Chapter IV
A week later, Joyce was the one waiting on her train at Glen St Mary's station. She had very mixed feelings about her return to Italy. On one hand, she couldn't bear to think that she was leaving her family and friends again without any knowledge on when she could see them again, especially with the war surrounding them all from all sides. On the other hand, however, she could not wait to go back to her reality, to see her Tuscan green hills and the cypress trees she so sorely missed. Her hands ached to get back into her writing in both Italian and English and she couldn't wait to see her flatmate Gia and drink white wine with her in the evening breeze. She definitely didn't know which emotion to display.
She declared that she only wanted her parents, siblings and Susan to see her off. She didn't want an audience that was there for Jem and Jerry, she wasn't able to bear it. She had her goodbyes with them all already, at Ingleside, and thus at the station she was smiling at her family and them at her, and the only other 'person' she still wanted to say farewell to was Dog Monday who obediently stayed at the train station ever since Jem left it. He wagged his tail upon seeing his master's older sister and licked her nose as she cuddled him "Stay safe, dear boy. He'll come back to you and he'll come back to all of us." she whispered into his floppy ears and his gaze was so clear that she knew he understood her.
The train was already there, ready to depart in five minutes, so Joyce turned to her family and found herself once again at a loss of words upon seeing them standing together, looking at her as if she was their diamond. "I promise to come back earlier than in five years time." she told them decidedly and all laughed merrily, knowing she decoded their expressions. "Let me embrace you all." she outstretched her arms for as long as she could to indeed embrace her siblings, her parents and Susan. It was strange how each of their unique smells blended into one. It was also strange to feel each of their bodies separately and yet together, in unity in that one precious moment. She felt safe knowing they always had each other.
"We love you so much, dearest Joy." Gilbert kissed her cheek once the embrace came to an end. He and Anne had tears in their eyes but never let them fall or show too clearly as their smiles radiated through Joy.
She mirrored their expressions and kissed both her mother and father "I love you, and every day before I go to bed, I have and still continue to whisper that I love you and I'll know that you can somehow feel it." she said and all looked at one another knowingly, with no need to utter any more words.
"You're a wonder, my beautiful baby." Anne whispered into her ear and kissed her forehead tenderly, before letting her go and embrace Nan and Di.
"You must visit me one day, dear sisters." Joy said to the twins.
"We will, Joy." they said in unison and each kissed Joy's cheeks from both sides, making her smile even more.
"It feels like we're sending another soldier to war, Joyce." Shirley said with a faint smile as he hugged his sister tightly. "Come back to us swiftly."
"I will, darling." she replied and felt Susan's embrace from behind her as Shirley still held onto his sister for a bit longer "Susan, keep them all well-fed and well-cared for." she whispered and made Susan laugh sadly.
"Of course, you dear girl." she answered and her voice shook a little. Without even realising it, Rilla overtook Joy's neck and squeezed her tightly "You must write to me, dearest Joyce." Rilla whispered into Joy's ear "I'll start counting days to our next meeting!"
Joy chuckled and kissed Rilla's cheeks "I will too, Rilla-my-Rilla." she replied happily and then turned to Walter who was pale and his eyes were full of grief.
Joy couldn't stand the look of him and pulled him into a warm hug which he readily reciprocated. By then Joy had to let two disobedient tears roll down her freckled cheeks "Walter, what will I do without you now?" she whispered helplessly.
"I don't know how I'll bear not seeing you and not writing with you every day." he replied softly "But we must keep on living, sister o'mine. It's our duty as human beings."
She smiled into his eyes at that "Yes." she agreed quietly "And I'll think of you every time I'll look outside the window of my room and see the green hills of Tuscany, waiting for you to see them with me one day."
He kissed both of her cheeks in response and Joy could have sworn that he shook a little. "I love you." he whispered and a few tears rolled down his cheeks at that moment.
"I love you beyond measure, Walter." she said wistfully. The train whistled loudly and Joy quickly pulled away from Walter, as if awoken from a dream. She touched his cheek tenderly and smiled as bravely as she could and he did the same before their gaze disconnected and she gathered her suitcases and jumped on the train. They all waved at her and she waved back, as fastly and as hungrily as Joy could. It was far too soon when she couldn't see them anymore and her heart broke a little. However, she also knew that this was her choice and that she was headed where her soul resided the most in this world.
June 1911, Paris
Joyce still couldn't believe she was there, right there, in the centre of Paris which seemed like the centre of the universe. It all looked so modern and yet Paris sparkled with history on every corner, and it was so elegant, definitely much more so than the 20-year-old Joyce was herself or ever would be.
She was writing a stack of letters at the cafe in which she became a regular customer for the last month. The cafe was covered in red, the chairs and tables, the window sills, everything about it was bright and positive and Joyce found comfort in that. Plus, they had a fantastic coffee and delicious croissants and if everything else about the cafe was awful she would still go there for those two precise reasons. And the Eiffel Tower was right in front of her, looking cheekily into her eyes, whispering "Salut! Comment c'a va?".
She was deep in thought when she was writing her letters to Canada and her fingers and right cheek were spotted with ink just visibly enough for anyone to notice. Her deep concentration was disturbed by the feeling of someone's glance observing her with no intention of leaving her alone. She looked up, frustrated, but her face softened when her eyes met the dark ones of a handsome young man, smiling at her curiously. She put her pen down and crossed her arms, returning the glance. They sat like this, each at their own table for a few seconds, looking at one another before both laughed outloud, turning a few heads their way. The dark stranger stood up, took his leather case and sat down next to Joyce before outstretching his hand and saying: "Lorenzo Cadesso, mademoiselle."
She smiled at him "I knew you weren't French!" she exclaimed, in French, however, and made him chuckle. She shook his hand with energy "Joyce Blythe, monsieur." she added
"Ah! American, no?" he asked her in English and almost offended her.
"Canadian, please." she answered and raised her eyebrow seriously "And you… Hmm… From your dark curls, tanned skin, brown eyes… Lorenzo… I'd say you're from Italy."
He smiled with pride "Yes, I am. Born and bred in Firenze, Florence, I mean." he said "You writing to Canada then?" he pointed at the blotched letters.
"Yes!" she announced happily "It's the closest activity to bring me back home. And why in the world would you leave a place like Florence, even for Paris?" she asked him, interest burning in her gaze.
"Actually, I left Florence for London, for work for my uncle who lives there." he replied, clearly enjoying watching Joy's disorderly curls dancing as the breeze flew by "I was supposed to come back this morning but my train was cancelled, so I'll be going in an hour instead."
She chuckled "My, my, it was meant to be for your train to not arrive and for you to come here instead and sit here with me, then, don't you think?" she asked and her cheeks were flushed from the heat and the mix of emotions that spiralled inside her.
"Indeed." he agreed readily "Now tell me, why, Joyce, did you leave Canada?"
"My soul was not there and I needed to find a place where it got lost." she explained softly "I've been to Greece, Malta, Spain, England, Scotland and now France and yet I still haven't found it. It's all the more of an adventure, don't you agree?"
Lorenzo clearly found the red-haired, messy and unapologetic Canadian girl marvellous. He looked at her as if she was a wonder of the world and in a way she was. Joyce found him in return delightful, especially as he didn't call her 'Miss' once and actually listened to her and that made her blush a little. He was so handsome, and something about him was very familiar to her soul, definitely another kindred spirit was found. "You are a true travel-magician, Joyce. I don't know the word for it in English but that's what you are. And your French is wonderful." he added with a cheeky smile.
"The word is a globetrotter, dear Lorenzo." she replied with a smile "And thank you, I have been learning it since I was six. But Italian!" she theatrically put her hand on her chest "Oh! I so wish I could say more than just 'buongiorno' and 'grazie'!"
He chuckled, and his laugh sounded like it was with an Italian accent as well "I wish I could stay and teach you myself but…" he quickly took out his little notebook which made Joy grin and he tore away a piece of paper on which he wrote an address and a name 'Sofia Cadesso' "My aunt who lives in Paris. She's always bored so she could use a distraction like teaching you Italian, no?" he asked and winked at her which made her laugh.
She gasped at the sound of her name and Lorenzo's handwriting that was as messy as her own "Grazie! I will definitely ask for her help." she said. He looked at his watch and sighed, annoyed, and stood up but quickly exclaimed "Ah!" and sat down again, tearing another piece of paper from his notebook and writing his name and a London address on it "You must write to me, Joyce Blythe." he said decidedly "And you have to, even if it's the most impossible thing to do, you have to go to my Tuscany. It might turn out to be your… what you call it?"
Both Joy and Lorenzo said in unison, in French: "Heaven on earth." and then laughed together. Joyce stood up to bid him farewell, even though she didn't want to do that at all, and she kissed his cheek which made him return it on hers. He smiled as he brushed away the ink on her other cheek and she felt his gaze more deeply than she dreamed of.
"As a start, you can say 'arrivederci' for 'goodbye' and 'a presto' for 'see you soon'." he said and she smiled, delighting in the sounds of Italian that so softly and naturally came out of Lorenzo's lips.
"Well, then, Lorenzo Cadesso, arrivederci and a presto!" she repeated gleefully and he put on his hat, leaving her behind as she kept on following this hat of his until he disappeared in between the crowds.
May 1912, Val d'Orcia
The sky was an amazing vision of blue with no clouds in sight. The breeze was light and warm, yet not too hot and not too chilly, just right. Joyce decided to put on an emerald-green, silk scarf around her head so that her hair couldn't hide the fields and the views from her eyes. The taxi driver spoke to her in the gorgeous Italian which by then Joy already mastered having made it her mission to become fluent very quickly with the help of the great Sofia Cadesso for almost a full year. Italian was almost like a second nature to her, the expression of it, the sounds, the accent, the gesticulations that come with it. It was as if she was born to have it as her first language but the stork somehow misplaced her from Italian Mr and Mrs Blythe and gave her to her Canadian parents. From that memorable day in a Paris' cafe, Joy and Lorenzo exchanged letters regularly, each containing at least 5 pages from each. He told her more in his letters about Tuscany and their lovely villages and of course his Firenze and she knew from the description and the picture he painted that she had to make her way there, the sooner the better.
From that memorable day in a Paris' cafe, Joy and Lorenzo exchanged letters regularly, each containing at least 5 long pages. He told her more in his letters about Tuscany and their lovely villages and, of course, his Firenze and she knew from the description and the picture he painted with his words that she had to make her way there, the sooner the better. So here she was. In a taxicab, swirling through the twist and turns of the Toscana region, in the direction of Siena. Lorenzo told her that she would know when she enters his most admired Val d'Orcia without any direction from him and although she didn't believe him at first, suddenly the scenery around her started to change, as if lifted from the invisible fog.
The fields became a wonderful mixture of gold, green, yellow and perfect. There were hills in the foreground and background, not knowing any boundaries or rules. The cypress trees formed alleyways, like gates to Paradise. There was a chapel in the far off distance, all alone in between the nature, like God intended it to be. Joyce was speechless for a while and she didn't even realise that her eyes started to water. Her cheeks were flushed and her heartbeat was getting quicker as she was inevitably falling in love. "Could you stop for a moment, please?" she asked the driver in Italian, her voice hungry and overfilled all at once.
He smiled knowingly at her, as if reading her mind, and stopped the car on the side of the hill on which they were driving. Joy flew out of it like a bird and ran to be closer to the view of the chapel. Only then she realised that on each of its sides stood a lonely cypress tree. She smiled so widely and she could finally hear and feel herself breathing, as if for the first time. "This is it!" she giggled, her hands on her mouth, as if unsure whether to contain her happiness or to scream it outloud. She chuckled to herself and tears ran down her face like little rivers, there was only certainty in her heart "This is where I'm meant to be." she whispered and her words were carried softly by the spring breeze into a far off distance, filling out a space for the missing puzzle in her heart.
September 1914, Pienza
As soon as Joy's feet touched the Italian soil in the village of Pienza, Joy forgot about the war, about her brother and her friend wearing khaki, even about the heartbreaking feeling of leaving her family thousands of miles away. She found her peace and her place was there all around her, nothing could deny it and the feeling of fullness that appeared in her heart when she saw the gate leading to Pienza only reassured her that this is her destiny.
The neighbours and cafe owners started to greet her as she walked with her suitcases towards hers and Gia's apartment. They kissed her on the cheek, patted on the shoulders, smiled at her, asked after her family, after herself, and not a single person mentioned the war which both surprised Joyce but also made her that much happier to be back. The beige, yellow and brown shades of the ancient buildings surrounded her from all sides, there was a smell of someone cooking ragu, people shouting after one another to pour more caffe latte, as it was the morning after all, and others simply enjoying the sunshine from the cloudless sky.
Joy was back in her Heaven.
She turned on the corner of via del Bacio and walked downhill to finally stand face to face with her favourite building of all. Their flat was on the first floor of a lovely, old building that stood right in front of the most spectacular view of Val d'Orcia, the view Joyce could see every day from the window of her bedroom. It seemed like a lonely building, a bit outside of the village's centre and that suited her just fine, it was so silent, so peaceful, apart from the lovely birdsong and a whisper from the centre of people turning on their gramophones from time to time.
Before she reached the door, Gia flew out of the house, squeaking and spreading her arms to Joyce who happily welcomed her into her own.
Gia Alexopoulos, a daughter of an Italian mother and a Greek expat of a father, seemed to be Joy's spiritual twin. Her hair was lovely silky black, curls as curly as can be, eyes as dark as her hair, her skin perfectly caramel, and her soul was bright and wild. Even though she didn't quite enjoy wearing trousers and polo shirts like Joy did, and much preferred the elegant dresses, gloves and hats, Gia was always the first to run down a hill, scream to the skies on open fields, and tumble onto the floor with laughter with Joyce. She worked as a waitress in a local cafe where she was perfecting her skills in coffee making, a passion of hers. They met when Joy was frantically searching for a room to rent and Gia was desperate for a flatmate after her grandmother left an apartment to her in her will. One look and the two kindred spirits were forever connected.
Of course, they threw each other off balance upon their greeting and both fell on the ground, shouting over one another in Italian. Finally, when they both stood up, Gia put her hands on Joy's cheeks and looked into her eyes happily "My dearest sister," she said "-I finally have you back!"
"Yes, you do, my Gia of Gias." Joy replied, smiling from ear to ear and taking her arm in her own as Gia took one of Joy's suitcases and started heading towards the building "I have so much to tell you, we will need at least one bottle of wine to go through it all."
"I wouldn't spend the rest of the day in any other way!" Gia laughed merrily and suddenly stopped in her tracks, a metre away from the door. She put her hands on Joy's shoulders and looked at her excitedly "But Joy, there's someone waiting in the living room, just to see you."
Joy squinted her eyes "What? I don't know anyone else but you, Gia!" she chuckled and thought it all a joke.
"Joyce!" Gia grew impatient, her eyes sparkling mischievously "He's very handsome." she whispered and Joy dropped her suitcase and her eyes enlarged and heart quickened.
"It can't be!" she exclaimed and flew into the house, upstairs into their flat. She threw her hat on the floor of the hall, making Gia laugh outloud, and Joy stopped immediately upon the entrance of their cosy living room. There was a man standing there with his back on her, looking outside the window. He was dressed in a lovely, elegant suit, his leather case was on the sofa, and his hair was as dark and as delightful as her memory of him played in her mind from time to time over those last three years.
She chuckled and clasped her hands together which made him turn around and she found herself at a loss of words as her eyes started to fill with tears "It's you!" she exclaimed softly.
