Philippa
Iwas already nearing when Alegna was going to stop accompanying me to Gianni’s room during the day, but when I woke up that morning, she was still in bed. Alegna took her job very seriously and was always out of bed and working before most of the rest of the staff were even thinking about waking up. I threw back my covers and walked over to her, able to see once I was closer that she had a wet cloth on her head and some medicine on the table separating her bed from the next one over.
“Philippa,” she said, her voice weak and shaking. “I’m not feeling so well today. I’ve already spoken with some of the other staff, but you’ll be on your own going to Gianni’s today. From this day forward, that will be your role until told otherwise.”
“Yes,Signora,” I replied. “Do you need anything before I get to work?”
Alegna shook her head. “No dear, but…” She coughed a little bit. “Philippa, listen to me. I’ve had my suspicions for a while that the reason you were assigned to Gianni’s room was to providemorethan traditional service. Angelo has repeated to me time and again that you are to followalldirectives you are given. You cannot say no. Starting today, without me by your side, if he makes any requests of you… ”
I held up a hand to stop her. “I can take care of myself,” I said. Though I couldn’t tell her so, Gianni and I were close, and I knew he respected me way too much to make any sort of request like that. Even if I’d be receptive to something of that nature, he’d never force me to do anything, of that, I was certain. “I’ll be okay.”
She put a hand on my face and it briefly reminded me of my mother. Alegna had been with the Cavetti’s for a long time as well and hadn’t ever gotten married or had any children of her own. I wondered how much she wanted those things. “Please be careful. Check in with me after your shift today. I’d like to hear how it went.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll check on you throughout the day to make sure you’re feeling okay.”
“I’m taken care of. Don’t do anything that would upset Angelo,” Alegna responded, then she pulled her hand back from my face. “Now go. Before you’re late.”
I chuckled as I tucked her in a little tighter. “Seems illness isn’t keeping you from being your old, nagging self.”
A laugh turned into a cough, and then Alegna closed her eyes, and a few seconds later she was breathing a bit deeper. Her getting sick was likely her body just running out of steam. No one in the Cavetti household worked harder than her, and though I didn’t want to see her suffering, I was glad she was getting an opportunity to take a break and get some rest.
For some reason, I was alittlenervous as I prepared to embark on my first day of serving Gianni without Alegna by my side. I just tried to imagine her barking in my ear, telling me what I needed to do and in what order. Gianni would be having breakfast with his family, and while he was out of his room, I was supposed to change the sheets from his bed. Even if it wasn’t totally made by the time he came back, as long as the sheets were off, that was okay.
Gianni also liked to have a cup of coffee waiting for him when he returned to his room after breakfast with his family, so I started a pot that I would come back and collect right before he came back up so that it was still hot when he got back up there.
Once that was done, I grabbed all the supplies that I typically saw Alegna grab and made my way up to Gianni’s room. I knocked a few times and waited, but no one responded, which I expected. He was already down at breakfast with his family, so I let myself in and got to cleaning the room. I changed out the sheets first, then started to wipe down and clean all the surfaces in the room and collected any dirty clothes from the basket in the closet.
I was just finishing up the bathroom and was shoveling all of my cleaning supplies back to the main part of the bedroom when the door opened and Gianni walked in. A rush of emotions washed over me seeing his face as I remembered seeing him out in the garden with Lucia Bonifacio a few days prior. He’d been very tight-lipped with me from then on, and with Alegna around, we hadn’t had much of a chance to discuss it.
Not that I wanted to hear it.
Gianni had mentioned Lucia before, though mostly in passing. I knew him well enough to know that when he talked about her it was with romance in mind, but she was promised to his brother, Romeo. That was probably why he chose to speak about her very little. Being in love with a woman promised to your brother was probably pretty difficult.
Similar to being in love with a man who had feelings for someone else.
“Hey,” he said. “How are you?”
“Hi,” I replied. “I’m okay.”
He glanced around the room, into the closet and bathroom, then furrowed his brow. “Where’s Alegna.”
“She’s sick today. We’re using it as an excuse to cut the cord,” I explained. “From here on out, whatever you need, I’ll get it for you.”
“Great,” he said. “Thank you.”
Back when I first took over as Gianni’s personal attendant, he was chomping at the bit. It was like he couldn’t wait for when Alegna wasn’t by my side anymore, but now that we were alone, it was just… awkward. We’d never been like that before.
“I started to brew coffee for you, so I’ll go and get it,” I said.
“Okay,” he responded.
I loaded all of my cleaning supplies into the bucket I carried them in, but then realized I had to carry the clothes out as well. It probably would have made more sense to take multiple trips, but if Alegna could do it, I could too. I balanced the basket against my hip and then lifted the bucket of cleaning supplies to carry out. One of the spray bottles latched onto something and got caught. I pulled, not knowing what it was stuck on, and a tear filled the room. Gianni’s button-up shirt ripped, and in the fray, I dropped all of my stuff.
“Philippa,” Gianni barked.
“I’m sorry!” I yelped, fumbling around with him. “Take it off, I’ll get you a new one.”
“It’s fine,” he growled. “Just go.”
