Our carriage stops in front of the Allerdale mansion and all I can feel is a sudden pang of panic. So this is supposed to be my new home? A ruin atop a barren wasteland? Caro stirs, trying to get free from my embrace. Maybe I did squeeze him a bit harder than I should. I let go and he jumps on the ground. tail wagging, nose sniffing. At least the dog is happy. Poor mite, long journeys on trains, ferries and carriages do not agree with him.
Thomas, my handsome husband, offers his hand and helps me to get off the carriage. I climb down carefully or rather hesitantly. Luckily, I don't think he even notices. I'm glad I don't have to make excuses about how tired and weary I am.
There are no servants standing in line waiting to greet us outside the door. I thought it was an English custom to do so. Thomas told me before it was only his sister and he living in the house but surely he didn't mean there was no staff?
'May I?' he asks and not waiting for my answer he lifts me off the ground.
I feel like a child in his arms. A small helpless child and not a happy bride. I am carried through the threshold and at last I can see the inside of my new kingdom.
'Welcome to Allerdale Hall' says Thomas smiling and I can hear pride in his voice.
For a moment I think he must be mad. The state of the entrance hall is atrocious. I can smell rot and dust and... death. I feel like I was inside a giant creature who had died and was slowly decaying.
I cling to my husband, my arms wrapped tightly around his neck. There were English books, children's tales, in my home in Milan, Italy. Some stories told about people who travelled to distant lands spent many years there and then when they return to their country and touched the ground, aged and died. I don't want Thomas to put me on the floor, I don't want to become a part of this house, to wither and die like everything inside. Maybe if I asked him if we could go back to the town, find a place to live somewhere else. Maybe if I begged him hard enough...
Before I manage to collect my thoughts and say something possibly very foolish a dark figure appears and gives us a look that seems quite disapproving. Thomas puts me on the ground without delay. Lucille, his sister whom I met before, smiles.
'Welcome home, dear Enola. Would you care for some tea before the tour of the house?'