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“Well, it’s said that he was ruthless in business, but with his family, he was tender and caring. He and my great-great-grandmother had eight children… only two boys in amongst them, the oldest and the youngest. He was very protective of the girls, and they could only marry if their suitor proved themselves worthy.”
“Worthy in what way?”
“I’m not sure as I wasn’t there,” Tiero jokes. “But I imagine if I was my great-great-grandfather, and I had six daughters, I’d look at the financial status to ensure he could take care of her and her offspring. He would have had to be a good catholic and be loyal to the family. Actually, thinking about it… not much has changed.”
“Then let’s hope you don’t have daughters… I’d feel sorry for them. You’d put their poor boyfriends through the wringer.”
“I most certainly would… and enjoy every minute… only the best for my children.”
“Have you seen the movie‘Meet the Parents’?”
“No, I haven’t,” Tiero replies.
“You’d like it,” I laugh. “What would happen if you don’t have a son? Would the business go to Mateo’s son if he had one?”
“That won’t happen. Every first-born child has always been a boy. I’m confident this will continue.”
“No pressure then,” I joke.
We finish our meal and move to the lounges. My back to his chest, I sit engulfed in his arms. His hands stroke gently up and down my skin, leaving tingling nerve endings in their wake.
“How come you don’t have more siblings? I thought you said big families are traditional. What happened after your sister was stillborn?”
Tiero doesn’t answer right away, and I turn my head to look at him.
“My sister’s name would have been Stella. She stopped moving a few weeks before mamma was due to give birth, and there was nothing the doctors could do. My mother was devastated, so was my father. They induced her, and she had to give birth to a dead baby.”
I clutch my chest. “I can’t even begin to imagine how distressing this must have been.” I reach for Tiero’s hand and squeeze it in sympathy.
“It was horrible. I was only eight, but I remember the sadness… all the laughter was gone. After my mother gave birth, she was very weak. She contracted an infection that ravaged her body. She passed away two weeks after Stella. My father was heartbroken.” Tiero’s voice is solemn, his face serious.
Part of me is sorry I asked—I don’t want him to relive sad memories. The other part is glad he’s telling me something so personal. I want to get to know all of him.
“After mamma’s death, papa was never the same. He never remarried. He said he could only love so fully once. My mother was his One and Only. He poured all his energy into the business and grew it exponentially.”
“I’m so sorry you lost your mom.” I rub his arm comfortingly. I can tell that even after all this time, it’s still a hard subject for him to discuss. “Who looked after you when your father was working?”
“Nona. And we also had a nanny, Rosabella, who we adored. She was very good to us.”
“Is she still alive… Rosabella?”
“No, she passed away a few years ago. But she lived with us until then. She was part of our family.”
“So what was young Gualtiero like?” I ask as I playfully elbow him in the ribs, trying to recapture a lighter mood.
“Naughty. Very, very naughty. Me and my best friend Enzo got into all sorts of trouble… and Mateo trotted along too, always wanting to be part of the action.
“Enzo lived in a cottage on our estate, and we went to school together. We were thick as thieves. Rosabella would pack us a basket of food after school, and we would take it to the treehouse we built. It was magnificent. Two stories high, with a rope ladder to climb up. We came up with our own security system to alarm us if other kids were trying to steal our treasures.”
“That sounds like fun,” I smile, wishing I could see a picture of young Tiero. “What did your security system look like?”
“It was really quite primitive, but we were mighty proud of our efforts. We tied empty cans together and attached them to the ladder so they would make noise when someone tried to climb up. We also set perimeter alarms by tying fishing line between trees and connecting them to bells in our treehouse.”
“Jeez… you took this quite seriously.”
Tiero laughs, “Of course. I had to protect what was mine… It’s in my blood.”
“And how often did you get ambushed by other kids?”
