He didn’t have to tell her that the ’servants’ would stay with them.
“We’re staying a week? I suppose that might be enough,” she said absently. “But I’ve been thinking we shouldn’t go far.”
His brow drew down as they stepped out of the tunnel into the fresh air. “What do you mean? I thought you’d be eager to depart, to leave the past behind.”
Though he wasn’t wrong, Isobel had thought of an important reason to linger in the neighborhood. “A number of the healing spells and poultices in those books may require local herbs. There are some growing wild in these hills, though they’ll be fewer of them now with the cold. Others might be going fallow in my grandmother’s old garden. We need to gather as many of them as possible and their seeds. That might be important. There will be a few locals who keep their own stores. We should offer to buy as much as they’re willing to spare. The plants in Italy would be different, unfamiliar. Some substitutions might work, but others may prove unpredictable.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” he said softly. “If we managed to get seeds, we could grow them ourselves.”
“If we managed to get seeds. And they might not grow in a different climate.”
He laughed unexpectedly. “Isabella, everything grows in Italy.”
She frowned. “Do you want to wager your life on that?”
Matteo sobered. “I’ll give it more thought.”
They walked in silence for several minutes. When they crested the hill, Isobel paused, looking at the familiar gabled farmhouse nestled in the rise of the hill opposite. Below it was a lovely little valley with its own stream. Sheep grazed in the green fields nearby.
Her chest compressed tightly. Soon the house was blurred, seen though a haze of tears.
A large arm wrapped around her shoulders. “What is this place?” Matteo whispered.
Isobel pulled her cloak more tightly closed.
“My home. Well…someone else’s home now.”
“Oh.” He examined the distant buildings. “It’s very picturesque. You must have loved growing up here.”
“I did,” she said slowly.
“Was it entailed? Did another male family member inherit?”
Taken aback, Isobel turned to him. “No, it wasn’t entailed. We had to sell it to pay my father’s debts. Debts we didn’t even know about till after he died…”
The last was said with a bitterness she couldn’t hide.
Matteo frowned. “Unfortunately, being a good businessman doesn’t always come with a fine education. My father has to hire business managers because he can’t do percentages to save his own life.”
“That’s true for many peers,” she said distantly, a coldness settling in the pit of her stomach. “But my father was a good businessman. Conservative and careful. He would never have risked our livelihood with a risky venture.”
“I don’t understand. What happened?”
Digging her fingernails into her palms, Isobel stared down at her childhood home. “My father had just died, a bad fall from his horse. Then a pair of his former associates came with a note for the house. They claimed he had mortgaged it to them to finance a new mining venture down south. The investment had failed and they were here for the house. But my father had never mentioned any such scheme. And he always discussed his investments with my mother. That news, coming so soon after his death, was too much for her. She took ill and passed away before we even had a chance to pack anything. Not that they would let us take much. They insisted on keeping the contents of the house to repay the debt.”
“I’m so sorry,” Matteo said tightly. “I can buy it back for you if you like.”
“No!” Breath labored, she turned away and stalked off in the direction they’d been walking in.
“Isabella! What’s wrong?”
She kept walking, but his long legs kept pace with her easily.
“I didn’t mean to offend you. I just thought getting back your childhood home might be a good way of securing your legacy in case I don’t survive,” he murmured.
Her steps slowed, and she hung her head. “It’s not that. Your offer is generous, but I will never live here again.”
He caught up with her, a light of realization dawning on his face. “You think they lied. Your father’s associates…”
“I know they did.”
Matteo gave her another comforting hug, pressing her body to his more intimately than before. He waited until she relaxed in his embrace before letting go.
“Was there nothing you could do? No one to appeal to?”