Sally slowly made her way nervously towards Conte and Contessa Cavallo, gripping Luca’s hand. As she walked up to Luca’s parents, Contessa Cavallo smiled warmly, easing Sally’s tension. Smiling in return with a deep courtesy Sally greeted, “Your Lordship and Your Ladyship Cavallo.” Luca followed suit with a deep bow to his parents.
“Welcome to our home Miss Bowles,” Conte Cavallo replied.
“Yes, welcome indeed, Miss Bowles, it is a pleasure to finally meet the beautiful young woman who has stolen the heart of our dear Luca,” Contessa Cavallo added. Sally blushed deeply until she saw the Contessa smile again, disarming her concerns.
“Please join us inside,” Contessa continued, gesturing for the grand entrance. Stepping inside, Sally’s breath was immediately taken away by the opulence and beauty, stimulating all of her senses. The elongated main hall stretched before her, with an elaborate mosaic tile floor lined in the center by a richly colored gold and red carpet. The vaulted ceiling drew her eyes up to the numerous frescos framing the brilliantly shining central chandelier. All of this splendor led her gaze to the striking central marble staircase at the end of the stately main hall, leading up, as Sally supposed, to the 20 bedrooms Luca had mentioned as they arrived. The walls were equally stunning, adorned with majestic tapestries of fairytale lands and bucolic scenes capturing Sally’s imagination. In the center of the room, underneath the chandelier, sat a spectacular towering arrangement of fresh cut flowers from the surrounding gardens, giving off a fragrant perfume that pulled Sally deeper into the dreamscape of the Villa Vittoria. And gently filling and complementing the visually and aromatically stimulating space, the far away sounds of a cello completed the feast for the senses with auditory delights, as if the score was but one of a full cast, performing for the audience of one, Sally.
“If I may say, your home is absolutely breathtaking, Your Ladyship,” Sally exclaimed.
“Why, thank you my dear,” Contessa Cavallo replied. “I worked very hard to maintain the balance between the past and the present. It isn’t always easy though my dear,” she sighed. “It is such a beautiful early evening. Let’s go out to the terrace for an aperitivo before dinner,” Contessa Cavallo suggested.”
“Bravo! Splendid idea my dear!” Conte Cavallo laughed, clapping his son Luca on the back. “Lead the way, my son.”
As Sally followed alongside Contessa Cavallo behind Luca and his father through the sprawling mansion, she noticed the expansive art collection throughout. Many different paintings of varying sizes, and towering hand-carved cases with glass doors displaying extravagant porcelain collections, pottery, and other decorative items with encrusted gemstones and ornate designs.
“Do you like my collection dear?” the Contessa inquired, startling Sally back to reality.”
“I do indeed Your Ladyship. I’ve never seen such an impressive collection,” Sally replied.
“It took a lifetime to collect and many of these have been passed down through generations of family,” the Contessa continued, with a bit of a sigh. “But material things don’t always last, and one has to make difficult decisions,” the Contessa said with a touch of sadness.
Sally smiled timidly, not knowing how to respond to this last statement. Thankfully, the Conte Cavallo broke the awkwardness by shouting, hurry my dears, we don’t want to miss the brilliant colors of the fading twilight. Luca led the way out onto the terrace overlooking the breathtaking view. Looking out from the terrace, the grove of olive trees spread across the slope towards the cliffs framing the picturesque coastline along the Adriatic Sea. They took seats at a meticulously decorated iron table as a young houseboy brought a tray with four large glasses and a pitcher filled with Aperol Spritz. As Sally sipped her aperitivo, she also drank in the beauty around her of the landscape, the villa, Luca, and his parents. She felt as if she was dreaming and shivered a bit in fear that she would wake up and it would all be gone. Luca brought her back to the present moment.
“Mother, I told Sally about your very special guest for dinner tomorrow night, and she was distraught about not having the appropriate dress to wear. I told her not to worry that you have everything under control.”
“Luca!” Sally gasped, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Oh yes! I do have everything taken care of my dears. Please don’t fret Miss Bowles, our Luca is correct. I would never dream of letting a young lady such as yourself worry about these things or feel uncomfortable, as you are my guest just as much as anyone,” Contessa Cavallo replied. “After dinner, Miss Bowles, you and I shall have a talk, and I can fill you in on all of the details,” the Contessa continued. “I’ve chosen a stunning delicately lavender hued silk satin and silk chiffon dress from French designer Louise Boulanger, a favorite of our guest of honor, Ambassadress Marjorie Davies. And we have a design team and seamstresses coming in the morning to assist both of us with our dresses my dear,” the Contessa added confidently.
“I am truly honored and humbled, Your Ladyship,” Sally replied. “My apologies, but I thought your guest was Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post,” Sally questioned.
“They are one in the same, Miss Bowles,” the Contessa answered. “She took her new husband’s surname as is custom, and now is known as Mrs. Marjorie Davies or you may address her as Ambassadress Davies. Her husband is Joseph Davies, the newly appointed American Ambassador to the Soviet Union,” the Contessa concluded.
A gentle bell chimed in the distance signaling time to move indoors for dinner. As Sally accompanied Contessa Cavallo into the villa, they continued past more fascinating art collections. However, this time, Sally noticed something a bit different. There were some spots along the walls that were bare of any art but appeared to have previously displayed items as indicated from the faded imprints against the wood. This piqued Sally’s attention, to the point that she also noticed some of the display cases also included empty places where perhaps once appeared an item of great importance and value. Sally made a mental note of these random observances for the future.
The dinner and dining room was as equally impressive as the rest of the mansion so far. However, Sally’s attention to detail was heightened by what she observed or more to the point didn’t observe in the spaces where art collection items were missing. For example, the enormous dining table and brightly colored upholstered chairs were at first glance of fine craftmanship, but upon closer inspection showed signs of significant wear and tear, with obvious chips in the wood and threadbare spots in the upholstery. Something one wouldn’t expect in an otherwise luxurious noble household. Sally once again made mental notes but was careful not to draw attention to what she was observing for fear of offending her hosts and Luca.
“It was a delicious meal my dear,” Conte Cavallo exclaimed, patting his stomach approvingly. “Shall we retire to the library for a digestivo Luca and allow the ladies to have their private discussion as well?” the Conte gestured to Luca.
“Yes, father,” Luca replied standing and pulling back Sally’s chair as the Conte did the same for Contessa Cavallo. Luca then kissed Sally on the cheek and whispered, “Everything will be fine. She adores you! I can tell.” Luca left the room with his father as the Contessa Cavallo made her way around the table beside Sally.
“Now, my dear, let’s retire to the salon for a digestivo ourselves and conversation,” the Contessa smiled while gesturing for Sally to follow her into an adjoining room. The salon was significantly more feminine than the other rooms. The furnishings were decidedly different, but to Sally’s untrained eye, she wasn’t sure exactly what was different.
“It is a replica of an 18th century French drawing room my dear,” Contessa Cavallo said, detecting her house guest’s puzzlement. The walls were made of gilded oak paneling painted white and decorated with elaborate flowers, mirrors and wall panels with exotic birds, and enormous tapestries portraying French countryside picnics with well-dressed men and women lounging on blankets by the river underneath the shade of a tree. Contessa led Sally to a settee and gestured to a small table where upon sat two small crystal glasses of a dark liquor.
“It is called Amaretto, Miss Bowles,” the Contessa commented. It is an excellent drink for improving digestion after such a large dinner. Here in Apulia, we typically have a chilled lemon-flavored digestivo called limoncello, but I prefer the aromatic and warming flavors of Amaretto.” “I hope you enjoy it as well.”
Sally and Contessa Cavallo lifted their digestivo glasses at the same time. “To amore. To love,” Contessa said happily, toasting to Sally as they clinked their glasses together. The Contessa took a sip as did Sally, and then set their glasses down.
“My dear Miss Bowles,” the Contessa began. “I’m a very direct woman as I’m sure Luca has told you. I was concerned that Luca had been seeing someone for such a long time, six years, without ever bringing her home to meet his father and me. But as you also know, our Luca is a very independent and strong-willed young man. So, I didn’t push too much to meet you, thinking it must be another of Luca’s mad love affairs. But when it went on for so long, I knew he was in love. He knew well enough not to try and hide anything from me, for I’m very clever and capable of discovering things that are otherwise hidden to the average person. He told me about your past, in both England and in Berlin my dear.” Sally tensed up and started to speak, but the Contessa, putting her hand gently on Sally’s knee replied, “Don’t worry dear, I don’t judge you at all. As a matter of fact, I find your background, sense of adventure and independence refreshing compared to some of the other young women Luca has dated before. Luca can be a bit naïve my dear, and women have taken advantage of him in the past as I’m certain some men have taken advantage of you.”
“I see you as a strong independent woman who is good for Luca in so many ways, and therefore, I highly approve of your relationship with my son,” Contessa beamed, clutching Sally’s hands in hers. “All I ask is to please be sincere with my Luca and be his strength and light in the difficult times as well as celebrate the happy times together in your life journey and love for each other.” “True love is like these antique furnishings around us my dear. The age and weathering with time, if properly cared for, are the source of their deepest beauty and value.”
“I truly love your son, Your Ladyship, and I give you my word as you have asked,” Sally said confidently. “I’m honored and humbled again that you think of me as such a strong independent woman, when if I’m honest Your Ladyship I don’t always feel so confident and independent. Not as confident as you.”
“I can see it in you my dear, and you will learn more each day how to be independent. I will help you as I can, and I encourage you to seek out other mentorships through strong women who may help you to come into your full true self and embrace your inner strength” the Contessa replied. “I will have a conversation with Luca to let him know what I’ve told you.” “Now, it is getting late, and we must have a good night sleep for the very busy day ahead tomorrow.” “After breakfast, we will have fittings for our dresses” “And tomorrow, you will meet one of the most independent and powerful women who may have lots to teach you as well,” the Contessa said, while rising to prepare for bed.
“If I may ask Your Ladyship, why is Ambassadress Marjorie Davies coming to visit here at Villa Vittoria?” Sally asked casually.
“Well, my dear, that is a bit of a longer story. If you’d care to sit down a bit longer, I can tell you more. In short, we are hoping that Ambassadress Davies may be able to prevent us from losing all of this, losing Villa Vittoria itself,” Contessa Cavallo cried gesturing all around the room.
Suddenly Sally felt embarrassed at asking the question as the missing art collection items and distressed furnishings started making sense. “But Luca was so proudly boasting on the size of the estate and the luxury cars and more. Why would he boast about those things if they are in jeopardy of going away?” Sally asked.
“He is a proud young man Miss Bowles, not boastful or arrogant. He is proud of our family and ancestry and is fearful of it all going away, as am I and Conte Cavallo,” the Contessa replied. “However, both Luca and his father, even though they have many strengths, are not clever enough to figure a way out. “It is up to me to find a solution, as it is often the case where a strong woman must step forward and save the day.” “You will be my ally tomorrow as we work together to save Villa Vittoria.” Can I count on you by my side Miss Bowles?”
“Indeed, Your Ladyship! I will be by your side to assist in any way I can to save Villa Vittoria,” Sally proclaimed. “And please, Your Ladyship, call me Sally.”
“Thank you, Sally, but only if you call me Isabella,” Contessa smiled, reaching out her hand to Sally.
“It will be my pleasure, Isabella!” Sally beamed as they shook hands.
“Now, let me fill you in on the details and our plan for saving Villa Vittoria!” Isabella exclaimed, clasping their hands together in solidarity.”
