The Complete Legacy Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 17

  “After the accident—my parents’ funeral and everything—I just couldn’t hold it together anymore. It was too much. I pretty much had a complete mental breakdown, and the headaches were also very bad at that point.”

  “Oh, Ari, I wish I’d been there for you then—that I could have helped you through all of that.”

  Arianna thought that Lia looked like she was a bit in shock. She’d already witnessed a similar reaction from her friends, so she understood it. But she knew that she was hearing her now and believing her. Lia nodded, encouraging her to continue.

  “I can’t imagine how hard all of that must have been for you. And then to find out that you’ve been dealing with this too.” Lia reached over to give Arianna a big hug and Arianna didn’t resist. It felt good to have her mother’s arms around her. To breathe in her perfume and the clean scent of her hair.

  Arianna hugged her back for a long moment before she continued, and now she was wiping at tears also, thinking about the time lost for her and Lia but also knowing that it couldn’t have been any other way. Just trust the timing, Ari.

  “Once they determined that my mental health was okay, that I’d basically suffered from being under too much emotional trauma, the doctors wanted to look into the headaches I’d told them I was having. Then they discovered the tumor right away.” Arianna said this matter-of-factly but noticed new tears streaming down Lia’s face. It was hard, telling someone you loved this kind of news. And I do love her. This new realization about how she felt towards Lia both surprised and pleased her.

  “But I don’t understand. Why are you here? Why aren’t you getting treatments? Chemo, radiation, or something? I can help you. I’ll take care of you. We should go back right away and—”

  “Stop.” Arianna gently grabbed hold of Lia’s arm as she continued quietly. “There is no treatment. No cure. Trust me, Douglas helped me when I first found out, and we spoke to the best doctors. The location made it inoperable. The odds were so small—Lia, I decided to make the decision—my decision—of how I wanted to live the remaining months of my life; I didn’t want to be in a hospital. I still don’t want that and I’ve been counting on the others—Douglas, Gigi, and Blu—to help me when it comes time for that part. And I hope I can count on you too…” They were both crying now as Lia hugged her close.

  “Of course, Ari.” Lia sobbed and struggled to get the words out. “I’ll help you with anything. Why—Ari, do you want to be home? Why did you—did we come here? I hope that you didn’t make this trip for me. I would hate to think—“

  “No, no. This trip. This is what I’ve been wanting. The only thing, really.” Lia had a puzzled look on her face as she waited for Arianna to continue.

  “Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to do this amazing around-the-world trip. I wanted to backpack, like so many other young kids I’d heard about, but my father wouldn’t hear of it. Well, my parents didn’t want me to go anyways but finally they relented.”

  Out of guilt at my increasing unhappiness, I suppose.

  “And my father organized everything for me. The tickets were purchased and everything was booked just weeks before the accident, before everything changed. I—well, Douglas helped me to postpone everything that had been booked, and as you know, he, Gigi, and Blu were very resistant to the idea of me going on this trip—which I wanted more than ever once I found out about the tumor.”

  “But, the around-the-world—Oh, Ari, did you change your trip because of me?”

  “I did.” Arianna smiled now. “And with no regrets. The place I most wanted to go to was Italy. It had always been my dream and the place I most wanted to visit. When I met you—well, I wasn’t sure, of course, until the day I asked you, really.” Arianna laughed lightly. “But then it all made perfect sense.” She was crying happy tears now, thinking about the past weeks in Italy with Lia. “And Lia.” Lia looked at her, smiling, with tears falling down her face too. “I’ve been having the best time. Honestly. I don’t want it to end and I’m hopeful that today is just a minor setback, okay? I hope that you can try not to worry too much and trust me as to how I’m feeling, so that we can continue to enjoy our time here together.” She looked at Lia with a smile that she hoped was reassuring to her.

  Lia sighed. “I’ll try. But I can’t make any promises, if I’m being honest. It will be hard not to worry.” She looked at Arianna with a somewhat stern expression on her face. “But do you promise to tell me if you’re not feeling well? I don’t even mind what we do. I’d love to stay here in the villa and cook some meals for you. If you’re feeling up to it, we can go for short walks and the others—Ari, do you think you’re up for all the company?”

  “Oh, yes. It’s what I want more than anything. To have all of you here in this beautiful place. It’s exactly what I want now.”

  Lia reached over to give Arianna another big hug. “Okay, then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll do some shopping and get the house all ready. There is nothing that gives me greater pleasure than cooking for you and this crew. It will be wonderful. You rest here today. And I’ll stay close by too.”

  “You don’t have to. If you want to stick to our plan to go riding, I mean.”

  “No, no. I love it here. I’ll just have a walk down the road and enjoy the view that we have here. Maybe you’ll feel well enough later to come have some lunch with me outside.”

  “Yes, I’m sure that I will.” Arianna smiled and felt a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. In her heart, she knew that Lia was putting on a smile for her—that she probably needed some time alone to process the news that Arianna had just given her.

  Chapter 32

  Arianna felt a huge sense of relief. The conversations that she’d been having with Lia the past few days had gone better than she’d imagined, and she was feeling really good about finally having everything out in the open. Lia deserved that. She had made such an effort to not hold back her own feelings since they met, and Arianna felt good to finally be able to be as real with her.

  She made her way downstairs, where she found Lia sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

  “Good morning.”

  “Hi. How’d you sleep?” Lia said.

  “I slept great, and actually I feel pretty good this morning. How bout yourself?”

  “Well, you know. I’m still kind of in shock, I guess. If I’m being honest.” Arianna couldn’t help but notice the sadness passing on Lia’s face, and she did understand it. “But, I’m determined to enjoy every moment that we have here together, and I want that for you too.” She smiled, and Arianna guessed that it was a forced smile.

  “Good. I’m glad to be here and I one hundred percent agree. And on that note, what do you want to do today?”

  “I have a surprise for you. I think you’ll like it. At least I hope that you’ll feel up to it.”

  “Go on.” Arianna smiled as she poured herself some coffee. “I do love surprises.”

  “Have you heard of the Puccini Festival?” Lia asked.

  “Yes…opera, I believe?” Arianna smiled.

  “And guess what is showing today?”

  “La Boheme? Really?”

  Lia nodded.

  Arianna suddenly felt that the day was going to turn out to be pretty special.

  “It’s about a two-hour drive to Torre del Lago and the performance will be in an outdoor theater, overlooking the lake, that is absolutely fantastic. Well, I’ve not been myself, but I’ve heard such good things about it. I figured that if you are up for it, we could leave in a few hours to get there for a nice lunch and a stroll in the gardens by the lake. What do you think? And Arianna, I don’t want you to feel pressured at all—if you’re not feeling up to, I mean.”

  “No, are you kidding? It sounds fantastic, and today is a good day.” She smiled, hoping to reassure Lia. “Honest. I’m feeling fine. And besides, we’ll be sitting a lot—in the car for the drive and then for the opera—so I shouldn’t get so tired. I think it sounds terrific
. I’ll go let the driver know and then pop upstairs to get ready. Shall we aim for ten thirty?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  They both took a last sip of their coffee and headed to their rooms to get ready for the day ahead.

  The drive to the festival was relaxing. Arianna loved to be driven somewhere new, being able to sit back and watch the scenery out the window—especially here in Tuscany where everything was so beautiful. Watching the green hills as they drove towards the coast, once again Arianna felt that she had to pinch herself that she was finally in this place that she had dreamt of for so long. And seeing Lia there beside her was more than she could have imagined.

  They had decided to go to Viareggio, the little seaside resort town nearby, for lunch; and then the driver would take them to the lake to have a little walk outside before the opera started in the early evening. They were both feeling rested and ready for a good meal when they started exploring their options for food. They settled on a little place that was busy but not too busy to get a table, ordering some appetizers and a bottle of Chianti, figuring that they could take their time over a nice leisurely lunch.

  Arianna enjoyed her food, the view, and all of the people that were out and about, although she’d grown accustomed now to the quieter life they’d been living at the villa and quite liked it, much to her surprise. But it was nice to be somewhere different for a change, and it was sweet of Lia to think of bringing her to the opera here. Arianna loved it that that Lia had been so open to experiencing it even though she knew that the music wasn’t her favorite.

  They finished their food and the bottle of wine and called the driver to come pick them up. It was a quick drive of only a few miles to Torre del Lago and when they arrived, Arianna could understand the draw that it had. The lake was like a little oasis inside the park. She could imagine that the opera they were going to be seeing under the moonlight would be quite unique and magical, and she was very excited.

  They decided to take a walk through the sculpture garden and park beside the lake. The weather was perfect, and Arianna loved seeing the families and young couples out enjoying the beautiful outdoor setting. She seemed to be noticing things like that more frequently these days. It wasn’t necessarily regret or longing that she was feeling, just a sense of what was important. She knew that there were certain things that she wouldn’t have now, and she had made her peace about that. She also knew that she couldn’t change the past, but she suspected that there were still things that she could do that would change the lives of those she cared about for the better. She felt pretty determined about this.

  She drew her attention back to Lia, who had been speaking to her.

  “God. I’m sorry. Kind of zoned out for a minute there. What did you say?”

  Lia laughed. “No worries. You look pretty content, so I’m not that worried about you. I was just saying how nice the weather is here.”

  Arianna nodded her head in agreement, gathering the swirling thoughts in her head. “Lia, can we sit here for a minute? There’s something I want to talk to you about.” Arianna walked over to one of the nearby park benches.

  Lia followed after her, and when they were both seated, Arianna saw a familiar look of concern on her face.

  “What is it? Are you feeling okay?” Lia reached over to take Arianna’s hand in her own and at the simple touch, Arianna felt the tears streaming down her face.

  Arianna willed herself to speak. It was time for Lia to know everything. There was no reason to keep any of it from her, and Arianna needed to talk about it.

  “There’s something I haven’t told you—something that’s very important to me.” Arianna felt Lia’s hand tighten around her own as she leaned over to give Arianna a slight hug.

  “Bella, you can tell me anything.”

  Arianna took a deep breath before she continued, looking Lia in the eyes as she spoke. “When I was sixteen, I had a child—a little girl.”

  There was no mistaking the shocked look on Lia’s face, and Arianna saw the almost instant tears that matched her own.

  “I was so young—and stupid. And things between my parents and me had already gotten pretty bad. When they found out I was pregnant, they nearly went out of their minds trying to fix everything.” Arianna could hear the bitterness in her own voice as she remembered her parents’ reaction to her news.

  Lia was nodding her head, listening intently as Arianna continued.

  “I didn’t really have a chance to think about anything—to make any decisions. I was already several months along—thank God, or I think my parents would have made me have an abortion.” Arianna’s voice broke and she sobbed when she’d uttered the words that she’d thought about many times since then.

  Lia reached over and pulled Arianna close, and the irony of the gesture made Arianna sob even more. How different would things have been with Lia beside her during that time in her life? She had needed comfort and it wasn’t something she’d gotten from her own mother—not ever, really, and the distance between them only seemed to intensify after Arianna’s pregnancy.

  Finally Lia loosened her embrace as she looked intently at Arianna. “I’m so sorry, bella. I know that must have been an incredibly hard time for you.”

  The two women stared at one another in silence for a moment. Of course Lia knew. She knew exactly how it felt to have her child—her baby girl—taken from her arms. It was something that Arianna had thought about daily ever since Lia had told her about the time after her own birth. She needed to finish telling Lia everything that she knew. It was important to her that the people who loved her would have as much information as she had at the very least.

  Arianna took another deep breath before continuing. “So my parents took me out to Connecticut to live with an aunt that I’d never met. We told everyone that I was going away to be part of a student exchange program—none of my friends knew the truth. No one ever knew—except for Gigi.” Arianna smiled despite the seriousness of the conversation. Gigi had been her rock during that time—after she’d returned and been so filled with rage and sadness. She’d always been there for Arianna in a way that her parents had not been.

  Arianna felt new tears streaming down her face as she thought about that day—the day that she’d delivered her baby girl. She’d had her in the private wing of a nearby hospital, her mother beside her, not offering much in the way of comfort, while her father waited anxiously with the young couple who would become parents to Arianna’s daughter.

  It had all happened very quickly once her contractions had started, and before she knew it, her baby girl was being placed on her chest for mere seconds before she’d heard the frantic voice of her mother telling the nurses to take the child away.

  Arianna remembered that feeling of intense panic and longing as she cried out to the nurse to bring her baby back.

  “I only saw her for a second—” Arianna was crying quietly now and when she looked at Lia she saw tears that matched her own. “—when they took her out of the room away from me. She had the most beautiful thick dark curls.” Arianna smiled as she looked up at Lia. “I imagine that she looks like me—that she looks like us.”

  Lia reached over to grab Arianna’s hand in her own as the two wept quietly without speaking.

  Finally, Arianna spoke again, her voice quiet. “Blu knows too—and Douglas. When I met Blu, it was hard for me to be around Jemma at first, to see the mother that Blu was to a daughter around the same age as—as my own daughter. But once I shared everything with her, it was as if a weight had been lifted and—well, you know how much Jemma means to me now.

  Lia nodded, just listening and, Arianna guessed, trying to process the information that she’d just shared with her. It was a lot to take in—everything that she’d told her mother the past few days.

  Arianna stood up, taking a deep breath as she did so. “I feel much better now.” She looked at Lia, who had risen to stand beside her. “Now I feel as if you know everything, and it’s a huge relief
to me for some reason.”

  Lia reached over to link her arm in Arianna’s, flashing her a big smile. “I’m glad, Ari. The last thing I want is for you to feel any kind of burden or added stress right now.

  The two women embraced and then walked around the park until it was time to get seated in the theater. Arianna had seen La Boheme performed several times before, but nothing measured up to the performance she saw that night under the stars there in Tuscany with her mother. Never had the voices sounded so lovely, never before had the music meant so much to her. It was an absolutely perfect night.

  They rode much of the way home in silence, tired and lost in their own thoughts about the evening. Arianna wondered if it had meant as much to Lia as it had to her, and she guessed by her reaction that it had. There had been a few occasions during the performance when their eyes met, both with tears streaming down their faces.

  They returned to the villa late and retired to their rooms. Blu, Jemma, and Gigi would be arriving the next day, towards evening, and there were a few things that Arianna wanted to do yet to prepare for their arrival. She wanted everything to be just right. She couldn’t wait to show them this place that she’d grown to love.

  Chapter 33

  Arianna was feeling exceptionally well the morning that her friends were due to arrive. She’d talked to both Blu and Gigi the night before and they seemed very excited; Jemma, too, seemed to be bouncing off the walls with excited pre-travel energy. Arianna had booked them all first class tickets, so she suspected that the flight would be exciting for Jemma, who had only ever flown on the small plane to San Diego.

  Lia had bought fresh flowers for all of the bedrooms and the day was particularly crisp and sunny. Perfect weather for their arrival. Arianna smiled to herself as she thought about her dear friends seeing this magical place for the first time. Well, with the exception of Gigi, but for her it was even more exciting. Her two sisters were flying up towards the end of the week, and then the three of them were traveling back down south so that Gigi could spend time with them before returning to San Francisco from Rome.