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with the man next to him on the other side which sounded very business-like.
    The twins, having eaten a few bites from each course, proceeded to put their elbows on the table, twisted their hair around their fingers and tapped their shoes loudly on the floor.  Sabrina was restless too, but she didn’t know how to leave gracefully.  Seated at the head of the table, it wasn’t possible to sneak out.  Even if no one else noticed they’d left, the prince would.
    Finally someone got up from the table, so she seized the opportunity, and said “Please excuse us.”
    The prince hesitated only a moment, nodded and stood, pulling her chair out for her.  She grabbed a twin in each hand, and firmly guided them to the stairway, sure that no one, especially their father, would mind if they disappeared.
    The girls must have been tired, because they didn’t protest or say much.  Maybe they were just tired of trying to behave or tired of dining with grown-ups.  Anyway she walked to their room with them.  Just a glance inside told her it was a fairy tale room with hand-painted murals on the wall of castles and unicorns, two four-poster beds and a desk with a late model American computer, a printer, speakers, and enough accessories for a small office.
    “That’s all yours?” she asked.
    “The man from the bank set it up for us.  We are on Myspace,” Gianna said.
    “We get lots of messages,” Caterina said.
    “That’s good you’re computer literate.  So tomorrow we’ll began the lessons,” Sabrina said.  “We can use your computer.”
    Again a look passed between the twins.
    “We have summer camp tomorrow,” Caterina said.
    “Sailing on the lake, and horseback riding.” Gianna added.
    “All day?” Sabrina asked.  She had to admit riding and sailing sounded better than studying for an entrance exam to a school they didn’t want to go to.  But she had to make herself useful.  Or face deportation.
    They nodded happily.
    Sabrina gave up, said good-night and went to her room, changed into the robe and sat on the balcony watching the lights around the lake reflected in the water.  She listened to the waves gently lap against the boat dock.  Somewhere across the water a man was singing an Italian song.  Even though she didn’t understand a word except amor , she knew it must be about lost love.  It was so poignant she almost cried.  It had been two years since she’d fallen desperately in love with the one man she couldn’t have, the widowed father of little Laila who saw her only as a nanny, a trusted employee and not a possible wife.
    She should be over it now.  She thought she was. But there were times when the pain came back, throbbing like a wound that wouldn’t heal.  Times like tonight when she was faraway from home and facing an uncertain future.
    Later she heard voices drifting up from the patio beneath her room.
    “ Ciao ,” they called.
    “ Arrivederci .”
    The prince was saying good-bye to his guests while hundreds of fireflies flickered in the sky.  Sabrina stood, leaned over the balcony and reached out as if she could capture the ephemeral lights in her hands.  Just then the prince who was wrapped up in the magical, mystical green glow of the fireflies, looked up and saw her there.  She felt dizzy.  Maybe it was fatigue or jet lag or maybe it was Italy.  Or maybe it was him standing below her, his white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, his dark eyes flashing that made her feel faint.
    She grasped the railing and told herself to go to bed.  But her feet wouldn’t obey.  As long as he stood there with his head tilted up, his gaze locked with hers, she couldn’t move.  It was like the first sight of him from the ferry, only this time he wasn’t using binoculars.  There was nothing between them but the misty night air.  When at last someone called him, he finally broke eye contact and moved away and Sabrina went back to bed, feeling weak and tired and somehow disappointed.  As