Salvation

Chapter I

 “Sophie, there you are. You should've been back already, my dear.”  

I suddenly heard a warm gentle voice behind me. I slowly turned around to see an old woman with a brown, slowly turning gray hair with a worried expression on her face.

“Margaret, you weren't looking for me all this time, were you?”
Her dark eyes were filled with concern, which made me realize that my assumption was correct.

“I completely forgot that I was supposed to be here for only one hour. Time passes so quickly when you are here. I really am most terribly sorry.” I was ashamed of how thoughtless I behaved.

The nanny whom I adored so much could have been in so much trouble just because of my own selfishness. She hardly convinced my parents to let me go for one hour, making sure that I will be back in time, but I broke that promise so easily.

Seeing my expression, my nanny immediately smiled. “Oh, don't worry dear. Your parents are not at home at the moment.”
  

Hearing this, I let out a long sigh of relief.  Her lips formed a merry smile as flush of miscief appeared on her full cheeks.

She took my hand in hers and we started to walk. I walked as slowly as I could, part of me mindful of her age and the other part wishing to stay here longer. I greatly enjoyed these pleasant occasions when I could walk beside her, for I had the feeling she was one of the few people who could understand my feelings. She was a kind person whom I greatly appreciated, person that I could always entrust my worries to. I was also glad that my words convinced her that none of this happened on purpose.

“They did leave rather quickly, to settle down some urgent matter about some piece of land. Elroys will surely be delighted to see them.”

Her words made me think about my parents. Something that was so urgent and made them leave in such a rush, that they even forgot to check on their own daughter was undoubtedly...strange. It must have been really important.

“What about my sisters?”

"The older one, Marrie, left with them. But Helen decided to stay in her room for some odd reason. If I may add, it seems like the two got into some kind of quarrel.”
“That child will never change.” She simply added, smiling to herself.

“That doesn't surprise me at all.”

Soon, a narrow path appeared in front of us and at the same time at the end of it, a grand mansion like house revealed itself in all its glory.

It was two storied, with beautiful, yet simple garden surrounding it, filled with small green bushes and flowers. It had a huge balcony with a few flower boxes added to the concrete railing, to create more beautiful appeal to the balcony.

A great number of low set windows, main entrance with wide wooden door decorated with many carvings and encircled with symbols of the family who used to live here and the complex decorations, were all designed by the famous architect Giannino Russo who moved here during his traveling trough North America, in search for some sort of enlightenment or inspiration for his future designs.

His journey took him to the east coast, but his unpredictable decision to settle in this calm, faraway, almost God forgotten place, seemed to have a certain connection with his expecting wife. It took him several years to create a perfect home for his young wife and child, who probably refused to return to Italy due to former opposition of her family to marry a young aspiring architect and permanently move to another country. As her French stubbornness seemed to prevail, he decided to design a house with elements of the baroque style, influenced by its domination in his mother country.

My father had also told me that there were not many records about this family except that they seemed to live a rich peaceful life with their two children. Many people showed affections towards their unusual European lifestyle and they were certainly one of the most respectable families of this area.