Her Double Punishment

by Daniella Wright

  If he was, I probably deserved it.

  “Oh.”

  There’s an awkward pause, and then I sit down next to him.

  “I want to apologize,” I say.

  “Don’t.” He shakes his head again. “You are so young, and we manipulated that. It wasn’t fair of us. I’m sorry, Savannah.” His eyes search out mine. “I hope we have not ruined your perception of our beautiful country.”

  “Of course not,” I begin, but then there’s a grumble on the stairs and the girls are in the doorway, and I can’t finish this conversation in front of them.

  “I’ll see you in the mill,” Marco says, his expression grim.

  I nod.

  “See you there.”

  It doesn’t take long to get the girls breakfast this morning. Now I know what they like, I can have it ready in no time. They chatter away, excited because today their parents are coming home. Anna’s other siblings have arrived from overseas to help, so Anna and Alessandro are heading back home for a little while.

  We head back out to the mill. There’s no more than a day’s crates stacked against the wall, and I wonder, again, what I’ll be doing for the rest of the year.

  By lunch time Anna and Alessandro have returned, and they get straight to work.

  “I would never miss the last tasting for the season,” Anna says to me. She sighs. “So much of the year is spent longing for that one taste, and then it passes, so quickly.”

  “It has gone fast, hasn’t it?”

  Anna smiles at me. “Thank you for watching my girls,” she says. “They love you, you know. We all do. It’s been so good having you here, so different to most of the workers we have. You’ve really become one of the family.”

  By the end of the day I feel completely drained. We have our usual feast, Giovanni once again sharing out the freshly pressed oil.

  This time we wait to taste it together.

  “Saluti!” Giovanni says, throwing back his glass.

  “Saluti,” we reply, doing the same.

  “Ah, I’ll miss this,” Anna says, looking at her glass. “Nine months till I taste those flavors again.” She winks at me. “I could have another baby in that time.”

  She laughs, and heads to the table, where she covers a bruschetta with fresh oil, adding a few marinated olives on the top.

  Still the joy of the atmosphere seems forced, somehow. Neither Marco nor Stefano will catch my gaze, and I feel a pang of longing for those earlier evenings, before we slept together, when they were always glancing at me, and I was always glancing at them, and we could talk easily.

  That night, I return with the brothers to their little house, and my old room.

  Inside I’m a bundle of nerves. I have to apologize, and explain what happened. They might not forgive me, but I can’t let this go on like this.

  We enter the living room, and I take a deep breath.

  “Stefano.”

  He doesn’t look at me, but continues across the room to take an envelope from the table.

  “I want to say something.”

  He shakes his head, returning to hand the envelope to me.

  “You don’t need to say anything, Savannah,” he says, his expression cold.

  “What’s this?”

  “It is a ticket home.”

  “Home?” I feel like my heart has frozen over. “Isn’t it a bit early to be sorting out tickets?”

  “The harvest season is over. We don’t need any extra workers for the rest of the year.”

  “But I thought I was to stay for the whole year.” My blood is pounding in my veins, so loud I’m not sure I hear Stefano’s next words properly.

  Stefano shakes his head. “You are booked to fly next Thursday.”

  I frown. It’s hard to make sense of what Stefano’s said. Why is he sending me home so early? It will mean my father will make me go back to college again.

  “But I still have 9 months here. I’m supposed to be here for twelve months.” I know I’m repeating myself, but I don’t know what else to say.

  “It is clear to us that you don’t enjoy our company anymore.” Stefano’s voice actually breaks, and I glance up at him in surprise. “I am not entirely sure what went wrong, but obviously something did, and you clearly are not mature enough to be able to talk it out in any sort of sensible communication, and so it seems that it would be the best if you returned to your family, and your home.”

  I can’t breathe. It’s as though all the air has been knocked out of my chest, and before I can catch my breath to respond Stefano nods towards the envelope.

  “You have worked hard, and we have paid you accordingly. There should be enough money in your account to let you set yourself up, independently of your father, so you can live your own life, the way you please, like any normal adult.”

  I look down at the envelope, then up at Stefano, and behind him, to Marco.

  Stefano’s face is stone, his expression unreadable. But the hurt in Marco’s eyes is clear, and I feel like my whole world is being ripped away.

  The room starts to spin, and I feel my knees give way beneath me as everything goes dark.

  I come to laying on the couch in the brother’s living room, Marco fanning my face, Stefano standing behind him with a glass of water that I’m pretty sure he was about to throw on my face.

  “You’re awake!” The relief of Marco’s face is clear. Stefano just glowers.

  “You can get yourself to bed then, I’m sure.” Stefano turns, and stalks towards the door.

  “Wait. Please” I reach an arm out towards him, as though I could actually reach him from where I am.

  “Stefano.”

  It’s only Marco calling his name that gets Stefano to stop and turn around.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, pushing myself up so I’m sitting up properly.

  “I’m sorry.” I repeat. “I don’t want to go. Please don’t make me go. I got scared. I’m so sorry. I should have spoken to you. I thought if I said…” I bite my lip. I don’t want to admit this now.

  “Said what?” Marco asks.

  I shake my head. “I don’t want to say. It sounds so foolish.” I hold his gaze. “I was so worried about sounding like a child, so I didn’t say anything, and it turns out I came across that way anyway.” I glance at Stefano, and take a deep breath.

  “My behavior was juvenile; I realize that now. I should’ve explained that I was scared, instead of just cutting you both off like that.”

  I glance back to Marco, whose eyes are glistening.

  “No. We should’ve taken the time to hear from you, instead of getting angry and upset,” Marco says. “We are the older members of this relationship, after all.”

  Stefano snorts. “If you’re an adult, you’re an adult. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Childish behavior belongs to children.”

  His words sting, but he’s right.

  “Please let me stay.”

  Stefano holds my gaze for a moment, and then shakes his head.

  “You want to stay; we need to have a conversation.”

  “Okay.” I nod my head, even though my heart is pounding in my chest again.

  “What is it you are so scared of? What is it that you can’t tell us, for fear you’ll sound like a child?”

  I bite my lip.

  “You don’t have to say anything,” Marco says, brushing the side of my face with his fingers. “We shouldn’t force it out of you.”

  I look into Marco’s eyes, and my heart wells with love for him. He’s just so sweet.

  Stefano crosses his arms over his chest. “When you’re in a relationship with someone, you share everything and anything that needs to be shared in order to maintain that relationship, or at least let it end satisfactorily for all the people involved.”

  I glance at him. “I didn’t think we were in a relationship? I thought we were just having fun.”

  Stefano raises an eyebrow. “We had sex. That means we were in a relationship. It may be a rel
ationship where we only have fun, and aren’t committed to anything deeper, but it’s still a relationship.”

  My face flushes, and I nod again. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  I look back at Marco, hold his kind compassionate gaze, and take a deep breath.

  “I got scared, because I knew that this was only something fun for you two, and I wasn’t sure it would stay fun for me.”

  Marco frowns, and wraps one of my hands in both of his.

  “You didn’t think you would enjoy it anymore?”

  “No, it’s not that.” I shake my head. “I didn’t think I could stop myself from... falling in deeper.”

  I can’t even hold Marco’s gaze as I say those last words, and instead I drop my gaze to our entwined hands.

  “Are you saying you’re falling for one, or both, of us?”

  There’s a cautious excitement in Marco’s tone, and I can’t help but look up to see a similar expression across his face.

  My whole chest is buzzing with nerves, and I feel so sick in the stomach, but I have to continue this conversation, get it all out in the open. “I think I could very easily fall for both you, if you continued to woo me, and if we continued to make love, the way we did.”

  Stefano uncrosses his arms, and takes a few steps closer. He’s watching me, a strange expression on his face.

  “I thought you were desperate to get home? Mamma said you were upset the other night, because you missed your family, and your friends.”

  I shake my head. “I was upset because I knew I had to stop this… fun… from happening. I knew… I know… that leaving here is going to be hard enough as it is, but if I let this continue, and fell in love with you both…” I realize with a start that I’ve said that actual words out loud, and I bite my lip.

  “Go on,” Marco says, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

  I close my eyes, and take a deep breath.

  “If I fell in love with you both, then leaving here would break my heart.” I shake my head, as tears well in the corners of my eyes. “But I couldn’t tell your mother that, now, could I?”

  Marco laughs. He actually laughs.

  “I’d love to have heard her response if you did,” he says, his eyes shining.

  Stefano has taken the few remaining steps across the room to sit by my side.

  “So, the next question is: have you actually fallen in love with us, or do you just think it’s something that maybe, possibly, could happen in the future.” His voice is husky.

  “That’s not fair,” I whine, shaking my head. “Don’t make me answer that.”

  He grins. “I’m going to make you answer it. You want to stay here, to potentially break mine and my brother’s heart, I need to know whether this heart break you fear is a definite possibility, or just a slight possibility.” He holds my gaze, but I’m not sure I can actually get the words past my lips.

  “Perhaps you need someone else to be brave, and risk everything, so that you can do the same?” Marco asks, his words barely above a whisper.

  I glance at him in surprise, and when our eyes meet there is so much love shining out that my heart seems to stop in my throat.

  “I have fallen in love with you, Savannah. You put up with so much from Stefano in those first days. Most workers do one of two things, either quit, sometimes by the end of the first day, but mostly by the end of the first week, or they tell him where to stick his opinions and ignore him for the rest of the time, continuing to work as they’ve always worked. And yet you stood up to him. You pointed out where he was going wrong, and gave him ideas on how to improve his behavior.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “That’s not exactly how I remember it.”

  Marco shrugs. “That’s how I saw it. You didn’t give up. You could have gone back home, got yourself out of this crazy situation you were in, but you didn’t. You clenched your jaw, and you kept on working. You showed us all your strength there. You blew me away.” He’s looking at me in complete awe now, and I look away, unable to cope with all the feelings whizzing around inside my body.

  “And then, that night.” He presses against my chin with a finger, to turn my gaze back to meet his. “That night was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before in my life. How freely and selflessly you gave your body to us, how you trusted us, completely. That’s when I fell in love with you, Savannah. That’s when I knew.”

  Tears are streaming down my cheeks now. Marco’s words are so beautiful.

  “It’s what he was saying, that night he got drunk,” Stefano says, watching us.

  “‘Mi amore’. ‘My love’,” Stefano says. “‘Sei la mia vita’. ‘You are my life.’ ‘Ti adoro’. ‘I adore you’.”

  “And ‘ti amo’,” Marco continues. “I love you.”

  My heart feels like it is about to burst, as I glance from one brother to the other.

  “So,” Stefano says. “Are you in love with us right now, or not.”

  I nod, reaching out to cup Marco’s cheek in my hand.

  “I’ve had the most amazing time while I’ve been here,” I say. “I never expected I would love this place so much. And then to have the two of you. You’ve taught me to be a better person, a stronger person. And to be wooed! My god, you’ve no idea what that is like for a girl who’s barely received a love note in the past. Incredible. It may have only lasted a day or two, but you had my heart, from the moment you started.” I glance from Marco to Stefano. “Both of you.”

  “I love you, Stefano,” I say, leaning over to press my lips against his, in a quick kiss.

  “And I love you, Marco.” I turn to do the same.

  The last of the tension drops from Stefano’s shoulders, and a smile spread across his face.

  “I have had the most amazing time with you, Savannah. Excluding this last week, of course, though even that has taught me lessons. Never assume you know a woman’s mind, by interpreting her behavior! And that night we spent together, incredible. You truly are a beautiful woman, Savannah. And so strong, and powerful.”

  I snort, but he shakes his head. “No. It is true. You may not see it yet, but it’s there. There’s a power in you Savannah, and it’s just so damned sexy.” He takes my hand. “And now for my confession, and you want to listen hard, because I do not open myself up very often, and I’m unlikely to repeat myself soon. I love you, Savannah. From the moment you stood up to me. I realized then that your father had not sent me the child he had spoken so often of, but a fully grown woman, fierce, and determined. When Marco told me you didn’t want to ‘have fun’ with us anymore, and you wouldn’t even open your eyes to look at me, well, my heart did break, at that moment.” His voice has dropped, and he coughs his throat to clear it. “I thought I could have fun, and send you home again, knowing how I felt about you, but from that point I realized I couldn’t do it. We needed you for the rest of the harvest, especially seeing as Anna and Alessandro had to leave, but I decided then that to save my heart, I would send you home. You’ve no idea how happy it makes me to learn you truly do want to stay.”

  He’s so sincere, my heart seems to melt in my chest. He just seems so vulnerable. It’s a side I’ve not yet seen of him, and I reach up to cup his cheek with my hand.

  “You’ve no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”

  I glance from brother to brother.

  “So what now?”

  “Marry me.” The shock on Marco’s face suggests the words were out of his mouth before even he’d fully thought about them.

  “What?” I don’t even know how to answer that.

  “Actually,” Stefano says, looking at Marco. “That’s not a bad idea. Not immediately, of course,” he glances at me. “Let’s live out the rest of your time here as though we were going to go ahead with the idea, and if by the end of it we can’t stand each other anymore, then we’ll go our separate ways. But if we still feel the same way…” He shrugs. “It’s probably the easiest way to get you a permanent visa.”

  “And
what about you?” I ask.

  Marco grins. “Stefano doesn’t like public displays of affection,” he says. “He’ll never hold your hand, or hug you, or kiss you in public. Not like I’d like to.”

  Stefano nods. “Marco’s absolutely right. You two could be a lovely married couple by day, and then at night I could join the party.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me, and I can’t help but laugh.

  “Alright,” I say. “Let’s do that. Marco and I can be couple by day, with you joining us between the sheets, and at the end of my twelve months if we’re happy with it to continue, then we’ll make it official.”

  “There’s one other thing we need to think about,” Marco says, biting his lip.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “I’m sure your goal in life is not to get married, and have kids. So what do you want to do?”

  I frown. “Don’t you need workers here, on the farm?”

  “Well, yes,” Marco says. “But our busiest time has just come to an end. You’ve got about nine months before we’re this busy again. You could do something else, study, or find a hobby that’s all your own.”

  I pause. If I’m honest with myself, I hadn’t even truly thought about the future, and what that might be. I’d just been so scared of never seeing Marco or Stefano again.

  “I’ve loved the work I’ve done here so far, being out in the sunshine, harvesting the olives, and processing them. I don’t really know what else I’d like to do.”

  “There are a few options,” Stefano says. “You could get a degree in agriculture, or production horticulture, or business studies, if you prefer that side of the business. You could get a diploma in food processing, or marketing, or financial services.” He glances at me. “They’d all be helpful.”

  “Not financial services,” I shake my head. “That sounds too much like law. Agriculture sounds interesting though, maybe production horticulture, that sounds like it’s more hands-on.”

  Stefano nods. “It is. We can look into both of those options, and you can spend the off season studying, and of course, helping around the grove here. There’s plenty of pruning to do, and Mamma always appreciates help in the garden, or the kitchen.”