Bella (19 page)

Roy took us to a lovely restaurant, La Bottega, in
Manhattan, a lovely Italian restaurant and we all had homemade
lasagna.
 
We decided to open our presents when we got
home. I wanted to keep things as normal as possible for the children, so I
already gave them their presents before we left for New York

   Manhattan was just magical, what a place to be. I could
see why Simon loved New York so much. After our meal, we went back to our
hotel. I couldn't sleep very well, because every time I closed my eyes I could
see Simon. I also wondered what Claudio was doing. I just wished he had contacted
me.  So many things were racing through my mind, so by the time the alarm went
off I hadn
’
t slept at
all.                                                                                                                                      
I splashed my eyes with cold water and looked at my reflection in the mirror; I
looked more like thirty three not twenty three.

Drastic measures were needed, so I decided to get my hair
done and have a facial. Tammy offered to look after the kids while I did a bit
of shopping and bought some new clothes.

    Later that day we went to see Simon.  Tammy and Roy
went off to talk to one of his doctors and I went to see Simon. He was sitting
in a chair playing his guitar. When I entered his room he stopped playing and
looked up at me with tears in his eyes. 

   
“
Bella I just can't be
without you. I have tried so hard but you are my life. I don
’
t know what to do.
”
  He said softly.

I took his hand in mine..

  
“
Let
’
s just get you better first, everything else
will come later.
”
  I said tenderly.
What else could I say?

We were allowed to take Simon out for the day so we went to
the top of the Statue of Liberty; the views were amazing; you could see for
miles. It was a lovely sunny winter
’
s day.

After we had taken Simon back to the Hospital we went to
Central Park; the children loved it. There was an outside ice rink so we all
tried our hand at ice skating. I wasn't very good, and kept falling over. The
last time I fell over a man bent down and picked me up. The winter
’
s sun was blinding me so I couldn
’
t see properly, I squinted and looked up.

   
“
Claudio, what are you
doing here?
”
I was shocked.
 

  
“
Ben called me. Tammy
had given him my number.
” 
Why would Ben
do that I wondered. We hadn
’
t exactly been close
lately and he hadn`t visited Tammy in a long time. Claudio helped me up and we
all went for a hot chocolate.

  
“
I
’
ve missed you Bella, I couldn't call you, I was
so hurt.
 
Ben told me
about Simon and that Tammy was worried about you. I had to come. She told me
that you would be in Central Park.
” 

   
”
So this wasn
’
t just a coincidence Claudio?
”

  
 “
No Bella, I
came here to see you.
”
I hugged him and 
didn
’
t want to let go.
This felt like one big dream.

   We decided to go out and celebrate. We headed back to
the same Italian restaurant as the night before, but this time we had one of
their famous pizzas.
 
By the end of
the night, I was feeling rather tipsy.
 
With the cold night air I felt extremely tired and unwell.
Maybe I am coming down with something.
I thought. When I woke up the
next morning I was sneezing and coughing; I had caught a chill. Claudio looked
after me and the children all that day. The day after I felt much better and we
went to see Simon. I told Claudio it was better that he didn
’
t come under the circumstances and luckily he
understood.

 Simon seemed a little better, but I knew he had a long way
to go. Roy asked him if he wanted to be transferred to a private Hospital in
England. Roy pointed out we would all have to leave at some time and would feel
better if he was nearer to us. Simon decided to stay in New York a while longer
and maybe be transferred at a later date.

The following day, we all went to the Empire State
Building.
 
New York was a
beautiful city and I would have loved to have live there. Claudio must have
read my mind.
 

   
“
Bella would you like
to live here?"  He asked.

  
“
I would love to, but
I have too much back in England." Roy and Tammy took me to one side.

  
“
Roy has a gift for
you Bella.
”
It was a little
white envelope with an address written on it.  I was confused.

  
“
I don't understand.
”
I said.

   
“
Go to the address
Bella you will see.
”
He said with a
sincere smile on his face.
 
We took a taxi
to the address and arrived at a beautiful apartment block. We went inside and
Roy opened a door to a really luxurious apartment..
 

  
“
Why are you showing
me this Roy?
”

   
“
It
’
s yours Bella, all yours.
”
He then put the keys in my hand. 

  
“
I don't know what to
say.  Thank you  so much.
“
I hugged him and
Tammy and I could feel tears welling up inside me.

  
“
You need some luck
Bella, you can use this apartment as a holiday home, or if you want you can
live here, it
’
s up to you.
” 
I looked around the apartment. 

  
“
It must have cost you
a fortune Roy. Why do you want to help me?
”
 

Because Money is no object to me, and you are like the
daughter I never had. All of you children are very special to me.

I loved Tammy and Roy like they were my own parents. Even
though I hadn`t known Roy that long, he was just like a father.

   We visited Simon again before we left for England. We
had to go back sometime and the children needed there normal routine.

   We arrived back on New Year's Eve and I settled the kids
to sleep. Simon came back with us for the New Year. Doctors had told us it would
do him good to be around family for a while. We slept most of the day as we
were all jet lagged.

 Tammy decided to throw a party later that evening and had
prepared lots of lovely food and drink.

Claudio once again popped the question on the stroke of midnight.
I didn`t really think it was a good idea with Simon the way he was but I didn`t
want to turn him down again.

I would have preferred he
’
d left it until Simon had gone back to New York
because the look on Simon
’
s face showed he
clearly wasn't happy about the engagement.
 

I loved Claudio, but I felt he wasn't really being very
sensitive about the matter.

    Surprisingly Ben decided to visit Tammy. He looked a
lot older in the face, and looked more and more like Father. He told us that he
had locked himself into his work, and felt that keeping his distance from the
family helped him. I was really angry with him for being so selfish.

  
“
Where were you when
you
’
re mother was ill?
”
I shouted

  
“
Tammy isn
’
t even our mother but Lizzie and I have shown her
more love and support than you have.
”

  
“
I
’
m sorry!  It was my way of dealing with things.
I didn
’
t mean to hurt
anybody.
”
He said sincerely.

I still couldn
’
t help thinking he had been selfish.

After the holidays were over, Claudio had to return to Tuscany,
and I went back to work. Violet was five that year and was about to start
school. Robert started nursery, and was looking more like Simon every day.

Spring soon arrived and Claudio had only visited three
times since the New Year as his work kept him very busy. At Easter Claudio
decided to set the date for our wedding. I wasn
’
t sure it was a good idea. So then he started
questioning me. Claudio questioned me.

   
“
If you love me Bella then getting married shouldn't be a problem.
”
 

  
“
You know I love you Claudio! I just think it would be better if we
get married next wear, when Simon is completely healed. The doctor told me that
he
’
s making good progress and I don
’
t
want to go and ruin that. I just want everything to be perfect that
’
s all.

I told Claudio we should get married the following year
when Simon was completely better. Simon was a lot better than he was, and the
Doctors said he was making good progress.

I decided to take the children to New York for the Easter
Holidays. The warm spring sunshine was welcoming and warm on my skin. After we
had slept I took the children to see Simon. I hadn't told him we were coming
because I wanted to surprise him. He seemed much better this time He
was
clean shaven and smiled for the first time since his illness. I invited him to
stay with us for a while at the apartment Roy had bought me. That evening when
the children were in bed I cooked us a lovely meal, Monk fish, jacket potatoes
with spring onion seasoning and steamed vegetables were on the menu. We polished
off the whole lot and drank a bottle of Chardonnay between us.

. Lying in bed I couldn`t sleep and was feeling rather
restless. I could hear Simon in the next bedroom playing his guitar. I  felt
that same familiar passion rearing its head again. I decided to call Claudio.
Maybe hearing his voice would make me feel better. He talked about his work,
and told me he would be visiting soon and if a date wasn`t set for the wedding
then our relationship was over. After the phone call I decided to read a book.

 Eventually I must have drifted off to sleep, but was woken
by Simon.

  
“
Bella you were having
a nightmare.
”
Simon was stroking
my head as I tried to close my eyes again. He leant over and kissed me. I
responded by kissing him passionately in return.. He kissed every inch of my
body. I quivered with excitement; then we made love.

  
“
Bella we have to do
something about this, we are in love. No matter how hard we try, we always end
up together again.
”
Simon pointed out.

   
“
Simon we can never be
together you know that. This is wrong, and we have to stop.
”
I said again for the umpteenth time. He left
the room in silence.

   When morning arrived, we carried on our usual things,
and nothing was said about our night of passion. Over the next
few
days we visited many places in New York and ate plenty of good food. Simon
started to return to his old self again so I decided to return to England.

   Claudio was already there when I got back, and I knew I
still loved him. I could never be with Simon, so I had to try for the
Children's sake and mine because they needed a stable life. We decided to set
the date for the following June. This time I was going to get my fairy-tale
wedding that I had dreamed of.

   Weeks passed and thankfully Simon made a complete
recovery. He returned to England for a while however, I tried not to see him
too much because I knew I couldn
’
t hide my feelings.

CHAPTER TEN