Chapter 151

• I thanked her, and then followed her into the enormous Villa that much like the archway we had driven under and through, made up the spaciously designed home that had more floors and balconies and open aired porches than I'd ever seen before. I followed her up a semi-circular stairway that ended up on what was obviously the third floor. She quickly pointed out to me that the family rooms were off to the left, and that guest quarters were down the hallway to the right. The way she stood there, almost as though guarding the left entry, was a subtle way of telling me, or so I thought anyway... that that particular area was off limits. As to whether Bella's own room existed in that particular direction, she didn't say. And I didn't ask. I figured I'd find out soon enough as it was. I then followed her down a short hallway, and then rounded a corner. Finding it both odd as well as charming to discover another short flight of stairs leading up. A single doorway stood in greeting as she opened it, and then stepped back... inviting me to continue on through it. Perhaps purposely so, as the sheer beauty and spaciousness of my room startled me for a moment. This room alone was bigger than any three put together where I lived. Off to one side, the bed... bigger than a King I imagined, obviously custom made with fine oaks that looked rough hewn, yet polished, glistening with a majestic air about them that seemed ancient, as though from another time and place. The bed was canopied as well, though the sheer coverings were currently drawn back along one side, showing off the perfectly well made bed. Across the way from that, what appeared to be a sunken tub, big enough to easily accommodate a half dozen people or so. Oddly, there was both a toilet and a bidet sitting next to it, both of them out in the open against the back wall. Though I guess if you were the only person staying here, it didn't really matter or require some secondary closed in area for privacy. But it was the balcony itself, and the porch across from the bed, and what was obviously a small, though well stocked bar and kitchenette area that truly took my breath away. Situated as it was, a completely open porch way, yet sheltered, allowed a vast look at the beauty and the magnificence of the grounds stretching out in almost every direction from here. I could only imagine the view at sunset as it faced to the West, already looking forward to that at some point. And then once again, a ladder that seemed to lead up through another hole in the ceiling, though I didn't as yet venture up towards it to take a look, only asking Greta its purpose instead.
• "Where does that lead to?" I asked. She smiled, nodding her head appreciatively, and then answering.
• "Bella calls it her dream chamber. She used to come here to hide when she was a young child and wanted to get away from everyone. And everyone always knew where she was of course, though they always pretended being unable to find her until she herself wanted to be found. She still comes up here from time to time," Greta answered, once more smiling as though harboring a secret thought. "Though it had been quite a while since she has, until her father took sick, and then suddenly passed away. After that... she would come up here for hours. We knew it was her way of dealing with things, so we left her alone up here whenever she did that."