Personal Maid
Zorah came out of her room to find a woman a bit older than her standing by her door nervously.
“Mrs. Lucchesi, I am Benita. I am your personal maid. I’m here to escort you to dinner whenever you feel ready to go.”
“Were you just out here pacing the hall?”
“Yes. Mr. Lucchesi made it clear I was not to disturb your rest and to simply wait for when you decided you wanted to have dinner. He said he would check on you himself if you weren’t out in an hour but until then to simply wait here for you.”
“He did, did he?” Zorah felt her lips twisting at the comment.
“Yes, Mrs. Lucchesi.”
“Why are you so nervous?”
“We’ve been waiting to meet you for so long, Mrs. Lucchesi and now you’re here and we’re all so excited.”
She was stunned by the woman’s words. “What do you mean you’ve been waiting to meet me?”
“The family has been expecting you a long time.”
“Are you related to the Lucchesi family?”
The girl nodded, “yes well, through marriage. I am married to a cousin on Dagoberto Lucchesi’s side.”
“Then why are you addressing Icaro so formally by calling him Mr. Lucchesi?”
“Because here, I am being paid to work and while I am part of the family, my husband is not part of the upper ranks of the family. He’s a lower-level soldier and he often works as a driver for the family.”
“But you’re family.”
“I assure you, Mrs. Lucchesi, when I’m not working and we’re at a family event, such as a wedding or the like, we are much less formal. However, when I am here to serve you, to take care of you, it’s more appropriate for me to formally address you.”
“I don’t like it. You’ll call me Zorah.”
“I will not, Mrs. Lucchesi. I like my job very much and if Mr. Lucchesi thinks I’m not giving you the respect you deserve, he’ll fire me.”
“What were you doing before I came here?”
“I work in the kitchen, and I do general housekeeping in the house. It’s far better than working in the barn or the fields or the olive grove.” She gave an exaggerated shudder, “I do not love heights, and I really do not love the smell of fertilizer. It’s much nicer in the house than out.”
Zorah waved at the woman, “Benita, Icaro told me dinner would be at seven. It’s almost seven now. I don’t want to make anyone wait for me. I don’t know where the dining room is.”
“That’s why I’m here!” Benita smiled broadly, “come with me. We need to exit through the courtyard to go into the other part of the house to reach the dining area.”
“It’s very pretty here,” Zorah commented as she walked through a courtyard where several lemon trees were planted, and vines of purple flowers hung from trellises.
“This courtyard is nice but there is another towards the southern part of the villa and it is my favorite spot to take a rest. This one is often busier but if you want a quiet cozy place to read a book or forget about a bad day, it is the perfect spot.”
“Your English is quite good, Benita. Does everyone speak both English and Italian here?”
“We all speak at least three languages, Sicilian, Italian and English. Most of us speak four. Spanish or French is common among a lot of the family members, depending on where we work or which part of the world we get assigned.”
“What is the difference between speaking Sicilian and Italian?”
“Everything,” Benita laughed at her joke. “Asking a Sicilian such a thing is an insult!”
“Really?”
“Definitely,” Benita winked at her, “but don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Do you speak a language other than English?”
“French. I speak French very fluently. My father works for Mr. Lucchesi’s operations in the South of France, and we grew up there. There is a vineyard there. When I met my husband, he was there as a driver to pick up a shipment from the vineyard and he took one look at me and now I’m here.”
“Wait,” Zorah grabbed her arm, “you were his one?”
“Yes.” Benita nodded excitedly. “I am so blessed to be his one.”
“Did you know of this whole thing?”
“It is a familiar story here in part of the world. My name is actually a play on Binita Lucchesi’s name.”
“How did you feel when you found out?”
“Excited. Happy. The women familiar with this family long to be a Lucchesi man’s one.”
“Why?” This confused Zorah.
“Are you kidding? First and foremost, there isn’t a single ugly Lucchesi. Do you get to look at gorgeous man in your bed for the rest of your life? Yes please.”
Zorah giggled at Benita’s playfulness.
“Then, to know this gorgeous man who all the other women are going to pine after is yours and yours alone and he’s never going to stray? Let me tell you, there are women in many of the villages who fight over their cheating spouses.”
“Icaro took many lovers before me.”
“You might not have been his first, but you’ll be his last,” Benita shrugged.
“It’s not so simple.”
“It is if you make it simple,” Benita offered with a smile to Zorah. “We women do like to complicate things, no?”
“How is it complicating things when I know he knew of me my entire life and he still chose to penetrate countless women?”
“I understand,” Benita nodded, “why you could be hurt by this.”
“What else is good about a Lucchesi husband? Surely a handsome husband who won’t cheat isn’t the thrill of a lifetime. They are a violent bunch.”
“There isn’t a Lucchesi man who would ever beat their wives. Not ever.” Benita was profoundly serious.
“Icaro slapped my face.” Zorah was simply throwing it all out there.
Benita tripped over her feet. “No! It can’t be true.”
“I was screaming and hysterical because of a situation and he smacked me.”
Benita rolled her eyes at Zorah, “now I think you’re simply trying to make him look bad to me. I meant striking in anger or malice. There isn’t a Lucchesi bride who hasn’t been revered and adored. It is not to say we don’t fight, bicker, and argue but the men in this family treasure their wives. There is another family to the west where the men are drunk and mean all the time. One man buried one wife one day and moved his mistress in the next day and a week later the mistress was buried next to the wife and a third woman was moved in. For all the violence you think of the Lucchesi family, Benita, they don’t bring it to the bedroom.”
Zorah could tell she hurt Benita’s feelings, and she wasn’t sure why.
Benita motioned to a room which had low open walls and gauzy material for a roof, “this is the dining hall. Your family waits for you. When you’re done your meal, I’ll bring you back to your room, Mrs. Lucchesi.”
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