color on them to make them more toy-like. That he’d been able to make the miniatures as well as he did surprised him. But detail was detail, whether on a dollhouse chair or a map of Italy.
There was a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called, not shifting from his work.
Bella poked her head in. “There is someone here to see you.”
He turned in his chair and stretched as Parthena entered, Bella right behind her. “Oh! I had no idea …”
“What time it was?” Parthena finished for him.
“No. That Bella would bring you up.” He eyed his big sister.
Bella shrugged. “She said she was running late.”
“I see.” He stood and waved at the miniatures on the worktable. “What do you think?”
Parthena’s eyes rounded to saucers. “Leo, these are wonderful!” She joined him and picked up a chair.
“Careful – the paint might not be dry,” he warned.
She held it before her and studied it. “It’s so intricate.”
“I can make you coverings,” Bella said. “I know I can.”
“Then I’ll only send the table and chairs.” He picked up the table. “Could you make a lace tablecloth?”
“Of course,” Bella said. “And tiny curtains. They will love that.”
“Where’s the house?” Parthena asked.
“Come, I’ll show you.” He picked up the other chair and headed downstairs.
Parthena followed, still holding the other chair. “How long did it take you to make these?”
“A few weeks. I don’t work on them every day.” He went outside, the women right behind.
“Wait until you see what else he has made,” Bella said with pride. “These beautiful panels – he plans on selling some at this year’s Harvest Festival.”
They went into the barn. On a table in a stall was something covered with some burlap sacks. Leo went to it and, smiling at Parthena, pulled the sacks off.
“Oh, wow!” She clapped her hands, then went to examine it more closely. “Leo, this is incredible … why, it’s the main farmhouse!”
“It is.” He opened the back.
Parthena gasped. “Leo!”
He smiled. The house took up over half the table. It was a perfect replica of Nonna’s house, down to the last room. “I still have to make the rest of the furniture for it.”
“When are you giving it to them?” Parthena asked.
“Christmas. I’m making as many gifts as I can. But I thought I’d give them the table and chairs now, just to whet their appetite.”
“Do they know about it?”
“No,” Bella said. “And it will be hard to keep the secret from them. But it takes time to make something like this. Especially since Leo is such a perfectionist.”
Parthena smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Perfection takes time.” She ran her hand over the roof. “I can’t believe you carved each shingle.”
“That’s what’s taken the most time,” he said. “Funny thing, it all started with the shingles. I hadn’t planned on making a dollhouse, but one day when I was carving something else, a wood chip landed at my feet shaped just like a shingle. I saw it and thought to myself, I’ll never do that again. Then I tried.”
Bella laughed. “He brought me six the same day to show me. Then he started making more when he was not working on anything else.”
“And she told me I might as well make a house to go with them,” Leo said.
Bella pointed to a box in the corner. “He made hundreds of them.”
Parthena looked at the box. “You did?”
“I knew I’d need a lot so decided to get them out of the way.” He brought the box to the table and took off the lid. “See?”
She picked up a few and examined them. “Amazing. I had no idea you were so talented.”
“My siblings are all good at something,” Bella said. “It is too bad they are not all here. Think of the money we could make.”
“Ah, but how much could they make if they were here?” Leo riposted. “Alfonso especially – how would he get his sausages to market if he wasn’t in a city?”
“True,” Bella sighed.
Leo held the box out to Parthena, who dropped the shingles back into it. “It’s all very impressive.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. I didn’t always spend so much time making things, but the more I did it the better I got. So naturally I started to challenge myself.”
She met his gaze and smiled. “How wonderful.”
He let his eyes roam her face. “I think so.”
Bella cleared her throat. “I think it is time Parthena got going. Samijo may be ready to serve.”
“Of course.” He closed the dollhouse, covered