VINA IN VENICE (THE 5 SISTERS)

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Chapter 1

“Drop dead gorgeous,” Vina said as she jotted down the words.  “Brooding, but with a killer smile.  And he has to be tall, at least six foot two, with dark hair and broad shoulders, and…”

“
Gee, y
ou’re not asking for much,” Maria said dryly.

“
I thought that was the purpose of this little exercise, to write down the attributes of the perfect man.”

Maria rolled her eyes.  “There is no such thing as the
perfect
man,” her tone was
acerbic.

Vina glanced around at her other three sisters,
not the least bit surprised to find t
he
m suddenly
engrossed with completing their own lists.
  “Cowards,”
she muttered, before turning her attention back to Maria. 
“
You have no right to rain on our parade j
ust because your
relationship with what’s-his-name fizzled out
.  Besides, this is supposed to be a list of qualities that
I
desire in a man, just as your list should consist of qualities
you
want.”

“This is
stupid,” Maria crumpled up the piece of paper Vina had given her.  “A tragic waste of my time,” she
scoffed
, tossing the balled up paper onto the table.

“You haven’t wasted any time,” their oldest sister,
Victoriana
noted
evenly.  “Your paper was blank.”

Sophia and Kelsey looked up from their own lists, each of them exchanging worried glances with Vina. 
They’
d all known
M
aria would balk at
doing it.  Ever since her
break up
with
the blonde Adonis,
she’d been a real stick in the mud.
  Vina frowned, silently chastising herself for being so waspish.  Maria
was
devastated
when her relationship with Harrison fell apart,
and even though she covered it well, Vina
had
seen
the haunted look in her eyes on more than one
occasion
.

Tearing off another piece of paper from her note pad, Vina held it out to Maria.  “
It was Mom and Daddy’s last wish,” she said softly.

Maria hesitated for a moment before taking the paper.  “Why…why do you think they did it?”

It was Victoriana who replied.  “I’m sure their reasons will be made clear once we do everything they’ve asked of us.”

“And the Will was very specific,” Sophia added.  “If one of us refuses to participate, we all lose.  The mansion, the land, the business; everything will be liquidated.  Do you really want to forfeit your inheritance…
our
inheritance just because you don’t want to do this one, simple task?”

“It’s not as if we’d be left destitute,” Maria argued.  “
Each of us would still inherit a substantial amount of money even without doing these ridiculous drills.”

Vina shook her head.  “Substantial, yes, but it would only be a small portion of what their assets are worth.  Daddy
poured his heart into the
company
.  Do you think he would be happy knowing we allowed it to be sold off?”

“And you know how much Mom love
d
this house,” Kelsey chimed in.  “
Whatever their reasons, they must have felt very strongly about it or she
never
would
have taken the gamble on losing it
.”

“But this is just the first stipulation,” Maria continued her crusade.  “There are four more
.  A
nd since none of us has any idea what they are, who can say whether
we’ll be able to complete them?”

“They wouldn’t set us up to fail,” Vina pointed out, “which means they were confident we would
succeed.”

“Look,” Victoriana said, “Mom and Dad didn’t raise us to be quitters. 
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there are five of us and five tasks.”

Vina’s brows furrowed.  “What do you mean?”

“I think it’s a test
of our strength, our ability to survive without them.  I’ve been mulling it over since the reading of the Will
a
nd believe that each task was chosen for a specific person.  All of us relied on them for stability, security
, love…and we trusted them implicitly with our deepest secrets.  And our darkest fear
s
.”

Maria gaped at Victoriana.  “Are you saying they
took what we told them in confidence and
deliberately
chose a task that would
target our weakest
point?”

“Yes,” Victoriana replied, “
but they made sure we had a safety net. 
Each other. 
That’s
the reason we all have to participate
;
i
t was their
way of making sure we stuck together
.  And maybe they hoped it would help ease our grief if our minds were occupied elsewhere.
”

“I suppose you think this first
test
is about me,” Maria said with an indignant lift of her chin. 

Victoriana shrugged.  “It could be about any one of us.
  Granted
, your recent…experience makes you a more likely candidate.  But
we’re
all guilty of being so involved with running the company
that
we haven’t dated in ages.
  Mom and Dad were totally devoted to each other.  They shared the kind of love most people can only dream about
and wanted us to find that same kind of love.”

Maria snorted, obviously hell bent on proving this was an exercise in futility.  “You think making out a list of impossible expectations in our soul
-
mate is going to accomplish that?  Well, I don’t believe it.  The only thing that
is
going to come of this is disillusionment when each of us discovers the truth.
”

“And what would that truth be,” Vina challenged, “that all men are lying rats?  That they’re incapable of being faithful and giving us the love we deserve?  You’re wrong, Maria.  Dad wasn’t like that at all, and I refuse to believe there aren’t more men out there like him. 
Your bitterness is going to turn you into a sour old maid, and I don’t intend
to follow
you down that path.”

“She’s right,” Kelsey interjected.  “
You’re letting one bad relationship poison your heart.  Besides, no one said you had to go out and
actively
look
for a man with all the qualities on your list.  The only thing they asked was
that we write it down
so we
would
know what kind of man will make us happy,
and
be able to
recognize him…if or when he comes along.”

“Fine,” Maria said tersely, “I’ll do it, but unlike the rest of you starry-eyed dreamers, I’m going to keep my expectations low.  That way,
I
won’t have so far to fall when he tries to tromp on my heart.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Vina warned. 

“I’m not wishing for
anything
, that’s the point.”

With a collective sigh, Vina and her other three sisters went back to working on their lists.  Maria stared at the paper for a long time before reluctantly picking up her pen and scribbl
ing
a few lines.
  Vina’s heart ached for her.
 
Only a few short months ago,
her sister
practically glowed with happiness.  Now it seemed
Maria wore a permanent scowl, although Vina suspected the hardened shell had been constructed to mask the broken heart
she was still nursing
.

Reining in her rambling
thoughts
, Vina refocused on her list.  Her taste in men tended to lean more towards the rugged
, outdoors
type rather than executives in
Armani suits.  She was a nature freak at heart and didn’t care much for dressing to the nines to d
ine at some fancy restaurant or, heaven forbid, sit through an opera.  She
would much rather take a stroll through a park or
around the lake. 
How romantic, to
sit at the end of a pier
with someone who knew how to appreciate the simplicity of dang
ling
your
feet in the
water
as
you
watched the sun
g
o down
.

He would have to be intelligent too.  Brawn without brains held no appeal for Vina.  And it was fine for him to be all macho male on the outside as long as he tempered
that masculine swagger with
a kind heart.  Their Dad had been like that; hard as nails when it related to business
,
but an absolute marshmallow where
h
is wife and girls were
concerned.
  Family always came first, and that
was just as important to her as it was to her parents.

T
he perfect mate. 
Did he even exist?  Or was Maria right about their expectations being unrealistic? 
Still…if you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. 
N
ot afraid of commitment
,
she wrote down, then added,
great kisser
and
passionate lover
.
  Why not?  If Maria or any of the others chose to
be pragmatic about the whole thing, that was their business.  As her mother used to say;
Don’t wish for the stars if it’s really the moon you want
.

Vina wanted it all.  The stars, the moon, and everything in between.

***

Vina stood in front of the fireplace mantle, a wistful smile on her face as her gaze lingered on their last family portrait. 
Her mother, Lucinda, was only twenty when she was swept off her feet by the dashing
Real Estate Investor,
Victor Moore.
  They were married two months later, and Victoriana was conceived before their first anniversary. 
They made a handsome pair; Victor, with his dark hair and eyes, while Lucinda had a glorious mane of flaming red hair and eyes the color of emeralds.

Vina’s twin sister, Sophia, had been the only one of the five siblings to inherit their mother’s hair color,
al
though Vina’s rich, brown hair had glimmers of red in it.  She and Sophia also inherited their father’s brown eyes; the other three seemed to have gotten a mixture of the two because their eyes were brown with flecks of green. 
Her parents were proud of their beautiful daughters, and not once had either of them expressed any regret that there had been no sons
.

Daggers shot through Vina’s heart when she recalled how happy her mother had been when she told them about the second honeymoon their father had surprised her with. Although Lucinda Moore regularly accompanied her husband on business trips all around the world, it had been quite some time since they’d gone on a proper vacation.
  Not that her parent’s love life needed rekindling; they were like
hormonal
teenagers
,
but
the girls accepted the kissing and hand holding
simply
because
it had always been that way.

The private jet carrying her parents, the pilot, and one flight attendant had gone down in the North Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff.  They were still within sight of the Barbados coast
when the pilot contacted air traffic control and advised them there was engine trouble and that he needed clearance to return.  That was the last anyone heard from him.
  The plane dropped below radar and it was presumed the crash occurred only moments later, though no wreckage was found, nor were any bodies recovered.

Vina squeezed her eyes shut, forcing back the enormous wave of grief that assailed her.  For two solid weeks, she and her sisters shared a suite at one of the hotels on Barbados.  Reluctant to be separated from one another, they’d remained in the room, endlessly pacing and praying for a miracle while search planes and coast guard boats scoured a fifty mile radius.
  When that proved fruitless, the sisters demanded the search be expanded to seventy-five miles, although it was highly unlikely the private jet had made it that far with engine failure.