by Kailin Gow
“I just want to be near you as much as possible while you are here.”
“It’s ridiculous for me to expect you to drop everything just to be in Pompeii for me when I’m not working…the days have been really long.”
As soon as the words came out of my mouth I regretted them. I saw a flash of hurt cross Salvatore’s face. He seemed to think that my words meant I didn’t want to be by him. I tried to restate what I meant carefully so he’d understand my intentions. “I just know that you have a lot going on, too, and much to organize. Plus, your family needs you.”
“Yes, but I need you,” Salvatore said.
The captain of the small boat called out that it was time to leave for the mainland. I smiled at Salvatore and squeezed his hands. He leaned in and kissed me one last time, making me feel flushed all over. I was always surprised by my response to him and it never got old.
When he pulled away from me, Salvatore added, “I am not going to miss the opportunity to see you as much as possible whenever I can…I don’t mind waiting. It’s a beautiful city with much to see when you are here on site uncovering the mysteries of ancient Pompeii.”
“I truly love this work. It means a lot to me and I have to give my absolute best efforts, Salvatore,” I said, feeling the need to reiterate that the dig was also my priority.
“I’d never expect anything less of you or ask for anything you didn’t want to give. I love you and now that you’re not with Chase it’s my chance to spend time with you without thoughts of him lingering in our minds.”
“But what about your fiancé?” I asked. Thoughts of her did linger in my mind. Regardless of their understanding, he was spoken for and that made it dangerous to think of anything long term with Salvatore.
“That will be resolved in time,” Salvatore said. “And sooner rather than later if I can do anything about it.”
Then the captain called out one last time and Salvatore kissed me again. Then he turned around and ran toward the boat, gracefully getting on board. He sat down and I watched the vessel pull away from the island. He grew smaller and I finally turned around when I could no longer see him.
I turned around and began to walk toward the rest of the team. Their eyes had been on me but they quickly turned away when they saw me look up at them. Watching couples was usually a fascinating thing for me and I’d always thought it amazing to see those intimate little looks that showed emotions so much better than words did at times.
As I walked up, Professor Leanza turned to me and said, “Great news, Taylor. We’ve discovered some interesting things. Today will be spent looking at some fascinating pieces of history that have been uncovered. I’ll look forward to your take on them.”
“That’s excellent,” I said. Thoughts of Salvatore were immediately pushed to the side. This was it—the moment that I’d been waiting for. I was going to see something that hadn’t been seen by other humans for eons.
We all walked over to the place where the find was and I was immediately overcome by the impact of that moment in time.
With my gloves on, I began to sift through the home, gently wiping away the volcanic ash that had covered the entire home. Unlike the hardened lava, this was soft and I also had to wear a mask to help me breath in air, not particles. I didn’t mind, though, because I began to see the story of one family’s life. Did they know their lives were going to end that day? Did they hug each other tightly as they drew their last breaths? Most people had died from the ash asphyxiating them and taking away the oxygen out of the air in that volcano. Very few, if any, died from the river of lava that cascaded through the town and into the sea.
“Look at this,” I said softly, picking up a comb. It was lovely and had a handle made of carved wood and mother of pearl tines on it. Some were broke off but I imagined what it would be like to have combed your hair with that. The family was obviously quite influential.
In the corner was a desk that had been smashed from the forces that had met it during the volcano but I was able to slide open one of the drawers from it. Inside that drawer, I found a very unique and interesting seal. I wasn’t sure what it was.
I called out to Valencia, “What do you think this is?”
She walked over and her eyes widened. “That’s an amazing find, Tay. That is a seal to show that the man who owned this home was very powerful and very wealthy, likely had many servant, too. But more than all of that—it will give us a name.”
“A name?” I questioned.
“Yes, on that seal is the name of who owned this home. That’s very valuable.”
“What language is it written in?” I asked.
“Italian,” she said.
I felt kind of foolish. I should have known that and of course I’d read that the people of ancient Pompeii did speak Italian, too.
“The last name on this is Degas, first name looks to be Niccolo, although it’s hard to tell because the corner’s a bit worn off.”
“Degas,” I repeated.
“Yes,” Valencia replied.
Degas was Salvatore’s last name.
Wouldn’t that be an amazing coincidence if this family was somehow related to Salvatore’s, I thought.
“Is Degas a common surname?”
“Not uncommon. Why?”
“That’s my friend’s last name.”
Valencia gave me a knowing smile. “The friend you were out here with all last night.”
“Yes,” I said. I felt myself blushing a bit so I changed the subject. “I wonder what else we’ll find.”
It turns out that we found a great many amazing things, amongst which were a mural of a family that was on the floor of the house, having come off a wall. It had been upside down, which helped to preserve it rather well. I stared down and a picture of a proud looking man, stockier but refined, his wife, a beautiful and eloquent woman who was very distinct looking, and two children, a boy and a girl that looked to be about ten years old. This was the family that had lived in this house, used that comb I’d looked at earlier, and were surrounded with the pottery jars, jewelry, coins, and other artifacts that were being uncovered.
What was their life like? What were their passions? What was his business? The questions wouldn’t stop flowing and I kept staring at the picture, admittedly trying to see if I could find a bit of Salvatore in the man’s face. I couldn’t but I guess that was a rather romantic notion, one that was highly improbable. Still…it made me wonder and did remind me of how long of a lineage Salvatore’s family had. Of course, that got me wondering if anyone in his family had ever married someone who was not Italian.
Chapter 14
The next two weeks were filled with vivid thoughts and curiosity about what the families lives were like that lived on Pompeii and I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d ever put any thoughts into people in the distant future looking through their possessions with fascination and wonderment. I couldn’t get enough of it and while everyone else was content with the perfectly acceptable ten hour work day, my goal was to be on the site from dawn until dusk, or as long as the captain of the boat was willing to stay.
“You’ve got to take it easy so you don’t burn out,” Professor Leanza told me every day.
And every day I said, “This is a once in a lifetime experience that I can’t get enough of.”
It was Saturday morning and I was eager to go out to the island for the weekend and catalog some more items from the latest building that we’d uncovered—a merchant store. It was loaded with incredible things and I thought about how great it would be to have some of the artifacts available for sale through my family’s business. There would be a huge market for it but as my dad had always reminded me, what can be in a museum for all to enjoy must be placed there first. I’d never fully understood his words but now that I was on the site, I clearly understood what he meant.
Eating some breakfast at the café in the hotel, I sat there staring at an Italian newspaper. I was learning some Italian but truthfully, I could
only read small fragments of stories and had to rely on pictures more than anything to tell me what was happening.
I glanced around on occasion to see if anyone from my group was going to show up for breakfast. They were all sleeping in—again—as they did every Saturday. I just didn’t get how they could do it when there was so much to discover.
Out of nowhere, a pair of hands was lightly covering my eyes and I jumped, startled by it.
“Surprise,” a voice whispered in my ear.
My heart began to race and I whipped my head around. “Salvatore. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to take you on an amazing day of adventure,” he said.
“Oh, but…” I tried to collect my thoughts, which were all muddled. “I need to get out to the site today.”
“Need? No, I don’t think so,” he said with a smile. “I spoke with Professor Leanza last night and he assured me that you didn’t.”
“You spoke with him?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes, we must watch out for you and make sure you enjoy the present, not just live in the past—albeit a fascinating, ancient past.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered.
“Say you missed me as much as I’ve missed you,” Salvatore said and I couldn’t help but notice the passion and intensity in his voice. It was smoldering.
“I have missed you,” I whispered.
“Now, eat your breakfast so you have energy for the day.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked, suddenly feeling the need for intimacy with Salvatore. I wanted him and to feel the reminders of what it felt like to touch his muscular, smooth, tan flesh with my fingertips.
“I am all for what your eyes are suggesting,” he said with a smile. “Plus, you don’t have to wear dig clothes today. I can help you get out of those things.”
Needless to say, I ate fast and we made our way up to my hotel room, where we didn’t waste any time. We quickly ripped each other’s clothes off and had an urgent, demanding quickie to release some of the sexual energy between us. Then I got dressed again, this time in sandals and a melon colored sundress.
“You look amazing; just perfect.”
“My dig clothes aren’t perfect?”
“You look amazing in those, too, but this shows off a bit more of your beautiful body; one that is getting too skinny. We shall feast like royalty today,” Salvatore said.
“Where are we going? You never told me.”
“I have a few ideas in mind, starting with going to pick some olives, see the beautiful countryside—which is in full bloom right now and then to the one place that’s off the beaten path where you can get the best, made from scratch pizza in the entire country.”
“The entire country and it’s a secret,” I said with a cheeky grin. “How do you know about it?”
“I have connections…in this case, the lady used to be my nanny until I was eight.”
From the look on Salvatore’s face I could see that he was very fond of his nanny and had a great deal of love for her. It was quite endearing to me.
We took off into the country, stopping at a grove of olive trees on the side of the road. Salvatore got out of the car and came around and opened my door, offering his hand to help me get out. I didn’t need his help but I took it, loving how it made me feel to be around such a gentleman—a hot, sexy gentleman.
“Can we just eat one? Isn’t this someone’s farm? Won’t they get mad?”
“They will not get mad. It’s considered an honor for someone to want to eat an olive from one of their trees over the others. It would be insulting if we passed it by.”
“Really,” I said. I was not positive if I believed Salvatore and my questions soon stopped after I plucked an olive from the tree and ate it. It was amazing. I’d never tasted an olive that was that fresh before and it was so good.
“Delicious, aren’t they?”
“They sure are,” I said.
“Enjoy a few. It’ll hold you over until we get to the farm for the pizza.”
There were no complaints from me. I had six more olives, which was surprisingly filling and then we got back into the car and Salvatore pointed out various things along the sides of the country roads that might be of interest, as well as chatted in general about the business and all his decisions with the university. I listened and learned, enjoying every moment of it.
I quickly found out that an Italian farm was different than most American farms that we saw. There were no red barns. The farm houses and barns were all made of field stones, sturdy and able to withstand the time while remaining intact. Salvatore’s nanny’s farm was amazing, so beautiful and lovely. It reminded me of a place where one may go to write a novel or paint their masterpiece. It was loaded with inspiration.
“This is so lovely,” I said.
“Yes, it is. I would trade my home, beautiful as it is, for this place in an instant. I love it out here.”
“Why don’t you?”
“As you can imagine, it doesn’t go over too well to disrupt the family’s plans and traditions on a regular basis.”
I laughed, not so much at Salvatore’s words but at the facial expressions he had while making the statement.
A loud, booming voice called out, “Salvatore,” with the enthusiasm of a group of playful kids.
I looked over and saw a very rotund woman walking toward us with a huge smile on her face and at a very brisk face.
Salvatore called back, “Carlotta.”
He walked over to her and hugged her tightly, smiling at her so affectionately.
She smiled at him and then looked over to the left, staring at me. “And this must be your friend, Taylor. She is beautiful just like you said.”
“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” I said, finally walking forward and going over to the two.
I held out my hand and she “poo-pooed” me and gave me a big, friendly hug. “You are Salvatore’s friend, therefore you are my friend. We don’t shake hands with friends.”
“Thank you.” I instantly felt at home and adored Carlotta, seeing why Salvatore felt the way he did about her. We walked into their farm house and to the back of it, where the kitchen was. It had windows that overlooked the fields. A large, stout man was sitting there at the table reading the same newspaper I’d made an attempt at reading just that morning.
“Giovanni, this is Salvatore’s Taylor.”
Salvatore’s Taylor, I thought, blushing.
“It’s wonderful to meet you,” he said, standing up and taking my hand in his and patting the top of it with his free hand.
We sat down at the kitchen table and Carlotta got to work making us our pizza. I offered to help and she shook her head no, saying it was her joy to make the pizza for us.
“You’re going to love it,” Salvatore said, nodding his head enthusiastically.
“I have no doubts.”
“So, you are here working in Pompeii,” Carlotta said.
Salvatore had shared quite a bit about me with her. It was really sweet.
“Yes, we’ve been uncovering some amazing things and I’ve been learning so much.”
“There are many great stories about Pompeii but none warm my heart more than the ones that Salvatore had as a boy,” Carlotta said.
“What do you mean?”
I quickly found out that Salvatore used to pretend to go on digs and uncover the ancient secrets of Pompeii. It had happened after he received a book about a boy who was a curious explorer when he was just three years old. He’d taken to it quite seriously and believed that he’d be able to find something. What better treasure to search for than that of Pompeii? The fact that it was hours away from his home didn’t matter.
Carlotta’s animated descriptions and all of us laughing so hard. I was impressed that she was able to keep preparing the pizza at the same time. She told us how it was completely made with things they grew on the farm. That was really amazing to me, seeming almost impossible to do in m
y opinion.
Once the pizza was cooking in the hearth oven, Carlotta said she’d be back in a bit and went out to the backyard to feed the chickens.
“So, what have you discovered lately at the site?” Salvatore asked.
I was touched by the question because I’d been working very hard to not just talk about work on our fun adventure. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was incapable of discussing anything else, although they would have been mostly correct in their assumption.
“I have uncovered one thing that I find particularly fascinating,” I said. “It’s a jewelry box that looks like it belonged to the daughter of the family. And oh, their last name is Degas…isn’t that an odd coincidence.”
