Ruthless and Deadly

by ML BINELLI

  10. Breakfast

  Barbara was served in the dining room by a maid called Aia. Aia was her favorite. They became fast friends as soon as they met. The other servants were much older than her and still treated Barbara like a child. The young servant knew of Barbara's problems. For lack of a confidant, Barbara became close to her. She had worked in the house for some time and she liked her mistress very much. As for Leonardo, she would hide her disgust for him and, whenever she could, she would place the tip of her thumb between her index and middle finger, a gesture of protection against evil, known as the "figa" in Portugal.

  Barbara ate a morsel of bread with chorizo and took sips from her glass of wine. She ended the meal with a few chestnuts.

  "Aia, tell the others we are going out for a bit. Tell them we are going to take the carriage around town."

  When they found themselves alone and away from the house, they were able to talk freely.

  "Aia, I need to tell you something. My father plans to marry me off to a nameless stranger and dispatch me to America. I don't plan to go alone; would you accompany me on this trip? Even though he has forbidden me from taking servants, I think I can convince him that I need you."

  "Miss," said Aida "I would gladly go. I do not wish to be away from you. But what is the reason for such a sudden decision?"

  "He fears the archbishop will accuse him of a crime to separate us so he can have me at his beck and call. You know well what his plans are. My father, when he caught wind of this, came up with this plan for us to leave Portugal and be free of archbishop Torres. But I plan to use this opportunity to get rid of both."

  Barbara revealed all her plans to Aia because she fully trusted her.

  "I am worried about the risks we will have to face," said Aia. "If they catch us, I fear your father will kill me for taking part in all of this. I am willing to face the consequences though because I wish you to be rid of these two villains."

  When they reached the people's church, they stopped the carriage and dismounted so they could walk around the grounds.

  "Miss Barbara, when do you think we will depart?" asked Aia.

  "I think in the next few days. From what I gathered, my father is already preparing for my departure."

  "Well then I need you to meet someone urgently. There are some details of your life that are unknown to you. This person asked me to keep a secret because she is waiting for the right moment to speak to you, but with your consent, I will seek her out and tell her it is time.

  "Who is this person, Aia? What are you saying to me? What do I not know about myself?"

  "Calm yourself, Miss Barbara. I cannot say anything because I have had my voice silenced by a vow. If you allow me, I will seek this person out right now. I will go to her house while you wait for me in the carriage. I will tell her of your upcoming departure and I hope she will tell you herself what has to be said."

  "Let's do it, Aia. Who is this woman?"

  "It is my mother, Miss Barbara. Do not fear, she would die before saying anything about this to anyone else. Let us go?"

  They set off in the direction of the district where Aia's family lived, where the common folk lived. They arrived at a small house on a narrow street, Aia excused herself and left Barbara waiting in the carriage. After a few moments, she reappeared and called her outside. The two women entered the house.

  "Barbara, this is my mother, Maria Imaculada.

  The woman was sitting and when she saw Barbara a tear rolled out of the corner of her eye.

  "Come my child, sit down next to me," she said. "You look so much like your mother, when I saw you for the first time I was taken back twenty years.

  "You knew my mother? You worked in the house then?" asked Barbara.

  "No, no. said Maria. "I have never been in your home but I have known you since you were born. Don't you have a birthmark in the shape of a strawberry on your right buttock?"

  "Yes I do," responded Barbara. "But if you didn't work at home, how have you seen my body and know my mother?"

  "Child, what I am going to tell you, I have never told any other person, except Aia. Some years ago on a rainy night, a gypsy knocked on our door asking for shelter. Teo, my husband, felt pity for her and we took her in. She was pregnant with you. Aia was three at the time and does not remember the woman."

  "I do remember her, mother," countered Aia. "She always played with me. She had a very loud laugh. I remember that woman, she was very beautiful."

  "Ah, she was that," agreed Maria. "Very similar to you, Barbara. From what she told us she had run away from a gypsy camp and had been walking for days. She ended up here. She told us she had been stolen by them while still a child. One of the gypsies had gotten her pregnant and she chose to run away to spare the child from her life of privation since they treated her like a servant. They made her work for no pay and beg in the streets of every city they stopped in. She could remember that her family was royal but she did not know where they were from. She stayed with us for a while, helping Aia and I, and we took her to the vineyard so she could find work. That way, she could also make some money. She met Jonas there. He still works for your father, isn't that right?" Barbara nodded her head. "Well," continued Maria, "a few days before you were born, she stopped working at the vineyard and after your birth, I helped tend to you while your mother recovered. She was called Dalila. At least that was the name they gave her. She could not remember her real name."

  "What happened after that? Where is my mother, if I still have one? How did I end up at that house?" asked Barbara, now a bit frantic and teary-eyed.

  "Please calm down. Let me finish what I started."

  Barbara began to tremble. How could this be true? How did this woman know of her birthmark? She wasn't sure if even Aia knew of it.

  "Please, continue. Forgive me for my impatience."

  Barbara was almost in a trance. The revelations were causing her head to pound uncontrollably.

  Maria then continued her story. "One day when we returned from the vineyard, your mother and you were nowhere to be found. Only Aia was in the house, playing alone. We didn't know what had happened and on the following day, we told Jonas about the disappearance. He called us aside and told us what had taken place and why both of you were missing. A day before, Master Leonardo's wife had passed away along with her son. For some reason we do not know, Jonas was sent here to offer Money to Dalila for her child. The poor woman accepted the offer and handed you over to him, probably believing that you would have a better life there than anything she could possibly give you. I see no other reason because she loved you very much. She was a good person. She then simply disappeared. We never saw her again."

  Barbara felt the floor giving away beneath her. She was not able to assimilate all the new information. Everything she knew of her life was a lie. Her mother, her father, her home, her life, all false. She was overwhelmed and fell into a faint. When she came to, she found herself lying in Aia's arms. She asked for something to drink and was given a mug of wine. She was thirsty and the wine dulled her senses a bit. She needed now to listen and not think.

  "But how? Do you think this person is me? No, it is not possible," she said.

  "Jonas gave us money to keep quiet about it and he told us we could no longer work in your father's vineyards. With the money, Teo opened a small tavern near here and we moved to this house. Our life improved a great deal but I have always wanted to tell you where you were from. I thought you should know but I think everything has its time and knowing now what you plan to do, I know the time has come. Aia had good reason to bring you here," explained Maria.

  Barbara remained silent. She was confused and drank more wine. Her vision became blurred again and she swooned a second time. When she regained consciousness, Maria continued.

  "Barbara, I give you good reason for what you plan to do. I only recently heard about the hell you have been through in the hands of that wretched man. If you can get away from him and if we can help, we will do
so. But I beg you to please not take Aia with you. She is our only daughter and our life without her would not be worth living, especially knowing that you have no plans to return. Do me this favor and free her from this commitment."

  Barbara began weeping and lowered her head. She asked to lie down so she could rest. The shock of the revelation had left her ill. She tried to stand up but her legs were weak. Aia and Maria helped her up and laid her down on Aia's bed so she could recover.

  At nightfall, they returned to the house. Recovered physically, but not mentally, she entered the home in silence. She had no wish to speak as she was in deep thought. "So that swine took me because he was not my father. While I felt the love of a daughter towards him, that devil was plotting to violate me. He took me when I was just a child. Does Jonas know what happens within these walls? If he does, then he is as evil as my father. But what does that matter now?"

  If she had any previous doubts about her next actions, they had all been dispelled. After entering the house, she dismissed Aia and when confronted by Leonardo, who was worried and asking for an explanation for her lateness, she excused herself and went to her room. She needed to be alone and did not want to speak to her father.

  Leonardo, resenting his daughter's lack of respect, sought out Aia and demanded to know where they had been. Aia lied and told him they had been enjoying the day in the city and had stopped at a few shops, which had recently received merchandise from Paris, and they had lost track of the time. Leonardo was put at ease and told Aia she was dismissed for the night. Sometime later, she went up to Barbara's room to tell her about the lie so Barbara could back up her story if asked the same question. She found Barbara lying on the floor, having swooned for the third time that day.

  "The shock was too much for her," thought Aia. She went to get a cup of water, reawakened Barbara and helped her into bed. "I think a cup of wine would be better," said Barbara so Aia went to fetch one.

  "Aia, sleep with me here tonight. I need someone by my side. I don't think I can stand another night with that man. I swear I will kill him if I see him again today."

  Aia sat down by her side and the door opened. It was Leonardo. When he saw Aia there, his face reddened in anger and he asked her what she was doing there.

  "She was worried about my health and came to see me before I lay down. Like you. I have asked her to sleep here because I am feeling a bit dizzy and feverish," Barbara answered. "Good night father. Sleep the sleep of the just," she said with irony.

  With nothing he could do about it, Leonardo said good night and left. But before leaving he put his hand on her forehead and noticed it was a bit warm. He gave her a good-night kiss and she cringed in disgust.

  After Leonardo left, Barbara hugged Aia who was already lying down by her side.

  "Miss Barbara, I know the day was exhausting for you."

  "Stop calling me Miss, Aia. Right now you are the only person I can trust in this house of hell. You are my sister. Before I go, I will leave you with a few belongings to ensure you have a good life."

  "I am not concerned with money, miss," Aia stopped talking after Barbara gave her a withering look, "Sorry, I meant Barbara." "But there is still something you need to know. They think you should not know this but I believe that at some point you will find this out. Forgive me for making you suffer."

  Barbara jumped.

  "More Aia? I am not sure I can take anymore!"

  "Barbara, how do you think I ended up working in this house? Do you think it was all coincidence? Jonas knows me since I was a child. It was he who placed me here so I could stay close to you," informed Aia.

  "What? What for? To spy on me for my father."

  "Never! His intention was to find out the truth about your origin. He has, since he brought you here, tried to look out for you. I don't know if you have ever noticed but he has certain, let's say, unnatural tendencies. He has never been married and never will but since he has known you he has treated you as if you were his child. Despite not having raised you, he has true love for you. The love of a father."

  Barbara recalled the wooden toys Jonas would bring her when she was a child and the clusters of sweet grapes that he grew himself and that she loved so much. But over time, she had distanced herself from him. If he was her father's ally, he was the enemy.

  Aia continued talking. "Jonas began noticing a change in your behavior, a sudden restlessness and he also noticed how your look of hate towards your father every time you spoke to him. He suspected that something was not right in this house. He came to our house to ask my parents if I could work as a housemaid here so I could find out what was going on. When he was told, he cried like a baby. The tears ran down his face and he clenched his hands in hatred. He cursed the day he handed you over to Leonardo, the day he took you away from your mother. But what could he do? He ran out and swore he would kill your father. My father went after him and convinced him to give up on the idea. He told him to think about what would happen to you if you were alone in the world. And what would happen to him?"

  Barbara began to cry. She regretted having pushed Jonas away. She shouldn't have done it.

  "Aia, if I understood you correctly, Jonas likes boys but he was married at one time and from what I've been told she was my wet nurse, now deceased," said Barbara.

  "Is that right? We do not know of his marriage but we do know of his tendencies. After everything that happened, my father became his friend. Why didn't he tell us he had been married?" said Aia thinking aloud.

  "If the things are as you said they are, I must speak to Jonas. Tomorrow morning, when he comes to speak to father, tell him I plan to visit the vineyard and I want him to accompany me. Now, please, stop. Let's sleep, my mind just can’t take any more of this.

  11. Jonas

  Jonas went to Leonardo's house every morning for breakfast. Both would usually have breakfast together very early before Jonas went off to work in the vineyard. It was when Leonardo received the previous day's report. Since Barbara usually awoke later she almost never saw Jonas. On this particular morning, Aia waited for the groundskeeper and conveyed her mistress' message to him. Jonas then walked over to the table where his master was chewing on a morsel of ham.

  "Good day, Master. Aia has just told me that Barbara is going to the vineyard today."

  "She is acting very strange. Yesterday she came back from her ride very late with the excuse that Aia and her failed to notice the time while visiting the shops. They arrived when the moon was high and she was ill last night, seemed feverish. And now she wants to prance around the grape fields like a baby goat?"

  Barbara walked into the dining room, dressed for the day ahead. She asked for permission and sat at the table.

  "So, Barbara," said Leonardo, "what has made you want to go to the vineyard today?" You were ill yesterday. Are you feeling better?"

  "Yes, I woke up early and am feeling very well. It has been a long time since I have seen the grapes and the work being done over there, and I feel like going. Do you have a problem with this plan?" she said with half-lidded eyes.

  "No, not at all." Leonardo rushed to explain himself because he had not expected her response, "I am simply concerned about your wellbeing. Are you really feeling better?"

  "Yes father, don't concern yourself with this." She popped a piece of ham and bread into her mouth. She grabbed a few chestnuts and rose from her chair ready for the outing and to hurry Jonas on.

  She excused herself and said goodbye and asked Aia to accompany her on the visit. All three of them entered the carriage and set off to the vineyard. They rode in silence and at a certain point, where a large, leafy tree cast a long shadow, Barbara asked to stop because the heat of the sun was overbearing. Jonas and Aia walked her over to the shade. She sat on the ground and the others followed suit.

  "So, Jonas, has my father already told you about the plans he has for me?"

  Jonas nodded his head. He was feeling a bit awkward in her presence.

  "Jonas,"
she continued, "Aia and Maria have told me the story of my life. I would like to fill in some gaps, but before we go on, tell me, what happened to Mario? Did you kill him?"

  Jonas fumbled and his expression was one of dismay.

  "Miss Barbara, do you think I am a child murderer? Don't you know me well enough to know I would never do such a thing? I would only kill one man in this world and it is not and never was Mario."

  "What happened to him, Jonas? Why did he disappear, abandoning a family who was in despair over his fate?"

  "Miss Barbara, this brat, who I cannot describe in any other way, was not worth his salt. It was he who approached Leonardo and told him about your wish to run away from home. Who else could it have been? In exchange, he received a large sum of money to disappear. His mother was desperate, without knowing if he was dead or alive. He just wanted to use you. But this kind of person never gets far in life, he is probably already somewhere in the world begging on the streets," said Jonas.

  Barbara was deep in thought. All this time she thought Mario loved her but in reality what he loved was her father's money. How long had she suffered thinking of the perversities that Leonardo and Jonas had put him through? The explanation had been a lot simpler. She thought that one of the maids, after eavesdropping on one of her conversations, had informed her father of her intention to run away. But it ended up being the man she planned to run away with that betrayed her. Just another of life's deceptions. In the least she had used him also and had never had any feelings for him.

  "There I was, thinking the worst. Forgive me, Jonas. Your closeness to my father has made me believe you were in collaboration with him but from what Aia tells me, things are not what they seem, are they?"