"Lena, you can't!"

"Don't say can't to me, Kelly Scardinia. You never even consider that option once your mind is set."

"I'm not flying across the world to move into a villa with a stranger."

"He's not a stranger. He's my second cousin on the Leonardi side. And I'm not moving in with him. We are dual executors of our great grandfather's will and as such we need to evaluate the property per the terms of the will."

My tumultuous send-off from my best friend replayed in my head as the 747 airliner turned its nose down the runway. In moments I'd be airborne and winging my way to Milan, Italy to be met by my cousin, Leonardo Gabriel Leonardi. My father and his father were first cousins.

I touched the envelope in my purse, checking again that I had it in my possession, that it hadn't vaporized like the spent tape in the Peter Graves' version of Mission: Impossible. The request outlined in the letter seemed impossible and ridiculous. My great grandfather Benedict Leonardi lived to the incredible age of one hundred and three. He survived all his siblings, his wife, and their two children. When my family received the phone call that he had passed away quietly in his villa in Montacatini, we were in Australia on a rare vacation that all of us, my parents, my younger sister, Luci and I could make at the same time. We tried to get a flight out from the conservation center but a strike at the local 'puddle-jumper' airlines stranded us too far away from a major airport.

We missed the funeral but not the hoopla when his will was read. The attorneys for my great grandfather, Malfaldi e Baldo, arranged a conference call to include my family. He had willed the family villa where he spent his last twenty years in seclusion to the oldest female and oldest male great grandchildren. The will further instructed that both executors would take up residence in the villa for a period of no less than thirty days before a decision on the disposal of the property could be binding.

I had read Under the Tuscan Sun and although I had thoroughly enjoyed the main character's delight with and assimilation to all things Italian, I had been Italian for twenty-six years and lived with my culture on a daily basis. I had no desire to renovate or repair a run down villa. My desire was to stay the course and divvy up the proceeds from the sale. I had my eye on a small loft in the River North area of Chicago. It was perfect for mine and Luci's plan to operate a boutique featuring my photography and her greeting cards and clothing line.

I'd taken a leave of absence from my job at the Palatine Public Library. Candace Langstrom hadn't approved and since this wasn't family leave she'd made it quite clear that she couldn't guarantee my position would be held.

Was I crazy? I could lose my job. The villa could be a pile of timber and cracked brick that no one would buy. The land was valuable. Maybe we'd find another wacky American lady who wanted a villa. I felt my body relaxing, my eyelids drooping. I slept and dreamt of a Tuscan sun.