Love Hurts (25 page)

No wonder so many people want to live here,
Anna thought to herself as she watched yet another ancient stone structure go by.
It must have broken Mamma’s heart to leave
.

The GPS voice told them their turn would be coming up in five hundred meters to the right. They had arrived in Spoleto.

Mamma mumbled something when they turned off the highway.

Anna turned in her seat to see a white face and trembling lips. “Mamma? You okay?” Anna reached out a hand and her mother grabbed onto it like she would never let go.

“This is it,” she whispered. “This is where I grew up.”

“The city?” Chris asked.

“No, we lived outside the city, on a small farm. But I was in Spoleto many times. I often went to the market with Papà.”

Anna was happy they were getting Mamma to talk. Maybe it would help her not to be so nervous about their quest.

“Our farm was very small,” she continued. “We didn’t have much land, but that was probably just as well since Papà didn’t work with his hands very well.” Mamma raised a shaky hand and brushed back her already perfectly coiffed hair. “I mean outside. He
painted
like a master.”

“Did he ever sell any of his paintings?” Chris asked as he navigated into the city. They’d decided to stay at the Palazzo Leti, a restored palace in the heart of the “centro storico,” the historical part of the city inside the ancient walls.

“As few as possible. He could hardly bear to part with them. He would take a few, and none of his best, to the local market and always sold them. My mother would pester him constantly that if he sold more of his work, we might actually live better. In that, she was right, I have to admit. I wonder how well he might have done, had he let his better pieces sell? But, on the other hand, I understand how he felt.”

Anna thought about how Mamma herself rarely parted with a painting. She kept most of hers at the Toronto gallery and sold just one or two a year. Luckily for her, those one or two kept her coffers full. She’d sold a lot more when she was younger and less in demand and that was how she’d achieved such a level of fame. Her paintings became famous not only for her technique, but for the mysterious little face.

Anna wondered at life. Sometimes it was the most painful situation that caused the greatest changes. If Mamma hadn’t gone through something so traumatic as a child, would she be as famous today for her paintings? She was a wonderful artist, there was no doubt of that, but it was the little face in every painting that drew people to her works. It was the mystery that Mamma would never talk about.

She’d let it slip once that the face showed up with no conscious effort, and that caused an uproar that was never forgotten. Knowing Mamma, she hadn’t let it slip with purpose, but she couldn’t have done anything better for her career.

“Look over there.” Mamma pointed at an ancient wall, the gateway into the medieval city. Chris drove through the huge arches as Anna craned her neck to look up. She couldn’t wait to begin exploring. Spoleto seemed to have a charm all of its own, very different from Rome, but beautiful all the same.

Chris continued to follow the directions of the GPS, while Anna got more and more worried that the car would get stuck in the narrow streets. She’d never seen streets so small, not even in Rome. She wondered how anyone could drive a car in here, let alone the big trucks that navigated their way through. The town and streets were built long before motor vehicles were invented, but as she’d already seen, few things stopped the Italians. They lived among the past and made it part of their present with barely a thought to how impractical it might be. That’s just the way life was in Italy. Anna found it charming.

Chris pulled into a parking spot with careful precision and turned off the car. He let out a long breath and it was only then that Anna realized how stressed he’d been. It was no wonder.

They climbed out of the car and walked through the arched entrance into the most beautiful garden terrace Anna had ever seen. It was rectangular-shaped and overlooked the spectacular view of the valley far below the city.
 

In front of her stood a fountain topped with a stone boy wrestling a large fish. The detail was incredible. There were manicured shrubs in a geometric pattern all around the terrace, and at the end closest to her was a seating area with tables and chairs. At the other end was another fountain built into the wall. It had a statue of Neptune with his trident, and below was a large marble bowl filled with water.

“Have you seen this place before, Mamma?” Anna asked, awe filling her voice.

“No, I never got to explore this high into the city. We went to the market and back home most times. Papà didn’t want me to mix too much with the locals.”

Chris walked over from where he’d been studying the view. “He was afraid some boy would snatch you up.” He gave Mamma a bow and a wink.

Mamma smiled at him. “You have no idea how right you are, young man,” she said. “A young man did snatch me up and Papà was none too pleased.”

Anna’s eyes riveted on Mamma’s.
Was that my father?

Mamma saw Anna’s unspoken question. “Yes, it was him, but I still have to tell you that story. I will soon, I promise.” Mamma moved toward the terrace doors. “Let’s check in and find some food. I’m hungry.”

Anna was happy to see that Mamma looked much better than she had before. As she couldn’t wait to begin exploring, she was eager to get settled. Before she could move to follow, though, Chris took her arm and pulled her back against him.

“Let’s get our own room this time, shall we?” he whispered against her hair.

His soft breath tickled Anna’s ear and she shivered. The anticipation began its slow crawl from her belly up to her throat. Her breath came faster and gooseflesh rose on her arms.
Am I ready for the next step? I have to be sure because I’ll never hurt Chris again.

“Okay,” she whispered back, her throat nearly choking the words off. She had to clear her throat to continue. “Hopefully Mamma won’t mind.”

Chris gave her another squeeze, and she could feel that he too was anticipating that evening alone with her. “She won’t mind,” he said.

Anna smiled to herself and stepped toward the doors. She glanced back at Chris and gave him a wide grin.
Life is so much more exciting in Italy,
she thought as she stepped inside.

Chapter 29

On the recommendation of their hotel concierge, they headed for a small ristorante not too far from where they were staying. The streets were narrow cobblestone and ran maze-like between massive stone buildings. The old-world charm was completed by the unearthly golden glow of the setting sun. Anna had heard about the light in Italy, but only now understood the power it had to fire the imagination. Everything looked gilded with a patina of not just age but history. The guidebook said that the word “storico” in Italian meant both story and history, a charming thought. The history of the place wasn’t for boring textbooks, but for a storyteller to tell through the ages.
I wonder if I could tell stories like this one. I wouldn’t want these stories to ever be lost.

Mamma and Chris were both quiet as she was. Chris held her hand tightly while he gazed at the scenery, Mamma walked quietly ahead of them, not even struggling with the steep climb of the street.
Looks like she’s already found her ‘Italian legs’.
She’d never seen towns like this one, with everything seeming to go straight up. She thought of medieval times when all the focus was on defense, especially in Italy with constant wars between neighboring city-states. She knew of no other country’s history that was so divided, only united as a nation in 1861.
 

“I think this is it,” Mamma said as she stopped in front of a door with flowerpots set all around it and into the wall. The little ristorante had a menu outside advertising wonderful-sounding dishes. Anna’s stomach growled in anticipation. Chris turned to her with a grin.

“We better get this one fed, Mamma, before she turns on us.”

Anna smacked him. “You better watch out. You’re the first one I’ll start with.”

His grin turned wicked. “I can’t wait.”

Anna rolled her eyes and followed Mamma into the ristorante. “Crazy man,” she mumbled under her breath and let out a squeak when Chris pinched her butt.

“What did you say?” Mamma asked.

“Nothing,” Anna whispered, as the waitress approached them.
 

The ristorante was not much bigger than a closet. There were three tables in the room they’d entered, with another six or so in the room to the right. There was a bar crammed into the room they stood in with a restroom beside it. The Italians took advantage of every little pocket of space. It must be why they could drive in such narrow streets without scraping their cars to bits, Anna thought.

There were beautifully illustrated posters on the walls from each year of the annual festival held in Spoleto. There were flowers and wine bottles everywhere, yet it didn’t look cluttered. Cozy and welcoming were the words that came to mind.

The smells that emanated from the little kitchen—
where on earth did they find room for a kitchen?—
made Anna’s stomach rumble again in anticipation. She ignored the snicker from Chris and asked Mamma, “What do you feel like eating?”

“Pizza,” was her quick answer from behind the menu.

“Pizza? You’re in Italy, the land of
food from the gods
and you’re having pizza?”

Mamma dropped her menu and smiled at her daughter. “Have you ever had Italian pizza, Annabella?”

“No. But isn’t pizza pizza?”

At Mamma’s shocked expression, Anna had to assume that her reasoning was faulty.

Mamma just shook her head and turned as the waitress approached. “For prima piatti, some pasta al pesto. For secundo, I’ll have a Margherita pizza, and so will my daughter,” she gestured at Anna.

Chris wisely said he’d have a pizza, too, but with meat please.

Mamma gave him a fond smile and ordered him a pizza al prosciutto crudo.

“Mamma?” Anna asked. “Isn’t that a lot of food? Pasta and pizza? What is prima and secun … um, what did you call it?”

“Secundo. Prima piatti is the first course, or first plate is how it’s translated. Secundo is the second. Traditionally Italians have pasta first and then the main course after.”

Anna groaned.

“Don’t worry,” Mamma laughed. “The amount of food they give you is much less than in North American restaurants. If you get too full, we’ll just have some grappa.”

“That sounds interesting,” Chris said. “What’s grappa?”

“It’s a digestivo. Helps to digest your food, especially if you eat too much.”

“Oh, alcohol. Sounds good to me,” Chris said.

Mamma smiled, seeming to relish her role as interpreter and guide. Her skin had taken on a glow that Anna had never seen before. It was as if her body had been missing the Italian air and was coming to life again. Anna studied her mother.
Mamma fits here. This is where she belongs. I don’t think she even realized just how much she missed her homeland.

The door opened and a little old couple walked in. Mamma was in the middle of telling Chris about the popular drinks of Italy when she froze mid-sentence and stared at the couple. Before Anna could react, Mamma seemed to realize she was being rude and dropped her gaze. It looked like she was trying to bring herself under control, but her breathing remained rapid.

Anna put her hand over her mother’s and asked, “Who are they, Mamma?”

The couple greeted the waitress and was escorted into the next room and out of Anna’s sight.

“Mamma?” she asked again.

“I think they are the couple who used to live down the road from us when I was a girl. I can’t be sure, but they look so familiar. They were in their thirties, so they’d have to be seventy now.”

“They would have changed so much in forty years. How could you be sure it’s them?”

“Some people age but keep their familiar features,” Chris said. “It’s possible.”

“Well, then you have to speak to them,” Anna said.

Mamma shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I just can’t. What if they know something?”

“Exactly what we’re here for,” Anna insisted. “Please. If they’re who you think they are, they could at least have something for us to go on. I don’t think it’s coincidence that you saw them the first night we’re here.”

Mamma sighed and wiped her mouth with her napkin. She took a sip of her wine and her hand trembled again. Anna almost wanted to forget the whole thing and take Mamma home. It was hard to see her so rattled. Mamma had been so steady and calm for Anna’s entire childhood. She’d been remote, yes, but never like this. It was hard for Anna to process.

“Will you come with me?” Mamma asked.

“Of course.”

Anna stood and held out her hand. Mamma took it and together they walked into the next room.