Page 62 of A Wedding in Tuscany

‘Buongiorno.’ Bianca is standing in the doorway that leads into the great hall?the one she won’t let us use. She has one hand on either handle of the double doors, as if she’s a one-woman human shield?You shall not pass! She eyes us with an indecipherable look?perhaps because she’s just caught us appraising her castle’s courtyard.

‘Good morning!’ calls out Jaelee brightly. She walks over to Bianca, her hand outstretched. Bianca blinks at it a couple of times and, frowning, places her hand in Jaelee’s. She pulls it back again almost instantly. A handtouch, rather than a handshake. Jaelee’s smile doesn’t falter and I mentally award her a house point. If she can win over Bianca?literally the only person we’ve encountered on our trip who has been anything less than warm and friendly?she can have a whole bucket of them. And at the end of term, she can cash them in for a pizza party.

‘Grazie for agreeing to meet us,’ she says. At least she used one word in Italian. Bianca nods curtly, her mouth pressed into a firm line. ‘I wondered if I could see the two rooms before we decide.’

Bianca tilts her head ever-so-slightly. Now that’s an expression I understand. It’s the one I don when a fourteen-year-old tries to convince me that not doing her assignment because her parents took her on a surprise trip to the Gold Coast over the weekend?with two of her friends?is a reasonable excuse.

There’s a pregnant moment of the two women regarding each other?Jaelee, eyes wide open with ‘innocence’ and Bianca wearing a stare that would make Maggie Smith proud. The moment ends with Bianca nodding, pushing open the doors to the great hall, and stepping aside. ‘Va bene,’ she says unconvincingly.

We should have brought Jean-Luc. I tried to convince Jaelee, but she assured me she had this in hand. Though he is only a two-minute walk away and I’m contemplating running and fetching him?‘Jean-Luc, come quick. Jaelee is microseconds from royally fucking this up’ ?when Jaelee breezes into the great hall and looks around.

‘Oh, Bianca, this room. It’s incredible.’ I smile apologetically at the poor woman as I pass by and join Jaelee.

‘The light, the décor …’ Wow, she’s really laying it on thick. She eventually turns back towards Bianca. ‘Are you sure we can’t use this for the wedding? I’d be happy to pay ten per cent above our agreed rate.’ She is? I haven’t heard her discuss this with Cat and Jean-Luc. Maybe she’s planning on covering the difference herself. I hope she is. Even a small destination wedding has a sizeable cost, and my sister and Jean-Luc have paid for everything themselves, except Cat’s new dress, which was a gift. And until now, Jaelee has stuck to the budget. God, if Bianca agrees, I really hope Jaelee’s covering the difference.

‘No, is not possible.’ I expel a sigh I didn’t realise I was holding in.

‘Right,’ says Jaelee, eyeing her opponent. It’s almost as if I can see the machinations of her thoughts, the negotiation strategies playing across her face. ‘May I see the other two rooms?’ she asks sweetly.

I wait in the great hall, not daring to sit on any of the brocaded furniture, simply standing around, as Bianca takes Jaelee on a whirlwind tour of the library and the dead animal room. They return to me in less than five minutes, Jaelee catching my eye with an ‘over my dead body’ look.

‘What about the courtyard?’ I blurt. Bianca tilts her head, a confused frown on her face. ‘The courtyard,’ I say again pointing outside?with my (very limited) Italian I have no idea what the word is in her language.

A nod of understanding gets my hopes up, but they’re immediately dashed when she says, ‘No, is not possible.’

Jae snorts out a frustrated breath beside me. ‘Bianca,’ I say, ‘I have to be honest. There has been a big miscommunication?and it’s our fault …’ In my periphery, Jaelee’s head snaps sharply in my direction but I continue. ‘You see, my sister and her fiancé … well, all of us, really … we think this castle is beautiful. I mean, this room especially. But the other rooms?as special as they may be and they are unique?they are not quite right for a wedding, you see. They? sorry, we all want the wedding to be romantic, so we are really hoping there is some way we can use the courtyard, or some other part of the castle, so we can make the wedding really special.’

I’ve used my quotas of ‘really’ for the year, and I have no idea if her English skills allow her to interpret the pleading ramblings of a concerned big sister, but I watch her closely for any sign that I’ve broken through her stern insistence.

A small frown skuttles across her face and she bites her top lip. She looks down at the floor?she’s either trying to decipher what I’ve said or she’s reconsidering. Her head lifts and her expression has softened considerably. ‘There is another place,’ she says, ‘above the apartment.’

I break into a grin. ‘You mean it?’

‘Sì. Follow me, please.’ She walks past us, out the double doors to the courtyard and turns right. Jaelee and I look at each other, then rush to catch up.

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