A Family For Keeps

'I may even have deserved your suspicion,' he said. 'I wouldn't spirit her away, but for a moment I did wish I could turn the clock back, to before you appeared, and stop it happening. Rosa has been part of my family for five years. I love her. Do you think I wanted to admit that she's yours?'

'Does that mean that you're going to say that she isn't?' she asked sharply.

'I can't do that. I wish I could, but I did some checking on the internet tonight. I found several reports about the robbery, confirming everything you told me. One of them had a tiny picture of your husband, just good enough to show that he really was the same man as James Cardew.

'And the first time I ever saw you, that night Piero brought you home, there was something familiar about you. I didn't understand it, but actually I was looking at you and seeing Rosa.'

'But we're not alike.'

'Except for one thing-her forehead. She has exactly the same low forehead that you have. Usually her fringe hides it, but tonight I saw her brush the fringe back, and then everything became clear.'

They returned to the main room and he chose a single chair rather than the sofa where she might have sat beside him.

'I need to know more,' she said quietly. 'Everything you can tell me about him.'

'Does it really matter now?'

'I have six years of blanks to fill in. I won't like what you tell me, but I have to know.'

'Yes, I suppose you do,' he said at last. 'All right. I'll tell you everything I can.'

CHAPTER EIGHT

Vincenzo took a deep breath, and started.

'It seems as though your friends who thought they'd seen him in Venice and Rome were right. Bianca met him in Rome, where he was as an art dealer.'

'An art dealer?' Julia cried in disgust. 'But he knew nothing except what he learned from me.'

'He seems to have been a genius at presentation. Plus he had a lot of money and his premises were in the wealthy part of town.'

'That would be his cut from the robberies,' she guessed.

'Yes, it must have been enough to give the impression of success. When Bianca came home he followed her here. He said he was expanding, establishing a branch in Venice. The truth, as I later learned, was that he'd had to get out of Rome, fast. He'd sold some apparently priceless artefacts to a powerful family, who naturally wanted their money back when they turned out to be fakes.

'They sent people to Venice, who explained to James that, if he didn't pay up, bad things would happen to him. So he did, having no choice.

'After that, what money he had left ran out quickly. He was extravagant. He bought useless rubbish for show, made bad investments. He was a rather stupid, shallow man.'

'Yes,' she said. 'That's exactly it.'

'But there was nothing to make me suspect him of worse than that. He had a passport in the name of James Cardew and hers said Rosa Cardew. He had a whole file of paperwork establishing that James Cardew was a successful art dealer with a list of grateful clients in several countries. Someone in the gang must have forged them for him before they parted company.'

'I don't think so,' Julia said. 'Otherwise the man who split on him could have given the police his new name. No, it must have been done later, by someone else. I dare say false documents are easy enough to get, if you have the money.'

'He certainly had money for a while. When it ran out he got desperate. He tried to get some out of me, although this was after the crash and the whole world knew that we had nothing. But he was sure I had some secret cache hidden from the creditors. He suggested that it was time I handed over Bianca's "share".'

'Yes, that was how his mind worked,' she remembered. 'He could never believe that things were exactly as they seemed, especially where cash was concerned. Did he think she had a secret fortune when they married?'

'He as good as admitted it. I don't think he married her entirely for love. Maybe not at all.'

It took her a moment to appreciate what he was saying, and then she turned on him.

'Is that supposed to delight me?' she demanded furiously. 'Do you think I care who he loved?'

'I don't know how you feel. You were once deeply in love with him.'

'That was in another life.'

He nodded wryly. 'I keep telling myself that things happened in another life. But it's odd how the lives overlap when you least expect it. Anyway, like a fool I borrowed against the restaurant for my sister's sake. She'd had a rough time. I didn't want things to get worse for her.'

'How long did it take him to come back for more?'

'Not long. This time we had a fight and he ended up in the canal.'

'Good,' she said simply.

'The one good thing I know of him is that he honestly seemed to love Rosa. In his way he was a good father.'

'A good father, after the way he separated her from her mother, without a thought for either of them?'

'I only meant that he always showed her a lot of affection, and interest. If she tried to tell him something he'd stop what he was doing and listen, however long it took. Lots of parents can't do that, however much they love the child-'

'Yes, all right,' she interrupted him in a strained voice. 'You're right, he was a good father. I remember now how he loved being with her.'

'And she adored him. She also came to love Bianca. That's not easy for you to hear, but you have to know what you're dealing with.'

'Thank you,' she said in a colourless voice. 'I couldn't tell much from seeing her today.'

'No, she didn't cry or show any emotion, did she?' he said heavily. 'It's been four months, and still-'

Julia stared. 'You mean she's never cried?'

'Not once. Even on the first day, when the news came-' He broke off with a helpless shrug. 'She just closed in on herself. She won't let anyone in, not even me.' He looked at her. 'That's something you know all about.'

'Yes,' she breathed. 'Sometimes it's the only form of self-protection you have.'

'To pack your feelings away in an iron chest marked,"No longer required''. Then bury that chest too deep to be found again,' he said, reminding her of her own words.

'But she's so young!'

'She's eight years old, but she's already lost three parents, and she can't talk to anyone about it. We all have our burdens but-'

'But hers are the worst,' Julia agreed sombrely.

'Normally she loves Carnival, but now she refuses to think of it.'

'Carnival?'

'In February. Everyone dresses up in masks and colourful costumes. Last year she had a wonderful time with James and Bianca. Maybe that's why she's not interested this year. I keep trying to entice her, telling her how excited she ought to be, but-' He shrugged.

'You can't get into someone's mind by force,' Julia said.

'No, I guess I know that.'

Suddenly she burst out. 'What am I going to do? Do you know how I've dreamed of the things I'd say to her when we met again? And now none of them will be right. What can I do?'

'You can trust me.'

'Can I?' she asked before she could stop herself.

He grimaced. 'I suppose you're bound to think that way.'

'How do I know what to think?'

He rose. 'Perhaps we shouldn't talk any more. We both have a lot riding on this, and we can't afford to quarrel.'

'In the meantime, I'm totally in your hands,' she said angrily. It was the kind of thing she'd resolved not to say, but she couldn't help herself. The strains of the day, the helpless sense of being so near and yet so far, filled her with tension that found relief in bitterness.

'I wish I could persuade you that you're safe in my hands,' he said.

'But you have my daughter and I don't,' she cried. 'How am I supposed to get past that?'

'Supposed to forgive that, you mean. Perhaps you never will. We'll talk another time.'

'When do I see her?'

'You have my address. All you have to do is turn up and bulldoze your way in.'

'You know I won't do that.'

'Right, because you're a good mother. That's what's holding you back. Not me.'