Sicilian Dreams (16 page)

‘Not really. I live in an apartment, but my terrace is crowded with pots for herbs and salad greens. It’s my little kitchen garden. I would love to have something one day to really get my hands into.’

‘Have you seen the kitchen garden here?’ asked Christina. ‘We have herbs and vegetables year round from it. Lemons too, they are so sweet.’

‘I’ve tasted Marta’s homemade lemonade and it’s delicious,’ agreed Cassie.

Marco and his father had stepped over to the far end of the terrace and now he turned to Cassie.‘Cassandra, come we have to go now,’ he said brusquely. He didn’t look very happy thought Cassie. I wonder what they were talking about.

‘Oh so soon’ said Christina, ‘you have only just arrived. I thought Cassandra and I could walk around the gardens together.’ Cassie thought it was a lovely idea and would have been happy to comply.

‘Unfortunately Cassandra needs to meet her friends back at the villa. Another time Mama.’ Cassie had said no such thing to Marco and again she felt like an unwilling pawn in his game.

‘Marco, why don’t you bring Cassandra to see us in Palermo one day this week’ she asked. ‘Come for lunch.’ She looked up at Cassie. ‘I have a smaller
garden than this but it is filled with tropical plants. I would love you to see it if you are interested.’

‘I would really like that thank you,’ said Cassie. She was touched by Christina’s sincerity and she felt sad for her being in a wheelchair. She wondered what had happened.

‘Please bring your friends. I would like to meet them too and we will have lunch outside under the pergola.'

‘I’m sure they would be delighted,’ said Cassie.

Marco walked over to stand beside them.

‘Will I see you before we leave?’ said Christina, looking up at him.

‘Si, Mama, I will return soon.’ he said softly, his love for her obvious. Cassie took Christina’s hand and they said goodbye. ‘I look forward to seeing you again soon.’ she said. She followed Marco and his father back inside the French doors into the salon and looking up at that moment, her heart threatened to stop beating that very second. For swinging gently from the ornate crystal chandelier; under which they had stopped to wait for her; was her G-string, not looking entirely out of place because the tiny sequins sewn around the waistband twinkled in the light coming from the cut crystal. She stood, transfixed by the scene and willing with all her might that the thong would not become dislodged in the gentle breeze coming from the open doors and float down to land on Marco’s father’s head. Dear God, she hadn’t realized she had thrown it up in the air. No wonder she hadn’t been able to locate it last night. They had stopped talking again the moment she entered the room and now Marco beckoned her over.

Cassie walked towards them trying not to glance up, her heart in her mouth. She came close to Marco and he put his arm around her waist, giving her a little squeeze. Antonio’s strained looking face cracked into a genuine smile as he saw her and said. ‘I will look forward to seeing you and your friends in Palermo this week. Christina loves to have young company around her and I am sure it does her good,’ he added.

‘It will be a pleasure for all of us,’ said Cassie happily, meaning it. Anything to make this rather sad couple happy, and anything to get out of here right now she thought. I’ll have to ask Marco to get it down. He’ll need a jolly ladder the ceilings are so high. Maybe no one will ever spot it and it will hang there for years. However, judging by the spotlessness of every surface in the house, she didn’t think Marta was that kind of housekeeper. The chandelier probably got polished on a regular basis. Thankfully at that moment, Marco took her hand and Antonio turned to go back out onto the terrace. Marco took her hand they walked back outside to the bike in the courtyard. He seemed distracted as the motor roared into life and she hitched up her skirt and hopped on behind him forgetting that the seat was now burning hot.

‘Ow,’ she yelled but it was drowned out by the engine noise. Marco had left their helmets behind for the short ride and Cassie’s long hair whipped out behind her as the bike gathered speed. All too soon he pulled up in the courtyard of Villa Tramonte.

He switched off the engine and climbed off the bike, turning immediately to lift her off the pillion. His hands didn’t leave her waist as he put her down and by mutual consent their bodies moved closer together.

‘I am sorry we missed our siesta,’ he said, his lips brushing hers gently. ‘Perhaps we should go for a walk together this evening.’ Cassie could feel the hard length of him against her as their lips touched again and her eyes closed. Before she completely forgot her mind, she pushed him back from her gently. ‘ You might be taking a moonlit stroll by yourself tonight after what you did back at the house. For your information, I don’t enjoy being used as a decoy. You used me to divert your father’s attention away from you and then you used me again to get away from the house in a hurry. Your mother seems like a total sweetheart, but what is going on between you and your father?’

‘Now is not the time to speak of this,’ he said seriously. ‘You are right and I apologize. I did not mean to use you in any way, it just happened. My father and I have had a complicated relationship for the last few years. It wasn’t always like this. But on the plus side, they were delighted to meet you.’ he said, a boyish grin breaking out on his face.

‘Yoo hoo, hello there,’ said Kat, leaning out of the kitchen window to wave at them in the courtyard.

‘Anyone feel like a champagne? I’m just popping the cork now. She had on a huge, floppy red sunhat, Jackie O sunglasses and a black chiffon sarong knotted between her breasts, her bare shoulders looking tanned and smooth.

Marco smiled at the alluring sight she made. ‘You suit this villa Katrina, in fact, you look like a model posing for House and Garden.’

‘Compliments will get you everywhere Marco,’ cooed Kat. ‘Champagne?’ she asked again.

‘For Cassandra maybe, but not for me right now, thank you anyway. I have to return to the main house. My parents are waiting there for me.’ Kat grabbed three champagne flutes from the shelf and walked out of the kitchen. Marco looked down once more at Cassandra.

‘So, we continue this conversation later, somewhere private.’ he said softly, his unruly curls falling down over his forehead. Cassie instinctively reached up to push them back and he turned his head and kissed her palm.

‘Be waiting for me,’ he commanded before climbing back onto the bike and starting the engine. Cassie stood watching as he revved up the engine and then gunned it out of the courtyard. Typical she thought, boys and their toys. She walked inside the house, dropping her bag on the table and kicking off her espadrilles before strolling out to the terrace.

‘Well, don’t you two look comfortable’ she said, flopping down onto a lounger beside them. ‘How was the cooking lesson?’

‘Absolutely amazing’ said Liz. ‘It was an incredible experience cooking with Marta. The woman is a mine of information and she doesn’t mind sharing it.’

‘Yes, it was a blast’ said Kat, ‘and then we got to eat it all and I think I am still digesting my lunch like a big snake.’ She patted her flat stomach and grinned at them, before passing a glass of champagne over to Cassie. ‘Cin cin’, how was your lunch with Captain Fantastic?’

‘Fantastic’ laughed Cassie. ‘Seafood risotto, lobster with spaghetti, whole fish baked in a salt crust and cannoli and chocolate soufflé to finish. Oh, and wine.’ she added. ‘I don’t think I need any dinner this evening.’

‘Did you eat all that by yourself?’ asked Liz.

‘No silly, we shared everything. The waiter kept putting the plates in the middle of the table so we tasted everything. The food was sublime. Then, to top it off, these 2 guitarists just strolled into to the restaurant, sat down and started playing all the most popular covers of the past 40 years. Marco and I danced,’ she said gushingly.

‘Well, I don’t thing we can top that’ said Kat, ‘but you just wait until you try the gnocchi we brought back for dinner this evening. It is to die for. Marta says the secret is in the type of potatoes you use. You need dry, baking spuds like Agria. We have some of her home made Pomodoro passata sauce with basil to go with it. In fact, just talking about it is making me hungry again.’

‘I told you he would take you somewhere amazing,’ said Liz. ‘ I love the sound of the lobster with spaghetti. Did you take any photos?’

‘As a matter of fact I did take one, just for you Liz.’ She flicked through the gallery of photos on her phone and found the one of the cannoli. ‘Isn’t this the perfect dessert?’

‘Hm.’ said Liz. ‘That looks unbelievably good.’

‘So, do you think you have the ravioli recipe down pat now?’ Cassie asked Liz.

‘Yes, it’s amazing once you see someone actually making the pasta and rolling it out. Marta has a simple hand crank pasta machine, nothing fancy but she says she makes everything on that from spaghetti to lasagna sheets and of course, the ravioli. We made the filling first using spinach from the garden, which we cooked and then chopped finely. Some of their supe
r smooth fresh ricotta, grated Parmesan cheese, one egg yolk and a little grated nutmeg. The nutmeg has to be fresh. Then she makes the pasta on a big marble table making the hole in the flour and adding eggs and working the mixture into dough. It looks easy until you try it.’

‘You got the hang of it quickly,’ said Kat, ‘mine looked like dried up putty.’

‘No, it didn’t’ laughed Liz, ‘I think you had added too much flour that’s all.’

‘It sounds like fun,’ said Cassie.

‘It really was’ said Liz. ‘You knead the dough for about five minutes, no more, or it becomes tough. Marta said the warmth from your hands helps to work the dough into a glossy supple and elasticated pasta, which you fold in three and then start to it feed through the machine. You start at the number one setting and work your way through to number nine. That’s the really tricky part, especially as the pasta sheet becomes flatter and thinner the more you pass it through the machine. You hold the lengthening sheet of pasta over the back of your hand and it should become almost transparent by the last pass. She almost looked like a dancer the way she moved with the machine and kept the pasta aloft and perfectly straight.’

‘When it becomes fine enough, you lay the sheets out on the floured marble and cut out the shapes. Mine weren’t even straight using the cutter.’ said Kat, laughing.’

‘They were fine,’ said Liz. ‘ But this was no ordinary ravioli.’ We cut large squares out of the pasta and then spooned some of the filling into the middle and used the back of a spoon to make a concave shape in it. Then, for the ‘piece de resistance’, we cracked a whole egg into the filling.’

‘That’s where mine went totally haywire.’ said Kat.

‘You put another square of pasta over the filling, making sure there is no air in it, then very carefully put them into a bot of boiling water for two minutes exactly.’

‘You forgot about adding the salt,’ said Kat. ‘The water is supposed to be as salty as the Mediterranean, and you have to be careful to cook them for just the right amount of time, because you don’t want the filling exploding out of the ravioli in the pot.’

‘Like mine’ said Kat, grinning.

‘Hard to do that with the bought stuff I’ve used in the past because the pasta is so thick and doughy.’ said Cassie.

‘Yes, that’s the point. It really is better to make your own pasta from scratch. It really tastes quite different. We only put eggs into three of the ravioli otherwise it would have been too rich. But what a dish it was. Amazing to make for a dinner party.’

‘What about the burnt butter sauce?’ Cassie reminded her.

‘Yes, that turns the dish into something really special’ she said, ‘and rich.’

‘How do you make that?’ asked Cassie.

‘It is really quite simple,’ said Liz. ‘I have made it before, like ravioli, but Marta’s version tasted so much better. You put enough butter into a saucepan and brown it, not enough to burn it, just to where it has a slightly nutty taste. Then you add whole sage leaves and they crisp up immediately like chips in the butter. Season and squeeze in the juice of a couple of lemons and pour it immediately over the ravioli. Absolutely divine,’ she said, closing her eyes in delight at the memory.

‘They weren’t huge portions and we just had a salad to go with it. I was feeling pretty good about my calorie consumption until she brought out dessert.’ said Liz, ruefully.

‘Torta di mele, apple cake,’ said Kat, ‘served with a couple of scoops of her homemade gelato. Mama mia. I think I died and went to heaven.’

Chatting and sipping champagne, it was well after 8pm before anyone felt hungry again and they were surprised when they did. Cassie showered and threw on a soft pink tee shirt dress, which felt wonderful against her sunburnt skin. Rambo again, she thought. This is becoming a habit I enjoy. Wouldn’t do at the office though. It’s strictly holiday attire.

She wandered out into the kitchen and found Liz had already heated the pasta sauce and the water was boiling for the gnocchi. Cassie busied herself selecting a bottle of white wine from the wine fridge and opened it at the bar, as Kat strolled in and helped herself to a dish of olives.

‘Remind me about the grapes they grow here on the estate Cass.’ said Liz.

‘They are Nero d’Avola grapes. They only produce a small amount of wine here, olive oil is their main business, but I want to try some. Marco said he would give us a tasting sometime. He said it is organic here at the estate.