Chapter Twenty-Two

Dinner was tense, no matter how many silly jokes Mr. De Luca told. Nessa and Lidka sat as far away from each other as possible, and neither spoke unless directly asked a question.

“Lidka, your favorite,” Mr. De Luca said, holding up a forkful of risotto like a toast to her. She smiled but didn’t engage.

After dessert, both girls immediately went their separate ways. Kate started to follow, but Johnny held her back. “Let them cool off,” he said. “Besides, you need to walk me halfway to the guesthouse.”

They held hands and wandered through the rose garden, taking the long way. “Thank you for tonight,” Kate said. “It was quite romantic.”

“Quite,” Johnny said, squeezing her hand. “Although I may have shot myself in the foot, as far as dates go.”

“What? Why?” Because we fought?

“How am I going to top a picnic overlooking an Italian meadow while we gaze at the moon and eat cheese?”

Kate laughed. “I dare you to top it.”

“Oh, you don’t think I can? All right, Kate Allen. You’re on. I’ll start working on it now. So you best turn yourself around right here and go back to the villa. I’ve got some thinking to do.” He spun her and gave her a little push.

She turned back. “You might want to work on a better ending,” she said, frowning. “This one is lacking.”

“Oh, you mean something like this?” He kissed her forehead.

She nodded.

“Or something like this?” He kissed her cheek.

“Better.”

“Okay. I’ll work on it, then,” he said, backing away. “Good night, Kate.”

“Hey!”

Johnny laughed. He stepped forward and cupped her face with his hand, kissing her properly this time, until she could feel it down in her toes. “Good night.”

Kate wandered back through the roses and ended up at the patio. She wasn’t ready to go inside yet, so she sat down in one of the lounge chairs to watch the stars and do some thinking of her own.

“Have a good evening?” Lidka asked out of the dark. She was lying on a lounge in the darkest corner of the patio, as if she were waiting for Kate.

Kate leaned forward. “You startled me. Yes, it was a special evening.” Kate lay back.

“I am glad, but do not let the boy distract you too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“You came here for a purpose. Do not get distracted. Let me help. Have you not figured it out yet?”

“You’re talking in riddles. Normally you are quite plainspoken. Just tell me.”

“Your babcia married a Burgosov. Do I need to put clues together for you?”

Kate’s mind whirled. Grandpa was a Burgosov? A Keeper married a descendant of the stepsisters? Holy Toledo. That’s the piece of the puzzle she was missing. Aunt Elsie said her mother gave her the Keeper role because Babcia was being too friendly with some of the Burgosov clan. She never said Grandpa Feliks was the one she was talking about. She sat up straight and swung her feet to the solid ground.

Lidka grinned. “I see understanding. There are more secrets to this family. Keep following bloodline. Is difficult because we follow our mothers and the last names change. But know this. Kolodenkos trace their line back to girl named Kopciuszek.” Lidka paused, studying Kate’s reaction.

Kate couldn’t help but react. She let her mouth fall open in surprise. Lidka knew.

“But it goes back further, to Kopciuszek’s parents. When the little girl’s mother died, her father remarried, bringing in a stepmother and two naughty stepsisters, nie? That stepmother was Kopciuszek’s aunt. The father knew he was going to die in battle and wanted assurance his little girl would be taken care of. So before the line split between the current feud of Kolodenko versus Burgosov, we were all one happy family.” She frowned. “Well, all one family. It was not a union based on love.”

As Lidka handed her pieces, Kate put more of the puzzle together. But the more she saw, the more she became afraid to fully realize the picture that was forming.

“Yes, you, too, are one of us. The stepsisters.” She said the word in disgust. “You have Burgosov blood in your body, just as truly you have Kolodenko. Cousin.”

“What else?” Kate asked, her mouth going dry. The Kolodenkos thought Lidka didn’t know anything, but did they know as much as she did? Oh, but they had to realize Kate was partially descended from a Burgosov. It was the whole reason Elsie became the Keeper instead of Kate’s grandmother—because of her relationship with Grandpa Feliks. Nessa was probably unaware, but Princess Kolodenko certainly knew the family history.

“I once was like you. I did not know the secrets. They are all so careful with their secrets. Our families feud, but most of us do not know why. I never knew until I sleep in the sister’s bedroom. She had a hidden diary that I found. In the pages of love she had for her boyfriend she write an interesting story of Kopciuszek. Is this what you are curious about?”

Kate licked her lips. “They think you don’t know.”

“They think what I let them think.”

Finally, Kate leaned back in the lounge and rested her head. It felt heavy with the weight of new information. She breathed in the overpowering scent of jasmine while Lidka waited for her to speak. “Why are you telling me this?”

Lidka moved to the edge of her chair where Kate could see a pale outline of her face illuminated from the villa of the Kolodenkos, the true heirs of Cinderella. “It is time you knew, and it looked like no one else was going to do it. Are you not glad?”

“I don’t know what I feel.” But maybe this information explained why she was having trouble with Nessa over the dress. As Keeper, she was supposed to be protected from the greed associated with it. If she were related, that greed might affect her, too. Did there need to be a Keeper for the Keeper?

“You said you know a Malwinka,” Kate added. “She is the one I’m looking for, isn’t she?”

“Yes. If you are looking for the head of the Burgosov clan.”

Kate took a deep breath. She stared up at the stars and then the moon. She was in real need of perspective.

Lidka said, “I had to find out more about you before I told you. Malwinka is not someone you tease. She is too powerful.”

Kate sprang up. “You’ll take me to her?”

“You’ve come all this way.”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to ask for permission to leave? When I say it is time, we go. Nie?” She frowned. “I will talk with Fyodora. She will agree.”

While Lidka had been deciding about her, Kate had also gotten to know Lidka during her short stay. She was a girl with an angle. Kate crossed her arms. “What do you want in return?”

Lidka grinned. “You learning street smarts.” She picked a leaf from a geranium plant and began to shred it. “I not knowing yet. A favor.” She stood and stretched. “Be ready when I say. She is in Poland, and we have to get the proper paperwork before you will be allowed across the border.”

“Johnny, too.”

“Do you think I am miracle worker? You and me will be hard enough.”

Kate held Lidka’s gaze.

“I will try,” Lidka said. “But do not blame me if something goes wrong.”