Whisper Hill

"Whisper Hill" Chapter One

The sea crashed with the incoming storm as a young black haired woman watched from her tower in the west wing.
Rena Curcio was only twenty one years old, yet her grandmother still insisted that she was too old to be 'studying in that stuffy old Oxford library' all the time. Rena sighed as she sat down at her desk, her thesis almost finished as it was.
She smiled as she remembered her father's adamant demand that she graduated early. 'You never want to be just like everybody else, believe me Renata. I love you. You must promise.' And Rena had promised. Promised that she would not let her father or mother down. Now that her parents had passed away, she was all by herself save for her mentally insane, but warmhearted Mama Sofia to hassle her about her lack of a man, her homework, and her daily life.
Rena's smile broadened as she heard the familiar 'Renata Marie Curcio, get your ungrateful tail down here!' from the speaker in the wall.
Since her grandmother lived in the family castle, there were a lot of stairs, and no one to climb them in time. Rena pushed a button on the intercom, and followed her nose to the kitchen corridor.
The hallway was bedecked in reds and golds and greens. Typical Italian colors of the late sixteen hundreds, the century the castle was built. There was an elaborate carpet on the floor that bested Oxford's tasteful decor tenfold.
Although Rena had been raised to appreciate the good things in life and the more expensive things she could have, she preferred her small, normal apartment to all the drama involved in accepting her inheritance.
"There you are, you lazy bum! I've been calling for almost ten minutes! What took you so long, cara?" Mama chastened.
"Finishing my thesis, Mama. WHat else? I have to graduate early. You know that. Iam going to be a doctor." Rena soothed.
"I know, darling, but you work too hard. You don't eat enough, you never date, and you need to listen to your body every once in a while." She said, pinching Rena's stomach in the process.
Rena smiled as she digested that statement. She was not a bad looking person, in all honesty. She was small, her medium length black hair in sausage curls. Her almond shaped green eyes too large in her face, her skin almost brown in it's olive tints. Her figure was that of a typical Italian woman, her features all tiny, save for her bottom and legs. Shewas very well put together, if she didn't say so herself.
She pulled herself out of the usual whirl her mind took on in it's hyperspeed pattern. She'd figured out early on that if she went into deep thought, she tuend out the rest of the world. And very well. "Mama? What was it like to grow up with big brothers?"
Mama gave her a surprised cursory glance."Oh, it was wonderful. I always had a protector, although that became irksome at times. I was never alone. Why do you ask?"
No reason. Just wondering. And thinking." Rena smiled warmly at her grandmother.
"Oh. Well, I invited a guest to dinner tomight. A young man by the name of Lucas Marsili." Mama grinned mischeviously.
"Marsili? As in that egotistical 'Italian Stallion' I read about in the local paper? Absolutely not, Mama. You've now officially lost your mind. He's a pig." Rena admonished hardly.
"Have you me thim, Rena? Hmm?" Mama smiled.
"No, Mama. And I never want to. He sounds like a total waste of any female's time." Rena stated flatly, crossing her arms over her chest in a gesture of defiance.
"Did someone say my name?" a deep resonating voice asked rom the kitchen door.
As Rena turned around a tthe sound of that velvet voice, she almost lost her breath.