The Inheritance: Chapter 5 - Part II (Updated 11/14)
CuriousSimmer:
The Inheritance
Chapter 3 - Part VIII
August 1964
I was hungover by the time I woke up the following morning. I looked around for a clock, only to find Paolo sitting in the chair near where I was lying. "What time is it?" I blurted.
"Almost seven."
"In the morning?" He nodded. "I have to get home." I stood and headed for the door, feeling slightly dizzy from nausea and the leftover effects of alcohol.
"Let me help you." He reached for my arm, but I was already moving.
"The children must be worried sick," I said as I stalked up the sidewalk. Paolo hurried after me. "How could I be so stupid?"
"Elizabeth, come on, don't be so hard on yourself." He took my arm, but I shook him off.
"Don't touch me!" I shouted angrily, wrenching my arm away. "I'll never let another man touch me as long as I live." I quickened my pace, running back towards my home and leaving Paolo behind.
I let myself in to find Andre helping Lara get ready for school in the hall. He sent her into the kitchen for breakfast when he saw me come in and crossed his arms. "Mom, are you okay? Where have you been?"
"I wasn't feeling well last night. I couldn't come back, I'm so sorry," I said, feeling a little pang of guilt at my lie. But what could I do, tell my children that their father is an adulterer and that I was too drunk to come home? "Was everything all right last night?"
"Yes, I made eggs for dinner. Mom, you don't look so good."
"I don't feel so good, Andre." I heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry about last night. I hope you weren't too worried."
"No, we were fine. Oh, dad called last night."
"What?" My throat closed up and I had to cough to free it. "What did he say?"
"He's sending out one of his staff to help coordinate the fundraiser next week."
"When?"
"This afternoon."
"Lovely," I said. "Can you help Lara get ready for school? I need to get the house cleaned up for our guest."
That Afternoon...
The car arrived just after one, and I (freshly cleaned up and feeling better) went out to meet it. For a moment, nothing happened, and then...
Chiara Castelli climbed out of the car. My husband's chief of staff and mistress gave me a smile and said, "Signora Moretti, thank you again for agreeing to help us out."
I was at a loss for words for a moment until I finally said, "Ah, yes, well. Anything I can do to help."
"Can I get a tour of the premises?"
I led her inside, seething at the irony of it all. Of course Dante would send her; she was his chief of staff and this was an important fundraiser. It made perfect sense.
"I thought I'd set up a bar in here and have this be the main room. We can dine in the sunroom or out on the patio." I mounted the stairs to the landing. "Dante can give his speech from up here."
"Yes, lovely," said Chiara. "And the kitchen?"
"What did you plan on serving?" she asked.
"I haven't fully fleshed out the menu yet, but I have a few of Dante's favorite dishes in mind."
"Signora Moretti, need I remind you how important this event is? We must know now what is to be done."
I paused, feeling my blood pound in my veins. I forced myself to be calm and offered a chilly smile. "Miss Castelli, I have no doubt that you do many, many things for my husband, and you do them well. But I have entertained before, and I'll thank you to trust me to do this. Now, I think you'd better head over to your hotel to work on Dante's speech."
Chiara seemed to recognize that she was being asked to leave and she nodded. "Of course, Signora. I apologize if I came on too strong. I'm sure it will be lovely." As I walked her out to the car, I could tell she was nervous and wondering; did I know?
I was happy to let her sweat it out.
That night, Capricia came early to the ladies social gathering. It was awkward to see her, and I had halfway hoped that she wouldn't show up after what had happened the time before. She offered me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and said, "Elizabeth, I'm so sorry for what I said last time. I absolutely meant nothing by it. Can you forgive me?"
I took the flowers, arranged them neatly on the table in the hall, thinking of what to reply. "No forgiveness is necessary, my dear. It turns out you did me a favor."
The ladies arrived and we all sat down to eat. It turned out that each of us had something big going on in their lives.
Eleanor said, "Grant is thinking of selling the house. Too many memories." She hesitated. "But I don't want to go. It's been in our family too long to just sell."
"We've been evicted," said Adela. "I can't believe it's really happening, but we're going to have to find another shop to keep the business going."
"Good luck with that," said Judith waspishly. "The real estate company that's buying everything up refuses to sell!"
Angela warned us to keep our doors and windows locked. "My house was broken into this morning. I haven't found anything that's been stolen, but I think we should all be more careful."
"My husband is about to publish a journal article," said Capricia proudly. "In one of the American science journals."
"My husband," I said, my voice strong and cold, "is sleeping with his chief of staff, and I don't know what to do about that."
That did it; the table fell quiet for a moment before the condolences came rushing in. I hadn't meant to tell them, hadn't meant to add to my humiliation. It had just come out of its own accord. But when all was said and done, it was nice to have friends to help me cope with my broken heart.
CuriousSimmer:
The Inheritance
Chapter 3 - Part XI
September 1964
The next week...
Lara, Andre and I gathered on the driveway to wait for Dante's arrival. He was coming the day before the fundraiser to make sure everything was ready. I wasn't sure how I felt about him being here, knowing as I did what he had done.
I felt sick to my stomach, but I couldn't let on that I was troubled. So we waited there, the children anxious to see their father and I nervous to face the man who had betrayed me.
Finally, his car pulled up.
He climbed out of the back seat and smiled at us. I folded my arms and tried to put on a happy face; a stab of pain went through my chest. Was it my heart breaking, or something more pedestrian?
Lara broke away, running to hug Dante...
...followed by Andre.
He approached, looking somewhat bewildered as to why I didn't come running. He put his hand on my shoulder and I leaned forward to peck his lips. "Welcome home," I said, my voice somewhat dull.
"Thank you."
"Come in, I'm making dinner."
I was wiping down the stove, waiting for the pot roast to finish baking, when Dante came in to see if he could help. "I've got everything under control," I told him.
"All right. Listen, where's Chiara?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought she'd be here."
"Here?" I echoed. "Why here? And besides, we don't have any room."
"We could've made room--" Dante said quietly.
I cut him off. "Where? Did you want me to put her in--" I faltered, unable to bring myself to say 'our'. "--my bedroom? She's at the local bed and breakfast."
"I told her she could stay here, it's just easier," said Dante.
I didn't look up from my work. "Yes, well, I feel badly about that."
We sat down to dinner. I was happy to let the conversation revolve around Dante and the children. It was nice to see he was taking an interest in them. He got reports on how school was going and seemed satisfied with my answers about Josephine and Marco.
After the children cleared the table and went off to finish their homework, I sat back in my chair, deep in thought. The idea of divorcing Dante had occurred to be, of course, but as a Catholic I couldn't follow that course of action. And I didn't want to put the children through what would undoubtedly become a scandal and ruin the image of their father.
Dante finished his wine and walked over to the sink, stopping near my chair. "Are you all right?"
"Why?" I asked, more shortly than I had intended.
"Normally you do dishes right after dinner."
"I'm going to finish my wine first, if that's all right with you," I said, not looking up from my glass. Dante sighed and nodded.
"Okay. I'm heading out, sweetheart. I need to meet with the staff on my speech."
"'Bye," I said, finally looking up. Our eyes met and I offered a smile. "My best to Miss Castelli."
He returned my gaze for a beat, his eyes inscrutable, but then smiled back. "Of course."
He left the house and walked out to his car. I finished my wine and stood, going to the window to watch him.
He never looked back.
The next morning...
Dante didn't come to bed that night. I woke up early to help the children get ready for school, first waking up Andre...
...then Lara...
...and finally, Dante. He went up to brush his teeth while I helped get the children off to school.
I was watching them get on the school bus when Dante came back down the stairs. He leaned against the door frame and smiled at me. "Good morning."
"Good morning." I turned to look at him. "Is that the same shirt you were wearing yesterday?"
"Oh, yeah. I didn't want to wake you up, so I just slept on the couch."
"Do you want me to make you something for breakfast?" I asked.
"In a minute," Dante responded. "I wanted to ask...is everything all right? You seem upset."
"I don't feel well," I said. "But don't worry. I'll be ready for the fundraiser tonight. The ladies are all coming by to help out."
"You're sure?" He hesitated. "You're not angry with me?"
"No," I lied. "I'm just not feeling well. Now, what do you want for breakfast?"
That afternoon...
"Capricia," I said as she finished arranging the bouquet in the hall. "I can't thank you enough for all your help with the flowers."
"It was my pleasure, dear," said Capricia with her typical predatory smile. "This is all too much work to do on your own, I'm happy to help."
Paolo came over to set up the tables, which Lady Somerset helped to dress and set...
...while Adela and Silvio decorated a cake for the dessert table and Angela and Eleanor put the finishing touches on the canapes I'd spent all day making.
Finally, they all went home to change for the party.
Later...
As dusk settled over the hills of the Italian countryside, the guests started to arrive. When everyone had gathered, I stood to welcome them. "Thank you all for coming out to support my husband. The official toasts will come later, but I wanted to say welcome, enjoy yourselves, and again, thank you."
"Angela," said Paolo as he approached and sat in the adjacent chair. "How nice to see you again. How have you been?"
"Not well," said Angela. "My house was broken into and, today, I found out that my husband is missing."
"Wasn't he in the hospital?" asked Paolo. "How could he be missing?"
"That's what I asked!"
Dinner went off without a hitch. It was a little awkward for some of my friends to behave as if nothing was wrong between myself and my husband, but they knew that I wanted this night to be perfect, so they managed to keep a lid on their disapproval, even for his mistress.
After dinner, I excused myself. I was feeling sick again, and I wanted to have some seltzer to see if I would feel better.
While I was rummaging through my medicine cabinet, my husband was rising to give his speech.
"First I'd like to invite up two very special women, without whom I wouldn't be where I am. One is Chiara Castelli, my chief of staff. The other is my lovely wife, Elizabeth." Chiara stood, but I was nowhere to be found. Adela gave Dante a sign, and he continued on with his speech.
"In my short time in the Senate, I have worked hard for you, my neighbors and my friends, and all the other residents of this district. I have been faithful to your needs and I hope to continue to serve you in the Senate..."
"...and for that I need your support. The election is coming up and I need your support and your vote..."
As my laid out his plan of attack, little did anyone know that outside, far out of sight, someone else was planning an attack of an entirely different nature.
The first sound I heard was breaking glass, then gasps of surprise and shrieks of terror. Thinking that someone was ill, I climbed to my feet and hurried into the hall and down the stairs...
I stopped dead on the stairs, my heart faltering. "Dante!" I cried, my knees buckling. I managed to make it to the landing before I collapsed onto my knees at his side.
The room was in chaos, but I could think of nothing but Dante as his blood soaked into my skirt. I felt around for his neck, checking for a pulse. "Dante, Dante, please!" The pulse was weak against my fingers and I suddenly couldn't breathe. "Somebody help me!"
Someone rushed past me after somebody else shouted for an ambulance to be called. I couldn't move; I couldn't breathe; I couldn't think. All I could do was will my husband to live. But even as I hoped and prayed, forgetting his betrayal, his pulse weakened under my fingers.
I had always been taught that God answers answered prayers.
But what nobody had ever told me was that sometimes the answer is "No."
End of Chapter Three!
Glamily:
O.o love this update. I hope Dante dies.
CuriousSimmer:
:O
I had been wondering how people would take the terrible, terrible things I've done to my characters >_> Glad to see at least one person doesn't mind that some of them are getting busted.
Zorom:
But...who killed him? Are you going to update and tell us? Cos I want to know.
I think it was Paolo!!
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