Chapter 13

            Chastity had ordered a picnic lunch from the hotel café. It was a good thing she had invited Julian because the basket was heavy. She had trouble walking while she carried it, so Julian had taken it from her.

            They walked the grounds of Villa Doria Pamphilj. The car traffic was nonexistent. There were cyclists and runners. Some people were already lying on blankets enjoying the sunny day. Just past the main entrance was a 17^th century country palace. It was used as a government building in this century.

            “Is there a particular spot you want to sit in?” Chastity asked.

            “Let’s find a spot in the shade. It’s pretty hot out,” Julian said.

            They walked a little more until he found a little nook like spot next to a tree surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges on the side.

            Chastity spread a blue plaid blanket on the ground. Julian sat the basket on it, and they sat down on the blanket with the basket between them. She unpacked the basket as Julian opened the wine. Before long, they were nibbling on caprese salad.

            “Tell me more about your travels. Where else have you’ve been abroad?” Julian asked and took a bite of his salad.

            “Canada, The Caribbean, England, Switzerland,” she rattled off as she forked her salad. “I went to Mexico during a summer semester for a short internship – for my Spanish class.

            “Ever been to Paris?”

            “Yes, once. Because of your ancestry I’m sure you’ve been several times.” The Beaumonts were descendants of the old French aristocracy.

            “I have and as you know I speak French, too. How come you didn’t study French? I mean you studied Spanish at Columbia and learned Italian on your own time. Why not French?”

            “Because I’m awful at it,” she admitted with a shy smile. “I had enrolled in a French language course at Columbia but right off the back I had trouble with it. I know some words here and there, but I dropped the class before it could mess up my GPA and enrolled in Spanish. I got along with Spanish better.”

            “I see. Well, maybe I can help you with your French if you help me with my Italian. The phrase book I bought doesn’t seem to be helping me.”

            “Maybe,” she mused. “Where did you go to school? I don’t think Alexander ever said.”

            “I went to Yale. I majored in business, obviously. When I graduated, I went to work for B&B and in two or three years became VP of the whole company. My father didn’t seem to think I was too young for it.”

            “Yes, but he knew what he was doing when he hired you for the position. You seem to know what you’re doing.”

            “I guess,” he said with a shrug.

            “Well, if you don’t, you do a good job of faking it.”

            He cocked his head to the side as he looked at her. “Caitlin told me you majored in math.”

            “I did.”

            “I know you were working at Carlyle in the accounting department until recently. I overheard Caitlin telling Alexander that you resigned from there recently.”

“I . . . did.”

“Why? It wasn’t because of that guy, Ernest, was it? I know he’s an accountant at Carlyle.”

“Oh, no. I resigned because . . . I wanted to devote more time to charitable work. Matter of fact, I’ve been tutoring Latino children and adults in math lately.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. Mother superior had assigned her to tutor Spanish speaking students at one of the local parishes in New York. When she joined the order, she would be doing more charity and volunteer work. Chastity didn’t want to get into that now. Julian seemed like the type of man who would totally recoil at her decision and spit out a dozen questions about it. She felt pretty relaxed now and didn’t want to get into it at the moment. She would tell him later. They were having a nice time so far, and she didn’t want to ruin it with her decision of a lifetime.

They finished their salads and dug into their sandwiches - deli chicken, salami, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, pepperoni, and olives on focaccia bread.

“Wow, this is delicious for a sandwich,” Julian commented with his mouth full.

Chastity nodded.

He swallowed. “Have you talked to your family since you’ve been here?”

“My mother. She wanted to see if I was all right. I told her I was fine.”

“Are you and your mother close?”

“Hmm. Define close.”

“You know . . . close. Do you shop together . . . eat out all the time together. Tell her your deepest, darkest secrets?”

She couldn’t help but chuckle. “No. We’re not that type of close. Out of all my sisters, I think she’s closest to Chelsea and Constance. I guess it’s fitting, though. The youngest and the oldest being closest to Mother.”

“Chelsea is the youngest? Which means –”

“I was born first – by thirty minutes.”

“I didn’t know that. I don’t know if my mother had a particular child she was closes to. We all pulled her attention in different ways.”

“If I may ask, how old were you when she died of breast cancer?”

“I was sixteen,” he answered nonchalantly.

“You were so young. I’m sure it was hard on you.”

“I think it would be hard on any son at any age,” Julian said. “In a way, she’s still with us. Cassandra looks just like her. Long brown hair . . . her eyes . . . everything.”

“Yes. I’ve seen the large portrait of her at your father’s townhouse.” Olivia Beaumont had been a very attractive woman.

He nodded. “I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. She was a good woman.”

Chastity nodded.

They chatted about the city and some of the attractions that they were aware of as they finished their lunch. When they got back to the hotel, they went their separate ways for a while before dinner and the opera. Julian had taken out his laptop to do some work in the living room. Chastity had closed herself off in her bedroom to pray the rosary.

After prayers, she took a shower and did her hair in an upsweep. She sprayed her hair with hair spray and stepped into her dress, an emerald green, silk Sachin & Babi scoop neck gown. There were princess seams on the bodice and skirt for a tailored fit. It had straps. A dark colored belt was around her waist. There was only one problem. She couldn’t get it zipped up all the way. She had no choice but to ask for help.

Holding the front of the dress to her bosom, she opened the door. “Julian?”

No answer.

Perhaps he’s in the bedroom.

Chastity stepped out of her room and walked around to the other side of the suite. The door to Julian’s bedroom was slightly ajar. “Julian?”

A moment went by when he opened the door. His black bow tie hung from the collar of his neck. His cuffs were open. It appeared he was in the middle of putting on cufflinks. “Yes?”

“I need help zipping up my dress.”

“Oh, of course.” He stepped out of his room as Chastity turned around, showing the back of her dress. All of a sudden, he was close. Maybe too close to zip up her dress. Then she shook it off, thinking it was her imagination. But what wasn’t her imagination was the sudden heat that washed over her as Julian slowly zipped up her dress.

She looked over her shoulder.

He was staring at her in a strange way for some reason.

“Um, thank you,” she whispered. Then wondered what happened to her voice – and why was she a little breathless.

“This is a lovely gown. Money green,” he said in a low tone. “Let’s hope it brings us luck tonight – bringing the Benetti’s lucrative factory to us, I mean.”

“Yes,” she said as she kept looking at him over her shoulder. “I know signing with the Italians means a lot to you and your father. I’ll do what I can to help tonight.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled as looked at her like . . . she wasn’t sure how to describe it. It made her feel strange.

They fell silent as they continued to stare at each other. Chastity felt more breathless. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t have breathing problems.

Julian cleared his throat. “Well, I guess we better hurry. They’ll be downstairs in twenty minutes.”

“Yes. Thanks again for your help.” Great, now she sounded breathless.

“Any time,” he said in a deep tone.

Chastity turned and hurried away in her stocking feet. Another hot flash came but this time it rushed to her face, and she still felt breathless.

I hope I’m not coming down with something. This is no time to get sick.

            Twenty minutes later, Chastity and Julian were heading down to the limo arm in arm. He could be a real gentleman when he wanted to be. Chastity appreciated the quality of that in him. They ate at La Pergola. Then they were off to the opera house to see Palazzo Poli. By the time the show was over, it was late, and the women were tired, so they decided to retire for the evening. But it seemed like the night went well with the Italians. If Julian and Chastity could keep them happy, then maybe they would throw their hat into B&B.

            Chastity and Julian chatted about the opera on their way back to the suite.

            “I know you loved it because you cried,” Julian said as he opened the suite door for her.

            “I did not,” she denied. A tear or two did run down her face. She was embarrassed by it. She wasn’t emotional concerning – well, most things. She wasn’t sure why she reacted the way she did.

            “Then why did you need my handkerchief?”

            “I had something in my eye.”

            Julian laughed loudly as he closed the door behind them. “Right.”

            She couldn’t help but smile.

            “You really should do that more.”

            “What? Borrow a handkerchief – to get something out my eye?” she added quickly.

            He was grinning. “No. Smile.”

            “Oh,” she said with slight surprise.

            “You have a lovely smile, Chastity.”

            “I do? Thank you.”

            “No one has ever told you that before?”

            “Only my mother when I was a teenager. She had said she wished I smiled more because I had a pretty smile. But that was back then.”

            “Were you unhappy as a teenager?”

            “No. Just a regular moody teenager like everyone else,”

            He scoffed with amusement. “I think I’ll have a nightcap. Would you care to join me?”

            “Maybe another time. I’m exhausted.” She wanted to wash up, get comfortable, and do prayers before bed.

            “All right. Oh. Do you need help with your dress?”

            She had forgotten. “Yes, just in case.” She turned around for him to unzip her.

            He slowly pulled the zipper down.

            The same rush of heat from earlier in the evening swept over her again. She cleared her throat. That’s when she realized it was tight. She clasped her hand over her bosom as she turned around quickly. She didn’t want him to unzip so far where her underwear and slip were showing. “Thank you. Goodnight,” she whispered. It was like she could barely speak.

            “Goodnight.”

            She hurried to her room.

            Gosh, I really hope I’m not getting sick. Summer colds are the worst colds to get.