By the time the train neared the station at Sora, Italy, Lidka had fully ingrained herself into the group. She never left Nessa alone, so Kate never had a chance to find out who exactly Lidka was, and why she had the power to manipulate Nessa so well. When Princess Kolodenko saw Lidka, the two embraced in what looked like a genuine hug. That, or the princess was adept at masking her true feelings.
Princess Kolodenko asked Nessa to go with her to finish packing her bags, leaving Kate and Johnny alone with Lidka for the first time. They sat watching the fields turn into scattered buildings hugging the base of the mountains, and then they were on the outskirts of town. Everywhere Kate looked it was green and filled with life. The mountains were covered in trees, bushes, and lush grasses. Even the gray skies couldn’t take away from the beauty.
After a few moments of silence, Lidka spoke. “Out of America, is your first time?”
“The first that I’ll remember,” Kate answered.
“I’ve been to Europe once,” Johnny said. “Before the war.”
Lidka stared out the window. “Much things has changed since then. The land is different. The people are different. Some things needed to change, but I do not know if we are better off now.” She focused on Kate. “You are wondering about me? During the first few days of the war my parents are killed. I am the only child and stay in Poland. Nowhere else to go. The resistance took me in, but a few years later I am captured and sent to work camp as punishment. Every things you have heard or read about these camps is not enough. It was worse.”
Kate frowned sympathetically. No wonder Lidka had an edge to her. She’d been through so much.
“When the camp was liberated, Fyodora’s people found me instead of her granddaughter. She brought me back to the villa to fatten me up.” She laughed, patting her thin cheeks. “At least I am not dead anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said.
Lidka ignored Kate’s comment. “Nessa was hoping her sister would come home. Not her long-lost distant cousin. She and I do not see life the same way. I hoping that will not change how you see me.”
Kate shook her head. She lifted her finger to point at Lidka’s necklace when Nessa and Princess Kolodenko entered the rail car and interrupted her.
Princess Kolodenko looked refreshed. Her eyes were sparkling. When the train began to slow down, she said, “It is good to be home. We are halfway between the larger cultural centers of Rome and Naples, but to us, fully home. We hope you love it as we do.”
A dark look passed across Lidka’s face at the word “home” but was quickly replaced with a smile. Whatever the underlying tension, Kate would try to befriend her. Lidka seemed like she needed a friend.
When they got off the train, Nessa’s mother, grandfather, and several drivers were waiting for them.
“Mama!” Nessa called before being engulfed in their hugs.
“Nessa,” returned her mother, and whispered several words in Italian, holding Nessa’s face between her hands. When Nessa glanced at Kate and blushed, Kate could tell she was talking about the dress. Her mother probably wanted to know Nessa’s reactions to it.
Nessa said, “I thought you were still in Paris.”
“I can only stay for a few days, but I didn’t want to miss seeing you once more before you’re gone to America for good. “She opened up her arms for Kate. “And I wanted to meet Elsie’s niece. How are you, dear?”
“Where is Nessa’s father?” Johnny whispered to Lidka while Fyodora greeted her husband with a kiss and accepted the fresh-cut flowers he had been holding.
“No one has fathers anymore,” Lidka said, not lowering her voice. “Nor eligible young bachelors,” she added, looking Johnny up and down. “They have all been killed off.”
An awkward silence prevailed as everyone took in what Lidka had said. Nessa openly glared at Lidka, while the others fidgeted.
Kate whispered to Johnny, “He died of typhus during the outbreak in Naples. He was a doctor and became infected himself.”
Princess Kolodenko’s husband, noticing Lidka for the first time, held out his arms to her. “Punia. What a surprise! Glad to see you.”
The name Punia sounded familiar to Kate, but she couldn’t recall Princess Kolodenko using the name on the train. And from the tenderness with which Mr. De Luca called Lidka by her nickname, Kate wondered if there was any jealousy between the two girls that might explain some of Nessa’s coolness.
“I brought you Oscypek,” Lidka said, pulling a strange golden brown square out of her bag. It looked like a small loaf of bread with an intricate pattern stamped on it.
“A girl that is after my heart. Thank you.” He held up Lidka’s gift and said to Kate and Johnny, “Welcome to Italy. Tony De Luca. I am delighted you agreed to come back with Fyodora. Our home has been so quiet lately; it will be nice to have guests once again. And now, thanks to Lidka, we have the good smoked cheese from the highlands of Poland. A blessed day it is.”
That’s cheese?
Fyodora placed her hand on her husband’s chest. “Do you mean the movie people aren’t here yet? But they came over on an airplane.”
Mr. De Luca laughed and patted her hand. “Yes, yes. They have arrived safe and sound. You mustn’t be afraid of flying, cara mia. It is the future of travel. But they keep to themselves in the guesthouse and are busy scouting our lands for places to shoot.” He smiled wryly. “A kind of shooting I, for once, don’t mind happening on our lands.”
“That is the truth,” Fyodora said emphatically.
He turned his attention to the men and women gathering their bags into a pile near the princess. “Are these the others?” he asked Johnny.
“Sure are.” Johnny introduced the crew before helping them load up the taxicabs to take them to the hotel. Johnny was to stay with his dad and the star actors at the guesthouse near the villa.
Mr. De Luca clapped his hands and smiled at the girls. “Your turn.” He surveyed the piles of luggage and shook his head. “This will be two trips. Choose what we take now and we’ll come back for the rest.”
Kate searched for her small traveling trunk. “I need that one,” she said. A baggage porter dug it out for her. “I can carry it.” She took it out of the porter’s hand and lugged it to the car.
They divided up into the two remaining cars. The driver took Nessa and her mother and the extra luggage. Mr. De Luca drove the other car with the princess in the front and Kate sitting in the back between Lidka and Johnny. Johnny angled his legs, taking up more than his share of space and knocking knees with Kate. She didn’t mind.
“If you are hungry there is a picnic basket up here with some bread and cheese and fruit. Anyone like something now?” Mr. De Luca asked. “Maria, our cook, has prepared a feast at home, but insisted we bring you antipasti in case you cannot wait.”
Kate shook her head. Her stomach needed more time to adjust to the solidness of land.
As they drove down the road, Mr. De Luca began pointing out the scenes. “We were fortunate in the war to not sustain too much damage. We are a small town, not like Rome or Florence. The Germans occupied until the soldiers from New Zealand drove them out. The roads have all been repaired. Travel is easy again.” He laughed. “The tires for our car I had buried under the olive trees to keep the Nazis from finding them and taking our vehicle.”
Princess Kolodenko turned around in her seat. “We hid all our valuable possessions as best we could. Even made false walls and hid furniture behind them. Or moved our family heirlooms to the farmhouses most remote from the road. Hid things in barns, but the most effective was burying.”
“Cara mia, darling, with all the work you did, I expect to be discovering hidden caches for the next ten years.”
She swatted him. “I have already dug up everything I buried. You did not even have to do one thing.”
Kate and Johnny laughed along with the good-natured joking, but Lidka stared quietly out the window at the passing scenery, not saying a word.
The sun had begun to set as they left the town and wound around the mountains. The pastoral valleys settled like a green quilt tucked in the folds, so perfect it was hard to imagine a war had ever marred these parts.
Lidka had fallen asleep, her head resting away from Kate. Mr. and Mrs. De Luca’s chatter had eased off and the hum of the car was starting to lull Kate to sleep as well. She stretched, trying to stay awake. Fyodora had told her how special the first view of their villa, Avanti, was, and she didn’t want to miss it.
Princess Kolodenko turned around. “Our little house is just up ahead,” she whispered, glancing at the backseat.
Kate was about to say something to Johnny, but he had also fallen asleep in the last miles of road. He looked so cute with his mouth hanging open and his head resting against the doorframe.
They rounded a corner and drove down into a valley just as the sunset was at its most brilliant. The fiery sky set the clouds aflame, and in the distance, past the rolling hills, stood an old stone castle majestically keeping guard over the land.
“You live in a castle?” Kate asked.
Princess Kolodenko laughed, a soft tinkling sound. “No, dear. That cold, drafty thing is best left for the tourists to wander through.” She pointed to the right. “We live in the villa over there.”
Kate’s gaze followed Princess Kolodenko’s directions to a stone mansion, almost as big as the castle. It had a red tile roof, a huge wooden front door, and a line of beveled windows. As they drove closer up the curving road, Kate could make out climbing vines covering half the house and geraniums in terra-cotta pots everywhere there was a nook or cranny. Lights inside started to blaze out in warmth as the sun took its final bow and twilight settled in.
With the others still sleeping, Kate asked the question she’d been waiting days to ask. “Mrs. De Luca, do you know someone named Malwinka?”
The princess stiffened. “I do. And I do not wish to hear her name spoken again.” She turned and looked at Kate with a stern expression. “Nor do you need to bring her name up with the girls.” Her gaze transferred to the sleeping Lidka.
Kate’s heart began to race. “But I have reason to believe she has the glass slippers.”
“Malwinka is from the past and will stay there.” The princess turned around, leaving Kate at a loss for what to do next.