Granny here,
The morning flew by since there were so busy they had no time to watch the clock, they had agreed to gather information, then wait until they got home to discuss it. Daisy was blown away by all the information from the jeweler and what she had gathered today was just the icing on the cake. Leslie had learned a lot more than she had bargained for and couldn't wait to share her findings with Daisy, but they wouldn't have the whole story until they combined all their findings.
They arrived back at the villa determined to solve the mystery, they didn't know yet what part the villa actually had played in the whole scheme of things. Daisy put on a fresh pot of coffee and they were going to need it, the task ahead of them was going to be daunting but they were ready for it. Daisy's information on the ring, style, value, and clarity and the report from the gemologist were the same as the information given to her by the jeweler, she also discovered the ring was from the eighteen hundreds probably between 1850 and1900. It had belonged to the royal Castalina family and the heirloom had been passed down for hundreds of years from one royal family to another. It had been given to Victoria Francesca Castalina on her twentieth birthday.
"That's exactly what my information says, Daisy, interrupted Leslie, it seems that it once belonged to her mother, Princess Marissa Gabriella Giabaldi, who was married to Prince William Vinchenzo Castalina, and before that it belonged to her grandmother Queen Elizabeth Victoria Castalina. This ring has been around, wouldn't you say, I'd love to hear the stories it could tell."
"This gets more interesting with each piece of the puzzle doesn't it; said Daisy as she looked through the info that Leslie had collected. It says here the ring was given to a soldier during the war, we have to find out who he was." "And just where do we start to find out that story, said Leslie, that's not going to be easy". "This story was told to me as a child, said Daisy, do you think there is a connection between the ring and my family, which would blow my mind. The soldiers name was Lt. Robert Alexander Neilson according to the story; he would have been my father's great, great grandfather."
It was getting late and Leslie had to be going, she had to call her mom in America about shipping her things to Italy since she had decided to make it home. The girls felt that they had done a good days work and had found out about as much as they could from books, now Daisy needed to ask questions from family members and see if there really was a connection. Daisy would begin her investigation with her mom and dad of course but right now she wanted to see Tory, it had been a few days since they had seen each other and she was getting lonely and hoped he had too.
Daisy spent Sunday afternoon with Tory, she had invited him over for spaghetti and meatballs which was one of his favorites and Daisy was a very good cook, if she did say so herself. The day was beautiful, not only was the weather cooperative but so were their emotions as usual. they had dinner and watched a movie, went for a walk in the garden and Daisy showed Tory just where she had found the ring. "Tory, do you think that it's possible that the chain is also buried here in the garden? If the ring was lost here maybe the chain was lost at the same time. Would you help me search for it, we can dig with my garden tools that are in the bottom of the kitchen sink." "Sure, I'll help you look but where do we start?" Said Tory as Daisy took him by the hand and led him to the exact spot where she had pulled up the ring hoping that if the chain was there they would be able to find it and have it as another clue to its rightful owner. Daisy ran into the kitchen to retrieve her tools and rushed back out to the garden where Tory was already digging with a stick hat he had found under a tree. He took the tools and began to dig where Daisy had found the ring and Daisy began to dig just a few feet away hoping all the while that they would discover the clue that they needed to tie the ring to Daisy's ancestry.
After digging several holes the two were beginning to lose hope of finding anything at all, they had dug up rocks, marbles, metal chips and coins that were worthless. Daisy was feeling a bit let down when her shovel revealed a piece of chain that was different than anything that she had seen before, it was broken in two pieces, the first piece was easy to pull from the ground but the second piece seemed to be hung on something. She quickly called for Tory to help her dig deeper, her excitement kept building the farther down Tory dug. Then, it appeared the other half of the chain and attached to it was a military dog tag covered with so much dirt that the name was filled in and unreadable. Tory began cleaning with the tail of his shirt and there it was Lt. Robert Alexander Neilson engraved in large letters.
Daisy fell to the ground beside Tory as he cleaned the piece of metal and she couldn't believe her eyes, the chain and the dog tag proved it, the story of her ancestors from many years ago was true. All the stories the family had told all these years was true and now she had the proof. How is this possible after a hundred years or more that she had found the heirloom that indeed belonged to her family? This was mind boggling!
Tory gave Daisy a big kiss as if to say congratulations, you have made your discovery. She stood to her feet and began laughing out loud, "Oh, Tory, isn't this wonderful, my family will be so pleased." "I'm sure they will be, but for now let's get ourselves cleaned up and all these holes filled back in so the garden will be beautiful again."
After cleaning themselves up they knew that it was getting late and time for Tory to head home although as usual he didn't want to but knew that Daisy would want him to leave. They enjoyed the view from the veranda with a glass of wine while feeling the comforts of the large chaise lounge. There were moments where restraining themselves became an art but both of them passed with flying colors. As Tory was leaving, it became obvious that their restraint was going to be more challenging as their relationship developed. Parting was becoming a problem for them and their kisses became more passionate as they thought of leaving each other, Daisy could tell that Tory wanted to stay and she couldn't deny that she wanted him too.
Daisy had been asking quite a few questions of her family since spending the day at the library, her curiosity had been peaked and her memory refreshed after reading all that information. she was now more curious than ever, as an adult she now realized that the stories she had heard as a child were true and could have more meaning than she could have ever dreamed. Daisy now had more information to tell her parents, she had called her mother once and told her all that she had found out about the ring, her mother had almost forgotten the stories she had heard from the grandmothers in the family through the years.
Daisy was trying to work out some strategy so she would be able to find out all she could about the ring but in the meantime she had placed it in a safe deposit box at the bank and bought insurance on it. She had no idea that the ring would have such an impact on her entire family and now that she had found the identifying dog tag she knew that she had to talk to her grandmother on her father's side, she remembers her dad saying something about one of his grandfathers having an affair during the war, now she knew they were one and the same. Daisy would have to make a trip to America to get all the answers she was looking for. Maybe she and Leslie could make a holiday of it since Leslie really needed to go to America and pull together all the loose ends of her life there.
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