
Evangeline
looked like a toy. This marina was relatively new, and as the treasure was set to remain on the yacht until tomorrow morning, the twenty-four hour video surveillance and the secure controlled entrance was an appreciated bonus.

As soon as they were tied up and ready to disembark, Rosalina took charge of ferrying the food from the galley to the waiting cars Archer had pre-organised. Her stomach did delightful flips at the prospect of going home and, in particular, seeing Nonna.

The car couldn't get there quick enough, and the ninety minute drive seemed much longer.

Nonna met her as the car pulled to a halt on the gravel driveway, and when Rosalina wrapped her arms around her, she noticed just how thin and frail her grandmother had become. Tears filled her eyes when Nonna placed her hands over Rosalina's ears and pulled her down to kiss her cheeks. It was the signature kiss Nonna had been doing since … since forever.

As each family member arrived and she showed off her engagement ring, they all embraced Archer with the traditional Italian welcome. It was like he'd always been part of the family. That was how the Calucci family did it. The only awkward moment was Filippo's arrival. Filippo made a show of giving everyone a kiss on each cheek except Rosalina and Archer. She guessed it had been at least six years since she'd seen her brother and his unfounded resentment towards her was as palpable as ever. Rosalina wondered what Nonna had said to get him here, because he made it obvious that he'd rather be anywhere else.

Filippo's appearance made one thing fairly predictable. Her father probably wouldn't be attending. It filled her heart with both sadness and anger. Her father had yet to meet Archer and she had hoped he would put whatever grievances he had with Filippo aside for her sake. Obviously that wasn't to be.

Archer and Alessandro were constantly sneaking off and Rosalina was certain they were making plans for the treasure's transfer from
Evangeline
to the Accademia di Belle Arti museum tomorrow morning.

When everything was perfectly laid out on the table, Nonna rang the big cowbell that she'd been using to announce dinner for as long as Rosalina could remember. Within minutes, nearly every person Rosalina loved was sitting at the long table that was just about overflowing with food. Her father's absence was painfully obvious.

Archer sat beside Rosalina, and from then on the afternoon was a lovely patchwork of amazing traditional Italian meals, good old Calucci family humour and delicious Villa Pandolfini red Chianti wine.

Archer reached for a bottle and she watched his gaze fall to the label. He turned to her. ‘You never did tell me about the black rooster.' Archer was referring to a discussion they'd had in the cellar quite some time ago. They'd been fighting at the time and she didn't want to share her family history then. Now though …

Filippo huffed. ‘
Ignorante
.'

Rosalina snapped her eyes to her youngest brother and from the look on his face, he was shocked that everyone was looking at him. He must have thought he'd made his remark to himself.

‘Did you want to say something, Filippo?' Rosalina actually wanted to include him in the conversation; so far he'd remained decidedly quiet.

‘
Si, certamente
.' Filippo eased back on his chair and when he jutted his chin out, worry bubbled in her stomach like a nasty chemical experiment as she grew nervous about what he was about to say. ‘I want to know how your treasure hunter boyfriend knows nothing of the emblem that's been around our family since medieval times. Does he even know you at all?'

‘Filippo, there's no need—'

Archer squeezed Rosalina's leg to cut her off. ‘It's okay, babe. Let me answer this.'

Archer rose to his feet. As he spoke, his eyes drifted to everyone seated around the table. ‘Thank you for your question, Filippo. Obviously I don't know everything about your family's history. But here's what I do know. I know that you can be friends with someone for five years but barely know them at all. But you can be with someone for just five minutes and feel like you've known them forever. I feel like I've known Rosa forever and I look forward to learning something new about my beautiful fiancée every single day.'

‘Hear, hear.' Alessandro raised his glass.

Rosalina glanced at Nonna, who was clasping her hands at her chest and beaming up at Archer.

Archer held his palm forward and helped Rosalina to stand beside him. Archer picked up and handed her glass over to her then raised his glass to clink them together. ‘Here's to my beautiful Rosalina. Cheers.'

‘
Cin
.' The entire table cheered.

‘
Cin
.' Archer repeated after them. ‘I like that. Now will someone please tell me what the rooster emblem is about, because every time I ask we get sidetracked?'

Nonna's bony knuckles bulged white as she squeezed her hands together. ‘Did you know red wine has been produced in this area for over one thousand years?'

‘No, I didn't. That's impressive.'

‘The Black Rooster emblem is as old as Villa Pandolfini.' Nonna reached for her glass and swirled her wine around as she spoke. All those around her remained quiet. Despite her soft voice, when Nonna spoke everybody listened. She was loved and respected equally. Many had been deceived by her diminutive frame and learnt the hard way that Nonna was a powerhouse when she needed to be.