Page 20 of Amadeo
“Yes, but can you imagine looking for an English butler in America?”
I shook my head at the concept.
“He was sent here from Italy,” Amadeo explained. “From my grandfather. Some traditional thing.”
“Wow, that is so interesting.”
“Max himself is a mystery, I will admit.”
“He is?” I asked.
“Hell yeah. A tough nut to crack and believe me, we Descalia boys have tried.”
“I get it. I think in the times I’ve seen him, he may have spoken 5 whole words to me?”
“That would be normal. He also disappears but it might be when he goes to his cottage. It’s out back.” He motioned to the east side of the estate. “There’s plenty of room for all of us and then some here. The property itself spans thousands of acres. My father can’t seem to do anything modest. Look at that dining room we just ate in. A table that seats thirty-five people? Who has something like that? We do have parties though. I mean my father does. Not me. I hide out when those happen. In fact, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out where I can hide so he cannot find me. I hate those parties. He would have maybe at least seventy-five guests. So he has a ballroom to put them in with tables for all…Man, I gotta show you that place. Talk about wonders of the freaking world! There’s three full chandeliers in there. I mean overdone is done over and over again here. Like I asked him one time, are we royalty?”
I shook my head.
He passed his hand around and went on, “We own two lakes, a river, and even a small creek or two. There’s old weeping willow trees, hundred year old oaks, and a few orchards. Last year, he added an olympic sized swimming pool. Two yearsbefore that, he had a golf course built. Then there’s the tennis courts and a full gym. Not to mention that we have three different gardens.” He paused on the path outside. “The one we are in now is the smallest. But I’m not really sure because I get lost here sometimes.”
I smiled again.
“No, I am serious. I got lost on what they call the back forty once. Only it’s the back five-thousand in reality. Tito used to live out there at one of the lakes. Like a caveman or something? Not me. I hate mosquitoes, ants or bugs of any kind.” He visibly shuddered in an overly dramatic way.
“You are so funny.” I just kept smiling.
“Thanks.” He smirked. “Luca and my father don’t think so. Or they don’t appreciate my humor I should say. But I could care less. Just look at Max. I have never seen him smile or laugh. I think it would take a miracle to make that happen. But damn, who wants to be serious about just every damn thing? Have some fun. Like live it up a little.”
“And how do you live it up?” I asked.
“Fly.” The answer seemed to be super easy for him. “I love to fly.”
“Yes, you were our pilot over here in that copter. You are a good pilot too. You never tipped us or anything. My patient did well on that flight.”
He nodded. “I can fly anything with wings. Except for paper airplanes, they are just too hard to maneuvre and I would just keep falling on my ass.”
Dang, he was just so funny. I couldn’t help smiling even more as we headed along the path now.
“Let me show you Zia’s rose garden,” Amadeo offered.
“Oh, I love roses.”
“Most women do. So we boys... Well,whenwe were boys, we made her a rose garden.”
“Oh, that is so sweet.”
“She raised us. She was in essence the only mother we had. She is worth more to us than this whole damn place.”
I wondered at his sincerity. Did he really feel like that? If so, how could he live the life he was living?
Amadeo shook his head as he really looked amused now. “Zia sang an old timey song when she first saw it.Let me see if I can remember it? It went something like this…I beg your pardon but I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, there's gotta be a little rain sometime.”
We laughed.
“I mean it was old, so I’d never heard it before and I had to look it up,” he admitted as he grinned at me.
I stared at his smile and the warmth in his eyes. I saw tonight how much he loved Zia and I had this chance to really see if he was a kind, warm person. Still, could a person change that much in such a short time?. His father was pure ‘mafia’ one-hundred percent. I really wanted to understand this. None of them seemed bad or evil on the surface. Then again, my father had been totally convinced of their bad intentions and evil way of life. I needed to remember that and I again hardened my heart.
