Page 35 of A Chance in a Million
Chapter 19
Veronica was as good as her word and arranged for them to visit to a spa. On Wednesday of the following week, she and her daughters, along with little Linda and Jane – but unsurprisingly not David – set off in the Mercedes for Montegrotto Terme. Jane volunteered to drive and it took barely a quarter of an hour to get there. She hadn’t been quite sure what to expect. Maybe a waterfall, a lake or a sulphurous swamp emitting foul-smelling bubbles of gas from thick chocolaty mud, but the reality was very different. In spite of the town having bothmonteandgrottoin its name, she found herself out of the hills and back down on the flat once more.
The little town appeared to be composed mainly of a grid of straight modern roads lined with trees and gardens, with meticulously pruned bushes and colourful plants on all sides. Two things were immediately obvious to Jane: almost every other building appeared to be a hotel and virtually all the people she saw walking along the pavements were well into their seventies, eighties or even older. Clearly, in spite of Flora’s reservations, this was where mature Italians came to take the waters, and the luxury hotels offered accommodation as well as all manner of spa treatments.
After pointing out the ruins of the Roman baths built two thousand years earlier, Veronica explained what awaited them today. She was looking and sounding increasingly buoyant these days and this was good to see.
‘We’re booked in for the day, and you can choose whatever treatment appeals to you. I’m going to have a mud session first. It’s warm volcanic mud and it’s supposed to be very good for the skin as well as for muscle aches and pains. The pools are naturally warm water at, if I remember rightly, thirty-seven degrees. It really is like a warm bath. You can have a massage, a sauna and goodness knows what else. Just go wherever you like and we can meet for lunch at one. The food here’s excellent.’
There was one big question that Jane had been agonising over ever since hearing they were coming to a spa. ‘What’s the dress code? It’s my first time at a spa. I’ve brought a costume and a bikini and I’m wearing clean underwear, but do we just wander about like that or do we stay as we are or are we expected to strip off…?’
Veronica can’t have missed the insecurity in her voice and actually giggled. ‘Don’t worry, Jane, it’s all in the best possible taste, I assure you. First we take showers – hygiene here is all important – and then we change into costumes. You girls should probably wear bikinis as that way you expose more skin to the mud and the water, although I’m far too old for that, so I’ll be a bit more covered up. We leave our clothes in lockers and they provide us with robes to wear for walking around and when we have lunch. You’ll love it, I’m sure.’
‘So we don’t have to strip off?’ She still wasn’t sure, but Beatrice provided clarification and reassurance – up to a point.
‘I’ve been here a few times and it’s absolutely fine. If you go for the mud treatment, it’s best to strip off. Don’t worry, it’s all very private. If you do decide to keep your clothes on, just look out. I tried it wearing a blue and white bikini once and the mud turned it green and brown and the colour never washed out.’
What, Jane wondered to herself, would mud that noxious do to the skin? Still, this wasn’t in the same league as defusing a landmine, so she kept her doubts to herself and hoped for the best.
The spa Veronica had booked was part of a huge modern-looking hotel, five or six storeys high, surrounded by spectacularly beautiful gardens. Ancient olive trees and cypresses dotted the well-kept lawns and huge rosemary bushes in flower added their scent to the aromas of lavender and roses. Discreetly concealed sprinklers ensured that the grass was even greener than in her parents’ garden back in rainy England and the overall impression was charming. They were met by a lady in a white coat as they walked into the marble-clad lobby and she escorted them through to the spa where they changed. Following her employer’s advice, Jane put on her bikini although she knew this would now expose the lacework of scars across her thighs and abdomen caused by the blast. Still, she told herself as she slipped the gown provided by the spa over the top, she would probably spend most of her time wrapped in this and when she did take it off she would be under water or covered in mud, so the pale patches probably weren’t going to be too obvious.
Little Linda had no doubts about her priorities and she and her mum headed straight outside to the huge open air swimming pool and Jane went with them. The water was crystal clear, with no detectable trace of sulphur, and as Veronica had said, it was like swimming in a warm bath. Certainly, it was a far cry from the cold lake up at the villa.
From there, Jane followed Diana to the mud bath area where they stripped off and lay, face down, while female staff in pristine white coats smothered them in warm mud that rapidly dried out against their bodies. After a few minutes they were instructed to turn over and the process was repeated on their fronts. After a while the dry mud was washed off and by the time Jane emerged she could feel her whole body tingling. After showering thoroughly, she returned to the pool and floated idly about, feeling remarkably calm and peaceful. The woman who had looked after her in the mud department had told her that the treatment was reputed to have a beneficial effect on the nerves and was excellent at combating stress. Lying back in the water, Jane couldn’t help but agree. She hadn’t felt so relaxed for ages. When she finally found the energy to climb out of the water and stretch out on a sunbed under a parasol, she was joined by Diana.
‘Hi, Jane, well, what do you think of it so far?’
‘I feel amazingly relaxed.’ She turned her head towards Diana and smiled. ‘And as far as I can see, my skin’s still the same colour it was when I went into the mud bath. I was worried I might turn green.’
‘Jane… I couldn’t help noticing the scars on your body…’ Diana sounded tentative. ‘Was that something that happened to you in the army? You don’t mind me asking, do you?’
Jane’s state of relaxation dissolved in an instant and she lay there, wondering how to respond. She knew the time had been fast approaching when she would have to tell Veronica and, by extension, her family what had happened before her departure from the army, but this didn’t make it any easier. In the end, she decided to fudge the issue.
‘Of course I don’t mind. I was caught up in an explosion, but the medics managed to sort it all out and there were no lasting problems.’ Unless she counted two years of pain and depression and the loss of the man she had loved.
‘How awful for you. But you’re really all right now?’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Whether it was the mud bath, the Italian air or maybe even a man with a pair of deep blue eyes, up in the hills, she realised that she meant what she said, so she gave Diana a little smile and reached over to squeeze her hand. ‘Seriously, I’m okay, but thanks for asking.’ She very nearly turned the question back on Diana and asked about her brother but stopped herself in time. If he didn’t want to talk about whatever it was that had happened, it would be unfair to ask his sister. Hopefully in the fullness of time he would tell her and, if he didn’t want to talk about it, that was his business.
Lunch, as Veronica had predicted, was excellent. It took the form of a cold buffet and it comprised everything from crayfish to roast beef, pomegranates to artichokes, as well as a whole selection of pulses, yoghurts and nuts – presumably for those with specific dietary requirements. Jane helped herself to a gorgeous-looking mixed salad and a slice of cold salmon and sat down with the others. She smiled as she saw that Linda had helped herself to seemingly everything on offer and her head was barely visible behind the mountain of food on her plate. Jane looked over and commented.
‘I bet Dino wishes he was here, Linda, don’t you? I can just see him chewing his way through a joint of roast beef.’
The little girl’s face popped up from behind her food and they had to wait several seconds for her to answer, as her mouth was clearly full and her cheeks bulging. Finally, she swallowed and responded.
‘Maybe we could take him home some food. He’d love that.’
‘That’s a good idea; we could ask for a doggy bag.’ Somehow, Jane felt sure there was going to be a load of food left over on Linda’s plate. She saw the little girl’s eyes light up.
‘Doggy bag: what a super word.’ They were speaking English almost all the time now and Linda’s fluency was increasing daily, together with the breadth of her vocabulary. She turned towards her mother. ‘Can we ask for a doggy bag, Mummy?’
Beatrice shook her head. ‘I don’t think we should. Your uncle’s very particular about what Dino eats.’
Seeing as David had been mentioned, Jane tried a bit more digging. ‘It’s a pity he didn’t come with us. There are men as well as women here, after all. Has he ever tried it?’
Beatrice answered for all of them. ‘He came a few times when he was much younger but he’s never been keen. Nowadays, of course, it’s all we can do to get him out of the house and into the garden, let alone into a public place like this.’
‘Although he did come to Venice with me the other day.’
