Destiny

Chapter 6

"Wow! You have an apple tree?" Antonio starred up at the beautiful apple tree in front of him. All of the apples hanging from it were bright red, and they made his mouth water.

"Yes, it came with the house when we brought it," Richard began. The apples it grows are amazing. They're extremely juicy. You can have one if you like." Antonio hesitated for a moment. "Really, it's fine. Take one." He pulled an apple down from the tree and handed it to him

"Thanks," Antonio said, taking a bite. "You're right, these apples are amazing."

"I told you," Richard beamed, delighted he'd been right.

"Your garden really is beautiful," Antonio commented, taking in the beautiful scenery that was surrounding him.

The garden was huge, he guessed that it must be at least two hundred feet in length. There was a large oak tree that had a wooden swing hanging from it and opposite it was a beautiful pond. It had a wooden bride going over the top of it and in the corner of the pond was a mini waterfall. It was just so relaxing. Antonio felt like he was out in the country what with the sound of the birds in the trees and the sound of the water trickling down the waterfall. He really wished that he and his grandad had a garden like Lea's parents did. There's was so overgrown. It use to be a beautiful garden, filled with beautiful flowers, but not it was just an overgrown mess. Carlo use to love gardening, he use to be out in the garden every day, pulling up weeds and planting flowers, making sure they were watered regularly and never dried up. But he was too old now, they didn't earn enough money to pay for someone to come and make it look nice again and Antonio wouldn't have a clue were to start. When he wasn't with his grandad in the shop he would spend his time drawing. That was one thing that he hadn't told Lea. That he loved to draw, sketching objects and also people. He had started to sketch Lea when she hadn't been looking but he hadn't finished it yet. He wanted to make sure it was perfect before he showed it to her. The garden was filled will immaculately pruned bushes and trees and brightly coloured flowers that were perfectly planted that made the garden look like it was preparing for a show, perfectly intact waiting for its first place ribbon for best looking garden. Antonio got a feeling from the type of garden Antonio Lea's parents owned that they were the kind of person that had to have everything perfect all the time. When Antonio had walked through the hall of the house earlier, he had noticed (taking a quick look around) that there didn't seem to be anything out of place. No shoes in the hall were dumped (like they usually just were back home). There were no tools, or coats just laying around, not even a newspaper on a table on bench. Antonio knew that if Lea's parents ever came to his house that he would have to clean the place up a bit.

"So Antonio," Ann began, as she delicately cut at a potato on her plate. "You come from Portugal?"

"Yes, I do Mrs Walton," Antonio replied, grinning like he usually did, reaching for the salad bowl. Antonio loved it that they were eating outside. Sitting in the sunshine under a huge parasol reminded him of the times when him and his grandfather use to sit outside in their garden. Back when you were able to sit outside in it that was.

"Please, call me Ann. Now then, I've been wondering Antonio what your house is like back home."

"Well..."

"What job do you have?"

"I...

"Do you live by yourself or do you live with family? I hope you've been treating my daughter with respect you know."

"Mother!" Lea gasped.

"Ann, I think you're asking the boy too many questions." Richard interjected.

"Nonsense," Ann replied, flinging her Antonio into the air before returning back to her meal, cutting at a piece of celery.

"It's okay," Antonio said giving a laugh. "I live with my grandfather. We don't have a fancy house and we don't own many expensive things. Just the basics to get by, but its home." He grinned. "I help my grandfather run his shoe shop. Well, at least I use to anyway."