Page 23 of A Chance in a Million
Diana had shown Jane the photos and she agreed with Beatrice’s assessment.
‘I thought some of them were very stylish.’ She grinned at her employer. ‘Although I only wear Ingrid Bergman gowns myself…’
‘Jane had to represent me at a charity auction, so I gave her the cream Bergman dress to wear. Remember, Beatrice, that was the one you wore on your twenty-first.’
Beatrice smiled across at Jane. ‘Lucky you. It’s gorgeous isn’t it. The trouble with dresses like that is there aren’t that many occasions when you can wear them. In my job most of the time all the viewers see of me is from the waist up. I could be wearing pyjama bottoms underneath if I felt like it.’
Veronica had also been favourably impressed by Diana’s collection. ‘Diana tells me what she wants to do is to set up her own design studio.’
‘Where?’ Beatrice looked up with interest. ‘Over here or over there?’
‘She doesn’t know. She was muttering about Paris, but seeing as she doesn’t speak the language, I would think she’d be better off here or in the States.’
‘Surely Milan is one of the big centres for fashion, isn’t it?’ Jane didn’t know a lot about designer clothes. ‘That would be conveniently close to here so you’d see more of her.’
‘She’s got to finish the final year of her course first but yes, Milan would be good. Or even Venice…’
‘And what about David?’ It sounded as though Beatrice hadn’t seen her brother for a while. ‘How’s he doing these days?’ That same note of compassion was evident in her tone. ‘Did I hear that he’s gone off again?’
‘Yes, for a whole month. I’m hoping he’ll be back soon but, you know him, he hasn’t said a word.’ Veronica gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘Hopefully the change of air will have done him good.’
Beatrice exchanged glances with her mother. ‘Still miserable?’
Jane was ever more curious to know what was troubling Veronica’s son but she refrained from commenting. This was family business, after all, and she was just a bystander.
Veronica nodded her head slowly. ‘I’m afraid so. Sooner or later he’s got to snap out of it.’ She looked helplessly across at her daughter. ‘I just wish there was something I could do.’
‘I suppose he’s got to work through it by himself. Still, when he comes back, Di and I can have a go at him. Maybe we can at least get him talking. When did you say he’s expected back?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine.’
Chapter 13
Over the next few days, Jane was regularly visited by Linda and her teddy, usually accompanied by the Labrador. Beatrice was also a frequent visitor and Jane got on increasingly well with her. She told Jane about the final months of her marriage and how stressful she had found everything. The reasons for the break-up were complex but the nub of it appeared to be the bitter jealousy of her husband – not of other men but of Beatrice’s rising popularity as a TV personality. He had been unable to stomach the fact that his wife was better-known and more popular than he was, and his ever-increasing resentment had led to the divorce.
Jane provided a sympathetic ear and came close to recounting her own recent history but stopped short. Seeing her burst into tears would have done little to cheer Beatrice up so she just listened and sympathised for now. There would come a time when she would be able to talk about Fallujah and Mark and everything else, but not yet.
The other person she saw quite regularly was Flora on her bike. On Sunday morning as she was out for a jog, she was confronted by the sight of her employer’s mother-in-law dressed in her Sunday best, hurtling down the gravel drive with gay abandon. When she spotted Jane she even lifted one hand from the handlebars to give her a cheery wave. Watching her disappear into the distance, Jane had to admit that Flora was a one-off.
She also spent quite a bit of time with Diana, finding that the two of them also got on very well together. They visited the nearby village, which boasted only three shops, but one of these was a fabulousgelateriaserving home-made ice cream in no fewer than twenty-four flavours. The Euganean Hills might not be the earthly paradise but they came close.
One lunchtime she and Diana drove down to Padua and met up with a group of Diana’s friends in the town centre. The city came as a very pleasant surprise to Jane, who knew next to nothing about it – apart from a vague memory of it being mentioned in a Shakespeare play. Thecentro storicoof this ancient university city was made up of tortuous, narrow cobbled streets with historic buildings popping up all along the way. In particular the basilica was a stunning building in the Byzantine style that wouldn’t have looked out of place alongside the Bosporus. She spent a fascinating hour with Diana walking around, doing her best to take in the main sights – from the spectacular Piazza delle Erbe, the medieval Palazzo Ragione and the Piazza della Frutta with its bars and restaurants. It was here that they stopped for lunch at tables set outside under sun-bleached parasols.
Diana’s friends were a group of a dozen or so that she had known since childhood. Some lived locally but many, like Diana, lived in Venice or beyond, but had spent their holidays in the hills every summer since they were little, as their families tried to get away from the suffocating heat of the plains. They were all in their early or mid-twenties, and Jane, with everything she had already been through in her life, felt as if she was twice their age, even though the difference was probably only four or five years. She ate her way through an excellent thin crustpizzamontanaraheaped with smoked speck and wild mushrooms, and listened to the others’ conversations with interest, but detachment.
She couldn’t miss the fact that two of the men appeared particularly keen on Diana and had positioned themselves on either side of her, and it looked as though they were vying with each other for her attention. Diana, on the other hand, didn’t appear particularly interested in either of them and Jane wondered how it would work out. When they all decided to go dancing that night at a disco on the outskirts of town, Jane hastily invented an excuse and declined the invitation to join them.
Later that afternoon, Diana came over to Jane’s house in an attempt to persuade her to change her mind and come out dancing that evening, but Jane steadfastly refused. They sat down for a cup of tea together and Jane took the opportunity to quiz her about the two men who had been courting her at lunch, and the answer was unexpected.
‘They’re nice boys but nothing’s going to happen there. The thing is, I know they aren’t interested in me for me. They’re interested in me for the family’s money.’ She shot a serious look across the table at Jane. ‘Having pots of money’s great in so many ways. I can go off to the States and sign up for a course that most people just wouldn’t be able to afford. It means I’ve been able to rent a great little apartment in downtown New York and I can go for holidays to the Caribbean or the Rockies if I want – not that I do – but there’s one big drawback. When people find out who I am and my family background, I suddenly become flavour of the month with a whole heap of guys, but how can I tell if they’re really interested in me or if they just see a couple of glowing dollar signs when they look at me? And to make things worse, my girlfriends get jealous of all the attention I get, and that leads to arguments.’ She managed a wry smile. ‘Poor little rich girl, eh?’
This was a facet of wealth that Jane had never considered. Maybe there was such a thing as having too much of a good thing. She gave Diana an encouraging smile. ‘You’re still young. It’ll all work out. You’ll see.’
‘I really hope so. What about you? Have you got a man hidden away somewhere?’ Diana must have noticed the expression that flooded Jane’s face because she immediately reached across the table and squeezed her arm. ‘I’m sorry, that’s no business of mine.’
Jane swallowed hard and was mildly surprised to find that she was able to answer in a fairly steady voice. ‘No apology necessary. There was a man, but he’s not around anymore. To be honest, I’m concentrating on work now, and working for your mum’s great.’
The following day she decided it was warm enough to try going down to the lake for a swim. Alvise had told her it was quite safe but that the water was, as he put it, ‘a little chilly’. When she got down there, she immediately discovered that he had been guilty of almost Anglo-Saxon understatement. After stripping to her costume, she put her toes in the water and the immediate impact almost took her breath away. Nevertheless, slowly and cautiously she waded in among the weeds until the water was up to the scar at the top of her thigh, and then lowered herself gingerly until she was floating. However, after the initial shock she soon began to enjoy herself.
