Three Miracles in One Week!

I blink. Can it be? At first I think I'm dreaming. It seems impossible that Giovanni could actually be sitting only a few steps away. But then he stands and he seems more and more real because he is approaching me with open arms and a big grin.

"Oh I was hoping I would see you here my dear Filomena," he says, reaching for me. I'm sure he is going to take me in his arms, but at the last minute he simply picks up my right hand and holds it in both of his own. He turns to the priest.

"You know I thought I had lost this brave girl, Father," he says, pressing my hand between his own. "I thought she was going to drown the day I last saw her, and if she had, I tell you I would have been completely heartbroken."

I am mute, still trying to absorb the reality that ten minutes ago had seemed impossible.

"Well we must thank the good Lord that he saw fit to save her," the priest says, nodding. He had the thinnest possible smile on his face. On second thought, it wasn't a smile at all, but rather, a sneer.

But who cares? Giovanni is here, and in his right hand, thank the good Lord, he has my journal!

"Yes, and we must thank God a second time that Filomena recovered from her fever," Giovanni says. "Two miracles in one week."

"I...I want to thank you for...for the eggs, Giovanni," I say. "That was so ...thoughtful of you. And they were delicious. I didn't eat for four days!"

"It was the least I could do, considering the fact that you got sick after you nearly drowned at San Lucido." I look at him; I hadn't really connected the two events. He's right, of course, but the near drowning wasn't nearly as upsetting as what came after, both in and out of the water!

"Now that you are feeling better, Filomena," Giovanni asks, "I wonder if I might have the pleasure of escorting you home?"

I almost laugh out loud, as G sounds so formal. I am pretty sure he simply wants to get me out of the rectory, so I make up an answer. "Oh, that won't be necessary, as I am going to visit my friend Nunzi's house, but you can escort me there if you wish." My heart is rising skyward!

And then I remember something: "But wait, Giovanni, I thought you had to leave the villa?"

"I do, and I will, the day after tomorrow. But today I am here..."

I feel like sending up a cheer, but God forbid, not in front of the priest! G and I leave the rectory, and I feel like I am sailing on feathers.

"Oh how I have missed you, Fi," G says as soon as we are out of the church and walking down the steps. We stop at the bottom and he takes my hand and stares into my eyes. The look on his face is so serious. "Fi, I want to apologize for my father's horrendous behavior last week. Maybe now you can understand why I am so anxious to live apart from him." Giovanni shakes his head slowly. "He makes my life so miserable -- honestly I think it has become his full-time job to try to rule me AND ruin me."

"Oh Giovanni, I am so sorry! I really am!" I want to reach up and kiss him but I wouldn't dare, not right in front of the church, as someone might see us here. But I do whisper: "And I missed you too!"

"Shall we walk on the beach?" he asks.

"Yes I would love to, but first, per piacere, may I have my journal?!"

"Ah yes!" He hands it to me and I embrace the leather book with both hands and lay it over my heart.

"I feel like a vital part of me is now back in place! Thank you so much Giovanni!"

"Of course! You are a true writer, missing your journal so much!"

"Oh you have no idea! Actually, it might sound silly, but I'm thinking of giving her a name," I say. "Serena! Because writing in this journal, even if I am agitated, makes me feel so serene!"

"That's wonderful, Fi."

We walk to the beach in silence. After we remove our shoes and step into the sand, Giovanni takes me in his arms, journal and all, and he kisses me long and hard on the mouth.

I'm thrilled, but as we pull apart from each other, I look around, still afraid that someone will see us!

"Fi, I am just so happy you turned up at the church, I can't tell you how happy! Honestly I wasn't sure I would see you again. I wanted to come to your house but..."

"Yes, well, Giovanni, Mama is very strict and very old-fashioned. But don't take it personally, please." We resume walking at an easy pace, and of course, we are holding hands.

"Filomena, I really would like to meet your mother. Do you think she might see me?"

I stop, and turn to face him. I stare into G's gorgeous eyes. Doesn't he realize that the only way I could bring him home is if he proposes? Do I dare tell him? Something tells me I must, but not at this moment!

"Can we talk about this later please?" I ask him in a soft voice, and finally, he nods.

"Ok, then, later.

"So Giovanni, tell me about your plans once you leave the villa."

He explains to me that he has found a small house a few kilometers up the coast road where he will store some of his personal belongings.

"So you are renting this house?"

"Well, no, that wasn't possible. The house was for sale, and so I have bought it!"

My eyes open wide. "So you might decide to live there?"

"Yes I think so." He shakes his head. "But everything is up in the air at this moment. As you know, I have to go to Florence."

I consider asking him why, but something tells me I shouldn't pry. "Tell me about the house, is it right on the beach like the villa?"

"It is on the beach, yes, but it sits just above ground level, very close to the water. There are six bedrooms and when I finish the remodeling, it will have two bathrooms. And of course a large living room and a beautiful dining room and kitchen."

I laugh. "Wow, Giovanni, six bedrooms, that doesn't sound like a small house to me, not at all!"

He stops. "You know Fi, you are so right. I'm sorry I don't always see things from your perspective, which is a far more normal point of view than mine! I am so incredibly spoiled, living in the villa and places like it."

We keep walking. It occurs to me that I still don't know all that much about Giovanni's family. "G, if you are willing, maybe you can tell me more about your family? I mean, I know you don't get along with your father, and I understand totally why that is. But you have never spoken of your mother. And you have never explained how your family became so wealthy."

Giovanni stops. He closes his eyes. "Yes, I guess I do owe you some explanation of where I come from." He sighs. "But where do I start?"

Suddenly his face takes on a different look, as if a bout of bad weather has overcome him. "OK. My family. I can summarize my family history in two words: wool and wine. Lana e vino. Oh such lovely wool. My father's factories in Florence turn out the most exquisite cashmire. Beautiful clothing. And blankets -- I can give you one, I have so many!

"My mother's family was from Volpaia, a tiny town in Tuscany. Mama was actually descended from Lorenzo della Volpaia himself. He lived in the 1500s. An incredible man. An architect, a goldsmith, and as if that were not enough, he was a mathematician and a clockmaker too! He built the clock at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence."

Giovanni raises both hands in the air. "And if you can believe it, he was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci!"

I am staring at him, wide-eyed. I feel like I am peering into some kind of fantastic history book. I never knew people like Giovanni existed. At least, not in my world. "So...so your family makes clocks?"

He laughs. "No, no, I'm sorry Filomena. My mother's family, her brothers, now they make wine, very fine Volpaia Chianti. We are known for it throughout the northern region. That too I can give to you, a bottle of fine Chianti." He slides his fingers deep into his curls. "I know all this must sound so...out of this world."

"Well, yes, it does. I must tell you, it is difficult for me to understand why you don't want to join your mother's business. I mean, you always got along with her, yes?"

We are walking again. He doesn't say anything right away. I wonder if I have offended him. I am about to apologize when I see that he is wiping his eyes. I set my hand on his arm. "I am so sorry Giovanni," I say. "It is none of my busines to ask such personal..."

"Of course it's your business," he says, lifting his head. His eyes are red. "My mother died two years ago," he says. "It was very sudden. She had blood poisoning and we don't know why. I was very close to my mother. I miss her so much. So much. She wanted me to work in the winery and I tried but Filomena, but" -- here he stops and stares into the ocean's horizon -- "it is just not for me!"

He looks at me directly.

"I see," I say, shaking my head, but honestly I'm not completely sure that I do see. If only my family had such rich enterprises!

"My father kind of wrecked everything for me. He is such a bully. He always bullied my mother, and even, he bullied her brothers, if you can believe it. Such a know-it-all who knows...shit!" We walk further. "I want no part of any of it." He opens his arms wide. "I am an artist, Filomena. I write constantly. I haven't told you, but I am now trying to write some librettos for opera. Perhaps if I can make some money as a writer, I will finally show my father that I have a career. Meanwhile, though, he thinks writing is a totally silly waste of time!"

"Well then he would get along well with my mother, Giovanni! She is forever telling me to put my diary away!"

He smiles. "You know, Filomena, I knew we had a lot in common. I knew that right away!"

It now occurs to me that I need to speak honestly to G before he goes away. There is no point in holding back! "I'll tell him when we get to the rocks," I promise myself; soon enough we are there! We sit down side by side facing the ocean. A cool breeze sweeps over us.

He turns to me and brings my hand to his lips. He kisses each of my fingers and lingers on my thumb. I pull my hand away.

"Giovanni, this isn't easy for me to say. But I have to tell you that when I left the villa last week, I...I decided that I wouldn't see you again." His mouth drops open and I lay my other hand over his lips. "No, please, G, let me finish!"

I take my hands and set them together in my lap. "So hearing your father...the way he was screaming about you...how you were 'screwing some common....'"

"No, please Filomena, don't say it, please please please, for my sake and yours, please don't repeat those words, please don't repeat any of his evil language, it is all the product of a warped mind!" He looks at me. He looks so terribly sad! And angry. I've never seen G look so angry!

"OK, OK, I won't say it, but we both know what he said. So later, I thought about it. And honestly, I realized that I have been fooling myself. I mean, we both know that you and I are..." My heart starts hammering. "Well, we come from such different worlds and I am a poor peasant girl, and it's never going to work to..."

Giovanni jumps to his feet and throws his arms out to each side! "NO NO NO," he splutters. "I won't let my father's poison infect the wonderful relationship I have with you! That's exactly what he was trying to do, standing there on the beach that day. He was screaming his poisonous venom at you and me, he was trying to denigrate our being together. I hate that man, Filomena, and I don't care that he's my father. Don't you see, Fi, we can't stand by and let the old and negative ways of thinking get in the way of our lives, and our love!" He reaches down and pulls me to my feet. "I love you Filomena, and I am going to do everything in my power to see that we stay together!"

I look at him. I am astonished. Amazingly, he simply denies the reality that most people take for granted. And then he gathers me in his arms again and just holds me tightly against his chest. I pull away but he doesn't let go of my hands.

"Filomena, you probably don't realize this, but I know that you walked home from the villa that night! I was so upset when I figured it out. I'm sure that's why you got so sick. I am so terribly sorry that I didn't see that you got a ride home in the carriage, I should ha..."

"Oh G, please don't worry about that, I am a strong girl, and I..."

"Yes, you are a strong girl, a very strong girl, Fi, but that's not the point. I wasn't thinking that night, I was so angry at my father. The next day, though, I realized how thoughtless it was of me -- you had suffered such a shock, almost drowning! And then to have to walk home in soaking wet clothes. How horrible for you!"

I squeeze his hands. It was an awful walk home, that is true and it was such a sad ending to my time at the villa.

He shakes his head back and forth very slowly. Those beautiful curls are thicker than ever. "You see, I've had almost a whole week to think about you, and all that time I was so worried that I might never see you again. The priest told me that your mother absolutely refused to permit me to visit you when you were so ill. At that point, I knew that I had probably ruined any chance I might have with you."

I am speechless. I cannot believe he missed me at least as much as I had missed him!

For a long moment, I say nothing. "I ...I'm not sure... what to say. Are you telling me that..."

"...I'm telling you that I want you in my life! For good! Yes, that's what I am saying, Filomena." He cups his hand under my chin and bends forward and kisses me softly on the lips.

"Let's...let's keep walking," I say, pulling away. "I'm...I need a little time to think about all this."

As we walk through the shallow waves, the water glitters in the sun. I am thinking that I want desperately to be in Giovanni's life forever. But how can he marry me if he doesn't have his family's approval?

And then a thought occurs to me. He hasn't once used the word marriage!

I stop. "Giovanni, I have to ask you a question...perhaps a difficult question."

"Yes, anything. Please."

"When you say you want me in your life for good, are you saying..." I inhale and let my breath out slowly. I lift my face to his. "Are you saying that you want me to be your... wife?"

He smiles, and nods. "Oh yes," he says, "Yes of course I do."

"But our families...we come from such different circumstances, I'm sorry, I keep coming back to it, I keep saying it, because I know it's a prob..."

He cuts me off. "Look, Filomena, I think you know me well enough now, you see me with my friends, you see how we have all embraced new thinking, free thinking, we are all for risorgimiento, but that's not just to unify our country, it's to bring modern education to everyone, it's to promote equality and..."

"Yes, yes, I understand all that, G, you've explained it to me and I do see what you're talking about. But...let's be clear. If we were to marry and have children..."

"We will have children, please Fi, say it as though you mean it..."

"OK, yes, sure, when...when we have children, do you honestly think we could bring them home to meet your family? Would your...your family accept me and them? Because I know my mother would but..."

Giovanni is glowing. "But nothing! You will be accepted, because you are fabulous, Filomena. You are beautiful and intelligent and lively! You don't need to apologize for anything. And as for my family, I am the one to decide who I will marry. Not my father or my brothers or anyone else! I have come here to establish my own life, away from all of them and their backward ways!"

Then he bends his head forward. And he is silent for a moment, and I am completely unprepared for what he says next. "But there is a family situation, however, that I must resolve before I can propose to you."

My mouth drops open. I feel as though all the breath has been knocked out of me.

"A family situation? What...situation is that? I am not sure I underst..."

"Don't worry your head about it Fi! I promise you that I have everything under control. Trust me my darling. Will you trust me? You must!"

I look up at him. He looks so earnest. How can I say no? "Of course I trust you, Giovanni." "And will you come back to see me as soon as I return to San Lucido, when I am moved into the new house? And be with me and my friends, writing and living our lives together?"

I inhale and nod my head and smile. "Yes, I'll come back."

"And so do you think your mother would permit me to visit your home? I could come with you right now?!"

"Oh, no, no, no," I say, shaking my head. "Certainly not today. I must give Mama plenty of time to get used to the idea."

For a moment, he looks hurt, but that passes. "As you wish. But I do hope she will agree to let me come when she is agreeable."

"I...I think she will," I say, smiling. Oh, but what will Mama say?

"Well, I am leaving the day after tomorrow, so....perhaps tomorrow?"

"Uh... tomorrow. Oh Giovanni you know how much I want to say yes, don't you? I will go home right now, I will ask Mama to meet you tomorrow! I hope and pray she says yes!"

"OK, so shall we meet in front of the church tomorrow at eleven?"

"OK, then," I say, "eleven." He takes me in his arms and kisses me again, so passionately, and I wonder if I am dreaming, and then I tell myself no, this isn't a dream at all it is the third miracle of an already miraculous week!

Meanwhile, I start praying. "Please God, please help me trust and believe in Giovanni, and please help him do what he says he will do." But he seems to be in such a rush. Why? Is it because he's trying to prove something to his father?

And to Mary, I pray simply: "I love him, I really do, but Mary, I need your protection and guidance today, tomorrow and always. Please let Giovanni return to San Lucido and be free to love me!"

I tell Giovanni that I need to get home. We embrace and walk back down the beach arm in arm. I don't say anything, but I continue praying!