He sat for a moment staring at her, as if trying to see into her soul.
‘I think you should go now,’ he said eventually. ‘Don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me, do you understand?’
She nodded.
‘I’ll be in touch. I may need a favour soon.’
‘Anything,’ she said, ‘anything at all.’
A few days later, Isabella came downstairs in the morning to find a handwritten note had been slipped beneath her front door.
Come and see me as soon as possible, it’s urgent. Vicenzo.
Wearing her fur coat to keep out the chill, she hurried across the park, past the rows of tents set up for the German troops. As she turned into Vicenzo’s quiet road, a German tank rolled noisily by. The tank commander, peering over the top of the gun turret, barked orders to his team. Isabella pulled her coat tightly around herself, and hurried on.
Walking up the drive to Vicenzo’s house, she felt her heart racing with anticipation. She knocked on the door, and the maid opened it almost immediately. As she took Isabella’s coat, Isabella noticed a suitcase in the hall.
Constanza, the maid, led her through to the sitting room. Vicenzo was at his desk by the window, overlooking the garden. He looked tired, Isabella thought.
‘Ah Isabella,’ he said, ‘good, you’re here.’
The dogs, lying by the fireplace, stood up wagging their tails. They sniffed her legs and stood waiting for her to stroke their soft heads.
‘They like you,’ he observed.
‘I love them,’ she replied. ‘They are faithful, as well as beautiful.’
‘Sit down, please. I asked you here to seek a favour of you.’
‘Of course, anything,’ she replied, sitting on one of the sofas.
‘I am going away,’ he said simply.
‘Where?’ she asked.
‘I can’t say, but I feel compelled to save my country. I have serious war work to do. Needless to say, if anyone found out what I was doing, it would certainly lead to my death.’
‘You can trust me, Vicenzo, I promise.’
‘I hope so.’ He sat down opposite her. ‘Now, this is what I need you to do. I want you to move in here, to make it look as if I’m still in Rome. And look after my dogs, will you do that?’
She nodded.
‘And hide some valuables for me – family jewels and so on – they are all there in that box.’ He pointed to a carved box on the sofa table. ‘Can you keep them somewhere at your house?’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said.
He handed her a cheque. ‘Cash this – you’ll need money.’
‘You don’t need to do that,’ she said blushing. ‘Besides, I have money.’
‘No, I know you are not working anymore, Isabella. You will need money to feed the dogs, and to pay Constanza and the gardener.’
‘Vicenzo—’ she began.
‘Don’t say it,’ he said.
‘You don’t know what I’m going to say yet.’
‘Your face says it all. You love me, I know that. That is why I am asking you. There is no one else I can turn to. No one else I can trust.’
‘I’m frightened for you,’ she admitted.
‘Don’t be, I’ll be all right. One other thing – they’re listening to our phones. If I need to contact you, I’ll do so through Constanza, or I’ll send a note. Now, I think that’s everything. I should go.’
He snapped his fingers and the dogs ran across the room to him; he knelt down and kissed them. When he looked up at Isabella, he had tears in his eyes.
‘They will need meat, can you try to find them some?’
‘Of course I will – anything they need,’ she reassured him.
He stood up and walked across to her. He took her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. ‘I’ll be in touch,’ he whispered.
When he had gone, Isabella wandered through the house in a daze, the dogs following at her heels. She felt a huge surge of relief that he had forgiven her. She could make a new start – prove to him how reliable she was, and how much she loved him. She went upstairs, something she had never done before. At the back of the house, overlooking the garden, was a large bedroom decorated in shades of blue. This, she realised, must be Vicenzo’s room. There were photographs of his family on the chest of drawers, alongside photographs of him on location with his crew and some of his stars. On the wall between the two windows was a watercolour of a beautiful house set amongst pine groves. Signed by Vicenzo, it was entitled simply ‘Forte dei Marmi’.