Roman Holiday

Condemned

"So Tom, tell us about the accident?" the interviewer shot the question at him without warning. Tom looked across to Luke who stared wide-eyed and shocked. This wasn't on the list. "Can you confirm you were with a woman and you left her in Rome? Is she ok Tom? Is she your girlfriend and why did you leave her there? Don't you care about her? Is she dead to you Tom? Tom? What's your comment Tom? Tom?" the relentless badgering assaulted his ears and he covered them, screwing up his eyes.

When he opened them, he was sitting up in the dark in bed. Shaking and sweating and almost in tears. Another nightmare. Another guilty nightmare.

His trip back to Rome had ended up being postponed for a month after he had developed a chest infection - nothing to do with the accident, just bad timing. He was barely able to function on a day to day basis let alone cope with flying and searching for someone who probably now didn't want him to find her.

He looked at his phone and groaned, 4.20am. God, he'd only fallen asleep a couple of hours ago. Now, he would be getting up at 6am to head to the airport and he felt less euphoric, more sick. It had taken so long, and he had been forced to keep quiet about her all through the interviews. To deny her presence. To lie. And that he considered the biggest betrayal of all. If he loved her, still really loved her, why not enough to be honest? No, as he stressed to himself - and Luke - multiple times a day, it wasn't because he was ashamed of her. No, he didn't want the press trying to find her first. No way was this going to be a bigger circus than it already had been. He had failed to protect her after the accident, now he would protect her from this.

He only prayed he could find her and she would understand.

Jess put the menu's in the pile again and took the order through to the kitchen. Mama smiled at her but saw with sadness that the returned gesture, as usual, never made it to Jess's eyes. Physically she was ok, she knew that. Every day Jess was with them she had come back more and more. Now she was working full time in the little trattoria and the customers loved her. The regulars teased her and she teased back, the air of a family restaurant reinforced now as she worked alongside Papa. The tourists loved her because she was the typical romantic story - come as a tourist and never leave. They didn't know the pain behind the smile. The truth behind the abbreviated story. No-one ever suspected she was the woman in the accident.

Especially now. Especially since he had denied her very existence. The first time it happened, Jess had broken down in tears, devastated. She'd made excuses, tried to reason he wanted time to find her. In her sorrow, it never occurred to her he had no way of finding her. But as time, and interviews went on, he neither admitted to her or found her and she felt less and less. Grief and disappointment, over the weeks, turned into a hard shell. Not bitterness as she couldn't bring herself to hate him, she still loved him, but something more self protecting. Something hard and shiny and impenetrable.

Mama and Papa worried about her constantly. If only he would come back. If only they could do something. Papa decided that he would do something, he couldn't let his little Cara suffer any more. He just needed a chance to find out what.

That chance came as they watched a local news station while Jess was out shopping. She loved going to the local market, getting the vegetables and so on and they in turn loved the chance to put their feet up for a couple of hours. They weren't getting any younger! Sipping their coffee, the news turned to celebrity gossip and as they watched, they turned to each other, smiling.

"You know what to do Guiseppe?" Mama looked at him and put a hand on his arm. He kissed her cheek, and stood up.

"Yes Cara, I know" putting on his coat he grabbed the car keys. "We may be a little late opening this evening. In fact no, tell Jess we are closed tonight. Just a family meal, one sorely needed. Tell her she - we - deserve a night off and I'm away to see about a surprise for her."

Mama stood and walked him to the door. "Guiseppe, Caro mio, you are every bit as devious and wonderful as the day I met you." she hugged her husband. "Go, go make our little girl's dream come true!"

As he drove away, Rosa closed the door and leant against it. Closing her eyes she offered a prayer up, please God let miracles happen in places like this. She crossed herself and walked into the kitchen, now, what to make for a special meal. There really was only one option.

Papa stood at the gate, he hoped he had been on time. If the traffic had been any worse, he would never have stood a chance. Now, as he watched the people filter past, he realised it was ok and breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment or two he waited, scanning the faces, looking for... there he was.

For a moment, in the throng of people, he thought he couldn't be seen, despite being almost 6 feet tall and just as wide. He was about to shout again when the man spotted him and stopped dead, removing his sunglasses in shock. As if he'd been electrocuted, he immediately forced his way through the waiting pack of press and straight up to him, dropping his backpack and as Guiseppe opened his arms in a hug, Tom knew he had found her.

"Figlio, you came back" Papa said as they hugged it out, slapping backs and smiling. "I knew you would, Come, we have to talk. There is much to say before.." he looked at Tom and the old man smiled as he saw him swallow nervously. Love made you brave, but not that brave it seemed.

"Yes, I fear I have alot of explaining to do. To you all."

As they walked past the photographers and the fans, Tom smiling and posing as much as his building excitement could bear to, the two men had but one thought. Jess. How were they going to get him to Jess.