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HAVING SPENT THE afternoon touring Florence shops and sites, Nora De Angelis was happy to see Eden Kingsley coming out of her shyness. Fausto was trying to be especially kind, hoping to get a smile from Eden so he felt forgiven for his involvement in this morning’s antics. Nora and Fausto told Eden about some fun places she could take Bronte like the Piazza dell Republica right outside the hotel, where there was shopping and an antique carousel, the famous toy store where Rafe had gone to get some of the wooden Pinocchio toys she sent Bronte called Bartolucci, and the Children’s Museum next to the Uffizi. Nora took Eden to lunch at one of her favorite places in the middle of the shopping district. After a long lunch, and a little more therapeutic shopping, Nora bought some gelato to take home and share with Gabri and Rafe, maybe with Eden and the baby too if they stayed for dinner.
Nora could see the change in Eden as soon as they headed toward the villa. She became quiet and distracted as she held tightly to the canvas bag slung across her body that she seemed to use as a security blanket. Fausto pulled the car into the private driveway leading to the car barn in the back of the villa. They were soon gathering things from the car and getting into the golf cart Fausto would use to take them to the house. They rode silently to the villa then gathered everything and headed toward the kitchen entrance.
Nora led Eden into the kitchen where she put the gelato into the freezer. “Please excuse the mess,” said Nora as she saw all the dishes and the mess from lunch left there. It was clear Lyka had gone home, and Nora could only hope she would come back tomorrow. “The housekeeper was upset this morning, and it looks like she went home early.”
“Oh, no problem,” said Eden softly. She looked around the large commercial kitchen and at the long wooden table where Rafe, Bronte, and the others had lunch. The kitchen was almost as intimidating as the marble foyer she had walked into the day before.
The sound of muffled screaming came from somewhere in the house. “Oh, what now,” groaned Nora as a look of concern crossed Eden’s face. “Come on,” she said and led Eden out of the kitchen.
They walked through the house and came to the main hall. As they entered, they saw Gabri running down the marble hallway pulling something behind him as fast as he could. Stefano was using the video camera to record it all and had Rafe’s camera hanging from his neck. As Gabri got closer, they could see he was pulling a blanket and sitting on it was Rafe holding Bronte.
“Corri, Gabri!”[3] Bronte and Rafe were yelling and laughing as he pulled them down the hall and around different large pieces of furniture.
The entire hallway had been cleared of most of the smaller furniture, and the furniture in the formal living room, as well as the rug, had been pushed to the sides so they would have a place to run and turn around as the blanket slid across the marble floor.
“What the hell are you doing?” yelled Nora and her voice echoed through the hall.
Gabri stopped short, but the blanket that carried Rafe and Bronte kept moving forward over the slick floor and ran into the back of his legs. Gabri fell backward, but he caught himself and rolled to a stop not far from Rafe and Bronte. Stefano looked up in surprise, and all three gave Nora a guilty look.
“Corri, Gabri!” Bronte called. She kept laughing, not ready for the game to end. “Corri, Mama!”
Gabri scrambled up and grabbed the blanket. “Penso che siamo nei guai!”[4] he yelled as he quickly pulled them back down the hall where they had come from. Stefano followed, and Bronte and Rafe laughed, not noticing Eden was behind Nora.
“You are in trouble!” Nora yelled as she followed them. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Eden. “Just make yourself at home. If it’s even possible right now,” she grumbled.
Eden stood stunned as she watched Nora stomp down the hallway after them. It was definitely not how she expected to find Rafe. She looked around, found a seat on an opulent chair, and waited.
Nora made it down the hall and into the room where Gabri had dragged Rafe and Bronte. They were untangling Bronte and couch cushions from the blanket when she walked in. “Gabrielli Braulio De Angelis, what do you think you’re doing?” She glared at Rafe who was laughing. “You too, Rafaella Salvaggio! Look at this place! We have a house full of people coming this week, and you’ve destroyed the place!”
“We’ll fix it,” promised Gabri desperate to please Nora and not feel her wrath. He looked over at Rafe and couldn’t help but laugh with her.
“We were just having fun,” Rafe offered innocently. “What use are marble floors if you can’t slide on them?”
Nora was about to yell at them about what use a broken bone or a cracked skull would be if they crashed, but then she caught sight of Bronte who was sitting on the cushion waiting to go again. “Look at what you’re teaching her,” said Nora softly, but the anger could still be heard in her voice. “She could get hurt and then what would you tell Eden?”
“We had cushions all around her,” said Rafe with a frown. “I wouldn’t let her get hurt.”
“Right,” said Gabri with a nod. “We were careful. I wasn’t even running as fast as I could.”
“Corri!” Bronte called out and jumped up then tried to pull the blanket. “I wanna go again!”
Rafe swooped Bronte up and kissed her. “Siamo male![5] We’ve been caught misbehaving,” she said as she laughed and kissed her again then held her on her hip.
“Samoo malay!” Bronte yelled, trying to repeat Rafe’s words. Rafe, Gabri, and Stefano couldn’t help laughing.
Rafe tried to control her laughter. “We’ll fix it,” she promised Nora with an unconcerned grin.
Nora looked over at Gabri’s guilty face and then at Rafe, who didn’t look guilty at all and sighed with frustration. “I expect it fixed today,” she said firmly and looked at Stefano. “You help!”
“Of course,” Gabri agreed in relief.
“Of course,” Stefano repeated guiltily. He took the cameras he was carrying, put them on the table swiftly, and then ran out to start fixing things, but mostly to get away from Nora’s anger.
“Rafe,” said Nora the tone in her voice serious. “Eden is here. She’d like to talk with you.”
Rafe’s look went dark at the news. “Why is she here? I told her I would have Bronte back to her tonight. She always does this! She always makes it hard for me to have time with Bronte!” She walked over the cushions with Bronte, grabbed her camera, and then brushed past Nora angrily and went out of the room.
“Why is she here?” asked Gabri irritated. “Why couldn’t she wait?”
Nora sighed sadly. “It’s my fault,” she admitted. “I invited her.”
“Why? Rafe was having such a good day,” said Gabri upset.
Nora walked into the room and sat down on the cushion-less couch. “Sit down with me,” she said, and Gabri sat next to her. “I went to see her because of what you two did this morning.” She saw Gabri’s look of confusion and shook her head. “What you did wasn’t polite,” she informed him.” I know you think you were fixing things, but you can’t send Fausto and ask a mother to send her child to you with a note. She is in a foreign country and barely knows us. Fausto probably terrified her.”
“Fausto?” asked Gabri shaking his head. “He’s a teddy bear and wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“We know that, but Eden doesn’t,” she insisted. Fausto looks like a burly scary mobster unless you know him. “I wouldn’t have blamed her if she hadn’t sent the baby. I think she only did because she felt intimidated. She was distraught.”
“But she is Rafe’s baby, too,” Gabri reasoned.
“I know,” said Nora, “but you could have asked in a better way.” She watched as Gabri frowned looking in the direction Rafe had gone. “I talked with Eden and the woman she came with, Julia,” she said hesitantly. “I’m not sure Rafe’s wrong about why Eden’s here. Julia seemed very possessive of Eden and angry at Rafe. I think they should talk sooner than later. If she’s here to get closure, then I think Rafe’s better off knowing right away rather than worrying about it for days. She’s already started to lose sleep over Eden being here, and it’s not good for her.” Gabri leaned over and put his head in his hands. Nora rubbed his back. “We’ll be here for her no matter what,” she said softly. “I hope I’m wrong. Eden is hard to read because she’s so shy. Maybe it’s best for both of them if they can start talking now.”
Gabri sat up and gave Nora a worried frown. “I hope you’re wrong too. Let’s go talk to Rafe.”
