Page 10 of Change of Heart
She headed for the door in the right-hand wall, but before she got there the same window on the first floor opened, and the same white-haired old lady peered out, only this time she looked less antagonistic.
‘Good morning. You’re the English girl, aren’t you? I remember you.’
Alice gave her a beaming smile as she looked up. ‘Good morning, yes, I’m Alice. I’m not too early, am I?’
‘Of course not. I’ve been up for ages. Wait there and I’ll come and let you in.’
Alice had to wait almost two minutes before she heard hesitant footsteps on the other side of the door. There was a rattling of a chain and the sound of several locks being turned before the door opened with a creak. Seen close up, Simonetta’s grandmother was tiny, her shoulders hunched so much that her head appeared to be permanently facing downwards, but she managed to lift her eyes to Alice’s face.
‘Good morning, again. Do come in.’ She stepped to one side as Alice entered and as she did so, a grey shadow slipped in between their legs. ‘And good morning to you, Baffo. Have you caught lots of mice?’
The cat, now that it was safely inside the building, paused and sat down to lick its front paws. It gave Alice a wary look before heading up the stairs, no doubt looking forward to a rest after a night on the tiles. The door closed behind them and Alice turned and held out her hand.
‘Thank you for letting me in, Lady Varaldo. I’m very pleased to meet you.’
The baroness transferred her walking stick from her right hand to her left and gave Alice’s hand a surprisingly firm shake before indicating the staircase. ‘If you’d like to come upstairs, I’ll see if Ines can make us some coffee. You go on ahead by all means. I’m afraid I’m not so good at stairs these days.’ Her tone wasn’t so much apologetic as frustrated. Alice’s heart went out to her and she responded with a smile.
‘It’s a wide staircase. I’d be happy to walk up with you.’ She let her smile broaden. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be much faster than you on the stairs.’
The old lady nodded sagely. ‘Of course. Simonetta said your leg was crushed in an avalanche. How awful for you. Well, let’s attack the stairs together, shall we?’
Alice felt fingers grip her forearm. No words were exchanged, and they started to make their way slowly up the stairs. They were almost halfway up when the baroness started talking.
‘I’m not sure who’s up and about yet. I’m afraid my son doesn’t surface until mid-morning some days.’ She glanced across at Alice who was still working out that the old lady was referring to the baron. ‘He’s never been an early morning person, and over the past year or two he’s been getting worse.’ There was more pity than disapproval in her voice and Alice was reminded of what Simonetta had told her about how badly affected her father had been by the death of his wife.
‘What about Simonetta’s brother? When I was here last time, I didn’t meet him. Is he here now?’
This time there was distinctly a disapproving note in Lady Beatrice’s voice when she replied. ‘Yes, he’s here all right. He woke up the whole place in the middle of the night with that blasted car of his. Young people can be so inconsiderate.’
Considering that Alice was thirty-one and Achille four years older than that, ‘young’ was pushing it a bit, but to somebody of ninety, it probably did seem like they were kids. ‘Does he live here full time?’ She saw Lady Beatrice nod. ‘What does he do?’
‘Not very much.’ Maybe realising that she might be overstepping the mark in talking about her grandson in derogatory terms to a near stranger who was only an employee, the old lady added some clarification. ‘He’s in the insurance business, but he doesn’t have a fixed work schedule. It’ll be interesting to see whether he has to go down to Parma this morning or whether he’ll do like his father and have a long lie-in.’
Seeing as the two of them were still alone, Alice took advantage of the moment to ask a question that had been in her head for the last month. ‘And Simonetta, does she work?’
‘She used to teach Italian literature at the university in Parma but she gave it up two years ago when her mother died, so that she could come and look after her father.’
They turned the corner and as they climbed the last few steps, Simonetta herself appeared at the top and gave them both a smile.
‘Good morning, Alice, I see Nonna hasn’t wasted any time in putting you to work.’
‘Hello, Simonetta. That wasn’t work. Your grandmother and I have just been having a nice chat while we climbed the stairs.’
The baroness gave her granddaughter a rueful smile. ‘You wait until you’re my age, Simonetta. You’ll take all the help you can get, I promise you. Which reminds me of something I’ve been thinking about: when we have tourists coming to visit the castle, we’re going to need a lift, maybe two. These days places like this need to be accessible to all.’ She glanced across and Alice distinctly saw her wink at her. ‘A lift could be very useful, couldn’t it?’
Alice grinned at her and nodded. She was impressed. Lady Varaldo’s knees might be a bit shaky, but there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with her brain. Simonetta clearly felt the same way and she nodded her head enthusiastically. ‘Of course, Nonna, that’s a very good idea.’ She glanced across at Alice. ‘We must make sure we include Nonna in our planning meetings. She’s full of good ideas.’
Alice nodded in agreement. ‘Absolutely. On the subject of planning, I’ve got all sorts of questions for you all, and I’ve drawn up a provisional agenda for an initial meeting – unless you already have a list of topics to discuss – hopefully with the whole family if you’re all available.’
‘I’ve told my father and my brother that they need to be up early this morning – well, early by their standards – and I wonder if you and I, Alice, could sit down together first and have a general talk before they come along. I’ve told them the meeting will be at ten o’clock sharp and I’ve asked Ines to make sure she wakes them and she doesn’t let them go back to sleep again. That gives us a couple of hours and, Nonna, you’re going to join us, aren’t you? There’s coffee in the sitting room.’
They walked along the corridor to the sitting room. The early morning sun was streaming in through the windows and the monumental fireplace was empty. It was definitely cooler in here than outside but not nearly as cold as it had been a month before. Still, Alice was glad she had thought to bring a jumper. The baroness shooed the cat off what was presumably both her and the cat’s favourite armchair and sat down heavily, resting her stick against the arm. Interestingly, the cat didn’t protest. Presumably he, like everybody else in the castle, knew that the baroness was not to be trifled with.
No sooner had they sat down than the door at the far end opened and Silvia, the maid, appeared carrying a tray bearing the same ornate coffee pot as last time and a basket of croissants which smelt wonderful. Today there was another smaller jug alongside these which contained hot milk, and Alice noticed that the cups were larger than the small espresso cups they had used the previous time. Clearly, breakfast demanded the option of milk in coffee. After seeing that they were all served – Alice chose to put milk in her coffee but the baroness just opted for a small black coffee – Simonetta sat back and looked across at Alice.
‘Welcome to Varaldo. I’m so glad you were able to accept the job. I’m sure you’re the person we need.’
‘Well, thank you for offering me the position. It’s going to be exciting. Have there been any developments since I was last here? Was it a struggle to get your father and your brother onside?’
