((Authors Note -
Please note that this is Adult Fiction, so should only be read by those who qualify!
Okay, I can't add up! This is the sixth and second penultimate episode in the series! But this really is the final penultimate episode - honest!!
As always, it is probably best looked at after reading the previous episodes, but for those who can't wait, here's a little prΓ©cis of events so far...
Paolo Wharton has a hot experience that he'd only ever dreamed of whilst on holiday in Italy. It set him thinking about a very strange, and enlightening, week!
He lives on the outskirts of London, a member of a big wide-spread family that stretches throughout Europe. At the end of his first year at University his family had arranged to spend some time at his Aunt's Villa in Tuscany, but for various reasons the rest of his family had dropped out at the last minute and he'd made the trip alone, but he was looking forward to it still. It was a chance to see Maria, a close childhood friend again.
At Pisa airport, he'd been surprised to find his volatile Sicilian cousin Isobella. 'Izzy' had appeared, late as usual, to pick him up and drive him to the Villa where he was surprised to find himself the only male resident after his Uncle Flavio is called away on an urgent business appointment. That leaves him with his cousins Izzy, Ilse, Frieda (all around his own age) and Aunt Luisa, but does that matter? The sun's out, it's hot and the girls have organised a tennis party at the family's cooler Lodge in the mountains, so what could possibly go wrong with that? Except just about everything!
In the evening he has an extremely eye-opening private dinner with his aunt where he finds out some surprising secrets about family history. He's shocked to find himself surrounded be something of a female secret society whose sole aims seems to be to protect him from 'unworthy' women. But, as his Aunt demonstrates later, there are distinct benefits!
The next day is an even bigger surprise! After getting talked into a little pact by his devious cousins, much against his better judgement, they embark on a trip to a nearby Tuscan town where the girls vie for his 'attentions' in distinctly risky situations... and then there was that explosive encounter with Rosa at the little cafe that they'd made their base!
I'm always interested in people's thoughts and comments too if you'd care to leave one, and please vote too. All feedback is useful, and sometimes encouraging!
I sincerely hope that you enjoy ...
Duke ))
35. Waiting, Worrying...
Aunt Luisa's secret little garden behind the villa was a haven of calm and tranquillity. It was enclosed by high, brick walls, and overlooked from the back of the old, red roofed villa by just two rooms. My Aunt's and mine.
It was really her space, one she'd nurtured with loving care, full of beautiful shrubs and flowers that gave off an almost beguiling fragrance at this time of the year. After numerous family visits over the years, it was a reminder that May was undoubtedly the best time to visit this part of the world.
But it was the peace and solitude that I craved just now, sitting on the lone wooden bench in the corner and sheltered from the hot sun by the gnarled old tree that was the centrepiece of this hidden spot. Even the songbirds seemed to recognise my mood as their chatter had become unusually subdued. Maybe it was also because a cooler breeze was getting up, and clouds had started to roll in from the west Something else that reflected my current inner turmoil.
It was Thursday, just after lunch, and I'd been here since Monday. I'd just finished my first year's University study back in England, so a week's holiday here with My Aunt and Uncle should have been just what the doctor ordered! Especially as it would give me the opportunity to see Maria again. Especially as we'd more or less decided to become an item, not just the close friends that had grown up playing together whenever I'd visited.
Our birthdays were just a few days apart, so it had been natural that we'd grow together, even if she was the daughter of Catarina, my Aunt's devoted housekeeper. We just seemed to have a joint spark of some kind. Our texts and e-mails had gotten hotter and hotter as the day of our meeting again got nearer. On the flight over I'd been so impatient to see her, and then I'd received the bombshell text to say that she'd be delayed getting away from her own University course in Florence, first to yesterday, and then, yesterday I'd received another heartfelt apology to say that she couldn't get here until today after all.
No explanation. Had she changed her mind? Or, more worryingly, had she heard what I'd been getting up to since I arrived?
And this was the girl that I was now dreading would appear through the little doorway in the brick wall opposite at any moment! And why?
Well, I thought dismally, she was hardly likely to have been happy that I'd woken up in bed with my cousin Frieda for a start!
And, despite my inner angst, I smiled at the recollection.
36. A Gentle Awakening