Cecilia's Secret

by Patricia Gallinetti

  “Hello, Pumpkin, your Mom has told me you are seeing my Mother again in your dreams, you think you saw her in your room,” she paused. Nan didn’t sound too surprised or as skeptical as Louisa. “I sorted out some photos of her and there is a lot I can tell you, she was a bit of a rebel and there is still a mystery that has never been solved,” She chuckled. “Maybe that’s why she is trying to get through to you somehow, to tell you something that is worrying her spirit.” She was silent for a moment and then went on. “It’s also very strange that you have decided to travel to Italy now. Having these dreams of Cecilia, because she stayed a few years in Tuscany, but she never talked about it,” Annie heard Nana sigh, “my father and Nana Olga, his mother, wouldn’t talk about it either.

  Annie gasped and said. “You know Nana this is weird, because the morning after my dream Denise phoned and asked me to go to Italy with her. Is this all serendipity?”

  Nana chuckled again and said.

  “Well, come and see us. There is a lot I can tell you."

  “Goodbye Nan, see you as soon as I can, can’t wait, Love you.”

  That night Annie had another dream, but it wasn’t about the building, it was a fleeting dream. Annie woke up again with a start, she felt as if she had been in a room with Cecilia. Who was very upset and tearful. When Annie arrived home that evening after work, she called Nana,

  “I had another dream about Cecilia, Nana, she was leaving on a ship, the name was a bit indistinct, but I know it started with, T- h- e- m.”

  “Well. I do have the name of the ship she travelled to South Africa on,” said Nan, “I think it was about nineteen thirty or thirty-one,” She paused and said thoughtfully

  “I have never been able to find out what caused Nana Agnes to send my mother away so suddenly, but I think that she must have been only eighteen at the time. I do have a lot of information about Cecilia,” she gave her adorable chuckle “This will give me an excuse to see you.”

  “That will be great Nana.” said Annie “When I finally get a bit of time, I’ll pick it up, it sounds as if I have opened a can of worms or let a skeleton out of the cupboard,”

  “Nana?” Annie continued tentatively. “I don’t want to upset you in any way, if I find out something really bad about the family; I won’t go on if you don’t want me to.”

  “No, no, no Annie love,” replied Nana, “I am enjoying this, it’s very exciting and I have wondered for years what was behind all these events that have been obscure for so long.” She said, “My mother seemed sad at times,” Nana was quiet and then continued “Possibly I was the cause of it all.” She was silent once more. Annie said quietly.

  “Nana… are you Okay?

  She heard Nana sigh and then said, “You go right ahead and get all the details you can and don’t you dare keep anything from me.” Annie laughed.

  When Annie phoned Nana again a few days later, she asked if Annie had the time to visit her because she wanted to tell her granddaughter a few more stories about Cecilia. Annie arrived and Nonno came outside and welcomed her into the house,

  “Caio, Tesora mia.”

  He kissed her on both cheeks and gave her a big bear hug, beaming, he called out. “Mama our child has arrived.” He was an adorable man, always willing to help anyone. Paulo Tonetti was born in Italy and immigrated to Australia in his early twenties. Annie’s nana Catherine had married Paulo in Melbourne.

  Nana had the tea ready, and they sat and chatted and then she said.

  “Annie, I have found some more snippets for you about my Mother,” She hesitated. “There is something else I have discovered,” she looked at Annie “her name on my birth certificate is incorrect, Cecilia Scott instead of Skye,” Nana paused, “I have never been so astonished in my life. How did she get away with giving a false name for goodness sake and how did I not see this before? Why did she do it?” Catherine sounded puzzled, trying for some explanation. “I wonder if it was an error?” she frowned slightly then nodded slowly “I suppose when I was born, the authorities weren’t too strict about identification regarding births and deaths,” Catherine shook her head. “Cecilia never spoke to me about her past before she met my father, in fact she never said much about their life together either,” She went on pensively. “Was there something nefarious in her past she didn’t want revealed, and this is the reason why she gave a false name?”

  Annie and Nana were silent and then Annie said

  “Does it worry you at all Nan?”

  “Well, yes, it was all so long ago, but it does upset me that she never told me anything,”

  Nana sounded hurt and indignant, “After all it is my life, and she could have trusted me.”

  Annie looked at Nana, frowning slightly and said.

  “Possibly it was something so terrible she didn’t want you to know about it?”

  Catherine smiled sadly at Annie, looking over her glasses,

  “And now she is regretting not revealing any of her past to me and is trying to make amends.”

  “Oh Nan!” exclaimed Annie getting up and hugging Catherine. “I am going to do my best to find out more, now that we have computers etc. I have a feeling I will be able to unravel this mystery for you.”

  Nana smiled and patted Annie on the arm.

  “I have always wondered what happened, and why she went to South Africa and I know she lived in Italy for a while,” she sighed, “anyway Annie, if anybody can do it you can and it seems to me, mysteriously, that Cecilia has decided you are the one to contact.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sydney – Present Day

  A

  nnie and Denise were to leave for their trip in June; their return date was left open. After arriving in Milan, the friends planned to go straight on to the village which was Nonno’s birthplace. Pralungo was in the mountains, at the foothills of the Alps and Nonno had given them the names of a few of his family. From there they were driving to Venice, after that to Bologne and into Tuscany and then a visit to Assisi and Rome, stopping on the way to visit various places. Annie hadn’t dreamt of her great-grandmother again, but she still remembered everything vividly. She was also puzzled about the phrase. The answer is in Italy. Answer to what? Maybe the answer to what was worrying Cecilia? Annie thought she would like to learn more about Cecilia and why she had been crying in the last dream she had of her Great -Grandmother. Was it just all weird dreams, or was Cecilia trying to reveal something? She thought maybe Cecilia was a troubled soul and wanted her help, but she just couldn’t decide what on earth it could possibly be, and why her? Was it because Annie’s second name was Cecilia?

  Annie was excited, she thought maybe she would learn more from Nana when she and Denise visited Catherine later that day. When the friends arrived at Nana’s house, she greeted them and said they were to have Penne Arrabiata for lunch and Gelato for dessert. To enjoy with their coffee later, Nana had made her delicious puff pastry éclairs with a filling of cream and sherry, topped with chocolate icing. As they walked into the dining room Nonno was waiting there to greet the two girls. Even though he had lived in Australia for over fifty years he still had a fascinating Italian accent. The meal was very lively, with Nonno telling the two girls about his childhood and hometown, he kept filling their glasses with wine (which Annie declined as she was doing the driving.)

  “Come on girls,” said Nana as she pushed her chair away from the table. “let’s go up to the attic, where I keep all my old photos and Nonno can have a snooze in front of the TV, we can have coffee and do the dishes later,” She turned to Annie. “Grab a pen and pad Annie love, you can make a note of some details.”

  The attic held many memories and was packed almost to the ceiling, but Nana knew where everything was She went straight for a big tin trunk, painted all the colours of the rainbow.

  “Gosh,” said Denise “What a cool old trunk, who did the art work?”

  “Oh,” replied Catherine, “All the children had a turn, Annie has contributed to a lot of it.” she smil
ed, remembering some wonderful times,” She opened the trunk, packed neatly with photos and papers. “Okay, now let’s see,” said Nana sitting down and perching her spectacles on her nose smiling around at the girls. “Annie hand me that batch of photo’s, there’s CECILIA written across the outside,” Taking out a photo she handed it to Annie.

  “This is my Mother, when she was in her sixties, not long before she passed away,”

  She showed a similar photo of Cecilia that Louisa had given to Annie.

  “She returned to Australia after my Father died when I was seventeen, because her family all lived here,” Said Nana.

  She went on shuffling through the photos looking for another one. “Here is a lovely one of her when she was eighteen, she was beautiful,” she sighed “but when I was growing up, she was a difficult woman to understand, I never felt any affection from her,” She looked at Annie. “I was surprised one day - your mother was about five years old, Bas was about three - when Cecilia phoned and asked us if she could take the children out for an Ice-cream,” Nana smiled “I suspect she was fonder of your Mother, although she never let on and Basil actually loved to play with her,” She smiled again remembering the past. “His name for her was ‘Buha’ because she would put her hands over her eyes and snatch them away and shout Boo,” Basil was Louisa’s younger brother, who lived in Queensland. “After that she took Louisa out quite regularly, and lavished both children with clothes and toys.” Nana looked at Annie. “It was a mystery, because although she was never nasty to me she just didn’t seem to have an interest in me, when I was growing up.” She frowned slightly.

  Nana looked at some more papers in a file she had also marked ‘CECILIA’ and exclaimed.

  “Look, this document is from the Department of Home Affairs in Canberra giving permission for my mother to travel to South Africa on her own, it’s dated February nineteen thirty-one, Cecilia was to travel on the ship called the Themistocles, there’s your T.H.E.M.,” Said Nana giving Annie an excited smile. “It says in here that Cecilia is going to live with Agnes’ younger sister Mrs. Eloise Babcock, in Johannesburg,” she continued. “There must have been some reason she would send Cecilia away so suddenly, the fare was about sixty pounds or thereabouts, that was actually a lot of money in those days,” She stated, “Somewhere here I have another letter, let me see,”

  Nana was scratching through the papers again and she had pushed a small parcel aside, it was wrapped in tissue paper and tied with colourful string Annie picked it up examining it curiously and held it in her hands.

  “Yes, here it is,” Nana exclaimed. “here is some more information, Cecilia stayed in South Africa for almost two years and she arrived back in Melbourne in early December nineteen thirty-three, she would be turning Twenty-one that month.”

  “Gosh” Annie chuckled. “This is all very mysterious, I hope we can dig out what happened, if anything happened, maybe she just went for a visit?”

  “Y-e-s,” said Nana slowly. “But I think back then, young girls just didn’t go on long trips on their own, I am sure my grand-mother sent her away for some reason.”

  Catherine routed out a lot more photos and documents and put them in a big brown envelope and handed it all to Annie.

  Annie held up the little parcel. “What is this Nana, or is it a secret?”

  “Oh,” Nana smiled “That’s Pete, mother knitted this for me when I was a baby, I really loved this toy, it went everywhere with me.” She unwrapped the parcel, and revealed a pink bunny with a red polka dot bow tie. ‘Pete’ was a bit the worse for wear. “My mother called her Pete, so, that is her name,” she smiled again “It was my first toy and I adored it,” She grinned and glanced at Annie “I know my Mother was not one to play by the rules and I hope you will be able to find out more, and what the mystery was surrounding her.”

  The three women trooped downstairs and Annie and Denise made the older woman sit down while they packed the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. They then made cappuccino and ate the delicious éclairs.

  The two friends were singing loudly along with the songs on the car radio driving home. Annie dropped Denise off at her place and continued to her own apartment, she was feeling weary and for some reason she felt sad, maybe because she was learning more about Cecilia and she wanted to find out what the mystery was surrounding her great-grandmother’s life.

  When the noisy Kookaburras woke Annie the next morning she realized she hadn’t felt a presence in her bedroom. Never mind. All these dreams she was having were robbing her of her sleep. She pushed aside all thoughts of her great-grandmother and every time her mind wandered back to her vivid dreams she refused to dwell on them and got on with her work. The next few weeks were free of dreams, at least the dreams of Cecilia and Annie was relieved. Maybe that was the end of it.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Italy- Present day

  T

  he plane alighted at Malpensa airport, where the two girls picked up their little fiat.

  “Annie,” breathed Denise “I can’t believe we are here at last, and what wonderful weather.”

  Before long the girls were driving up a steep scenic route to Nonno’s home town, Pralungo. Passing enormous trees beside the road they both caught sight of the sign post pointing to the right. Annie turned onto the little twisting road and remarked.

  “Oh, what a charming little town and the streets are so narrow,” she said delightedly. “No wonder their cars are mostly small.”

  At last they had reached their destination and as they pulled up, they noticed that the cottage resembled a Swiss chalet, a woman with a scarf on her head ran around from the side of the house with her hands in the air, she was exclaiming volubly in Italian, her face scrunched up with smiles and tears. Annie surmised she was about the same age as Nonno.

  “Annie?” the woman queried. Annie held up her hand smiling and as she was climbing out of the car the woman grabbed her and gave her a sloppy kiss on both cheeks and hugged her, Annie heard the name Paulo many times, this was obviously Nonno’s cousin, Bianca, who then turned to Denise also kissing her on both cheeks.

  “Caio, Caio.” she exclaimed in a wobbly tone., moisture gathering in her eyes.

  The little house was charming, it was a tiny double- storey, the lounge and kitchen small, the stairs to the one bedroom were reached by going outside to the veranda, which had wire baskets of pale pink and Cerise geraniums hanging above their heads. The cottage looked out on a deep beautiful green valley covered in trees and grass. When Nonno was describing Bianca’s house to the girls he told them that on the other side of the valley was Switzerland. There was the ‘chonk, chonk,’ of cow bells, as the contented animals grazed on the hillside.

  “Annie,” whispered Denise “It’s almost too perfect,”

  Annie replied with a delighted smile.

  “Yes, it reminds me of those pictures on a box of chocolates.” They sat on the veranda and Bianca brought out coffee in minute cups and small delicious cakes, which they dunked into the strong espresso. Bianca spoke a smattering of English and Annie less Italian, with a result they just managed to converse.

  Eventually they said farewell and as they drove away Annie glanced back and noticed Bianca dabbing at her eyes, it brought a lump to Annie’s throat.

  The two girls were to visit another of Nonno’s cousins, Guido and his wife Rosa-Maria. Guido had grown up with Annie’s grandfather, he was about a year younger than Nonno and Annie knew that Guido’s father, while fighting with the Russians, during the Second World War was executed by the Germans. Rosa-Maria called them all to the table and the amount of food she had set out was enough to feed an army. Guido then asked them where they had planned to spend the night and when he heard they were booking into a hotel, he wouldn’t hear of it

  “No, no you must stay with us.” he stated

  As it was already late, Rosa-Maria showed them to their room and the girls both fell into a deep sleep.

  Annie was tossing and turning
in her sleep, she was once again with a young Cecilia being swept away in a rapidly running river, Annie felt as if she was drowning, she woke up spluttering, her heart was threatening to jump out of her chest.

  “God,” she spoke aloud. “That was awful.”

  She looked over at Denise sleeping in the other bed, but nothing had disturbed her.

  The next morning, after more tearful farewells they were on their way. The girls wanted to get to Venice as early as they could. Denise was driving and chattering to Annie who had become very quiet.

  “Annie, are you Okay?” queried Denise.

  “Umm, yes. Denny, do you mind if we go straight to Tuscany?” Annie asked apologetically. “We can visit Venice when we are on our way home. We must come back here to Milan, so I thought maybe we could explore Tuscany first,” Annie turned to look at Denise and smiled. Annie was puzzled at her own behaviour. “ I think I know where to go,” she caught her breath “Not the name of the place, but I feel I must go there now.”

  Denise stopped the car in a convenient lay by.

  “I don’t mind mate, we did agree we would just go wherever. If you want to go to Tuscany, well, it’s settled, get the map out and see which route we must take.” Denise said with a chuckle.

  The drive to Florence from Biella would take them about four hours; they should get there in time for lunch and find a cheap hotel. Annie didn’t know why she had this urge to get to Tuscany. She knew there was a specific place she had to get to, although she didn’t know the name of the place. Annie was driving and glancing in the rear-view mirror, she was startled to see that somebody was sitting in the back seat. She instinctively knew it was Cecilia. She pulled over to the side of the road and turned around, but, there was nobody there.

  “Cecilia? Breathed Annie “What is it you want?”

  Denise woke up suddenly.

  “Who are you talking to?” she mumbled.