Sicilian's Shock Proposal. Carol Marinelli

Bella replied. ‘Very simple, very sophisticated. Maybe then Matteo might notice me...’

      Sophie laughed. Matteo was Luka’s best friend and had been Bella’s crush for years, but he had never given her so much as a glance.

      ‘You must be getting excited,’ Bella said, and Sophie was about to smile and nod.

      In fact, she did so.

      ‘Of course I am,’ she said, but her smile, the one she had worn so determinedly whenever her upcoming engagement was discussed, suddenly wavered and rare tears started to fill her expressive brown eyes.

      ‘Sophie?’ Bella checked when she saw that her friend was struggling. ‘Tell me.’

      ‘I can’t.’

      ‘Are you worried about...?’ Bella hesitated. ‘Sleeping with him? I know he might expect you to once you are engaged but you could tell Luka that you are a good girl and want to wait for your wedding night.’

      Sophie actually managed a small laugh. ‘That’s the only part I’m not worried about.’

      It was the truth.

      Oh, she hadn’t seen Luka in years but she had grown up nursing a crush on him. Luka’s widowed father was rich; Malvolio owned the hotel and most of the businesses and homes in town. Those Malvolio didn’t own he took payments from for their protection. When Luka’s mother had died, instead of struggling to raise his child, in the way Sophie’s father had, Malvolio had sent Luka away. He had attended boarding school on the mainland but, every summer when he’d returned, to Sophie he’d looked more beautiful. She had no doubt that the years he had spent in London wouldn’t have dimmed that.

      ‘I’m actually looking forward to seeing Luka again.’

      ‘Remember how you cried when he left?’

      ‘I was fourteen then,’ Sophie said. ‘Tomorrow I’ll be nineteen...’

      ‘Do you remember when you tried to kiss him?’ Bella laughed and Sophie cringed in recall.

      ‘He told me I was too young. I guess he would have been twenty then.’ She smiled at the embarrassing memory of Luka dropping her from his lap. ‘He told me to wait.’

      ‘And you have.’

      ‘He hasn’t, though,’ Sophie said, her voice bitter. Luka’s reputation was as undeniable as the waves that pulled at their calves. ‘He didn’t back then, he was already screwing around.’

      ‘Does it make you angry?’

      ‘Yes, but more...’ She felt a familiar burn rise in her chest—little bubbles of jealousy at the thought of Luka with other women that did not ease when they popped, for it felt like shards of glass were being released in her throat. ‘I want what he has had.’

      ‘You want to date other men?’

      ‘No, I want my freedom,’ Sophie said. ‘I want to have experiences and chase my own dreams. I’ve spent my life taking care of my father’s home, cooking his meals, doing his washing. I don’t know if I want to be someone’s wife yet. I want to work on the cruise liners...’ She looked out to the sparkling ocean. Travelling, sailing on the seas had always been her dream. ‘I wouldn’t mind making beds for a living if I could do it on a ship. It’s like you with your dressmaking...’

      ‘That’s just a dream, though,’ Bella said.

      ‘Perhaps not. Your application might be accepted. You might be off to Milan soon.’

      ‘I got rejected,’ Bella said. ‘My drawings weren’t enough for them and I’ll never be able to afford models and photographers for a decent portfolio.’ Bella shrugged her shoulders as she both tried and failed to convince Sophie that not getting in to study fashion design in Milan didn’t hurt like hell. ‘I could never have gone anyway. I need my wage to pay the rent. Malvolio would give my mother hell if...’ Bella’s voice trailed off and she shook her head.

      Yes, there were things that should never be discussed, but with her engagement now less than a week away Sophie could no longer keep her fears in. ‘I don’t want to be pulled even closer into Malvolio’s life. I don’t think Luka is anything like his father but—’

      ‘Shh,’ Bella said, and even though they had the cove to themselves she looked over both shoulders just to make sure. ‘Don’t speak like that.’

      ‘Why not?’ Sophie pushed. ‘We’re just friends talking.’

      Bella said nothing.

      ‘I don’t want to get married.’

      There—Sophie had said it.

      ‘I’ll be barely nineteen. There are so many things I want to do before I settle down. I don’t know if I want to...’

      ‘You don’t know if you want to live with Luka in a beautiful home and be taken care of?’ Bella’s response was one of anger. ‘You don’t know if you want to be rich and pampered?’ Bella was starting to shout. ‘Well, I’d take it if I were you and count yourself lucky—after your engagement party Malvolio has told me to stay back. I’ll be working the bar. This time next week I won’t be making beds at the hotel, I’ll be...’ Bella broke down then and Sophie held her own tears in check. ‘Like mother, like daughter,’ Bella sobbed. ‘I am not ashamed of my mother, she did what she had to to survive, but I don’t want that for me.’

      ‘Then don’t do it!’ Sophie shook her head furiously. ‘You are to tell him no!’

      ‘Do you think for a moment that he’d listen?’

      ‘You don’t have to jump to his rules. He can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to.’ Sophie was insistent. She loathed the way everyone jumped at Malvolio’s command, her own father included. ‘If you can’t say no to Malvolio then I shall for you.’

      ‘Just leave it,’ Bella pleaded.

      ‘No, I will not leave it. When Luka gets here on Wednesday I’ll try speaking with him...’

      ‘It won’t do anything.’ Bella shook her head and stood. ‘I need to get back...’

      They walked down the little pathway together and Bella apologised for her outburst. ‘I didn’t mean to be cross with you. I understand that it should be your choice if you marry.’

      ‘We should both have choices,’ Sophie said.

      They didn’t, though.

      Everyone considered Sophie lucky—that, because of her father’s connections to Malvolio, she would marry Luka.

      There had been no discussion with the future bride.

      They came out of the trees and onto the hilly street and walked past the hotel Brezza Oceana, where Sophie and Luka’s engagement party would be held.

      ‘Are you taking your Pill?’ Bella asked, because they had taken the bus two weeks ago to a neighboring town so that Sophie could get contraception without the local doctor knowing.

      ‘Every day.’

      ‘I’d better get some,’ Bella said, and Sophie’s heart twisted at the resignation in her friend’s voice.

      ‘Bella—’

      ‘I have to go.’

      ‘Will I see you tonight at church?’

      ‘Of course.’ Bella attempted a smile. ‘I want to know if you like your dress.’

      They parted ways and Sophie was almost home when she remembered she was supposed to have stopped for bread, so she turned and raced back to the deli.

      As she walked in, the conversation stopped abruptly, just as it often did these days.

      Sophie did her best to ignore the strange tension