Bless Her Dead Little Heart

CHAPTER 25

Dickce’s Italian was rusty. The last time she and An’gel had traveled to Italy was seven years ago. She recalled enough of it, however, to get the gist of Antonio’s conversation. He had promised someone that he would talk about a divorce. He had told the other person to be patient.

The really interesting thing was that the person on the other end of the conversation was a man. Mio caro, Antonio had said. My beloved, but the gender of the Italian phrase was clearly masculine. Not mia cara, as one would expect with a woman.

Perhaps Antonio had been speaking to his son. What was the name he had mentioned? Benedetto. The Italian for Benedict. Dickce supposed it wasn’t all that strange for an Italian man to refer to his son in such a way. Italians were more emotionally expressive than Southern men—that was for sure.

It still sounded a bit odd, Dickce decided, as she followed Antonio all the way to the door of the parlor. She stayed a couple of steps behind, and he didn’t seem to realize she was right there with him.

He strode in, arms outstretched. “Rosabella, cara mia, I am so happy to see you. I told you I would return to you as soon as I could.”

Dickce crept to the edge of the door and peered in. Rosabelle stood at the fireplace, from which vantage point she stared coolly at her husband. As Dickce watched, Rosabelle held out a hand and allowed Antonio to take it. He bowed and kissed it, then straightened.

Rosabelle still had not spoken. Antonio held out his hands. “This is how you greet your beloved husband after he returns to you? Do not be so cold, cara, for I bring you wonderful news that will make you so, so happy.”

Rosabelle proffered a cheek, and Antonio stepped forward to bestow a kiss. “Your news had better be wonderful after the way you deserted me, you cad.” She tossed her head. “I could have been murdered at any time without you here to protect me. I will have more to say about that in a moment.” She moved away from the fireplace and sat on the sofa. She patted the cushion beside her. “Come tell me your news first.”

Dickce wished she had her cell phone with her. She would love to have video to show An’gel later when she told her about this touching reunion à la Barbara Cartland.

“The lawyers have rescued me,” Antonio said. “My inheritance is safe, and I no longer have need of your money. Is that not wonderful, my dear? Everything has been restored to me, and I am once again a wealthy man. A wealthy man with a wife who is bellissima.”

He certainly loved that word, Dickce thought. Most beautiful, indeed. She almost snorted but caught herself in time.

“The palazzo in Venice, the country estate, the factory in Milan, and the buildings in Rome? All definitely yours now?”

Rosabelle sounded so mercenary.

“Yes, my dear, I can take you to Italy now and present you as the Contessa di San Lorenzo. You will love the palazzo, I assure you. It will be my delight to show you Venezia. And to show you to Venezia.”

Oh, brother. The corn harvest bid fair to be substantial, if he kept this up. Dickce had to clap a hand over her mouth to contain her mirth.

“You will finally be able to fulfill your promises to me, then.” Rosabelle touched his cheek briefly. Then she turned away. “It was almost too late.”

“What do you mean, Rosabella?” Antonio sounded genuinely puzzled.

“Did An’gel not tell you about what happened in this very house yesterday?”

“She did tell me about the accident, yes, how the wife of your son fell down the stairs and died,” he said. “She also said it was not really an accident, but I did not understand completely what she meant.”

“It was an attempt to murder me,” Rosabelle said in a flat tone. “One of my dear family put water on those stairs out there, waiting for me to slip and fall and break my neck.” She laughed, a little wildly, Dickce thought. “Stupid Marla, however, saved my life. She went down before me and died instead.”

“These stories you have been telling me then, about a person who wants to harm you, they are true?” Antonio shook his head. “I do not understand, my dear. Why would one of them want to do such a terrible thing?”

“They all hate me,” Rosabelle said. “Except perhaps for dear Juanita, although she does pester me for money sometimes.” Her voice rose as she continued. “That’s all they care about. The money. They want me dead so they can have it all for themselves.”

Antonio seized her hands and held them. “Calm yourself, cara. Now that I have returned, you will be safe. I will not let anyone harm you.” He pulled a now-willing Rosabelle into his arms, and she rested her head on his shoulder. “Signorina An’gel tells me that a capable person is investigating and will soon know who did this terrible thing.”

“So An’gel says,” Rosabelle said as she lifted her head. “I have my doubts. But An’gel knows the woman, and An’gel is shrewd, if nothing else. You must stay by my side, Antonio. Now that you are here, I will be able to rest.” She sighed. “I know I look haggard and careworn because I have lost so much sleep.”

Rosabelle was even more shameless than Dickce remembered. Men could be such fools at times.

“You are as lovely as ever, cara mia,” Antonio said. He kissed her cheek. “Do not tell me such silly things.”

His mouth moved to hers, and Dickce looked away. Eavesdropping was one thing, but she drew the line at watching them necking.

After a moment, the embrace evidently ended. Rosabelle laughed in a way that Dickce figured was intended to be seductive. “Tell me more about your business with the lawyers. Did you talk to them about everything you promised me?”

Dickce peeked into the room again. Rosabelle had a stern expression, and Antonio was looking away from her.

“Yes, cara, I did talk to them, but it is not so easy, you understand, to change the will. I must think of Benedetto. He is my son.”

“So you say.” Rosabelle tossed her head.

A voice whispered somewhere near Dickce’s ear. “What are you doing?”

Startled, Dickce drew back from the doorway to see An’gel, hands on hips, glaring at her. Dickce motioned for An’gel to follow her as she moved across the hall to stand in front of the library door. She could hear the murmur from the television set through the partially open door. She pulled it gently shut. No need to disturb Wade and Junior.

“What do you think I was doing?” she said crossly. “I was spying on Rosabelle and Antonio. You picked a fine time to interrupt me. They were talking about Antonio’s will.”

“I don’t care what they were talking about, Dickce. Your behavior is outrageous,” An’gel said. “What if they had caught you? Think how embarrassing that would be.”

“Rosabelle loves an audience, you know that.” Dickce snickered. “It was quite a performance, let me tell you.” She did feel a tad guilty over her violation of the rules of hospitality, but she wasn’t about to admit it to her sister.

“What goes on between Rosabelle and her husband is no business of ours,” An’gel said.

“Even if it’s pertinent to these attempts on Rosabelle’s life?”

An’gel stared at her for a moment, and Dickce could tell she had hooked her fish. “Pertinent how?” An’gel said.

“If I understood everything correctly,” Dickce said, “Rosabelle evidently gave Antonio a lot of money. His affairs were in a mess, and he had to have the lawyers in Italy get it all sorted out, which they did. He now has control of his inheritance, as he called it. A palazzo in Venice, a factory in Milan, buildings in Rome, and a country estate. I think he might even have tried to change his will to include Rosabelle—but that’s where you interrupted me.”

“I don’t see how it’s all that pertinent,” An’gel said after a few moments’ thought. “Let’s say that Antonio is worth millions, and he includes Rosabelle in his will. He would have to die before her for her to inherit any of it. So why would someone try to kill her before she had a chance to inherit from him? Seems to me he would be the first target.”

“You saw how Wade and Maudine reacted to him,” Dickce said. “They apparently think he’s a gold digger with no money of his own. Once they find out he really is rich, they will feel differently, you can bet on that.”

“I wonder if Antonio is in Rosabelle’s will,” An’gel said. “Oh, what’s the use of all this speculation? I don’t think any of this is helpful.”

“There’s a bit more that you haven’t heard yet,” Dickce said. “I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but you might as well hear it anyway.” She gave her sister a summary of the phone conversation she had overheard.

“You’re sure about the gender of the person on the other end?” An’gel asked.

“He was talking fast,” Dickce said, “but I’m sure I heard it correctly.”

“He was talking to his son, surely,” An’gel said. “But the part about a divorce is certainly interesting. What do you want to bet he latched on to Rosabelle and her money so he could afford to pay the lawyers in Italy to get his inheritance back? Now that he has, he may be planning to divorce her.”

Dickce shrugged. “That’s what it sounds like to me.”

“He’s slick, I’ll give him that.” An’gel sniffed. “He didn’t fool me for a minute, though.”

“No, of course not,” Dickce said, trying hard not to laugh. They had both been charmed by the man at first, no matter what An’gel was claiming now.

Footsteps on marble sounded above them, and Dickce looked up to see Juanita descending the stairs, plates in hand. Dickce started forward to meet her.

“Let me take those,” she said when Juanita reached the bottom.

“I don’t mind taking them to the kitchen,” Juanita said. “I’m going that way anyway. I thought I might have a bit more lunch.”

“Please help yourself,” An’gel said. “Thank you for taking care of all that.”

Juanita smiled as she headed down the hall toward the kitchen.

“I think they’ve had enough time alone,” An’gel said. “Come on, let’s go talk to the happy couple.”

Dickce wondered what her sister had in mind. She shrugged and followed An’gel.

They met Rosabelle and Antonio, arm in arm, coming out of the parlor. “There you are,” Rosabelle said with a slight smile. “I was just coming to find you. Would you be a dear and tell everyone that Antonio and I have news we would like to share with them?”

Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked back into the parlor, taking Antonio with her.