Page 18 of The Unraveling of Julia

“Great!” Julia answered, with a smile. She was trying to rally, but she’d need a lot of Super Tuscan to stay here.

Later, Julia followed Anna Mattia to the second floor, as run-down as the first floor. The walls were cracked and peeling, and most of the windowsills were rotted. There was a center hall and two bedrooms onthe south side of the house, each containing a double bed with a carved headboard, a night table, and a dresser. Each bedroom had a window, and they were open, with muslin curtains billowing out in the front of the villa. The bedrooms had more ceiling frescoes, one a jungle scene with smiling tigers and toothy lions, and the other the seasons of a Tuscan vineyard, from planting to an autumnal harvest. Julia wondered how Rossi could commission such beauty, but allow such ruin.

Anna Mattia motioned her out. “Now Signora’s bedroom.”

Julia followed her to the back of the villa and a bedroom that was large and rectangular, with four windows. The walls were in terrible shape, the windowsills needed replacing, and a baseboard was missing. There was a queen-size bed covered in forest-green brocade, and its carved headboard extended up the wall, flanked by large night tables with turned legs. Arranged around the room were bureaus, armoires of dark wood, and a reclining couch upholstered with shiny brocade.

Once again, it was the ceiling fresco that caught Julia’s eye, but this one was devoted to a single subject.SFORZA, read in black Gothic script, and underneath was a massive green tree in full leaf. She realized it was the Sforza family tree, and superimposed over its leafy limbs were portraits of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza opposite his lover Lucrezia Landriani. Arranged beneath them in the limbs were smaller portraits of children; Carlo, Alessandra, and Chiara. In the middle, the largest portrait of all, with a body shown in full length, was Duchess Caterina Sforza.

Julia eyed the portrait up and down. Caterina was beautiful, with wide-set blue eyes, a longish nose, a pretty mouth with a somewhat receding chin. Her light brown hair was pulled back, and the blue hood of a cape draped around her head. She wore a pearl choker with a crucifix and a dark velvet gown. Underneath her, it read,DUCHESS CATERINA SFORZAnext to the Sforza coat of arms, which was dividedinto four quadrants; two of black dragons on a gold background, and two of a coiled blue viper devouring a man on a white background.

Julia turned to Anna Mattia. “The lawyer told me Signora Rossi thought she was related to Caterina Sforza. Did she ever tell you how?”

“No.”

“Do you know why she thought that?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Was it true? Did you believe her?”

Anna Mattia shrugged. “Is possible. The Sforza very rich, very famous Milanese family.”

“Is that where she got her money from?”

“Yes, she say.” Anna Mattia pointed up at the portrait. “SignoraloveCaterina. She love ’er clothes, jewel, pearl. Signora love pearl like Caterina. She ’ave many necklace, earring.” Anna Mattia touched her own pearl-dot earrings. “She give.”

“They’re so pretty.”

“Signora know about Caterina. She readeveryt’ing.”

Julia mulled it over, resolving to research Caterina on her own. She crossed to the window and took in the view, which was even more bizarre. The vineyard was overgrown, so rows of grapevines had become mounds of underbrush, vegetation. Trees struggled to grow here and there, and patchy streaks of wildflowers and weeds shaded the hillsides between dark and thorny thatches of vines that twisted, tangled, and spread everywhere. It looked as if Mother Nature had drawn lines and scribbled over and over them, until order turned to madness.

Oddly, a large white dog slept in front of a pile of rusted wire and a black tarp. “Whose dog is that?”

“Signora’s. Is Bianco, a Maremmano, Tuscan dog. Is eight year old.”

“That trash isn’t his doghouse, is it?”

“No, is for geese. Vineyard ’ave geese to eat bugs.”

“So grapes grew here once?”

“Yes.” Anna Mattia gestured to Julia’s engagement ring and wedding band. “Your ’usband come soon?”

Julia swallowed, caught short. “Um, no, my husband passed.”

Anna Mattia’s hooded eyes flared. “Dio, I am sorry. ’E was sick?”

“No. He was… murdered.” Julia felt a sudden wave of grief, thinking of Mike, how he should be alive, how there were no leads in his case, and how there might never be.

“Okay?” Anna Mattia asked, but before Julia could say yes, Anna Mattia took her arm and led her to the reclining couch. “Sit. Wait.Aspete.”

“I’m fine,” Julia told her, but Anna Mattia had already gone into a bathroom off the bedroom, then returned with a glass of water and handed it to her. “Drink.”

“Thank you.” Julia took a sip and flashed on her mother, getting her a glass of ginger ale, in which she had endless faith, saying,In Canada Dry we trust.

Anna Mattia sat down and looked at Julia with a new tenderness. “Is wrong, ’e die so young.”

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