'Shall I take you to the airport tomorrow?' Vincenzo asked.
. 'No, thank you. I have something else to do first.'
She refused to tell him any more. Next day she left, heading, not for the airport, but for San Michele. Before boarding the boat she bought flowers.
In the cemetery she went first to Piero's grave, and used half of the flowers to refill his urn.
Then she went to find Bianca. Pushing the steps into place, she climbed up, removed the wilting flowers from the urn, and replaced them with fresh ones. For a long time she looked at the sweet face of the woman her daughter called Mamma. Then she touched it gently. 'I just wanted to say thank you,' she said.
Julia's trip went well. She signed papers and received a cheque for the first part of her compensation, the rest to follow soon.
There were more questions about her husband, but she smiled and played dumb, and in the end her inquisitors gave up.
On the day of her return to Venice she was at the airport long before she needed to be, only to find it shrouded in fog. Passengers were allowed to board, pending an improvement in the weather, but it did not happen and they were requested to leave the aircraft.
Two hours later she called Vincenzo on her cell phone.
'I'm going to be late for dinner tonight,' she said. 'There's a thick fog and the planes are grounded.'
'There's no fog at this end,' he said, frowning.
'Well, it's a pea-souper over here.'
'How do I explain to Rosa? She doesn't know you're in England.'
'Make some excuse. Say I'm not well. Say anything-'
There was a whistling sound in her ear as the line went dead. The phone needed a top-up. While she was looking around for somewhere to do it a voice came over the tannoy.
'Will passengers for Venice please start boarding-?'
'Thank goodness,' she breathed. 'Oh, why did this have to happen?'
Vincenzo turned to see Rosa watching him, very pale. 'She's not coming, is she?'
'Cara-
'I heard you say she was in England. She's gone right away and she's not coming home.'
'Yes, she is coming home, but her plane's been delayed by fog. She'll be here as soon as she can.'
'You didn't say she was going away to England.'
The sight of her rigid face shocked him. This wasn't simply childish disappointment. She was reliving an old nightmare.
He dropped down so that their eyes were on a level, trying desperately to find a way past her defences. It was like trying to communicate with someone behind bars.
He was assailed by a feeling of danger. If he couldn't reach her, and get her to reach out to him, she might be behind those bars for ever.
'Julia only went for a couple of days, to get things sorted out in England so that she can come here for good. We didn't tell you in case you were upset, and she's coming home quickly.'
Rosa shook her head. Her eyes were blank.
'No, she isn't,' she said.
He could have wept. If the child had been upset he'd have managed to cope, but her calm acceptance was ominous.
'You'd better talk to her yourself,' he said, hoping the noise he'd heard on Julia's phone didn't mean what he feared. But when he dialled he heard the same noise again and ground his teeth.
'She needs to top it up,' he said in despair.
'Perhaps she won't bother,' Rosa said.
'Of course she will. Why wouldn't she?'
She didn't reply, but her eyes revealed what she really believed: that Julia had blanked them out, and it was convenient for her phone not to work.
'She's probably boarding the plane right now,' he insisted. 'That's why she can't do anything about her phone. We'll hear from her when she lands.'
There was a touch of pity in the little girl's eyes. Why couldn't he face facts?
'Can we have dinner?' she asked. 'I'm hungry.'
'She'll be here,' he said, despairing.
'It's all right, Uncle. Honestly. You were right. People always leave you.'
'Cara, I wish you'd forget I ever said that'
'But it's true.' Then, in a strange voice, she said, 'I begged her not to go-but she did-and she never came back.'
It was as though a phantom had flitted past, chilling the air for a moment before it vanished.
'Who are you talking about?' he asked, barely able to speak.
'Let's have something to eat,' she repeated.
'Rosa, who were you-?'
But it was useless. The phantom had gone. He let the subject drop, fearful of doing damage if he persisted.
For the rest of that evening she behaved normally, even cheerfully. You had to know the truth, he thought, to recognise the storm she was suppressing. Nor could he help her, because she wouldn't let him.
He kept hoping that Julia would find a way to call them soon. But the evening passed with no word from her, and at last it was time to go to bed.
He was awoken in the morning by Gemma, shaking him urgently.
'I can't find Rosa,' she said.
He threw on his clothes and checked every room in the apartment, but it was a formality. In his heart he knew where she had gone. 'Has the phone rung?'
Gemma shook her head.
'All right, I'll be back soon.'
He called for a water taxi and reached the nearest landing stage just as it arrived.
'The airport, as fast as you can,' he said tersely.
He entered the terminal at a run and kept on running until he saw Rosa sitting, watching the arrival doors with terrible intensity.
She glanced at him as he sat beside her, and something in her face silenced all words of reproach.
'How long have you been here?' he asked quietly.
'A couple of hours.'
He looked up at the board. It showed two planes landed from England, but he didn't know if either of them was Julia's.
'She'll be here,' he said. 'She promised.'
There was no reply, but he felt a small hand creep into his and grip it so tightly that he winced with pain.
The doors slid open. Passengers were beginning to stream out. Rosa's gaze became fixed again, as if her whole life depended on this moment. Vincenzo too watched, trying to distinguish one figure from the many others.
But it was Rosa who saw her. Leaping up with a sudden shriek, she began to run.
'Mummy-Mummy-Mummy!'
Heads turned as the child darted through the crowd to throw herself into a pair of open arms. With a heart overflowing with relief, Vincenzo followed her until he was a few feet away from Julia, and was in time to see Rosa draw back to look her radiantly in the face and say, 'You came back.'
CHAPTER TWELVE
'You came back.'
'Yes, darling. I always meant to, it was just the fog.'
But Rosa shook her head, impatient that Julia hadn't understood.
'You didn't come back before,' she said.
Then the first inkling of the truth came to Julia and her startled eyes met Vincenzo's.
'Before?' she asked cautiously, hardly daring to hope.
'You went away before,' Rosa cried, 'and you never came back.'
Julia dropped to her knees, holding onto Rosa and searching her face.
'Do you remember that?' she whispered.
Rosa nodded. 'You gave me Danny, and then you went away. And I cried. I didn't want you to go, but you went.'
'Do you know-who I am?'
'I-think so,' Rosa said slowly. 'I think-you're Mummy.'
'Yes, darling. Yes, I am-I am, I am-'
She buried her face against Rosa and wept tears of joy, feeling them sweep away all the other tears she had cried through so many bitter, anguished nights.
'But I don't understand-' Rosa said.
'I know, piccina-this is your mummy,' Vincenzo said. 'There'll be time to understand later. Let's all go home.'
He took charge of Julia's trolley, and wheeled it out of the airport, glancing over his shoulder to see where they were following, walking slowly because they were hugging each other at the same time.
He helped the boatman with the suitcases, noticing that Julia had managed to acquire several new ones, and that they were heavy. By the time they caught up, everything was ready for departure.