The Sin of Cynara (9 page)

  Almost unaware, she sank into a kneeling position beside the great bed where Teri slept so soundly and her bright hair spread around her as she rested her forehead against the silk and lace coverlet. It was cool against her hot forehead and the jabbing pain of a headache. She had said defiantly that Bedelia didn't frighten her with her remarks about the baróne, but it wasn't altogether true.

  He could be every bit as untrustworthy as Vincenzo, and added to it he carried those terrible marks, as if a tigress had leapt and clawed his face into the mask of a devil.

  According to Bedelia it wasn't just a mask, and try as she might Carol couldn't quite believe that 'the damned are not forever lost'.

CHAPTER FOUR

  CAROL woke abruptly to a flood of sunlight through the long windows, from which the curtains had been pulled aside into graceful drapes to the polished floor. She lay there gazing bemusedly at the sunshine and the enormous windows that let it into the room. Where on earth ... then she sat up sharply as the door of the strange room opened and a maid in a cream and beige uniform entered with a tray in her hands.

  'Buon giorno, signora.' The maid came to the bedside and the wink of silver made Carol blink. Never in her life had she been brought tea in bed, least of all in a silver pot by a young maid in an impeccable uniform.

  'Good morning,' she said, and then she remembered exactly where she was and turned in panic to find Teri. The place beside her was empty and only the slight impression of his young head remained in the pillow.

  'Teri !' she gasped. 'Where is he?'

  'I came earlier with tea, signora, but you were sound asleep and the bambino was wide awake. He wanted to get up and have a look around, and the padrina said it would be all right.'

  'The padrina?' Carol looked perplexed and anxious for Teri.

  'The sister of the padrone, signora. She is an early riser and she took the bambino off with her.'

  'Oh — Gena.' Relief came into Carol's eyes. 'Is it very late? I don't usually sleep so deeply.'

  'It is nine-thirty, signora, but do not worry yourself. The padrona said that you were not to be disturbed, but I thought you might wish for a cup of tea and I have brought it to you.'

  'I'd love a cup !' Carol pushed aside her thick plait that was half-unwound, a sign that her sleep had been restless for all that she had slept so deeply. The sun played upon her and she could feel the maid looking at her with a hint of curiosity, taking in her blonde hair as she poured tea from the silver pot into a porcelain cup. 'There is cream and sugar, signora, and a second cup in the pot. Will you take breakfast here in your room, or down on the terrazza?'

  'Oh, the terrazza sounds ideal,' Carol said at once.

  'And what will the signora require for breakfast? Fruit and rolls, or something a little more substantial?'

  'A half of grapefruit would be nice, followed by bacon and toast if that wouldn't be too much bother?'

  'Not at all, signora.' The maid looked faintly amused that a guest should be so polite. 'You may have bacon and eggs, a slice of fish, buttered waffles and cream—'

  'Teri would love those,' Carol said eagerly. 'He has a very sweet tooth and he dashes about such a lot that he could do with a little fattening up.'

  'Si, signora. Breakfast will be brought to you on the terrazza at any time that pleases you. It will be nice having a bambino in the house, and he does indeed seem a very lively little boy.'

  'When he was younger and I took him shopping I had to put reins on him,' Carol smiled. 'I — I daresay the staff have heard that he is the son of the Signore Vincenzo?'

  The maid nodded. 'The likeness is there, signora.' 'I hope everyone is not too scandalized.' Carol tried to speak lightly, for it would have to be faced that she would be thought of as Vincenzo's mistress.

  'We are the servants of the baróne and we don't presume to make judgments, signora.' The maid ran her gaze over Carol's pensive face and silky hair, falling undone around her slim and vulnerable-looking shoul-ders. 'The Signore Vincenzo was extremely handsome, and it is some consolation for the family that he left a son. These things happen. Life is life.'

  After the maid was gone, Carol was left with the feeling that life at Falconetti might not be too hard to take ... so long as these people went on regarding her as the mother of Teri. They could forgive what they thought of as a sexual transgression, but if it came out that she was lying to them about having given birth to a Falcone child, then she felt no doubt about their reaction.

  Her darling Teri would be taken from her, and when she remembered him as a toddler in those red and yellow knitted reins, she could hardly bear to think of being parted from him.

  Her hands clenched around her cup of tea ... the deception must go on for all it was worth, and the best way for her to handle it was to think of it as an adventure. There had been few of those in her life, least of all in surroundings such as these.

  That sunshine! Her eyes glistened at the golden warmth and all at once she felt a longing to be out in it and she quickly finished her tea and went to the bathroom.

  Half an hour later she was ready to go down to the terrazza and outside her apartment she paused on the gallery to catch the sound of Teri's voice. It floated on a laugh through an open door at the corner of the gallery, an arched door that gave it the appearance of a hideaway, and Carol went towards it and looked inside. Teri was there with Gena and Flavia, and they had cupboards open in the room and an assortment of toys and games were strewn about the floor. There was also a big dolls' house, a highly-painted rocking-horse, and a big clown sitting in a Neptune chair.

  'There you are,' she said, entering the room, and smiling at the bright disorder of toy soldiers, toy trains and their tracks, and Gena in a silk wrap holding a big doll in her arms.

  'Hi there,' said Gena. 'We're investigating our old playroom for toys that Teri might like to play with. These soldiers belonged to Rudi — aren't they terrific? Handmade and perfect in every detail.'

  'Look at this, Cally.' Teri ran to her with a Roman soldier complete with helmet, shield and sword. 'I've never seen soldiers like these before, and Tia Gena says they're centurions of Caesar's army. May I play with them?'

  'Of course you may, and how about a good morning kiss?' Carol bent down to him and very solemnly they kissed each other. She could feel Gena giving them an intent look and when she glanced across the room she was really feeling a lot less composed than she looked, with her hair neatly braided and wearing a slim green skirt and a white and green polka-dot shirt.

  'It's kind of you both to do this for Teri,' she said. 'It's a regular treasure trove for him to explore, but I hope your brother won't mind? Those soldiers look as if they've been well cared for, and I'd hate Teri to break one of them.'

  'Rudi has long outgrown these kind of toys,' Gena drawled. 'Teri is welcome to use the playroom and he might as well call the soldiers and trains his very own, for there aren't likely to be any more children to play with them.'

  'Oh, why do you say that?' Carol studied Gena in the ivory-coloured wrap, sitting there on a velvet hammock with the doll cradled against her. 'I'm sure your brother doesn't expect you to remain a spinster.'

  'I rather expect it of myself, because I fall for heels.' Gena grinned and glanced at Flavia. 'And you, pet, you want to take the veil, eh?'

  Flavia smiled shyly. 'If Papa is agreeable, of course. The nuns who taught us were always so serene and I feel drawn towards the order and discipline of the life. You wouldn't understand, Gena.'

  'You can take a bet on that and be sure of winning.' Gena rose to her feet and tossed aside the doll. 'I had better go and dress myself, and you, honey, can take Carol and her boy down to breakfast. I expect they're ravenous - yes, lamb chop,' she addressed Teri, 'you can take the Roman commander with you. You've taken to that fierce-looking guy, haven't you?'

  Teri nodded and studied the soldier. 'Was the tall man wounded in a war?' he asked. 'Did a tank run over him?'

  'Yes, caro mio, I daresay you could call it a battle, only it wasn't a tank that he tangled with. Tell me,' Gena bent down to Teri and held his chin in her hand, 'you aren't frightened of the tall man, are you?'

  Teri shook his head. 'I don't think so, Tia Gena. Does it hurt him?'

  'Only when people act silly and treat him as if he frightens them. He was once as handsome as a real Roman centurion and all sorts of people used to lick his boots. Sometimes he'll seem not to be aware of you, mio, and you mustn't mind, for he gets lost in his thoughts and has moods when he wants to be all alone. You see, little man, he no longer believes that anyone can love him.'

  Teri thought this over, and then glanced round at Carol as if assuring himself that she was there with the soft love in her eyes that never wavered.

  'Feeling hungry, Buster?' she asked him.

  He nodded and walked between Carol and the baróne's adopted daughter as they went down the wide marble stairs to the lower hall and out through one of the elegant arched doorways on to a wide terrace overlooking the lake.

  In the morning sunlight the water glittered as if strewn with silver pieces and in an instant Teri was leaning over the parapet, his legs half off the ground. Flavia started forward in some alarm, but Carol caught at her arm. 'Come along, Buster,' she said, 'I don't want a ducking if you fall in and I have to fetch you out. You know what hours it takes for my hair to dry, and I have work to do.'

  'Work?' He swung round from the parapet. 'What, in a teashop?'

  'No, here in the palazzo. I'm going to mend books and earn my bread and butter. Look, caro, here comes the maid with your waffles and cream.'

  He came at once to the table, grinning at Flavia as he wriggled his way on to his iron-wrought chair with a cushioned seat. 'What are they?' he asked.

  'They're like little pancakes, only they aren't folded,' she told him.

  'Goodie!' He stood his Roman soldier against the plaited basket in which rolls were laid. Then he looked about him, wrinkling his nostrils. T can smell lemons, Cally. Lots and lots of lemons.'

  'There is a lemon house close by,' Flavia said. 'Would you like to see it when you've had your breakfast?'

  'A house made of lemons?' He stared at her in amazed delight.

  'No, caro, not exactly that. It is a big cool place where we store the lemons after they have been plucked from the trees.'

  'It would have been funny, a house made of lemons.' He grinned, and then transferred his attention to the maid as she laid out the various dishes of bacon, waffles scrambled eggs, and fruit. The maid gave him a frank stare, and Carol could see for herself that Teri's Italian look was intensified in these surroundings. Vincenzo had certainly imposed his looks upon his son, and Carol had to be thankful for it despite her misgivings. It acted like a charm and made the situation more piquant than uncomfortable.

  She leaned across to Teri and poured the golden cream on to his waffles, which he proceeded to eat with boyish relish. She smiled a little to herself and served her own plate with bacon and tomatoes, while Flavia ate sparingly of scrambled egg. She was a nice girl, but so reserved that Carol found it difficult making small talk with her. Her mind seemed miles away, as if she already saw herself at peace among the cloisters of the convent, saved from the kind of tensions that came into the lives of men and women who preferred the emotions of the heart rather than the soul.

  'Will you mind leaving such a beautiful part of the country?' she asked, after a while. 'The palazzo and the lake appear to have great interest and beauty, and I'm afraid I am worldly enough to feel daunted by the mere thought of entering a nunnery.'

  Flavia smiled gently with her big brown eyes. 'I feel no doubts at all about taking holy orders,' she replied. 'The need to do so is there in my heart, and I feel that everyone should follow their own chosen star. I shall train to be a nurse and be of good use to the Order, for it isn't an enclosed one. I think I should like to go out to India later on, where is a great deal of suffering among the very poor people.'

  'I think you're very brave,' Carol said, sincerely. 'But you're also very young—'

  'Only in years,' Flavia murmured. 'There is wickedness in the world, and there must be people to fight it if they can. I find the prospect far more exciting than settling down to family life with a husband.'

  'Yet you're a very pretty girl,' Carol told her. 'Will the baróne be happy with your desire to take the veil?'

  'He will understand. He has always been kind to me, and I know that he wants me to be happy.'

  'What is the veil?' Teri suddenly asked, for even in the midst of enjoying his food Carol had learned long ago that he was intrigued by the talk of grown up people. The Aunts had found his questions impudent and had insisted that he and Carol eat separately. She hadn't minded that, but it had annoyed her that his youthful curiosity should be regarded as offensive to anyone. He was naturally forward and Carol had always ensured that he didn't cheek people.

  'I am going to work for God,' Flavia told him, with her gentle smile. 'He will be my Boss and I shall take orders from Him, and my uniform will be a veil.'