I spent most of the day with my parents. Adriano had business to attend to with his brothers, so I had plenty of time to devote to them.
My mother gave me a tour of the house, pointing out all the beautiful things she’d found.
There was a library filled with books that were at least two centuries old…
A sunroom with roses growing on the other side of the windows…
Even a chapel with a ceiling covered with clouds and angels so beautiful that I could have sworn Michelangelo had painted them.
Then I played checkers with my father in one of the parlors. We had to use chess pieces to do it – little statues of ivory and obsidian on an ancient wooden board that looked like it had been crafted centuries ago.
It was mainly something to do as we talked.
We reminisced about when I was a little girl and how he would bring me home copies of fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle…
How I would cut out pictures and make collages, then put them all over my bedroom like other girls hung pictures of Justin Bieber or the Jonas Brothers.
Papa laughed about how there were still a thousand tiny holes in the walls where the push-pins went.
Everything about the house was peaceful and relaxing. It was like being on vacation at a resort.
Helpful servants were always nearby, ready to fulfill any request for food or drink…
And everywhere I looked, there was beauty. Paintings, sculpture, architecture, landscaping – more than the eye could take in at a glance. You had to really look at it to comprehend just how amazing the house was.
It felt like a mansion out of a fairy tale…
Like Beauty and the Beast, if Belle had lived in Tuscany rather than the French countryside.
For the first in my entire life, I felt truly happy.
And with Adriano at my side, I felt completely safe.
All that changed at dinner.
