CHAPTER SEVEN

The Morelli estate in Westchester was the type of mansion that could make you feel underdressed by just existing. It was hidden behind iron gates, which were guarded by ancient oaks whose roots had been cracking the cobblestone driveway for so long that Aria hadn't been alive yet; and the facade-pale limestone, with ivy spread and almost alive, and the entire stonework being gently lit up by subtle garden lighting,was something a European novelist would invent for a story about old money and old secrets. Aria was sitting next to the driver in Adrian's car and her hands were folded in her lap so that she would not be able to fidget. "They will definitely ask how we met, " she gave out. Adrian kept his eyes on the road. "I know." "What am I supposed to say?" "Say that we met at the Langham charity gala in February. A mutual acquaintance introduced me to you. You were there representing a fashion house." She was making a mental note of this. "And we have been seeing each other since?" "Since March. Secretly, of course." "And the pregnancy " "A mistake that turned into a great fortune." He made it sound as if he was just explaining the figures of a quarterly report. She looked at him. The city lights were slowly and quietly shifting over his face,light shadow light. His jaw appeared as if it has been sculpted from the same limestone as the family home, and his face was showing no signs whatsoever. "You are very good at this, " she said. "At what." "Lying to people you love." A pause. One beat too long. "I don't..." "I simply don't let things become complicated enough to require it, " he said quietly. Aria considered this. 

She wondered what kind of a childhood would result in a person who sees emotional distance as a strategy for managing people. She pondered on it but then turned away because she was not ready to pity him yet. His mother was nothing like what she thought. Elena Morelli was a woman in her late fifties, stylish and with dark hair, warm brown eyes that could look right through a person's facade to the real person. She was the one who met Aria in the hallway, grabbed her both hands tightly and looked at her with such an open, calm joy that Aria, who was readying herself for a subtle war, felt something going wrong inside her. "Oh, " said Elena quietly. "You are beautiful." After saying that, she embraced her. Aria was a little shocked. She couldn't stop the reaction. She had totally forgotten how it must be to be embraced by a mother without any hidden motives. Her stepmother's hugs were always like a kind of a deal love was given in return for obedience and if she disobeyed, then love was taken away. 

Elena Morelli however hugged her like she was already a member of the family. Aria was so surprised that she even gave her a hug in return. Across the hall, she noticed Adrian watching them. His face was not showing any emotion but he quickly looked away ,the way a person averts their eyes when the light is a little too bright. His father, Marco Morelli, was a tall man in his early sixties He wore silver temples and Adrian's grey eyes, but where his sons were guarded these were warm. He shook her hand with a kind of firm, genuine grip that did not need anything from her, it was as if he had been asking after her health with real curiosity. Then, noticing her slightly overwhelmed expression, he gently led them to the sitting room as if he were experienced in handling social situations that had complicated people, which Aria guessed he was. The meal was roast lamb and spring vegetables, prepared by staff who moved as if by a practiced invisibility,people who have long become part of the furniture. The discussion was, in a way effortless like extremely well off, truly happy people do easy Marco gave an overview of a vineyard he was considering buying in Tuscany, Elena wanted to know more about Aria's interests and was so very attentive that Aria thought she would remember the answers. Aria revealed to her that fashion was her main passion. More specifically, design the architecture of clothing, how a silhouette could be a means of non-verbal communication. Elena's face brightened, she almost immediately said, "You should really go to school for it. It's never too late." Aria gave a small laugh, "Actually, I've been considering it." Adrian, next to her, remained silent. However, she sensed him recognizing it a bookmark made by the attention, a slight shift, someone who intends to return to the page later. It was just about the end of the meal that Elena reached over the table and grasped Aria's hand in hers. "For years we have been asking Adrian to let us find someone, " She said that. "He is " She gave her son a look that showed both exasperation and love that had no end "not an easy person at all." "He believes that if you love someone, you eventually lose them. It has been his thought even back when he was a very little boy." She brought Aria's hand even closer. "I'm relieved that he ended up with you." Aria turned to Adrian. He was staring at his wine glass with the sort of intense focus of a man who would really prefer to be anywhere else than at the dinner table. "Then we are, " Aria murmured and it was a pleasant surprise to her that uttering the sentence wasn't like a lie to her completely. At dinner, Marco took Adrian away from the table to talk about work, and Elena accompanied Aria down the garden where, being arm in arm, she was showing her the different rose varieties that had been in the family for three generations. "He is going to resist it, " Elena murmured, when they had reached such a distance that their voices could not be heard by others. "No matter what he experiences, he is going to resist it. When he was very young, he was deeply hurt, and he has never blamed himself for surviving, " she said and paused by a rose bush with flowers of the colour of old parchment. "But he is a good person, Aria. Beneath all that armor, he is an extremely sgood person. Aria's mind went to a contract lying on the nightstand. The word heir, she thought, cold and impersonal. Then a man coming out of nowhere, presenting her child in front of the very people who had rejected her because, as he had explained Using the highest possible level of neutrality, it was really the best solution to both their problems. "I believe you, " she told him. Then, they were still standing together in the silver dark, smelling old roses and wet earth, she almost felt like saying it. On the way back Adrian said without looking at her: "They liked you." "I liked them, " she replied truthfully. No words from him. But, very slightly, his fingers seemed to relax their grip on the steering wheel, as if something had given way inside him. Aria watched the headlights getting closer and allowing herself to exhale for what seemed to be the first time in several days.