Ciao! Come sta? Doing well, I hope? Well, to put it bluntly, the last couple chapters were very painful to get through because I kinda went away from the outline a little. No worries though, I did keep to the main goal. Basically, I am at the point where I just want to get done, but I have so much more to do and set up before we get to the next book. The last couple chapters focus on the renewal of Ezio and Contessina's marriage I suppose. They missed out on being together for the first two years (which is the most crucial part of any marriage) and now they are literally starting over. Not to mention Contessina is a bit naïve to how marriage can be, so I wanted to start there. Things will get a bit more complicated as she ages.
The late afternoon sun gave perfect lighting for the party that Ezio and his wife descended down on from the Villa. It was clear with the expression on her face that she had not been expecting such a thing and Ezio felt he had accomplished something. The people from Monteriggioni and the surrounding farms had all come at the chance for celebration. Of course, they had all been curious about the 'Medici Princess' that he had drug back from Firenze, but the Touranelli sisters kept really quiet on the matter.
In the middle of the square was a long table that could seat all of the villagers, except for the smaller table where the children could sit an eat. Barrels of wine had been brought in from one of the local vineyards, with the jovial owner included. Enrico was very happy to supply the entire village with enough wine to stir a bit of drunken happiness. Ezio noticed that Gambalto had already poured everyone a glass and was going on about the politics of Siena again. It was not until the baker and his wife came out with fresh pasta that his stomach started to complain about being empty.
Contessina had been speaking with the two women that organized this whole celebration when the call for diner came. Everyone sat down with Contessina being pushed to sit at the end of the table while Ezio knew where he sat. It was custom for husband and wife to always face each other at the dinner table no matter how long it was. Between the two of them sat around fifty people on each side, but thankfully they could still see each other. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fiona running around with two other children her age before being fussed at to sit down by one of the women.
"All of this spectacle is for Contessina." Claudia said as she sat down on his left. "When we came here no one did any of this for us." Ezio rolled his eyes hearing his sister complain about how they were not given such treatment when first arriving to Monteriggioni.
"Claudia, what are you talking about?" He looked over to her with a hard look on his face. "We did have a party." It was a few months after they had come that the villagers found an excuse to have a good get together. He specifically remembered it because that was when most of the women learned he was married already. He almost felt sorry for disappointing them, but half of them were married anyway. "Are you jealous?"
"No." She said looking down the table towards her blond headed sister. "Maybe." Ezio sighed before raising his glass in the air for more wine. "Alright, yes I am jealous." Sometimes the way women found themselves jealous over each other made no sense to him, but then again Claudia had every reason to feel the way she did. It was not her fault that Contessina took the spotlight and he doubted his wife really cared for it anyway.
"Claudia," He said as his glass was filled with wine again. "I love you. You are my sister, but you get a party every year. From the time you were seven years old to now. I think you can let Contessina have her night." His sister's jaw dropped at his words and Ezio did not feel a bit guilty over his opinion. It was honesty. Contessina deserved this night since the last time she had some function was on their wedding day and he recalled her being miserable then. He sat back in his chair as Maria sat down on his right and gave him a small smile. "Mother." He said as she put her hand on his.
From the other end of the table, Contessina sat with a nervous smile as the women around her chatted about. Vittoria Touranelli sat on Contessina's left while the auburn-haired woman's sister, Carlotta, sat next to her. Gambalto sat across from Vittoria at Contessina's right with a snarky smile on his face at the comment his wife just made. Even with the nervousness, the blond could not help but to laugh at the bashful nature of the younger brunette girl at her sister's side. She was the same age as Contessina and not yet married, though it was on the opinion of her parents that she should marry one of the wealthier sons of Siena.
"And she said of course there are grapes, it's a vineyard you idiot!" Gambalto said telling the story of how he and Vittoria met at her parent's villa. "From then on, I knew she was the woman for me." The other men laughed about the table as bread and cheese were passed around. "How did you and Ezio meet, Contessina?" All attention turns to her as she sat there pondering where to start. "How does a Medici girl end up with a man like Ezio?"
"We met when we were children." Contessina's eyes found her way to Ezio on the far end of the table where he was sitting with his glass of wine in one hand and a piece of cheese in the other. "He was in my family's garden pretending to be Spartacus on revolt against Roma. I believe we were only five or six at the time, but he wanted me to play with him." She said with a fond smile on her face.
"So, you've known him most of your life then?" Carlotta spoke up as her sister took a sip of wine. Contessina gave her a nod as a bowl of pasta with garlic, sun dried tomato, and herbs was placed in front of her. "Did you play with him?" There was a curious question. Contessina knew the answer well and smiled upon remembering that moment when she decided Boudica was the only one who could rein in Spartacus.
"I did. He gave me his wooden sword to take down the vile Romans while he managed to do it all with a stick." She told the surrounding men and women as she picked up her fork and began to eat the pasta. It tasted like nothing she had ever had before. The olive oil used to top the dish along with the hint of salt and pepper gave it a surprising kick. There was also a hint of wine within the mixture that she could not get over. "Mio Dio, this is wonderful." She said as she dabbed her mouth with a cloth.
"Lucia Donato is the only woman here who knows how to make such a dish." Vittoria motioned to the older woman with the apron on. Lucia seemed like a woman who did not beat around the bush and there was no bitterness present in her grey eyes. "She is also the midwife." Contessina was about to shove more pasta in her mouth when Vittoria mentioned the subject. "Perhaps you may need her one day." The blond closed her mouth and set her fork down in the bowl.
"I highly doubt that." The thought of children crossed her mind once every so often, but Contessina was sure that bringing a new life into the world was not a top priority. If anything, she would be happy with Fiona in her care for as long as possible. "I will be happy with the children running around the village now." She smiled at the auburn-haired woman.
"Yes, of course. My sister did not mean anything by it, Signora." Carlotta said taking up for the embarrassment that Vittoria had presented. "You know that is none of our business, sister." The blond heard the brunette say to her sister with a hiss. "It's bad enough Nannia has been spreading lies, we don't need to put Signora Contessina on the spot." Carlotta said before realizing that Contessina had heard the whole thing and then saw the look on the blonde's face. "I'm sorry."
"What lies has Nannia been telling?" The blond looked to Vittoria with a questioning gaze, but Carlotta intervened.
"Signora, if you wish, I can tell you after the fun. This is not the place for such talk." Contessina wanted to talk about it then, but Carlotta was right. She should enjoy her newfound freedom and finally get to know the people of Monteriggioni. "This is your night and that horrible woman should not ruin that for you." The brunette gave Contessina a wide smile and she instantly knew that Carlotta was going to be visiting her frequently in the future. She liked Carlotta and perhaps a good friendship will come to the both of them.
Once everyone had eaten the dishes had been cleared away before everyone stood up to let the tables be moved to the side of the square. Then the locals who knew how to play instruments began to liven up the atmosphere with joyous tunes that had sent the women into a dance. There was singing and dancing well passed the setting of the sun and the rising of the slim crescent moon. As the people danced Contessina walked around the lively place looking for a particular person with a smile on her face. She found him standing there watching Claudia dance with one of the young men who lived outside the walls of the village.
"Watching them like a hawk, are you?" Contessina said as she came up beside Ezio who looked down at her when she grabbed his arm. There was a moment he had to catch his breath because she had been dancing and her hair had come out of its braid enough to cascade down her back.
"Someone has to." He told her as she leaned up against him and he put his arm around her. "Look at him flirting with her." Ezio motioned with his head as the young man was trying rather hard to make his intentions known to Claudia, but the girl was enjoying the dance too much to care. "And she is smiling for once."
"I see that." Contessina gave him a warm smile of her own as he pulled her closer. "I'm surprised no one has asked you to dance, Ser Ezio." She smirked at him but instead of smiling back, he seemed to sag at the mention of dancing. He knew how to dance. She knew he knew how to dance, but he did not like dancing. He was more than content to stand there and watch the dancing as it went on, however no one could make him dance. Not even Contessina as much as he loved her.
"No." He knew what she was trying to get him to dance with her and she was probably going to succeed eventually, but he was not going to give in that night. He looked at her with a straight face, but she countered him with a sly grin before she pulled on him as the music began to get a little more vigorous. "I would rather watch."
"Then I guess I have no choice but to find a different dance partner." She said as her face went from happy to disappointed in the blink of an eye. The way in which she said it struck a chord in Ezio and he sighed before giving in and letting her drag him to the crowd of men and women dancing. "I knew you would give in." She gave him a smile as they set up for the dance.
"This is the only dance you are going to get from me." He told her with an annoyed look on his face at being guilted into dancing by his wife. He knew it was a trap, but he fell for it anyway and now he had to make it through a dance he did not want to do. Ezio supposed he should be lucky it was her and not anyone else. As they danced everyone around seemed to be focusing on them instead of dancing.
"Are you not confident in the way you dance, Ezio?" She asked him as they waltzed around each other. She was teasing him and while he could easily retaliate with that, he only smirked as he caught her wrist and pulled her closer to him. The song playing was near the end.
"Not when I have such a beautiful woman to dance with." He told her as the song ended and then kissed her firmly on the lips. There seemed to be delight in the air at their open affection for each other when she smiled through the kiss. They were both comfortable there in that place where she felt so alive and he just as confident in her. "Ti amo." He whispered to her upon breaking the kiss and he looked her in the eyes as he held her there. Inside he felt like he was taking a Leap of Faith over and over again only he was still rooted to the ground.
Contessina's heart stopped beating the moment she heard those words, or she thought it stopped beating. The world seemed to disappear around her and the ground beneath her feet vanished as there was only the honest and pure look in his eyes that she could see. She had to process what she heard over and over again before she answered with a kiss of her own. It was different than before. It was strange how hearing two words from him changed how she felt in a single moment. The doubt that she had disappeared into oblivion as she poured every bit of herself into a kiss in front of all the people there, but she did not care. She was flying above the clouds at that moment, but at the same time she was completely grounded by Ezio.
She slowly pulled away from him with a smile on her lips and a lighter heart before she noticed the villagers all looking at them. The looks on their faces spoke volumes about how they accepted these displays of affection between couples. The women would now have something to talk about that had nothing to do with the lies Nannia was spreading. That thought alone did put a small worry into the back of her mind, but she put it away as she looked into her husband's honey colored eyes. She felt as though she were dreaming, but it was definitely real.
As the world began to come back to her, there was many things she became aware of. The sudden change in the atmosphere as the woman who had been missing from the party had stumbled into the middle of it with a bottle of wine in her hand. Both Ezio and Contessina looked to the woman who was slurring her words as she made herself known to the entire village. Contessina looked to Ezio who seemed to be thinking the same thing as Mario came to stand by them.
"Why do you all celebrate the Medici brat?" The woman yelled out as she came to stand out in the circle of people in the square. "They took everything away from me. Everything!" She yelled out as she pointed to herself. Contessina could not say anything as Ezio seemed to take up a defensive stance and moved her behind him. "Rita died because of that bitch! She cursed her!" Nannia spun around and pointed at the blond woman who was innocent in all of this. "She will curse all of us by being here."
"Nannia! That is enough." Mario's voice yelled out over them as he came forward to take hold of the irate woman. "Go home."
"Home? This is no home. You allowed the devil in and now she has tainted it." Nannia said looking up at Mario with tears in her eyes and then her gaze turned to Fiona who had been sitting with Maria. "Come Fiona, come so this witch will not curse you too." Nannia held out her hand to the little girl, but there was a look of fear on the girl's face that Contessina had seen before. The blond would not let Fiona be caught in the middle of this, so she walked over to Nannia.
"I am sorry if you think me accountable for the actions of my family in the past, but I regret to inform you that I had nothing to do with them." Contessina said putting a hard look on her face while inside she was shaking in either rage or complete fear. She could not tell; however, she was not going to let Nannia win. "I was barely a child when the Farnese were forced out of Firenze by Piero de'Medici. If you want to blame someone, blame my grandfather. He was the one who spent every Florin on Firenze for his vision. Medici blood flows through my veins, but I am not hiding behind the name." She said and Nannia's face did not change at the words. Contessina knew that no matter what she said, the older woman would not listen. She was too set in her hatred of the Medici to relent. "Fiona will be staying at the villa tonight. I cannot in good conscience have her in the presence of a drunken woman."
"You do not tell me what to do, Medici." Nannia said raising her hand to slap Contessina across her left cheek, but Ezio managed to grab the woman's wrist. There was a very hard and angry look in his eyes, but his face was impassive, and this made Nannia shrink away. "She has you now, but you will learn the truth and leave her eventually."
"I do not think so." His tone was low and dangerous. Contessina was thankful that Ezio was respectful to women, otherwise she did not know what he would do. She watched as he dropped the woman's wrist and stepped back, straightening his vest before letting Mario lead the woman away. Contessina looked over to Fiona to see if she was alright and thankfully Maria was already comforting the child before Carlotta came over to her.
"Do not listen to her words, Contessina. None of us do. She has been raving mad since her husband died." Carlotta said putting a comforting hand on the blonde's arm. Contessina watched as Ezio tried to rein in his own feelings after his confession to her. The timing of Nannia's drunken rant was incomprehensible and she had no right to come in shaming Contessina as she did.
"She is right though, about the Medici." The blond looked up at her husband with sympathetic eyes knowing that Nannia was not the only victim of the Medici's ways. "She is not the only one that suffered because of my family. I did too." She said before walking away from everyone to settle her inner turmoil down.
"Contessina! Wait!" Carlotta's voice yelled out but Ezio stopped the brunette woman from following his wife. He knew Contessina well enough to know that she had been raised to be a Medici and then be a pawn in the Medici game. This was the reason he had been selected for her in the first place and not the other way around. If his father wanted him to marry someone, it would have been of Ezio's own choosing and perhaps it may have been Contessina all along. It was obvious her family name was still a heavy burden for her.
"It is best to leave her be, Carlotta." Vittoria said coming to stand next to her sister as Ezio turned to look in the direction Contessina walked off to. She had likely returned to the villa for the night and that was not a bad idea as it was getting late. "You should go after her."
Ezio did not have to be told twice before he walked away from the remnants of the party and up the steps to the villa. Contessina was almost to the front courtyard when he caught up with her and grabbed her wrist. She almost fell backwards into him when he did that, but he caught her before going up the last two steps with her. He could tell she was trying to hold back her tears from the far off look on her face and the lack of speech that came from her. Nannia's words had power over Contessina in a way he did not understand and could not if she did not tell him what else there was.
Words were powerful in a way. Ezio was not the type of man to let words rule his emotions and he never did only because he was more worried about looking ahead. Contessina was not like that because she lived in the moment and he did as well to a certain extent, but she doubted herself. He had seen her over the past weeks since coming to Monteriggioni and had watched as she underrated herself. Ezio knew it was because she was in a place she had never been before, but something else was bothering her. He wanted to know what it was because what bothered her, worried him in the end. He walked with her to the doors of the villa and then stopped her before she could open them.
"Stop." Ezio told her as he grabbed her by the elbow and made her look at him. He could have sworn he saw a little anger in her eyes from the way he acted, but she looked down at the ground for a second. "What am I missing, Contessina?" He desperately wanted to know what put her in such a state when she was content before he left the day before. None of it made any sense. "Why does Nannia's words affect you so much?" She did not answer at first, but he could see her shaking.
"What you said to me down there, in front of all those people, did you mean it?" Her voice was quiet like she did not want to even ask the question, but if she did not then she would doubt herself forever. "Do you mean it?" She looked up into his eyes with tears in her own for an answer and Ezio did not hesitate.
"Cara, if I didn't, I would not have said it in front of anyone besides you." He had openly said it to her in front of the entire village and most likely Nannia, which surprised him. Looking back on it the words came flying out of his mouth before he could even think about it, but he said them, nonetheless. He was going to tell her that night and he was going to do it alone, but it felt right to say it then and there after he had said it. "I will say it over and over again until you accept it if that is what you want." He took hold of her hands and held them up to his lips before kissing her knuckles.
"You don't have to do that." Contessina said with a raspy voice as her tears started spilling down her cheeks and then she gave him a small smile. "I accept it as long as you accept my confession." Contessina could not help but to move closer to him. "Ti amo." She whispered before reaching up to kiss his lips softly. He did not hesitate to take his hands and put them on her hips as she put hers around his neck. Ezio began to move to the door as their lips were locked together bringing her with him.
The explosion of passion Contessina brought with that kiss and the taste of her tears did something to him. Grasping at the door handle he opened the door while trying to see his way into the foyer of the building. At some point he removed his lips from hers to look at her again before picking her up and carrying her up the stairs to their room. He did not want to trip over the steps as she nuzzled his neck while he brought her up the stairs because of the overwhelming sensations.
Once Ezio set her down in the bedroom, she went to work on trying to undress him in the candlelight as he began to untie the laces on the front of her dress. There was no denying the feelings they had or each other now since they were removing layers of clothing. Ezio found himself kissing her neck as she removed his vest and when the outer layer of her dress fell to the floor, his mouth started to move to other areas causing her to suck in a breath. She had to bite her lower lip in order to keep the sounds she wanted to make within. Before she knew it, Contessina was completely undressed as her shift also fell to the floor in a pile at her feet and Ezio stopped what he was doing to really look at her.
She did not feel ashamed or bashful like she did the night of their wedding, instead she wanted to pose for him like Aphrodite did for Ares. The look in his eyes was almost as if he had seen a goddess for the first time in his life. Her long blond hair draped over her breasts and she put herself in a pose that resembled the roman statues she had seen all her life in the Palazzo Medici. She gently held out her hand with a willing look in her eyes and Ezio did not say a word when he took it and moved closer to her.
"When Sandro painted Venus and Mars, I used to imagine it was us in the painting." Contessina confessed to her husband and then realized she had been holding back her love for a long time. Ezio smiled before putting his hands on her waist and then let her remove his shirt from his body. "I used to wonder what it would be like to be held in your arms like this." She said as she dropped the shirt on the floor. "I was a silly girl and I am still a silly girl." She said as Ezio began to kiss her neck once again and she moaned as a shiver went through her. He pulled her closer to where their chests were touching. The feel of his skin on hers was not like the first time where she kept her night dress on the entire time. No, this was her giving him permission to feel this.
"Not anymore." He told her smiling against her skin before he picked her up and took her to the bed where they found themselves in another time and place. Their clothes littered the floor near the bed and eventually the toe-curling sensations that Contessina's body gave into with Ezio's knowledge of the female anatomy. Soon enough she was wrapped in his arms as they rested from their love making.
"Do you remember the winter I became sick?" Contessina ask him as he laid behind her with his nose still in her hair. Of course, he remembered. It was a memory he sometimes did not want to remember. She played with the silver ring on his finger as he breathed in deeply before answering her.
"You mean the winter we were both sick?" They were ten years old at the time. Many children in Firenze came down with a sickness that lasted the winter, some children did not live to see their next birthday. "I cannot forget it." He closed his eyes trying not to think about it because that was the first time in his life he came close to losing Contessina forever. He did not care if he fell sick, but he stayed with her until his mother came to fetch him and even then, he managed to see Contessina again. "My father had to lock me in my room."
"But you still came to me." She said with a smile. "I thought I was going to die, Ezio. I thought I was going to leave you without a friend and that you would forget about me if I did." The smile disappeared and was replaced by a sorrowful stare at the fire in the fireplace. She knew where her heart lied from the time she was a child until now and she had lost hope at some point. Ezio said nothing as he held her there and nuzzled the back of her head. "I didn't know it then, but you had my love."
"Did I?" He asked her picking his head off the pillow and looking down at her with a curious look. He smiled as she nodded and then laid his head back down before confessing something else to her. "I am sure when Queen Boudica entered the gardens, Spartacus found the love of his life." Ezio told her before kissing the back of her head and then closing his eyes. Contessina's body tensed for a moment before she squeezed his hand and he knew she was happy then and there.