The American Lady(138)

“Scusi, signorina, but Countess Marie . . . is unfortunately . . . unavailable today!” explained the maid who opened the door. Then she curtsied briefly without moving aside.

Unavailable? What was that supposed to mean? Wanda frowned. Had the girl even understood that she had come all the way from Germany to visit Marie? She glanced around at the building’s huge façade as though she expected to see Marie’s head pop up in one of the countless windows.

Wanda tried again, speaking slowly and clearly. “Please . . . tell . . . my aunt that . . . Wanda is here. Wanda! Tell her that, can you?” Perhaps Marie didn’t want to see any strangers when she was so heavily pregnant, but that couldn’t apply to her niece.

The maid twisted her fingers in her starched apron.

“That . . . won’t be possible . . .” she answered in broken German.

Up until that moment Wanda had been holding her luggage in her hands. Now she dropped it with a thump.

“What does that mean? Has Marie gone out? If she has, then she’ll come back sometime, won’t she?” she asked indignantly. Was this how the Italians treated their guests, simply leaving her standing on the doorstep after she’d come all this way? She stepped aside to get out of the sunshine that was beating down on her back. She wouldn’t mind a chance to cool down somewhere and drink a glass of lemonade after her long journey. She suddenly wondered whether the telegram she had sent ahead to announce her arrival might have been lost. Did Marie even know that she was on her way?

The maid looked back over her shoulder as though hoping that someone would come and help her get rid of Wanda. When no help came, she stepped a little closer to Wanda.

“She is . . . very weak after the birth of her daughter yesterday,” she whispered, peering back into the palazzo again as she spoke. She made no move to let Wanda in.

“Marie has a daughter? The baby’s already here?” Wanda asked incredulously. The maid nodded vaguely.

Yesterday . . . Marie had given birth to a little girl while she, Wanda, had been sitting on the train! It took her a moment to digest the news. Then all at once her heart was brimming over with happiness. Marie had a daughter! She wanted to shove the maid out of the way and run into the house. She had to see Marie right away! And the baby.

Instead she took a deep breath. “Of course my aunt needs peace and quiet today, I understand,” she said, smiling at the maid, who looked greatly relieved.

“Where is Franco?” Only now did Wanda think to ask after him. Why hadn’t she thought to do that immediately? The least she could do was congratulate the father on the birth of his daughter. And Franco, of course, would insist that she be given a room in the palazzo rather than having to go and find a hotel while she waited for Marie to recover from the birth. She would take a look at the little one, just quickly, say hello to Marie, and then . . .

“Signor de Lucca . . . not here. And his mother, Countess Patrizia, also not. Tomorrow they come back!” Carla answered stiffly and then shut the door before Wanda could react.

Wanda stared in astonishment at the elaborately carved wooden door. It was all well and good that the servants should ensure the new mother had some peace and quiet, but this was going too far! There was only one way Wanda could explain it to herself: the staff had not been told that she was coming. And there were only two ways to explain that: either the household had been in such an uproar at the birth that it had simply been overlooked, or the telegram had gotten lost somewhere.

Perplexed, she picked up her luggage and turned on her heel. The marble chips on the pathway crunched as she walked, and her feet were painfully swollen from the long train journey. Wanda turned around at the gate to the courtyard. The palazzo was certainly large and magnificent—but the people who lived in it had some very strange manners!

She could just about believe that Franco would be in town having a drink with some friends in a bar to celebrate the birth of his daughter, but the idea that his mother had left the house as well . . . If Marie really was that tired out by the birth, one might expect that her mother-in-law would stay with her. What would Johanna say when she heard that? A tinge of foreboding mixed with Wanda’s outrage, but she was too upset to really think about it.

She came to a crossroads and stopped to get her bearings. The city was indeed beautiful and its buildings magnificent, but she didn’t care about that at the moment. She decided to head down to the harbor, since she figured she might find the hotels there.

Her luggage became heavier with every step she took, and she was annoyed that she hadn’t thought to leave the case full of presents for Marie and the baby at the palazzo. Now she would have to cart it around with her.