Kate Fitzroy - Dreams Of Tuscany

Alex was the first to speak and his voice was low and quiet.

‘It’s simply beautiful – the dimensions are perfect and the stone stairway so solid and yet graceful.’ He moved ahead of her and laid his hand on the turned oak banister. ‘Simply beautiful!’

Zoe smiled with pleasure. She had shown the Villa Sognidoro to an English couple a few days before but they had been appalled by the dark dereliction of the shuttered rooms. Zoe knew the villa had amazing potential but had seriously wondered if they would ever find the right buyer, someone with enough money and taste to restore the place to its former glory.

‘I’m glad you like it! It’s a huge villa but some parts are too dangerous to go through. There is also a vast, vaulted cellar underneath the central part of the building but it is too risky to view until it’s been checked out by a surveyor. This wing of the villa is in a comparatively good state of repair. Shall we begin here?’

She moved to a pair of double doors leading from the hall and pushed them open.

‘I think this room shows the style of the place. There are still some remnants of the original wall paintings in places.’ She moved into the long room and went across to the first window and pushed open the creaking shutters. Sun flooded into the room, dust motes whirling in the shafts of light.

Alex walked slowly across the room, his shoes sounding quietly on the dusty, marble floor. He turned to her, his face alight with enthusiasm.

‘I shall have to buy this house!’ he said, laughing, ‘I am not going to pretend otherwise. It is the house of my dreams. My Tuscan dream!’

‘Did you know that the house is called Villa Sognidoro?’ she asked, adding with yet another wide smile. ‘It translates as Villa of Golden Dreams…or sweet dreams, as we would say in English.’

They spent the next hour going from room to room, Alex making notes and taking photos as he went. Zoe had to restrain him from going into areas of the house that were too dangerously derelict. They finally returned to the hall and Alex put his bundle of notes and drawings in order. Brushing the dust off his shoulders he said, ‘Thanks for taking so long to show me over… Do you have time to just explain where the land perimeters are?’

Zoe went out onto the terrace. The noonday sun blinded her with its brightness and she pulled down her sunglasses from where they had been holding her hair back from her face. Alex reached out and lightly brushed a cobweb from her hair. She had a mad desire to kiss his hand as it passed close to her lips. She swallowed hard before speaking.

‘Of course, I have plenty of time!’ she replied casually, thinking that she would happily spend the rest of her life with him. ‘If we walk to the north end of the terrace you can see a group of oak trees that mark the furthest corner of the land in that direction.’

They walked slowly to the low, stone wall that bordered the end of the terrace. The heat was intense. The sun, at the height of its strength, burnt down on the flagstones. Waves of heat rose around them, the parched air still and shimmering.

Zoe pointed to the trees in the distance.

‘There they are – across the first valley – which is called the Valle dei Sogni – Valley of Dreams – more dreams for you! That’s the end of your property and then if you follow the line of that ploughed field across…’ She swivelled in front of him, every nerve of her body hotly aware of his closeness. Once again she could smell the faint tang of his perfume as he stood close by her side. He screwed up his eyes as he peered directly into the sun and Zoe noticed the small, smiling lines that formed around his deep-set eyes. He even looked good in bright light. She gulped and continued, ‘I have a plan of the whole estate if you’d like to look at it…it’s in my jeep?’

He looked at his watch. ‘It’s getting near lunchtime – would you be able to join me for a working lunch?’

Zoe made a small attempt at thinking about it but, even so, her answer flew from her lips.

‘There’s a favourite trattoria of mine in Siena, Luigi’s – we could eat there and I could show you the plans.’

‘Sounds perfect!’ Alex smiled as he spoke and Zoe smiled back. A wide open smile that stretched her cheeks. Really this smiling thing was so easy.

Zoe was still smiling when they entered the trattoria as the owner came to meet them.

‘ Buon giorno, Zoe, buon giorno, signor! ’ He ushered them to a corner table in the cool of the interior. Zoe was well known in the town and had eaten in the trattoria most days when she had been teaching. Now she often brought clients to the restaurant. Although it was not on the tourist route it had a great family atmosphere and the food was always excellent.

They ordered aperitifs and went to wash their hands. Zoe looked into the mirror and saw a ridiculous smile pasted onto her face. As she dried her hands she tried a sad frown at her image in the mirror. She shook her head…it just didn’t work.

The meal passed in a leisurely way. They talked mainly about the Villa Sognidoro, but their conversation drifted easily into interests they found they had in common.

‘So you first came to Italy to teach,’ Alex said. ‘I taught for a while too – some years ago now. I enjoyed it but then I moved on.’

‘Me too. I studied history of art at uni and then took a TEFL course so that I could teach English abroad…my first choice was Italy. I came to Siena to look at a particular painting…’

‘Not Duccio’s Maestà …’ Alex interrupted her and she looked at him in amazement.

‘Yes, it’s one of my favourite early Italian paintings!’ She continued to stare at him. How could this be? It wasn’t as though it was the Mona Lisa .

‘Mine too… I went to see it yesterday as soon as I arrived. It’s fabulous – the wonderful darkness of the Madonna and the soft blue folds of her robes.’ His voice died away as though he was actually looking at the painting, whereas he was looking closely, very closely, at her lips.

Zoe carried on where he had left off. ‘And her gentle features – her smile!’

‘Her smile is like yours – it’s there and then it’s not there…or rather even when you are not smiling your mouth looks ready and waiting! Much more elusive than the Mona Lisa’s!’ Alex stopped abruptly and looked away, breaking the enchanted thread that had hung between them. He picked up his wine glass and drained it quickly.

They had shared a small carafe of the local wine between them, aware that they both had to drive away. Away from each other, Zoe thought to herself miserably, as their time together seemed to be drawing to a close.

‘Would you like a coffee?’ Alex asked.

‘No, not unless you want one,’ Zoe replied quietly. Suddenly she wanted the lunch to end. She realised she had done most of the talking and he had told her little of himself. This was supposed to be a business lunch and she had quite simply lost her head. She looked at her watch.

‘Actually I had better get back to the office – I do have another appointment this afternoon.’ Zoe thought firmly of the Partridges, the English couple that she had lined up for a converted mill on the other side of Siena. The same clients that had turned down the Villa Sognidoro. ‘Maybe we should meet again tomorrow when you have had time to think things through?’ she added, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible although every fibre of her being wanted him to make another meeting. Tomorrow, the day after or…every day and night for the rest of her life.

‘I’m afraid I have to get to Florence airport by this evening. This was a flying trip.’ Zoe’s heart sank…not only had she failed to tie up the business knots but she could feel Alex Knight disappearing out of her life as quickly as he had flown in. Faraway in her own thoughts she suddenly realised he was still talking.