Sunrise in Florence

by Kathleen Reid

  Ben lavished tons of praise on her supper. “Come on,” she said after he thanked her for the tenth time. “You’re making more of this than it is.”

  “Nope, I’m just crazy about the future, Mrs. Pierce. We’re going to have a great life together.” After dinner, he helped her with the dishes and kissed her passionately.

  ***

  The inevitable confrontation came the following morning when Angelique, Emily’s mother, appeared in a flowery navy dress, sandals, perfect hair and a resting bitch face. Clearly, she had cajoled the doorman to let her up without alerting them first.

  “Where’s my daughter?” she snapped, brushing past as if Rose were of no consequence.

  Rose stepped aside to follow her into the living room where she and Emily had been playing with the tea set she had purchased earlier.

  “My baby!” Angelique cooed, grabbing the little girl as if she were a package she had just purchased on Madison Avenue. “Where’s Ben?”

  “He’s gone out to run an errand. Can I help you?”

  It was at that moment that she spied the ring on Rose’s finger. “Are you the new nanny Ben’s been talking about?”

  “Excuse me? My name is Rose Maning and I’m Ben’s fiancée.”

  “You can’t be serious! Is this some sort of joke?” She gave her a once-over. “You look so, so . . . ordinary.”

  Rose wanted to say something like, At least there’s no plastic and my boobs are real. But after years of dealing with Doris, she bit her tongue.

  “I think what you meant to say is ‘Hello, Rose. How can we work together for Emily’s sake?’”

  But Ben’s ex wanted no part of a truce. “Sorry, honey, you’re crazy if you think you’re going to have anything to do with my daughter.” Angelique sneered at her and left the room.

  Ben walked in the door, and she brushed by him with Emily whimpering in her arms. “Angie, stop it! Can’t you see you’re upsetting her?”

  “Why did you assume it was me? Ask the new nanny.” She laughed. “Rosie the Nanny.”

  “Now that was clever,” said Rose dryly. “Maybe you can have a second career as a poet.” Rose eyed both of them. “I’m going to let the two of you work out the details of Emily’s next visit.”

  “Thanks, Rosie,” Angelique said smugly, inching closer to Ben.

  Rose excused herself to the bedroom and went in search of her phone to call Zoey. She really needed a friend. Much to her delight, Zoey agreed to hop a train to visit the city the following week when Ben planned to leave. Easy enough to skip the trip to Charlottesville and let him go alone.

  Listening to the voices in the other room, Rose reached for her sketchpad, realizing she hadn’t drawn anything since Tuscany. With a few fluid strokes, she began drawing a cloud formation and a sunset from memory. Faith’s painting of Moon River came to mind while she shadowed a swirl in the body of water. Raised voices interrupted her, so Rose delved deeper into her drawing, hoping that Ben and his ex would figure out how to be civil for Emily’s sake.

  When he came back to find her, Rose noticed that he seemed flustered. She asked firmly, “What are we going to do about Angelique? She snapped when she saw the ring on my finger.”

  Ben ran a hand through his hair. He replied, “We’ll figure it out later.”

  ***

  Angelique’s “Rosie the Nanny” dig still stung, making Rose feel inadequate. Determined to hold her own, Rose recalled that the mother of one of her students used to go to SoHo to get her hair done. Rose decided to pay more attention to her appearance and freshen up her look. Checking her face in the mirror, she thought some makeup would help too. She did feel rather provincial in the big city, so a change would hopefully boost her self-confidence.

  The hours of preening and hair coloring and application of seriously expensive makeup were worthwhile given Ben’s response.

  “Wow! You look amazing!” he said, staring at her elegantly coiffed hair. “And your timing is impeccable! Turns out my friends Dan and Tina are having a small group of us over for drinks and apps tonight. I’d love for you to meet them. Dan’s a hedge fund manager and Liz has her own accessories business. Linda and Ron are also going to try to make it; they’re both art dealers. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about with all of them. Does that suit you?”

  “Sure!” she said, trying to quell her anxiety. “Sounds great.”

  “Okay, I’ll let Dan know we’re coming.” He leaned over and kissed her. “I can’t wait to show you off.”

  His words made her heart sing. Ben Pierce had just made her feel beautiful.

  ***

  They grabbed a cab downtown to an amazing loft with a pristine view of the city. Rose swallowed hard, wondering how she would fit in with Ben’s friends, who all seemed very confident and successful. As it turned out, their welcome was warm, and Rose loved that Dan gave her a big hug and kiss.

  “Finally! It’s so great to meet you, Rose. Ben’s told me so many wonderful things about you. I can’t believe you guys reconnected after all these years. What a great story!”

  “Sometimes I can’t believe it,” she replied, turning to greet Tina, who also gave her a big hug.

  “I love your necklace! It’s gorgeous,” said Tina sweetly.

  Rose wasn’t going to admit that she had just removed the tags after an afternoon spent on Madison Avenue.

  “Thanks! That’s quite a compliment coming from you. I checked out your company’s website and it looks amazing. It’s so well done!”

  “Oh, thank you! I really appreciate your kind words; we just changed our marketing strategy not too long ago, so I’m eager for all feedback.”

  “What can I get you?” asked Dan. He turned to Tina. “Linda and Ron are on the way. They said about fifteen minutes.”

  “A glass of pinot grigio would be wonderful.”

  The men left the room, and Tina showed her around the apartment, which had gorgeous views of the skyline. “We gutted this place and took two apartments to create a bigger space for our family.”

  “Oh, how old are your children?”

  “Maddox is six and my Laura just turned three.”

  “I’d love to meet them.”

  “Boy, are you the antithesis of Angelique. She always thought kids should be seen and not heard.”

  “That’s too bad. I love kids. I was an art history teacher for years in Charlottesville.”

  “That’s terrific. Okay, I’m just going to be rude and tell you I’ve got to see the ring.” She grabbed Rose’s hand and nearly gasped. “Wow. That is just stunning. Ben did well.” Tina immediately embraced her. “I hope you guys are so happy together.”

  “Me too,” said Rose, feeling her cheeks burn.

  Dan and Ben walked back in the room talking numbers. Tina rolled her eyes. “I’ve told him not to bombard Ben with stock tips now that he’s retired, which we never thought he would do.”

  “Why not? It’s a tough business.”

  “Well, Ben may not like to brag, but he was one of the most respected hedge fund managers in the country. He was at the top of his game when he got out. But I really don’t think he’ll stay away from the financial business forever. He’s too competitive.”

  “He seems pretty happy these days researching and writing about Thomas Jefferson.”

  “It’s just a phase. I promise you, he’s got that killer instinct. He’ll get back in the game before long.”

  Her words were not unexpected or surprising, but Rose realized that she had no idea what made Ben tick. He was handsome and charming, and he seemed to know how to maneuver every situation to his advantage. She looked down at the massive diamond ring on her finger.

  Linda and Ron arrived a short time later and Tina made the introductions. They were thrilled to hear the news that Ben was engaged, and Linda hit Rose with a barrage of questio
ns about her life in Charlottesville, the move to Florence and wedding plans.

  As soon as Rose thought she had successfully dodged any mention of her interest in Renaissance art, Ron came over and took her aside.

  “So, Ben tells me you’re passionate about the life and works of Michelangelo.”

  “Absolutely,” she replied innocently enough, feeling her stomach tighten.

  “You know, we buy and sell art all over the world.”

  “Really?” she replied. “How fascinating.” Rose looked over at Ben, giving him a wink like she was hanging on Ron’s every word. He was certainly knowledgeable and talked all about his gallery’s recent sale of a Van Eyck and his company’s high level of expertise in Renaissance portraiture and, of course, their professionalism.

  “Can I give you my card?”

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  “Well,” he said, “just in case you ever need a confidential and expert opinion on a piece of Renaissance art.”

  “I’m not sure where you got your information, Ron, but I was a teacher and certainly don’t have the budget to be buying or selling high-dollar art.”

  “I see,” he said thoughtfully. “Take it anyway. I’m confident I can be helpful.”

  “Thank you so much,” she said politely. “I’ve really appreciated learning about your firm.” Rose stuffed the card into the pocket of her breezy white linen pants, making eye contact with Ben as if she had enjoyed making the connection. The timing of the gathering was not lost on Rose, who told herself to stay calm and not jump to conclusions, again. Fortunately, Ben was heading to Charlottesville in the morning, and he’d been very gracious about her change of plans to invite Zoey and not accompany him.

  In the cab on the way home, Ben asked casually, “So, what’d you think of everyone?”

  “Oh, I adored meeting your friends and especially learning about Ron’s firm. You know how I love Renaissance art.”

  “Great,” said Ben, smiling warmly. “Ron is a highly respected art dealer and so’s his wife.”

  “I look forward to getting together with them again.”

  That night, sleep came slowly for Rose, who tossed and turned for hours. She made Ben scrambled eggs and coffee in the morning and sent him on his way, promising that she would try to meet him in Charlottesville in a few days.

  Chapter 17

  THE DOOR FLEW OPEN and the women embraced. Zoey broke free to study Rose’s coiffed blond hair, stylish black ankle pants and chic sandals.

  “Wow! You look amazing but—” She studied her again. “Is this the Rose Maning, carefree art teacher, that I used to know?’

  Rose smiled and curtseyed.

  “How long are you here for?”

  “Maybe another week. I need to get back to Florence and check on my apartment.”

  Rose walked her to a sleek white guest room with navy accents and told her to make herself at home.

  “Honey, this is more like a luxury hotel. It’s gorgeous.”

  “I must admit Ben’s ex has great taste, despite her obnoxious personality.”

  “Oh! We’ve got sooo much to talk about. But I’m kind of confused. I mean, you were with Lyon in Tuscany last month and now you’re engaged to Ben and planning a wedding. It all seems like a whirlwind.”

  “If you only knew the half of it.”

  Zoey dropped her bags on the bed and took a seat on the white sofa in the room. “Come on, out with it. You’ve been so cryptic on the phone that I can’t figure out what’s going on.”

  Rose was relieved to finally share the truth with someone she trusted. “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Take it from the top,” said Zoey.

  “After you left, I hired contractors to come in and take out that section of wall between the kitchen and the living room. The mess and noise all day drove me crazy, so I went to Rome for the weekend. When I was visiting the Sistine Chapel, I met a woman named Elsa and then her daughter, Beatrice, who works as a conservator for the Vatican.”

  “I’m sure that was an instant connection,” joked Zoey.

  “Of course,” said Rose, relaxing a bit. “Anyway, I came home and there was this hole in the wall since the contractors hadn’t installed the molding yet. The edges looked unfinished, so I went over to examine their work. Then, a piece of plaster fell off and I saw something stuck in the wall. When I reached in, I found this old dusty tube. It was the most incredible moment of my life!”

  “Seriously? What was in it?”

  “It had three moldy drawings of a baby, a young boy and a scene from the Sistine Chapel, only it was a different version with the hands clasped rather than the fingers touching.”

  Zoey covered her mouth. “That’s amazing!”

  “It gets better. I knew the drawings were special, so I hid them in my new wardrobe upstairs by my bed until I could figure out what to do.”

  “Smart, as always.”

  “Well, it was all surreal and then I had this dream. It was almost a vision, and I knew I needed to safeguard them. That I was meant to find them. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what happened.”

  “Okay, so how does Ben fit into all of this?”

  “He came to visit me in Florence and spent a few days, and, well, when he left, he took the tote bag with the drawings.”

  “Wait a minute. Back up a second. Say that again.”

  “I showed Ben the drawings and he recommended that this contact in Italy that does appraisals for Christie’s take a look at them. The appraiser said they were worthless, but I didn’t believe him, so I went to Lyon’s office and put them there for safekeeping. Then I hid some parchments in a tote bag and put them back in my wardrobe.”

  “You say Ben took them from you?”

  “Well, he explained that he took them to have another appraisal done by people he knows in New York. He said he knew the Italian appraiser was lying. Anyway, I’ve forgiven him, but there’s more.”

  “This is unbelievable. Go on.”

  “I got in touch with Beatrice, and Lyon took me to Rome to show them to a cardinal there to see if there were authentic.”

  “And? Hurry up, girl, and tell the story! This is wild.”

  “And they paid me $3 million for them.”

  “No way! That’s insane.”

  “Yup. But when I got back to my apartment, there was a break-in, so Lyon took me to stay with his parents in Tuscany. I absolutely loved—” She paused and looked down at her engagement ring.

  “So, back to Ben. What is his part in all of this?”

  “He doesn’t know I sold them.”

  “What? . . . Why haven’t you told him?”

  “I want to figure out how to do some sort of scholarship fund for kids with it.”

  “Can I apply? I’d love to study abroad,” Zoey chuckled.

  “I haven’t told him because Ben and I have differing opinions on how the situation should have been handled. He was all about selling them to the highest bidder. I cared more about their historic significance. There is a possibility they were actual sketches by Michelangelo or his son.”

  “What? That’s huge,” Zoey said. “Maybe Ben doesn’t know you very well. You’d never let money get in the way of your principle.”

  Rose suddenly looked forlorn, so Zoey changed the subject.

  “Since when do you use a gallon of hair spray?”

  Rose burst out laughing. “That bad?”

  “Sweetie, you’re so naturally beautiful. You don’t need fake hair and eyelashes.”

  “But—” She gulped, feeling a tear prick her eyes. “I want to fit in Ben’s world. And, well, Doris and I made up. She’s actually acting like my mother, and she’s so thrilled that I’m marrying Ben.”

  “Hold on! You’re going to let Doris dictate anything in your life? Whew
! I’m glad I came to see you. This is all crazy, Rose. Doris has always been self-absorbed. You know that.” Zoey paced the room. “Okay, I’m not sure where to start.”

  “Help!” exclaimed Rose. “I feel like I’m drowning.”

  “You mentioned you stayed at Lyon’s parents’ home. Where is Lyon in all of this?”

  “He hates me. He walked in right after Ben proposed. Ben flew in with Doris and Eric. After I accepted his proposal, they all came to my apartment. Then, Lyon dropped by, supposedly to check my new alarm system.”

  “Oh no!” Zoey looked deeply into the eyes of her friend. “You don’t really love Ben, do you? You’re in love with Lyon.”

  “Of course I love Ben. I agreed to marry him. What kind of question is that?”

  “Let me rephrase the question. Do you love the old Ben or the current Ben?”

  Rose froze and her hands shook. She would have done anything in the world for the Ben she grew up with; she had worshipped him.

  “He was my first love. I dreamt about him for years. It’s all so perfect now.”

  “Well, if it’s so perfect, why are you shaking?”

  “Because I’m so happy and so scared all at once. I always dreamed this was meant to be.”

  “Unless it’s not. You can’t sell your soul for what you think you should do! What about you? Your goals? Your desire to pursue painting? And what about Lyon?”

  “It was a stupid mistake to quit teaching and pursue some childish ideal of becoming an artist and living in Florence. And it was stupid to become infatuated with that Italian playboy.”

  “It didn’t seem farfetched or stupid to me,” Zoey scolded. “Clearly, you wanted to take this time for yourself and grow as a person. You were so excited and so adamant.”

  “I changed my mind. It’s all been a mistake. Doris was right. Can we stop talking about this? My head hurts.”

  “I’m surprised you can move your head with all of that product on it.”