The Heavenly Italian Ice Cream Shop (29 page)

All being well, they’d arrive the day before the wedding. Imogen scrolled through the photos Jan had posted of the two of them in Verona and smiled. She was so proud of her parents for taking a chance.

‘You’re here!’ Anna squealed as Imogen walked into the ice cream shop.

‘Again!’ Imogen said, laughing. ‘Come here and give me a hug.’ They hugged each other, with Matteo and Bella joining them.

‘Excited yet?’ Imogen asked her sister.

‘God, yes,’ Anna said, smiling. ‘Well, that and a bit of the obligatory panic . . . I can’t stop thinking about it, dreaming it, breathing it . . .’

‘Not to mention eating,’ Matteo said. ‘This wedding has called for extensive research in that area.’

‘I’m so pleased you’re here,’ Anna said, squeezing her sister more tightly.

‘And Mum and Dad are hot on my heels, by the looks of things – one more stop in Siena with your dad, Matteo, and then they’ll be heading over.’

‘Great. It feels like there’s still so much to do,’ Anna said. ‘Did I mention we’re having a party here on Friday, the night before?’

‘Yes. Well, that’s easy enough,’ Imogen said. ‘I’ve done that before.’

Matteo led Bella away and Imogen and Anna had a moment to themselves to talk.

‘You look so happy today, Anna.’

‘I
am
happy,’ Anna said. ‘I never thought I’d be getting married in a place as beautiful as this, even less that I’d be living here.’

‘Have you made any decisions about that? About the future?’ Imogen asked.

‘We’ve decided that we can’t decide,’ Anna said, with a wry laugh. ‘At least not yet.’ She glanced over at her husband-to-be.

‘Well, wherever you end up, you know now that you’re stuck with us,’ Imogen said. ‘It really isn’t that far to come and visit.’

‘And I’ll always come back and see you – I’ll need to keep an eye on Vivien’s,’ Anna said.

‘Yes, of course. The great thing about you being a control freak is that I know you’ll never let go of that place.’

On Friday, Evie and Imogen were in the ice cream shop as Anna rushed to get things ready for the pre-wedding party.

‘Right, what can we help with?’ Evie asked brightly, rubbing her hands together.

‘These,’ Anna said, passing her some old maps of the Amalfi coast. Imogen furrowed her brow. ‘Can you cut them up and make them into heart-shaped decorations for us? And, Imogen, can you round up some jam jars from the kitchen and put tea lights in all of them?’

Evie and Imogen got to work, chatting merrily as they prepared the decorations.

‘So, you’ve been here for a week, and I’ve been here in Sorrento three days and I’ve barely seen you,’ Imogen said. ‘I’m taking that as a good sign.’

‘Yes, it is.’ Evie said. ‘Luigi and I have been travelling around a fair bit.’

‘Getting on well?’

‘Oh, yes. We slipped straight into chatting and catching up.’

‘You look really happy, Evie.’

‘You know what? I think I am. And of course I have you to thank.’

‘My pleasure,’ Imogen said. ‘Although I can’t really take the credit. Vivien was the one who got this all started.’

‘Yes, I suppose this is all her doing, really. That woman, meddling in my love life even from up there.’ She glanced up at the cloudless blue sky.

‘She cared about you so much, Evie. And she always was a romantic – she might have pushed the issue, but she was right, wasn’t she? You and Luigi were meant to have a second chance.’

‘Yes, she was right,’ Evie said. ‘She always was. Maddening most of the time, but, on this occasion, I’ll admit I’m grateful.’

‘So how’s it been, meeting all of the family?’ Imogen asked.

‘It’s been wonderful. Better than I’d dared to hope. We went to visit his daughter in Naples last week, and then yesterday went out to the country to meet his son and the new baby. I was wary at first: I didn’t want to intrude at such an important time. But they really welcomed me in, Imogen. It was a perfect day. My Italian’s coming back to me slowly, so at least I can talk to them a little bit now.’

‘That’s great. You should talk to Anna about it. She’s been working hard on her Italian too.’

Anna poked her head out of the kitchen and checked the wall clock. ‘Imo – any idea where Mum and Dad are? They should be here by now.’

Anna checked her phone for messages, and the blog still had her parents located around Siena, hours away. ‘They’ll be here,’ she said, feigning confidence. ‘Just keeping you on your toes, that’s all.’

That evening, Anna and Matteo’s friends and family gathered at the ice cream shop for amaretto cocktails, Prosecco and canapés. Imogen moved among the guests, introducing people and topping up their glasses. She could see Anna glancing around, looking out for their parents. Imogen had called them three times now, but got no reply.

‘Luigi, you look like you could do with a refill,’ Imogen said, topping up his glass.

‘Oh, be gentle with me,’ Luigi said. ‘We’ve got a whole day of partying tomorrow, too – and I’m a grandfather these days.’

Evie looped her arm through his. ‘Don’t listen to him. He can handle it,’ she laughed. ‘And while you’re offering . . .’ She lifted her glass and Imogen filled it. Her and Imogen’s eyes met, in silent understanding.

As she looked away, Imogen’s gaze fell over by the counter.
Finn
. He must have arrived when she wasn’t paying attention. He looked up for a second, and nodded in acknowledgement, then went back to talking to Carolina. He seemed immersed in conversation with her, as if they were old friends rather than virtual strangers. It stung a little bit. But it wasn’t her place to care, or to say anything. Imogen didn’t want anything to detract from Anna’s big day.

A mechanical roar followed by revving came from the square, and Anna raced outside to see, Bella in her arms. Once she’d got a good look she turned back inside and called out to the guests, ‘My God, it’s them. My parents are here!’

Everyone filtered outside as Tom and Jan parked up their motorbike. Jan took off her helmet, revealing her normally perfectly coiffed hair pointing in all directions. Glowing with excitement, she didn’t even seem to notice or care.

‘Here we are!’ she called out.

‘We got sidetracked by a wonderful restaurant on the way, but I hope you knew we’d never miss this,’ Tom said, giving his elder daughter a big hug.

Matteo’s extended family seemed to engulf her parents with greetings and kisses, helping with their things and bringing them drinks and snacks.

‘Hey,’ came a voice, soft at Imogen’s shoulder.

She turned and saw Finn there, in jeans and a grey T-shirt that showed off his arms, tanned from working outside all summer.

‘Hi,’ Imogen said. It was achingly hard to be this close to him, yet unable to touch him, kiss him, curl up towards him in the way that she wanted to.

‘Quite the entrance,’ he said.

‘Yes. And they kept us waiting, too. It’s been on my mind all evening. And after what happened to Carolina . . .’

‘She was just telling me,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ Imogen said, biting her lip and trying to fend off the jealousy. ‘She’s very brave.’

‘Anyway, everyone’s here now,’ Finn said.

Imogen wanted more than anything to erase the distance that had grown between them, to undo what she’d done, and make it all right again. ‘It’s good you could come. I know how much Anna and Matteo wanted you here.’

‘I wouldn’t have missed it,’ Finn said. ‘I know it would be hard seeing you again though, and it is.’

Imogen nodded, and tears sprang to her eyes. They stood like that for a moment in silence, then he reached a hand up to brush the tears away from her cheeks.

‘Don’t cry,’ he whispered.

‘I’ve been an idiot,’ Imogen said.

Finn looked away, over at the crowd, for a moment. Then he turned back and said, ‘You’re not going to hear any arguments from me on that one.’

The silence between them stretched out, and even with the buzz of the party it seemed as if everything was quiet.

‘I’ve thrown away the best thing that ever happened to me,’ Imogen said.

‘You haven’t,’ Finn said, shaking his head.

‘But after everything . . .’

‘You haven’t,’ he repeated, softly.

Jan and Anna walked together through the party at the ice cream shop.

‘Me and your dad have been so excited about all of this,’ Jan said. She looked around the room and marvelled at the décor. ‘The shop – I can see what attracted you to this place. It all looks fantastic.’

‘Well, I’m glad you arrived in one piece. And you’re one person I’ve never had to worry about before.’

‘I’ve never done much that’s adventurous, that’s why – I mean besides raise my family, which was an adventure of sorts – but now, with this bike trip. It’s opened my eyes, Anna. We’ve met the most interesting people, and it’s brought me and your dad back to our best, being in all these romantic places.’

‘That’s great. There’s something about Italy, isn’t there?’

‘Yes. It’s very special. And Matteo’s father was so generous showing us around. He and your dad got along famously – much better than at Christmas.’

‘Oh, good.’ Anna lowered her voice to a whisper, even though the hum in the room was already loud enough to mask anything she was saying. ‘They take a little while to warm to, but they’re very good people.’

‘I can see that. And also what it was that attracted you to living out here.’

‘It’s been a rollercoaster, but I’m glad we came.’

‘I hope you’ll come back – of course I do. But if you choose to make your life here, you know that the two of us will understand.’

Anna put her arm around her mum and brought her in towards her for a hug.

‘Thank you, Mum.’

At the end of the night, as the guests headed back to their apartments and homes, Matteo and Anna were standing in front of their shop, waving goodbye. Bella had gone upstairs with Carolina a few hours before, after being passed around the relatives for most of the evening.

‘And we’ll be doing all of this again tomorrow,’ Anna said.

‘We’ll be doing more than this. We’ll be getting married too – or did you forget about that part?’

‘I didn’t forget,’ Anna said, taking his hand. ‘That’s the part I’m looking forward to most of all. So I guess this is it – our first night apart in over two years.’

‘It’ll be strange, won’t it?’

Anna nodded. ‘I’ve got kind of used to having you around.’

‘It won’t be for long. So who would have thought it? The two of us. Two ice cream shops and a little girl later, and here we are, ready to get married.’

‘You’re not getting cold feet, are you?’ Anna said. ‘Because, if you are, there is going to be an awful lot of tiramisu for me to get through on my own tomorrow . . .’

‘Don’t worry about that,’ he said.

‘The town hall. Twelve o’clock. None of this Mediterranean timing, either.’

‘I’ll be there.’

Chapter 48

Anna turned to Imogen, and Imogen adjusted one of the white flowers in her hair. ‘There. Perfect.’

Anna, Imogen and Bella were standing just outside the doors of the town hall, in the centre of Sorrento. Anna’s hair was loose, falling in dark-brown waves around her shoulders, with two small sections twisted and pinned back with flowers. Her makeup was subtle – the summer in Sorrento had already given her a warm hazelnut glow, and Imogen had just added some shimmer and mascara to her eyes, and a touch of lip gloss. Her dress was ivory satin, with spaghetti straps and a low back, and it fell to just below her knee. Matching satin heels showed off her long, tanned legs.

‘You look beautiful,’ Imogen said.

‘Thank you. I feel like I might cry.’

‘Don’t you dare smudge that mascara,’ Imogen said. ‘Now, are you ready?’

‘Yes,’ Anna said, a trace of nerves in her voice. ‘I think so.’ Imogen looked down at her niece. In her pistachio satin dress, with its wide bow, Bella looked like a mini version of her. Imogen squeezed her tiny hand. ‘Bella, how about you?’

She pointed through the gap in the doors. ‘Daddy!’ she called out, spying her father waiting.

‘I think we’d better go before she beats you to the top of the aisle,’ Imogen said, laughing.

‘OK.’ Anna took a deep breath. ‘This is it, then.’

‘Yes,’ Imogen said. ‘It is. Let’s do this.’

Imogen and Bella followed Anna down the aisle, passing Anna’s and Matteo’s families. Imogen kept her eyes focused on her sister, and led Bella past the relatives, all of whom she wanted to play with.

At the top of the aisle, Imogen brought her restless niece up into her arms as they watched Anna and Matteo say their vows. This was it. Things were changing. Anna, the elder sister she’d always adored and idolised, was making official her commitment to Matteo, and to their small family. Imogen was close enough to see Anna’s tears, and hers started to fall too. Matteo – with his easy smile and ability to roll with the ups and downs of life – was the right man for Anna, and a great father to their daughter. To see them promise to always be there for one another, whatever happened, didn’t seem like either of them making a compromise, or a sacrifice. It simply seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

As they exchanged rings, a cheer went up from the crowd, and Bella leaped into her father’s arms.

Imogen looked out at the guests: Jan and Tom, whooping and calling out; Carolina, linking arms with her parents, who were both smiling broadly; Martin and Clarissa, holding each other close. And there, on the third row back, was Finn. She tried not to let her gaze linger there too long.

As Matteo and Anna pulled away from one another, Imogen brought her sister in towards her for a hug. ‘Congratulations!’ she said.

‘We did it!’ Anna said, her smile irrepressible. ‘We actually did it, Imo.’

After the ceremony, a procession of hooting cars, led by Anna and Matteo in a white Cinquecento, headed up to a nearby cliff-top village. There, they trooped out towards the marquee and bar set up with a breathtaking view of the coast.

Imogen looked out at sunshine on pastel-coloured, picture-book houses, and the coastal road snaking out of view. The bride and groom were chatting and laughing, Anna’s hair blowing gently in the sea breeze, Matteo’s hand clasped tightly in hers. This was better, thought Imogen. Much better, than watching a wedding from the outside.