After the doctor had left, Luisa sat down heavily on the sofa. She looked pale and shocked. ‘We haven’t had our soup yet,’ she said distractedly. ‘It will be cold now.’
‘Don’t worry, Mamma.’ Livia picked up the tureen. ‘I’ll go to the kitchen and heat it up again.’
Back in the dining room, Luisa spooned the soup into their bowls and they all ate silently.
‘We will have to stay here now,’ Luisa said eventually. ‘We cannot go back to Florence. Even your father must see that. We will tell him tonight, when he comes for the weekend.’
Livia wanted to tell her mother that she couldn’t abandon her degree, that she couldn’t bear to be parted any longer from Cosimo, that she had her duty to the Pd’A. But she felt unable to argue. ‘Let’s see what Papa thinks,’ she murmured.
That evening, Livia leant out of her bedroom window listening for her father’s car. He was due to arrive in time for supper and she was desperate to seek his support before her mother had a chance to persuade him that they should all stay in the country. She heard his car before she saw it, the gears grinding as he negotiated the hairpin bends leading to the village. Eventually she caught sight of his familiar black Lancia coming down their narrow lane.
She ran downstairs and threw herself at him as he walked through the door. ‘Papa, you’re here at last, thank God.’
‘I am, darling, what a welcome! And it’s wonderful to be here. Florence is so very hot, too hot even for me.’
‘We have to talk,’ she said urgently.
‘What about?’ he asked, putting down his bag and removing his Panama hat.
‘It’s Nonno, he’s had a stroke, Papa.’
Luisa came into the hall. ‘Giacomo, thank God you’re back. Has Livia told you?’
‘Yes,’ he said uncertainly, sinking down onto the settle. ‘I can hardly believe it.’
‘Well I’m afraid it’s true,’ she replied. ‘It happened this morning, we think, or maybe during the night.’
‘I must go to him.’
Livia and Elena waited with Luisa outside on the moonlit terrace while Giacomo went to see his father. Luisa and Angela had laid out a cold supper on the long table and cicadas buzzed insistently while mosquitoes whined overhead.
‘Eat your supper, girls,’ Luisa instructed them. ‘Giacomo might be some time.’
Livia ate nervously, wondering what her father’s reaction might be to Nonno’s illness. Perhaps he would agree with her mother that they should all remain in the villa and care for the old man.
After half an hour, Giacomo joined them. He poured himself a glass of wine and sat down in one of the cane chairs.
‘How was he?’ asked Livia.
‘Much as before, I suspect. It looks quite serious, doesn’t it? He cannot move his right side. What are we to do?’ He seemed uncharacteristically indecisive.
Livia sat down next to him. ‘He’ll improve, Papa, I’m sure of it.’
‘How do you know?’ asked her father.
‘Elena told me.’ She looked at her friend for support. ‘Her father’s a doctor,’ Livia added.
‘My grandmother also had a stroke several years ago,’ explained Elena, ‘but she’s quite well now.’
Giacomo nodded. ‘Well, that’s good to hear.’
‘I’m sure you’ll agree that we must all remain in the villa,’ said Luisa. ‘And Giacomo, you can move your practice up here.’
Livia exchanged worried glances with Elena. ‘But Mamma,’ she began, ‘I have to go back to Florence in September for the start of term.’
‘But I need you with me,’ her mother insisted.
Her father sipped his drink thoughtfully.
‘No, Livia’s right,’ he said eventually. ‘She can stay for another couple of weeks, but in September she must go back. There’s really no need for her to miss out on her degree.’
‘Giacomo!’ Luisa exclaimed. ‘Have you no sense of duty? Who is going to nurse your father? I can’t manage on my own.’
‘We have Angela and Gino – they will help. Besides, my father wouldn’t want his granddaughter to nurse him. I’m sure you’ll cope.’
‘Will I?’ Luisa was indignant. ‘And what about you? Are you deserting him as well?’
‘I’m afraid I must return to Florence after the weekend – I have work to do.’
Luisa stood up furiously. ‘Well, I really cannot believe it. I’m going to bed. And if your father needs anything in the night, I presume it will be me getting up for him?’
‘Of course not,’ said Giacomo wearily. ‘I’ll get up. And tomorrow I’ll start looking for a nurse, I promise.’
Elena, sensing that Livia wanted time alone with her father, made her excuses. ‘I ought to