Finding Angelo (The Wine Lover's Daughter, Book 2) (14 page)

An uncomfortable silence permeated the room after Sofia left.
Angelo tried to find the right words to ease the hurt he had inflicted on yet
another person. He liked Miriam a lot, even loved her, and had felt guilty for
disappearing. He had seen the guy again, the same one who had chased him out of
Bardonico. They had been friends once, but the friendship had soured when
Angelo discovered his true character and intent. A few years later, the man
showed up in Moretta as well and Angelo panicked. He had to disentangle himself
from people he was close to once again, because he feared putting them in
harm’s way.

“I know you hate me for just
disappearing, and I don’t blame you. But I can only say I had legitimate
reasons to do it.”

“I don’t hate you. I know now that
you needed to hide, to hide from your enemies and perhaps also from your old
life. You needed a sanctuary. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell
me. We were together for two years. You knew me. Why didn’t you trust me?”

“It wasn’t distrust. I just didn’t
want you to know things that could’ve put you in danger. The people I’m running
from are lethal. They don’t care about human life and if they feel just the
slightest bit threatened, they don’t hesitate to kill. I already lost my wife
to my way of life. I didn’t want to cause anyone else’s death.” Angelo felt a
knot in his throat. “Now I know that I lost Fred as well.”

“He wasn’t your responsibility.
Didn’t you say he was the one who introduced you to his cousin? He knew the
danger. It could’ve been the other way round. You could be dead and he could’ve
survived.”

“True, but I am the one who is
still hunted and anybody with me is in danger as well.”

“Isn’t that a little exaggerated?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Whatever. Things are the way they
are. I just hope you’ll be able to resolve all this and finally find peace.”

“I hope so, too. I was a coward,
Miriam. I guess what I said is only halfway true. I tried not to endanger other
people. But if that had been the only reason all along, I would’ve gone to the
police when I witnessed the killing. I would’ve accepted the consequences.
Instead, I ran away and I’ve been on the run ever since.”

Angelo covered his face with his
hands. He was so weary and tired. He looked up as he felt a hand on his
shoulder. He took Miriam’s hand and kissed it. “I guess all this talk doesn’t change
anything. All I can say again is I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You know the most
important thing is to forgive yourself. I know you’re not a bad person. You’ve
made mistakes in your life, but you’ve never given up. Perhaps came close, but
you’ve always found a way to go on. You’re doing something worthwhile. You help
youngsters, young people in trouble, as you yourself were once. Don’t give up
now.”

Angelo’s eyes filled with tears.
He hugged Miriam. “Thanks.”

They heard the garden gate squeak.
Angelo looked up and wiped his eyes. “Nicholas sure got himself a beautiful
wife. Not just beautiful, but smart. I still don’t know how she was able to
track me down. I guess you’re responsible for that, too.”

“She did most of the detective
work. The abbot at the Abbey of Novalesa didn’t want to give us your address.
He told us where you worked. But the rest was private information. We told him
it was important to get a hold of you, so he said he would contact you. But
then I remembered the cottage and our favorite hike. So we decided to give it a
try.”

The door opened. “Well, hello,
Sherlock Holmes,” Miriam said.

Sofia grinned. “Hi, Dr. Watson.”

Angelo shook his head. “You two
are something else.”

“I think it’s going to rain. I
wonder if we should leave now. Otherwise, we won’t make it to town before the
storm,” Sofia said.

“I can drive you.” Angelo got up
and checked his watch, then stepped outside and scanned the sky. It began to
rain and within a few minutes, the rain turned into a torrential downpour.
Angelo scratched his head. “It may be too late. You ladies may have to spend
the night. Once it rains like this, the road washes out. It would be too
dangerous to drive.”

Miriam and Sofia looked at each
other. “But we can’t just stay here, can we?” Sofia asked.

“Do you have to be somewhere
tonight?” Angelo asked

Both women shook their head. “Our
car is parked in a public lot. Do you think it’ll be okay overnight?” Sofia
asked.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,”
Miriam said.

“Okay, why don’t you stay? It’s
rare that I have company. I can drive you to town tomorrow morning.”

Sofia looked around. “Where would
we sleep?”

“In my bed. It’s not huge but big
enough for two slender ladies.” Angelo opened the door to the bedroom. “I’ll
sleep on the sofa. It’s very comfortable. Really.”

Miriam glanced at Sofia. “What do
you think?”

“It’s okay, yes. If you don’t
mind.” Sofia looked at Angelo with her purple-blue eyes. He was struck once
again how much he had missed being away for twenty years. He smiled.

“What?” Sofia asked.

Angelo shook his head. “I just
can’t get it into my head. The last time I saw Nicholas he was … what? … eight
or nine years old, and now he’s married.” He walked into the bedroom. “Let me
give you some clean sheets and towels.”

“Okay, what about dinner?” Miriam
asked.

Angelo turned around. “I have
enough for a simple meal. And I think I even have some wine.”

“Good, but we’ll prepare dinner,”
Sofia said.

“If you insist.” Angelo pulled the
sheets from his bed, grabbed clean ones in the chest of drawers. He looked
outside. The rain came down hard now. It pelted the windows and the walls and
drummed on the stone roof.

Just as he turned away he thought
he saw movement at the edge of the forest, a shape that didn’t belong there.
But when he stepped closer, it was gone. He narrowed his eyes and watched for a
while. Nothing. He turned around and laid the clean sheets, pillow cases, a
comforter, and towels on the bed.

“I also have to let Martin and the
others know that we found you,” Sofia said. “They’re really worried about my sleuthing
and of course they’re worried about you, Uncle Angelo.”

“You may have to wait until
tomorrow,” Angelo said. “I don’t have a landline and the cell phone only works
intermittently and probably not with this storm.”

“Okay, well, one day more or less
won’t make much difference anyway.”

Sofia and Miriam were in the kitchen preparing dinner. They
found a package of spaghetti and a jar of tomato sauce in the kitchen cabinet.
There was lettuce, cucumbers, olives, and tomatoes in the fridge as well as a
hunk of Parmesan cheese. Angelo opened a bottle of red wine.

“This is going to be a real
party,” Sofia said. Angelo smiled at her and she noticed again the furrows and
grooves of care and pain in his face. Some of the lines were caused by laughter,
though. So he hadn’t forgotten that part of his being.

“What are we celebrating?” he
asked.

“Finding Angelo?” Sofia suggested.

“I’ll drink to that,” Miriam said.

“Not sure how that’s going to
affect my life, but I guess I’ll drink to it, too.” Angelo poured three glasses
of wine.

They had a simple dinner of pasta,
salad, and wine. After the meal, they sat in the living room, drinking
espresso. Outside, the storm had subsided and given way to a more gentle
downpour. In the house, there was a scent of tomato sauce and coffee. Sofia
felt relaxed and content. It began to dawn on her that she’d actually found her
and Nicholas’s great-uncle and Martin’s long-lost younger brother. What an
adventure it had been. She sipped her coffee and faced Angelo.

“Tell me about your time in Italy.
How did you get here? What happened?”

Angelo rubbed his beard and
exhaled deeply. “It’s a long story.”

“We have time,” Sofia said.

Angelo put his cup down and held
his hands folded in his lap. “After I left California, I spent some time with
Giuseppe, Nino and his wife in New York.”

Sofia nodded. “Yes, Nicholas and I
went to see them and they told me about that. They also showed me an envelope
of a letter you sent them eleven years ago. Somehow it got lost in the mail and
they received it a short time before we went to visit them. It was postmarked
in Bardonico.”

Angelo gave her an inquiring look.
“Is that what made you come to Italy?”

“Well, not really. I was supposed
to come here anyway, to visit my sister in Tuscany and look after my vineyards
there. But yes I decided to make some inquiries.”

A look of surprise flashed over
Angelo’s face. “You have a sister and vineyards in Tuscany?”

“Yes, that’s where I met Nicholas.
But that’s another long story. I want to know more about you now. I think I
deserve it after having tracked you down.”

Angelo gave a quick smile. “Okay,
as I mentioned, Giuseppe gave me an address of a friend of my father in the
Piedmont. I had some savings, so I bought a plane ticket and left. The guy, a
very old man by then—he died a couple of years later—arranged for some fake
documentation for me.”

“That’s how you became Danilo
Pedrotti?” Miriam asked.

“Yes. I was afraid that Anton was
going to try to track me down. The first five years, I lived in different
places in the Piedmont, doing mainly seasonal work. Then someone I worked for
told me about a place in the mountains where I might be able to get more steady
work. Since it was a tourist resort and I spoke English, I might be able to
find a job as a tour guide or something similar. He also knew someone who lived
in Bardonico and might be able to help me get work. Anyway, I thought I’d give
it a try. As it turned out, there wasn’t anything of that sort available. There
weren’t enough English-speaking tourists. Fortunately though, I found Don
Ambrosio, who needed an assistant.”

“The priest whom I met as well,”
Sofia added.

“Yes. And he was one of the people
who truly helped me turn my life around. He asked me to help around the church
and became something like a mentor to me. I’ve never considered myself
religious.” Angelo scratched his beard. “And with the life I’ve led, I
certainly didn’t think that God looked kindly on me. Don Ambrosio helped me
realize that I could always start new, that God would forgive me if I truly
repented.”

“Is that when you decided to
become a monk?” Sofia asked.

“Well, no, not right away. I
wasn’t ready for a truly religious life. But being around him and watching him,
the way he always helped someone in need without making a big deal out of it.
How he lived a simple life, worked hard without much compensation. It made a
big impression on me. See, since childhood I’ve shunned responsibility. I
wanted things without working for them. But when I came to Italy, all I wanted
was peace. I longed for peace, and sitting with Don Ambrosio in that chapel, I
found it … at least for a while.”

“And then what happened?” Miriam
asked.

“In Bardonico, I met Fabio, the
acquaintance of my former employer, and we became friends. Not close friends. I
was somewhat leery of him. I sensed something not quite right. But before I met
Don Ambrosio, I was pretty lonely.” He shrugged. “So anybody who would share a
beer and a chat with me was better than spending all my time after work in my
tiny room. Once I began working for Don Ambrosio, he let me stay in an
apartment next to the church. I also got busy, and so Fabio and I didn’t hang
out that much anymore. Besides, he got promoted in the police department.”

“Police department?” Sofia asked.
“Was he a cop?”

Angelo nodded. “Yes.”

Sofia opened her mouth, then
closed it again. Her head was spinning. “Oh, my God.”

“What?” Angelo scrutinized her.

“Was he the man you had an
argument with and then left the following day?”

Angelo stared at her. “Yes. How do
you know that?”

“Darn.” Sofia put her hand on her
forehead. She tried to figure out what this meant. “When I met Don Ambrosio …
well, before I met him, when I first came to Bardonico, I went to the police
department.”

“Why?” Angelo glared at her.

“Well, the only information I had
was the letter from Bardonico. I figured if you stayed there for some time,
perhaps the police would know.”

“Okay.” Angelo’s voice was
guarded.

“The officers sent me to a
higher-up. I asked him about you and showed him an old photo of you.”

Angelo groaned. “Let me guess. You
told him my real name.”

Sofia nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t
know.”

“It’s okay. Go on.” Angelo fixed
her with his black eyes.”

“He claimed not to know you, but
he was hostile, and I had the feeling he was lying.”

“Oh, yes. He knew then that I was
using a fake name,” Angelo said quietly. “But how did you know about the
argument?”

Sofia told him about Don Ambrosio’s
phone call to her, that the policeman had seen her go to the priest and that he
wanted to know what they talked about. “He yelled at Don Ambrosio, and the
priest recognized the voice from the argument you had the night before you
disappeared.”

Angelo closed his eyes and lifted
his hand to his forehead, rubbing it.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Angelo,” Sofia
said.

“It’s okay,” he said after a short
pause. “You didn’t know. I knew it would come out one day. It just means, it’s
even more urgent now that I leave and somehow return to California. I’m not
safe here anymore.”

“But why? So the cop knows that
you used a fake name. But you’re gone. He doesn’t know where you are,” Miriam
said.

“He is determined to find me, and
eventually he will. The pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place,”
Angelo muttered.

“What pieces of the puzzle?”
Miriam asked.