Sudden Legacy (23 page)

I put my hands over his. “Stop. Don’t do this, Julien.” I wrapped my arms around his midsection and hugged him fiercely. “Don’t play the what-if game,” I said into his chest. “It only serves to upset us needlessly.” I felt the warmth of his hand on the back of my head as he stroked my hair.

I could hear a muffled commotion coming from downstairs. Nan and Pops had arrived. Julien pulled away in order to see my face more clearly. He took a deep, cleansing breath. “Why don’t you relax a bit? Grab a shower. Nan and Pops can listen for Alex while I discuss next steps with Martin.”

“What
are
the next steps?” I asked.

Julien half smiled. “I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve never read the manual on actions one takes after discovering they’re long lost royalty of a small, obscure country.”

I almost laughed. I was glad to see he hadn’t lost his sense of humor. Apparently even attempted assassination wasn’t enough to unsettle him completely.

Nan and Pops were waiting at the baggage claim with balloons and flowers. Seeing their excited, expectant faces as they glanced hopefully at each approaching traveler made a sudden lump form in my throat. As distracted as I had been by Julien, I had almost forgotten how much I missed them.

Nan and Pops were the reason I had gone on my European adventure in the first place. They believed every young person needed to see a bit of the world before settling into their college careers. I had two years of community college under my belt, but it was time to get serious and finish my bachelor’s degree. I sighed in defeat. I was no closer to deciding on an official major than I had been before I left.

“Nan, over here!” I waved to get her attention. She turned toward the sound of my voice and her face lit up with joy. “Lara!” Before I could say anything more I was engulfed in her arms, her voice muffled in my hair. When she released me Pops took over, hugging me just as tightly, but with a great deal more dignity.

“I think you’ve grown!” said Nan. Pops shook his head. “Nancy, she’s a grown woman. I don’t think she’s gotten any taller since she left.” Nan brushed off Pops’s nay saying with a bat of her hand to his arm. “Well I’m probably shrinking then.” She turned back to me. “You’re definitely taller. Maybe.” She studied me intently, making me suddenly shy. “You may not be taller, young lady, but there is definitely something different about you.”

I shrugged off her scrutiny. “I don’t know Nan,” I said. “I’m the same girl I was the last time you saw me.”

“Are you?” she asked with disappointment. “Then you did it wrong! The whole point of an adventure is to come back a changed person. You were supposed to experience new and exciting things. Eat strange and exotic food. Find romance...” Nan waggled her eyebrows at me and I burst out laughing. “Did you find romance, Lara?” I blushed crimson, giving myself away.

“Leave the poor girl alone Nancy. She hasn’t even been off the plane thirty minutes. Can’t the inquisition wait until we get home and fill our bellies?”

“It most certainly cannot,” answered Nan. “That was the deal. Lara gets to go gallivanting through Europe, and I get to live vicariously through her once she gets home.” Without missing a beat, and barely pausing to draw breath, Nan turned her hawk-like gaze back to me. “So, Lara, tell me all about him. Where did you meet him? Is he tall, dark and Greek?”

I laughed again. “Um, I guess I met him in France, and you’re almost right - he is tall and dark, but he’s not Greek. He’s French on his mother’s side and Italian on his father’s.”

“Ooooh,” said Nan with appreciation. “French
and
Italian. Both very passionate peoples.”

I couldn’t help but blush again. I could feel my embarrassment scalding my cheeks.

“Does Mr. French Italian have a name?” Nan asked.

I nodded. “Julien. His name is Julien Diotallevi, and I am hopelessly in love with him.” Out of nowhere my face crumbled and I started crying like a psychotic teenager right there in the middle of the baggage claim area.

Nan clucked at me in reassurance and held me against her shoulder. I had to bend uncomfortably in order to reach the shorter woman’s shoulder properly. “There, there, now sweetheart,” she cooed. “It appears you did it right after all.” I straightened and wiped my nose rudely on the back of my sleeve. “Every grand adventure should feature a grand romance to go along with it.”

Pops materialized beside us with my luggage. “Come,” Nan instructed, taking me by the elbow, my balloons knocking drunkenly together behind us as we walked. “You can tell me all about him in the car.”

It was nearing dinnertime when Julien found me reading to a well-rested Alex in an overstuffed chair. “He is well?” He asked. I smiled and nodded; happy that Alex’s brief stomach bug had vanished as quickly as it had arisen.

“Jewian!” Alex beamed at his father. “Mama readed me a story.”

Without pausing or asking permission, Alex stood in the chair and climbed Julien like a monkey in a tree. “Did you have a nice nap?” Julien asked the little primate. Alex shook his head vehemently. “No nap!” he shouted.

“No, no, I didn’t mean you need a nap. I was-” Alex cut him off. “No nap!” he shouted again. I stood and touched Julien’s arm to get his attention. “It’s no use,” I warned. “Nap is our N-word. No good ever comes from saying it!” That made Julien chuckle. He adjusted Alex’s weight on his hip. “That’s right, Alex. No nap! Would you like to go exploring with me?”

Alex’s eyes lit up at the suggestion and he nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, wonderful, because there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

I met Julien’s eyes with curiosity. He gave me that ghost of a half smile and flicked his head at me, indicating I should follow him. Whomever we were going to see, they resided in the west wing of the villa. Julien didn’t bother to knock when we reached the door, but he did open it slowly and gently so as not to startle anyone on the other side.

The door opened into a small sitting room that served as a kind of entry parlor for the large room beyond. A kind-eyed nurse dressed in pale lavender scrubs greeted us immediately.
“Signore Julien,”
she said. “Nurse Juna said you were back.”

“Angelica, you look well. Is my father feeling up to visitors just now?”

Angelica spoke to Julien, but her eyes kept straying in fascination to Alex. “He is awake and comfortable. I’ll let him know you’re here... With guests.” She disappeared into the other room, and reemerged a few seconds later, waving us in.

Giovani Diotallevi was a handsome, intimidating man even propped up in a hospital bed with no control over his own limbs. His stroke had left the left side of his face paralyzed, causing his eyelid and mouth to droop slightly on that side. His eyes were clear and alert, and the beautiful shade of green shared by both Julien and Alex.

“Father,” Julien said as we approached the bed. “This is Lara, and Alex.”

I smiled and fought the urge to curtsy. Giovani spared me a quick glance, then focused solely on Alex. I was getting used to this reaction. The fancy equipment surrounding the bed captivated Alex. It took him a moment to even notice Giovani, but when he did, he cocked his head to the side and said, “Who’re you?”

“This is your grandfather,” Julien answered. He had a bit of a frog in his throat.

“No he’s not,” said Alex matter of factly. “Pops is my grandfodder.”

Julien nodded at Alex. “Yes, he is, but you’re a very lucky boy, and you have
two
grandfathers.” Alex’s eyes got very big at this revelation. He could tell by Julien’s tone that this was special information. “I
do
?” he asked in awe.

“Yes. You do.” Alex wiggled out of Julien’s arms and Julien dropped him rather unceremoniously onto the foot of Giovani’s bed. Giovani’s eyes hadn’t left Alex for one second. Alex returned his stare. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“You can call him
Nonno
,” Julien answered. “
Nonno
doesn’t talk.”

“Why not?” Alex had lost any and all vestiges of shyness somehow.

“Because he used up all his words,” Julien explained.

Alex accepted this as a perfectly reasonable explanation. “He gots a video game?” he asked, eyeballing the bed control box wrapped around the side railing of Giovani’s bed. “No,” Julien answered. “Even better. Come up here, I’ll show you.” Alex scampered over the bed and wedged himself between Giovani and the railing. I watched with my breath in my throat as Julien showed Alex how to push the buttons and make the bed go up and down. I didn’t know how much Giovani was able to communicate his discomforts, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by the jerky ride he was suddenly being forced to endure.

“He yeaks,” Alex announced, pointing to a thin line of drool on the side of Giovani’s chin. Julien wiped it away without pause. “People leak all the time.
Nonno
doesn’t have any words to help catch his water.” Alex picked up the cloth when Julien set it down, then dabbed gently at Giovani’s chin as he had seen Julien do.

When the bed controls had lost their allure Julien clipped a heart monitor to Alex’s finger and showed him the way his heartbeat made the lines jump on the screen. Fascinated, Alex proceeded to clip the clamp onto each one of Giovani’s fingers.

Julien and I shared a smile over the top of Alex’s head.

“He’s yeaking again,” Alex said, grabbing the cloth and bringing it to Giovani’s face, only this time it was tears Alex was catching in the cloth. I looked away, tears of my own threatening to spill over as my heart clenched at the sight of my little son carefully wiping his grandfather’s tears. I hoped they were tears of joy.

We spent another half hour with Giovani, Julien serving as interpreter between his father and his son. Alex continued to explore the area and the man, showing no respect for personal boundaries. Neither Giovani nor Julien seemed to mind.

As we headed toward dinner, having said our goodnights to the family patriarch, Julien casually asked Alex what he thought of his grandfather.

“He’s good,” Alex answered simply. “He gots Pull-ups.” I hid my grin, charmed that Alex felt a camaraderie with his grandsire, even if it was based on a package of adult diapers, and a hospital bed’s control buttons.

It was unusually warm for September. Nan, Pops, Julien and I sat out on a back veranda sipping lemonade and watching Alex and Nonna Vera cavorting on the lawn. Alex was naked, having soaked his clothes with water from the fountain. He would let out intermittent squeals of excitement when Nonna Vera managed to flick water droplets on him from her fingers. In each of his little fists he clutched a chess piece from the set he had pillaged after breakfast.

“I thought you said you didn’t have grandparents,” I accused softly.

Julien looked over at me questioning. “You mean
Nonna
Vera? She’s like a grandmother to be sure, but she’s not a blood relation.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. “You have an essence of her. Something in your mannerisms, and the crook of your smile.”

Julien smiled fondly. “That’s probably because we’ve spent so much time together. She was my nanny, and my father’s before me. She’s been with the family so long we can’t imagine life without her.”