His gaze narrowed, as he looked at Alannah curiously and said, "and you felt that your home was in Port Lira?"
"No, not exactly," she said slowly. "I…well I felt that my home was somewhere close at hand . . . somewhere here on the island." She shrugged and sighed, then reached her good hand to touch her bandaged head. "I've been running away from everything for such a long time now that. . . well I suppose my own feelings could be playing tricks on me."
He stood up, opened the door to her room and called for Maria to come get her tray. He stayed with Alannah a while longer, just watching her as she fell back into a restless sleep.
His next stop, Nicolò.
"Nicolò, tell me about Alannah. What she did, taking the bike was because she saw you with Patrick's daughter. Do you love her?"
"At one time I did, on the SS Europa when she go so sick, and then at the hospital, I thought I couldn't live without her. Then when we got to the Bahamas I saw that girl, when we took the plane here I saw here here. I realized that Alannah was not for me. She is more a sister to me than a lover."
"Good, that is good new."
"Oh, there is one other thing. I believe that her brother Eraldo may have sent word to her father of her whereabouts. If he has done that she is in grave danger."
"Why would she be in danger from her father?"
"It is not my place to tell you, when she is ready, she will tell you her story." And with that Nicolò walked away.
Later that day, after waking yet again, Alannah experienced a sense of detachment. She felt as though she were empty and lost. She was nevertheless propelled by hunger to wrap herself in her robe and stumble in the general direction of the glass room on unsteady legs. To her surprise, the Señora Beringer was already there drinking tea with her son and discussing the events of the past few days. When Nicolò's name came up in the conversation, she stopped rested her good hand on the wall and just listened.
"Mother, what do you know of Nicolò?"
"Nothing, other than he came here with Alannah. Well I did learn that Alannah was sweet on him, that they had some sort of history together. I told her she needed to go talk to Nicolò about the things in her past that she had confided in me, if she wanted any resemblance of a relationship with him. Why my hijo?"