With this new sense of freedom, she planned to visit her favorite aunt, Zia Ottavia, who lived in Rome with her husband, Count Verrini. They could talk about anything and Lanza loved her.
A knock on the door of her apartment brought her back from her thoughts.
“Lanza?” Her mother’s voice. “May your father and I come in?”
She assumed they wanted to comfort her and she loved them for it. Lanza hurried across the room and opened the door, giving them both a long hug. “Come in and sit in front of the fire.”
They took their places on the couch. She sat in her favorite easy chair across from them where she often planted herself to read. She’d been a bookworm from an early age.
“We asked Father Mario to visit you. Did he come?”
“Yes, and he gave me encouragement.”
“Oh, good,” her dark-blonde mother murmured, but Lanza could tell her parents were more anxious than ever and looked positively ill from the shock they’d all lived through. “We don’t think it’s good for you to stay in your apartment any longer. I’ve asked the cook to prepare your favorite meal, and your sisters are going to join us in the dining room for an early dinner.”
Her distinguished-looking father nodded. “You need to be around family. It isn’t healthy for you to be alone.”
“Actually, I’ve needed this time to myself in order to think. Please don’t be offended if I tell you I’m not hungry and couldn’t eat a big meal.”
“But if you keep this up, you’ll waste away,” her mother protested.
“No, Mamà. I promise that won’t happen. Right now I have important things on my mind.”
“We do, too,” her father broke in. “It’s time we talked seriously.”
She sat back. “What is it, Papà?”
He got to his feet and stoked the fire. “I’ve been on the phone with Basilio almost constantly for days.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. I’m sure Alberto’s death has brought you two even closer. He and Queen Diania must be in desperate need of comfort.”
Her father blinked. “You’re really not all right, are you, my dear girl?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You...don’t seem quite yourself,” her mother blurted.
If Lanza’s parents had expected her to fall apart and take to her bed, then they truly didn’t understand.
“I’ve shed my tears, but all it has done is give me a headache. I have to pull myself together and deal with the here and now. Honestly, I’ll be fine. In fact, I’m thinking of taking a trip to Rome to visit Zia Ottavia.
“She phoned me last night and asked me to stay with her for a few months. She’s planning to take a long trip to the US and wants me to go with her while Zio Salvatore has to stay in Rome on business. I love being with her and told her I’d come after I talked to you.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid you can’t go.”
What? She sat forward. “I don’t understand.”
He cleared his throat. “Alberto’s brother, Stefano, has asked for your hand in marriage and wishes to marry you on New Year’s Day in a year as planned.”
CHAPTER TWO
A STRANGE LAUGH broke from Lanza, who got to her feet. Maybe she was having a bad dream.
“Stefano? What kind of a joke is this? For one thing, that’s impossible! He was relieved of his royal duties years ago by their parliament.”
Lanza had taken a personal affront to the news at the time, even though she knew it didn’t have anything to do with her. How could it? She’d only been eleven years old.
But she still remembered how shocked she’d been when she’d heard Stefano had walked away from royal life. She’d always found him more attractive and headstrong than Alberto, but she’d never told anyone her true feelings.