Afterthought - M J Marlow (pdf to ebook reader .txt) 📗

accompany him to Italy,” she told the sisters. “You and the orphans will take over the estate.” She held up her hand as the nuns protested. “It is the least I can do after being blindsided by this business deal. The servants will remain to help you settle in. I want you to make yourselves completely at home. The horses will benefit from the riding lessons the boys and girls will enjoy and there is the pool and the tennis courts for exercise.” “But it is your home, Princess,” Constantia protested. “We could not take over your family home.” “It is a building,” Sebastian assured her as he saw what Eva wanted. “Our home is wherever we are together. Please, Sister Constantia. You must do this for my sister and I. We are mortified that this happened to you.” “I will not leave this office unless you agree,” Eva assured the woman. “Please Sister. It is, as my brother has said, only a building. If it can be put to such good use, then let it be so.” The sisters discussed it and agreed that it was their only option. They had been told they had to move by the end of the month. Instead, they loaded the children on the buses and followed Sebastian and Eva to the Roza estate. While the children ran around getting a feel for the place, the sisters and Eva descended on her father. He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “You want to turn our family home into an orphanage, daughter?” he said softly as he pulled her out to speak to her privately. “What nonsense is this?” “They are losing their building, Father,” Eva told him what the bank president had told her. “The sisters and the children are being kicked out at the end of the month and will have no place to go.” She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Please, Father. Let them remain here. The place has forty bedrooms and is more than large enough for them.” Her eyes searched his. “We can rent the penthouse level in some ritzy hotel in Paris when we come back. It will be far easier to secure than this massive place.” Stefano thought it over and could not see her budging. He had loved this place very dearly once, but it had lost is charm when Aileen had left him. It was only now becoming a home again and the reason for this, his long-lost daughter, wanted him to turn it over to orphans and live out of a hotel. He could see the sense in that. It was not like they needed a huge place. He nodded his agreement and Eva squealed in delight and threw her arms around his neck. “I will agree as long as it is understood that we have access to the stables,” Stefano said gruffly. “We will build a smaller residence for the family elsewhere on the property so that we can oversee your investment in these children, and add on to the stables.” He stroked her hair and smiled at her lovingly. “Go tell your nuns the good news and then we shall go back to Monsieur Clermont on the way to the airport to find some answers.” An hour later, Eva left with her father after leaving instructions with the servants to pack up her things for storage until they returned to Paris. She took only her jewelry and a few favorite outfits with her. They fit easily into the trunk of the convertible. They stopped at the bank and Clermont went white as a sheet as he saw Eva return with her father in tow. He tried to give her father the runaround but Stefano would not hear of it. Eva watched as her father made the man squirm and then break, all the while maintaining a polite and calm demeanor. They went to an architect next. “My mother is an architect,” Stefano told the man proudly. “She drew a smaller estate for our family before she and my father were wed. He insisted on something grander.” He smiled over at Evangeline. “Now that my child has turned our home into an Orphanage, we wish to have the smaller estate built. The blueprints will be sent to you.” He held up his hand as the man began to say something. “We will leave you to adjust for codes and security concerns, Monsieur Torval, but the estate must have the outer appearance of the original drawings.” “I don’t see any problem with that, Your Highness,” Monsieur Torval, a nervous little man with a thin moustache and dark brown eyes and hair smiled as he bowed to them both. “We shall break ground the moment we receive the blueprints.” “I shall see that the security captain knows to admit you and your men, and shows you the sight we have chosen for the new residence,” Stefano nodded. “My daughter, Evangeline, will be your contact with the family.” He put his hand to Evangeline’s elbow. “Come along, child. We have a plane to catch.” They pulled up to the jet at the airfield and Evangeline saw the woman again. Was she a ghost? She seemed to appear and disappear at will, and only she saw her. She got on the jet and settled down to ponder this situation. She had buried her mother only five months ago. Evangeline had thought she had made her goodbyes, but these appearances were making her uncertain. Her mother was not through with her yet. When they arrived in Italy, Eva found herself being taken to an even grander castle and estate than the one in France. These were the properties the Roza family had possessed since the twelfth century. People were lined up along the main road to the castle and they actually bowed with hats in hands as the car went by. The car stopped in the courtyard and servants jumped to attention to take their suitcases. Eva turned to see a tall silver-haired woman with green eyes watching her. Stefano smiled and pulled her towards the formidable creature. “Mama,” he smiled proudly as she held Eva at his side. “My daughter has finally come to us. Evangeline, meet your Grandmother, the Princess Morgana Roza.” “I am honored to meet you, Grandmother,” Eva said as she curtsied to the older woman. “You are terrified, child,” Morgana smiled at the girl and embraced her. “I will not eat you, darling. I have never been happier than I am at this moment.” They went inside and entered a sitting room where tea had been set up. Morgana snapped her fingers and a maid came forward with a paper in her hand. “I assume that this delightful child is responsible for this news, my son? I could not see you doing any such thing.” Stefano took the paper and they saw the article in the Paris paper. The headline read ‘Roza family turns ancestral estate over to local orphanage’. He read the article quickly and praised Marcel silently for getting all of the facts straight. He handed the newspaper to Eva and watched her blush. She hadn’t expected what she had done to become news. Eva still did not seem to understand how important she now was in her new rank in life. Everything she did was going to be reported on and commented on. “She is a Roza, Mama,” Stefano said proudly. “Nothing done halfway.” “And why this incredible decision, girl?” Morgana asked Eva. The girl blushed and lowered her eyes. Morgana made the girl look up. “We Roza are never ashamed. A decision made should be one you are proud to admit to, or it should not be made.” Evangeline was overjoyed at the woman’s acceptance of her. She could see that her grandmother was not judging her for this decision, only curious as to why it had been made. So Eva told her the whole story, sparing no detail, and watched Morgana carefully. There was no censure, no criticism, and Eva knew she had no reason to be afraid of her grandmother. “After everything we had done to insure the orphanage would have a sound building,” Eva finished her story; “some one came in and bought the building out from under them. I felt responsible for the children by then, Grandmother. I could not abandon them to an uncertain future.” She looked at Morgana without fear then. “The house was too large for just the three of us. It needed to be used.” “There’s the Roza in you,” Morgana laughed and embraced Eva again. “Come now, you darling child, and let me show you your apartment.” Eva went upstairs with the woman and was shown into a suite of rooms off the right corridor. It was every bit as large as her rooms in the house in Paris, but the colors were more vibrant; and the style more traditional. “You have six hours to rest and refresh yourself, Eva. The entire town will be here tonight to welcome you home.” “But I thought we would be staying in Florence,” Evangeline replied. She turned and realized that her father had not come with them. “He left me here?” The memory and emotions of the morning her mother had abandoned her hit her and she had to catch herself on a nearby chair to keep from fainting. “He’s coming back, isn’t he?” she asked in a small voice trembling with fear. “Of course, darling,” Morgana assured her as she embraced the girl. “He had a patient to see. He will be back in an hour or two.” She kissed her on the forehead. “Try to get some rest now.” Evangeline sank down on the bench under the window near the bed and looked out across the countryside. Her grandmother Roza was a force of nature. Grandmother Sterling had been like a calm and gentle spring breeze compared to this woman. And the entire town was expecting to greet her? Eva did not know if she would ever get used to so many people caring what she did and said. She felt an urge to run and hide but she clamped down on it and went to lie down for an hour. Evangeline came awake as laughter floated up through the window from the gardens below. She got up and went to the windows to look out. Her father and grandmother were in the garden talking, but they were too far away for her to hear what they were discussing. “Princess?” Eva turned to see a maid standing in the room. “Your father would like you to join himself and the Princess Morgana in the gardens.” “Thank you,” Eva replied. She decided to change into something a bit cooler and was just slipping her feet into a pair of sandals when she heard gunfire. She ran to the window and saw several people riding up on the estate firing weapons into the air. She hurried down to the gardens as the gate opened and one of the men strode in. “Roza!” He roared, his dark eyes dancing with delight. He turned those eyes on Evangeline, who took a step closer to her father, and bowed gallantly. “We heard the news of your arrival, little princess, and we had to come.” “Evangeline,” Stefano smiled as he squeezed her hand. “This ill-mannered lout is your uncle, Silvano.” “The one who sent me Shalimar?” Eva asked as she eyed the bearded man warily. “How many uncles do I have, Father? “I am the only one who matters, little one,” Silvano laughed. He came to her and picked her up and spun her around. When he set her down, he was pleased to see she was giggling. “Definitely a Roza, this one.” He clamped his hand on hers and led her out of the gardens. “Come see what your favorite uncle has brought you, little princess.” Eva saw