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‘And now we are still friends, and you remain kind to me, but I do not want to be your wife, Robertu.’
‘I don’t understand.’
She shook her head. ‘Go home. I’ll come and visit later and explain. This is a private conversation for us to have.’ She glanced at the thunderstruck expression of the man she really loved.
Robertu did too. ‘Yes, yes, I see. So tonight, we’ll talk.’
She nodded. ‘Go home, be with your parents. I shall see you all later.’
‘All right.’ His gaze lingered on her, then he turned to Peter and spoke in English. ‘I probably won’t see you again, Mr Fox, but I’m glad you were there to take care of my Valentina and Danjel.’
Peter shook Robertu’s hand, his expression one of utter bewilderment, and then her brother-in-law walked away, his head low.
‘What the hell was that all about?’ Peter asked.
‘Let’s go home.’ She began walking.
He followed. ‘I want to understand what I just witnessed.’
‘Robertu has been in love with me since we were children, before even I met you. He always interpreted our friendship the wrong way. I’ve been telling him this for years, but he never gave up on the idea that if Lawrenz were out of the picture, I would become his wife instead. But he has a lovely woman who adores him, and I suspect he will marry her before the year is out. I shall see to it that he does. This family needs some joy again.’
‘But—’
‘Peter, you forget I have been living a life all this time, as you did. The Falzons are my family. I have responsibilities to them. We have a funeral to organise and I must behave as a widow should… at least for the near future.’
They wound their way down the long narrow streets from the top of the gardens, down to where the bar and her apartment were situated.
He followed her up the stairs and into the apartment, which didn’t look disturbed, for all the police attention. They had left it as they found it, it seemed.
Valentina poured them both glasses of water and after taking a long draught, she moved towards the balcony. Their spot, she thought. She turned to look at him. ‘Before Robertu arrived, you wished to say something to me – something important.’
Peter nodded. ‘Yes, I did… I do.’
She waited. Needed to hear it uttered aloud.
He cleared his throat. ‘I know my divorce is still some way off, but my separation is real, and I want you to come home with me, you and Danjel. Come to England. Let me become the sort of father Danjel deserves, and let me be the husband Lawrenz never was, and a better man than I was to Delia.’
Valentina sighed. Here were the words she dreamed of hearing and yet…
‘I don’t mean immediately, of course,’ he said, looking worried. ‘It wouldn’t look good, I agree, but after the funeral or when you’re ready… no matter how long it takes, I’ll be waiting. Just come to England. I can offer you and Danjel a house – a home, actually – and love, security. I can provide the education Danjel needs, and I’ll give you the chance to be the person you want to be without constraint.’
Valentina lifted her gaze to meet his. ‘Are you asking me to marry you, Peter?’
‘I am, yes. Bloody hell, what an oaf. I should have said that first.’ He ran his hand through his hair the way she recalled from when they’d first met. ‘Marry me, Valentina, I… I can’t imagine life without you.’ He waited. ‘What do you say?’
She looked up into his handsome, earnest face, loving him with every ounce of herself just as she had at fifteen. Taking a low breath, she finally gave him her answer to the one question she’d yearned to be asked.
‘You are the love of my life, Peter. You always have been and you always will be. But my answer is no.’
She watched Peter’s expression dissolve from enchanted to stupefied. His entire body seemed to slump, and his forehead crinkled in confusion.
‘No?’
She reached for his hand. ‘I’m very grateful.’
He moved out of her grasp. ‘Grateful? I thought this was what you wanted from me.’
She sighed, looking out through the slats of the shutters on a window she hadn’t yet opened up. No point; soon she’d be closing up for the evening. In a series of slices, she could see the woman across the way busy folding clothes – she too was married with one child, and in that moment, Valentina saw herself. There she was, the good wife, dutifully attending to her family with no room for ambition other than to be a good homemaker. Whatever that woman had dreamed of as a child was gone… too far away now to be grasped.
