Chapter 39

Lisa was having breakfast the next morning when Antonio came to her and told her she had a phone call. Lisa frowns and walks to the phone, "Lisa Mancini, hello."

"Lisa!" she hears her aunt talking on the other end.

"I called you to let you know that Grandpa was in an accident last night. Grandpa's condition is very serious." Her aunt explains.

"Thank you very much for letting me know. I will return to South Africa as soon as possible." Lisa informs her aunt. After that, she hung up the phone and turned around with tears in her eyes. Alessandro walks up to Lisa and sees her crying.

"Lisa, what's wrong?" He was concerned when he noticed the tears in her eyes.

"I just received a call from South Africa. My grandpa had an accident last night. I will have to go to South Africa immediately." She tells him.

"I'm sorry to hear that, my little one," Alessandro says sympathetically.

"I will arrange for us to leave for South Africa within the next two hours."

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Alessandro, but it's not necessary that you have to go along and leave everything here just like that," she objects.

"I can go alone...

"I'm not willing to let you go alone, Lisa, and don't worry about my business. I have a good team that knows what they are doing." Alessandro tells her.

"All right, thank you, Alessandro," Lisa says in a sad voice.

"I'm going to pack our bags and get Lilani ready as well."

With that, she walks up the stairs and starts packing for her and Alessandro. When she has finished packing, she walks to Lilani's room and packs her suitcase.

"Lilani, let's get you ready. We're getting ready to leave for Grandpa's!" She explains it to Lilani. Alice helps Lisa get Lilani ready for their journey.

Two hours later, the three of them are on their way to South Africa on Alessandro's private plane. Lisa notices that the air hostess from the previous time is still there but is too upset to be bothered by the girl's bad behavior. The flight is long and boring. Lilani went to make herself comfortable on the bed and rest. Lisa falls asleep in her seat; Alessandro sees it and puts her head on his shoulders.

At ten oclock in the evening, they land at the airport. Lisa takes Lilani's hand and walks to the waiting vehicle. Alessandro completes all the formalities and follows Lisa and Lilani. Lisa looks up when she hears her name and sees her uncle walking up to them. Lisa greets her uncle and introduces Alessandro to him.

Alessandro, this is my uncle Ettiene; uncle, this is my husband Alessandro." The two men shake hands. For Alessandro's sake, Lisa and her uncle speak English because Alessandro doesn't understand Afrikaans.

"How is grandpa?" Lisa asks anxiously as they drive away from the airport. Alessandro thanked the taxi they were supposed to take to the farm and paid for it after Lisa's uncle arrived.

Alessandro sits in front of Uncle Ettiene, and Lisa and Lilani sit in the back.

"Well, at least he recognizes us and even had a faint smile when we told him about your arrival," Ettiene says.

"It's good to hear," Lisa replied. It was almost eleven when they stopped in front of the farmhouse. Lilani fell asleep on Lisa's lap. Alessandro climbs out and opens the back door to take Lilani out. Lisa and her uncle also get out of the car and get their bags. Lisa's aunt opens the door when she notices her husband and Lisa.

"Welcome back, Lisa, my dear child," her aunt warmly greets her.

"Hello, Aunt Amalia, thank you very much for allowing us to stay here for a few days." Lisa warmly greets her beloved aunt. Amalia notices the handsome man behind Lisa with Lilani in his arms.

"You must be Lisa's husband for sure. Come in; I'll take you to the room where Lilani sleeps." She warmly greets Alessandro and playfully winks at Lisa. Alessandro follows Amalia to the bedroom and lays Lilani gently on the bed. He turned and gently closed the door behind him. He walks to where he hears Lisa's voice.

"Alessandro, this is my aunt Amalia; auntie, this is Alessandro, my husband." Lisa introduces them.

"O my soul, you are an attractive man." The aunt greets him with a hug. Lisa smiles at her aunt's remark and blushes.

"Why didn't you tell us you married a Greek God, Lisa?" Lisa just laughs at her aunt's silliness.

"Can I make you something to drink? Will Alessandro enjoy a drink with Uncle Ettiene or have coffee?" Amalia asks.

"I'll have coffee; thank you, aunt," Lisa replied, and then continued as she looked at Alessandro, "Alessandro will take a brandy with uncle Ettiene."

They walk into the kitchen, and Lisa quickly helps her aunt get everyone's drinks. They sit and talk for a while when Lisa announces that she's going to bed. "Good night, uncle, aunt." She wishes the older people a good night.

"Thank you very much for the refreshment. I will go to bed too. Good night, uncle, aunt." Alessandro tells them. Lisa takes him to the room where she always slept whenever she came to visit here on the farm.

"The bathroom is across the room if you want to take a shower or bath," Lisa tells Alessandro.

"Thank you very much. I will hurry, and then you can go too."

While Alessandro is in the bathroom, Lisa quickly gets the bed ready for them and packs their clothes neatly in the closet. Not long after she's done, Alessandro comes in and says she can go. Lisa takes her clothes off and walks to the bathroom. Alessandro stands at the window, staring into the quiet night. It looks peaceful here on the farm. He's so deep in thought that he doesn't hear Lisa coming in.

"I'm going to turn off the big light; as soon as you go to bed, you can just turn off the bedside lamp." He hears Lisa say

"It's alright; I'm going to bed myself."

The next morning, Lisa woke up before dawn and went down to prepare breakfast. "Good morning, aunt", she greets Amalia when she goes into the kitchen.

"Good morning, honey," Amalia replies warmly. Lisa helps with breakfast and decks the table.

"So, tell me, how did you meet him?" Her aunt wants to know. Lisa laughs at her aunt's curiosity and tells the short version, "Well, we met at a park, and Lilani started talking to him. For me, it was love at first sight, and after two weeks, he asked me to marry him, and well, six months later, here we are, still going strong."

"O, Lisa, your parents would have loved him. He seems like a gentleman. But what's with the dark glasses?"

"Well, he was left blind after an accident, and a few weeks ago he went for surgery; it was a success, but he still needs to wear them for a few weeks," Lisa explained. Just then, Alessandro walks into the kitchen, hand in hand with Lilani.

"Auntie A!" Lilani shouts and runs to her aunt. Amalia picks her up and kisses her all over her face.

While tickling Lilani, she exclaims "Look how big you have gotten!"

"Yes, I can't stay small forever", Lilani said, rolling her eyes.

"Where's uncle?" She asks.

"He will be here just now; he went out to fix one of the fences,", Amalia told them. Lisa hands Alessandro's coffee to him.

After breakfast, they went to the Toyota Hilux her uncle said they could take and made their way to the hospital. Lisa asked the nurse for her grandfather's room, and she went there when she told Lisa. Lisa opens the door and sees her grandfather lying on the bed.

"O grandpa", Lisa walks up to him and kisses him. Although her grandpa can't talk, Lisa introduces Alessandro to him. After a while, she tells Grandpa Johan they will visit him in the afternoon. Lisa takes Alessandro's hand and leads him to a small restaurant once they are outside.

"Hello, what can I get you?" A waitress comes up to them.

"Give me a chocolate milkshake, please", Lisa asks. "I will have the vanilla milkshake", Alessandro tells the waiter.

"It's a small town your family lives in",

"Yes, grandpa lived here his whole life. Dullstroom is a small town, but everyone here stands together." She tells him. The waiter brings their milkshake, and they order burgers.

"So, your grandpa, uncle, and aunt live in the same house?"

"Yes, after grandma passed away six years ago, my mother and her brother decided that one of them must live with grandpa. So my uncle said he would go and live with him."

"Where are your cousins?"

"O, I think they will be here by tonight." Lisa and Alessandro talked a while longer, then went back to grandpa. Lisa showed him some photos of their wedding day and told Grandpa everything about Lilani. After some time, Lisa and Alessandro greet Grandpa and drive back to the farm.

On their arrival, Lisa notices her cousin's car. "Lisa, is that you?" She hears Marna scream. Lisa waves at Marna and notices a young man next to her. Alessandro takes Lisa's hand and walks towards them.

"Honey, this is my cousin, Marna, and Marna, this is my husband, Alessandro." Lisa introduces them to each other. Marna looks at the man in front of her.

"Nice to meet you; you hurt my cousin, and they will never find your body", Marna greets Alessandro.

"Lisa, I'd like you to meet Ruan, my boyfriend." After everyone was introduced, they went inside.

"We are going to have a BBQ, Amalia informs them. I am already busy with the bread and potato salad".

"Can I help with anything?" Lisa offers.

"No, dear, but you can get us some beer?" Lisa grins and goes to the fridge to get a beer for them. Alessandro takes him and goes with Eugene to the lapa, where he starts the fire.

"Hello everyone", Lisa heard her cousin say.

"JP! How are you?" She asks and hugs him. She introduces JP to Alessandro

"So you're staying in Italy for good?" JP asks.

"Yes, Alessandro has his business there, and besides, you guys can always visit us, and vice versa". Lisa tells him.

"So, any girlfriends yet?"

"No, I'm too busy with my studies to think about girls", JP answers.

JP and Marna are brothers and sisters. Marna is twenty-seven years old, and JP is twenty years old. Both also have dark hair and brown eyes, just like their mother. JP is studying to be a lawyer, and Marna is a doctor. Aunt Amalia brings the meat, and soon they start to enjoy the BBQ.

After they ate, everyone went to the hospital to visit Grandpa. The doctor tells Amalia and Eugene that Grandpa will be discharged tomorrow morning. Grandpa seems happy to hear that he can go home and doesn't have to stay here any longer.

They talked to Grandpa for a few more hours until the nurse asked them to leave.

On the farm, everyone got ready for bed. Alessandro can't help but keep staring at his beautiful wife. Why can't they just be a normal husband and wife? Why does he get jealous whenever he catches some man ogling his wife? Maybe he should just give this marriage a real chance. With that thought, he turns to Lisa and holds her against his chest.