“Aunt Noemi, this is Sienna Giovanna, a friend of mine.” My aunt glanced quickly at me. I could see she was wondering if Sienna really was just a friend, or perhaps something more. The mere fact that I had brought her here would have raised her curiosity. I just smiled warmly and let the topic be.
“It’s lovely to meet you.” She held out her hand and welcomed Sienna to the house. My aunt had never met Sienna and knew nothing about our past. I tended to be very private, and I knew Aunt Noemi would welcome anyone I brought to meet her with open arms. If only because it didn’t happen often.
“We’re meeting some people here.”
“Oh? I didn’t get a call.” That would be strange to her; we always called in our visits. My Nonna, Greta, lived here full-time, and my aunt and uncle would often come and go between our two properties. It was our number one rule to call ahead. I filled her in as best as I could as we drew further inside.
“Will Vinni be joining you?” She motioned for us to follow her out to the patio as she asked about her youngest son. I loved it here. The view over the stables and their vineyard went on for miles. Turned out, funneling money through wineries was easier than we expected. We now owned six.
“Yes, he should be arriving any moment.”
“Good, I need to speak with him.” She handed Sienna a bubbly water, and I shook my head, opting for a plain bottle of water instead. “So,” she took a seat across from us, “do you ride, Sienna? We have a stable just over there.”
“I have, a bit. Yes.”
“Wonderful. Maybe we could ride sometime.”
“I’d like that.”
My aunt smiled at me. She seemed excited to find someone who was interested in riding too. “Tell me more about yourself, Sienna.”
Sienna blinked a few times and cleared her throat, looking up at me for help.
“Aunt Noemi.” I pointed to the door, thankful Vinni had just walked in at the perfect time.
Vinni looked fit to kill, with Wyatt trailing behind him, his face as white as a ghost. As soon as Wyatt spotted Sienna, he rushed to her side and began to sputter an apology. She just nodded at him and stroked his arm.
“Haven’t they arrived yet?” Vinni looked around.
“Not yet.”
“What the hell?” Vinni pulled out his phone, and I did the same. I dialed Francesco.
“I’m here.” Francesco rushed inside holding up his ringing phone. Sienna jumped to her feet. “Just,” he held up his hands as we both took a step forward, “give me a second to take a breath.”
“Where are they?” I looked past him, not liking the idea of them being unsupervised in the house.
“They’re not coming.”
“What?” Sienna called out at the same time Vinni did.
“They’re not comfortable meeting here.” Francesco shrugged.
I squinted at him, catching his lie. I knew his every expression.
“A word?” I motioned for him to follow me into the hallway, out of earshot of the others.
“So, coming here was just a way for you to be alone with her and to draw us away from them?” He closed his eyes for a moment, and I knew I was right. “You’ve known me since I was born, and yet you lie to my face.”
We both turned our attention to the girl we had saved from the dockyard. She mindlessly roamed from room to room. She reminded me of one of those vacuum robots that bumped into pieces of furniture or walls with no real purpose but to move the dust around. I needed to figure out what to do with her. I shook my head and got my thoughts back on track.
“Elio,” he placed a hand on my shoulder, “there’s much that needs to be revealed, but it has to be done delicately. The time was not right then, nor is it now.”
“You can’t expect Sienna to accept that. She just met her mother after years of searching for her, and her reunion was met with guns drawn and hateful words spoken.”
“I know.” He closed his eyes as though my words hurt him. “I’m not expecting her to.”
“Where are they now?”