‘Why on earth would you talk toherabout your issues?’ she whispered, clearly not realising that we could all hearevery word. ‘I’myour mother. I’m the one you should be coming to.’
‘I can talk to who I like,’ said Daisy, defiantly. ‘And, honestly, you’d be the last person I’d come to.’
‘Wait until I tell your father about this!’ snapped Sophia.
‘Tell me what?’ said Nick.
Sophia looked as though she might be about to explode.
‘Your daughter has been talking to other people about her problems.’ She glanced at me, then turned her attention back to Nick, one eyebrow raised.
‘Which other people?’ asked Nick.
‘Maddie,’ said Daisy, throwing Sophia under the bus.
In that moment, I thought I might just have found an ally in this wretched family.
Nick looked confused. ‘And you’re angry because …?’
‘Because,’ spat Sophia, ‘because Daisy should—’
‘Maddie will be part of our family when she marries Dad,’ said Daisy. ‘And she’s nice to talk to and you’re not, so that’s what I’m going to carry on doing and you can’t stop me.’
Part of me was enjoying seeing the look on Sophia’s face and part of me wished the ground would open up and swallow me.
As if sensing this terrible combo of emotions, Nick patted my knee ineffectively.
‘Calm down, Sophia. And show Maddie some respect, please. We should be happy that Daisy has someone to open up to. It’s not good to bottle things up, especially at that age.’
Sophia looked at him with disgust.
‘Thanks,’ I said to him quietly.
‘Well,’ said Rosamund, clapping her hands together like a class teacher. ‘Sophia, dear, why don’t you pop and get freshened up for dinner?’
‘I am ready for dinner,’ said Sophia in a strangely robotic voice, possibly because her jaw was so tightly clenched she couldn’t form words properly.
Rosamund bristled. She wasn’t used to people losing control, or at least, not in public.
‘In that case, Nick, why don’t you take Maddie upstairs to cool off?’
The waiter chose that moment to deliver my Chianti Classico. My first mouthful transported me right back to Maurizio’s vineyard and it was Aidan I saw when I imagined being there, listening as intently as I was, golden brown from a few days in the sun, shirtsleeves rolled up.
‘I don’t need to cool off, Rosamund,’ I said. ‘I’m perfectly fine here.’
Nick, I noticed, was squirming. Things were probably getting much too emotional for his liking.
‘I think it would be best, Madeleine,’ insisted Rosamund, determined to exert her authority.
‘What are you dismissing Maddie for, Granny? She’s done nothing wrong,’ piped up Daisy.
I loved her in that moment.
‘Enough!’ said Nick in a rare burst of anger. He always said that losing your temper should be avoided at all costs. ‘Maddie, let’s go upstairs. We need to get ready for dinner, anyway.’
‘Fine,’ I said, standing up.
The sooner I got away from this lot, the better.