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They had visited the Zoo al Maglio, where Angelo had been enchanted by the antics of the ht the funicular railway to the top of Monte San Salvatore to enjoy the alpine scenery and on the way back they had stopped off at a chocolate factory, where a peckish Holly had eaten her weight in chocolate and had sworn never to eat it again while Vito teased her about how much he adored her curves

There had been shopping trips as well, to the designer boutiques on the Via Nassa, where Holly had become bored because her neardrobe was so expansive she saw no reason to add to it She hadliveliness of the farmers’ market in the Piazza Rifor ar that arranging the the vase, she had resolved to ask her motherin-law for some tips

‘Yourto sleep?’

‘No It’s only two o’clock in the afternoon’ But in truth she was already s a yawn because their post-lunch nap had turned into a sex-fest ‘Mum…’ she reminded herself ‘It was the last tiht she wantedafter twenty-four-seven I thought she finally wanted to get to know her daughter But I got it all wrong—’

‘How…?’ Vito asked, long fingers inscribing a soothing pattern on her hip

bone

‘Muuy ned a little supermarket She asked me to help out in the shop…’ Holly’s voice trailed away ruefully ‘It was a crucial school year with exams and I didn’t want to miss classes but she insisted she couldn’t cope and I fell for it—’

‘And…?’ Vito proain

‘It turned out that she only wantedto do it and they weren’t even paying e I was just cheap labour to please her boyfriend and give her a break’ Holly sighed ‘I missed so much school that social services took me back into care Of course I failed half my exams as well I haven’t seen her since I realised that she was never going to be the mother I wanted her to be and I had to accept that She wasn’t the maternal type—’

‘And yet you’re so different with Angelo’

‘And if you compare your relationship with your father, aren’t you different with Angelo too? We both want to give our son e didn’t have ourselves,’ Holly , lean length next to hers ‘Why didn’t you invite your father to our wedding?’

‘I thought it would be too aard forfor a bigger divorce settles that he’s always taken for granted’

‘Concetta seeh a divorce, that is,’ Holly qualified ruefully

‘With one she has a lot less stress in her life and for the first time she has her independence without the restriction of either a father or a husband She loves her new home and the freedom she has there’

‘It’s a new life for her,’ Hollythat her o life was still in the honeymoon period and wouldn’t really officially start until they returned to the castello the following day and embarked on a more normal routine