The next day the two young men were radiant and energetic, more than they had ever felt. And during the day, looking toward the pinnetta, Damianu saw that Matteo had changed the sign of their tavern - now it said "Our Pinnetta"! He surprised asked himself when Matteo could have made that change and smiled pleased.
But now the two lovers felt more and more the desire of not having to seclude themselves in the pinnetta to make love, and to fall asleep on the same pallet, in each other's arms. They talked together - the only problem was Renzino. They did not want him to feel ousted from the room, as he might feel rejected by them. But then, they also felt they could not make love in the same room where the sleeping child was, risking to be found naked and embracing, if he woke before them.
They decided to make the child reach the desire to have a room all his own, for him to ask for it. They thought that the boy's room could be built between the kitchen and the oven, so it would be close to their room and at the same time they could have the necessary and desired privacy.
It was less difficult than they had feared. Skilfully guided, Renzino began to think it would be nice to have a room all of his own "as the great-grandfather Antonio"... and soon he was asking if he could have it. So Matteo, the first time he went to the village, asked the builders if they could go to add a back room to the farmhouse. He also took the opportunity to open a large archway between the kitchen and the former stables, so it was easier to serve the customers.
"Our Pinnetta" began to make a name for itself nearby also, and increasingly climbed up there even people from the village or from the not too far shrine of St. Francis, to enjoy the good food of Damianu. The pergola was already thick, and in good weather cheerful tables of men of the mine or of people of the village and its surroundings were filling it.
Not only business was getting increasingly better, but also the relationship and love between two young men was getting stronger and more beautiful. Their unions were perhaps less passionate than in the first months, but certainly no less enjoyable. In the evening, after closing time and after putting Renzino to bed, they continued to sit in front of the farmhouse to revisit the day, to plan the following days, or just to chat before retiring to make love, and finally sleep.
Now that business was good, they had also made in Lula new clothes, including also the beautiful traditional costumes they wore on feast days. Sometimes Matteo went up to Nuoro and retired the shares of the rent of Renzino. They bought exercise books and other books for the boy and, in turn, taught him to read, write and do arithmetic.
As the boy grew, he learned to serve at the table, and gave more and more often a hand to the two uncles. He was good-natured, and no one teased him for his too big head. On the contrary, many of the men of the mine had taken a liking to him. One of them taught him to work the cork and Renzino, when he had free time, had started to build boxes and trinkets that his uncles put in their small shop and that the men, more to please the little boy than out of real need, sometimes bought, especially when returning home for their rest turn, to make gifts.
One evening, while they were sitting in front of the farmhouse, Damianu said: "I am a bit concerned about Renzino..."
"Why? Is there a problem?" asked Matteo a little alarmed.
"No, not yet. But he is growing, sooner or later he is going to feel certain urges, certain needs and the more he will grow up, the stronger they will become."
"Well, he will do like all kids do, he will relieve himself," Matteo said with a smile.
"Yes... but then what? Here not only he has no friends; he knows no one, but he cannot even find a wife. Moreover, in his condition, even if we lived in a village, it would not be easy to find him a wife. And we sooner or later will grow old and when we are gone, how will he manage, being alone?"
Matteo smiled: "We are still young and strong and if the Lord helps us, we will live long. Thus there is time to think about it, right?"
"Yes, but we need to start thinking about it anyway. We have to find a solution. When he becomes an adult he will have a lot of money available... but will he ever be able to administer it without being cheated, especially on the day when there will be none of us to take care of him? And how do we know how long we may live? You're right, maybe we have all the time, but we have to start thinking about it. "
"If we were a big family, there would always be someone who cares about him. But unfortunately it's just the three us," Matteo said thoughtfully, "Perhaps we might be better to leave him to live with Rosa and Ziu Cosimu."
"No, he would feel abandoned again, poor child. No, no, I think we did well to bring him up here with us. But the problem remains," Damianu said.
"We will find a solution, love, do not worry. I'll think about it. I, too, and with God's help, we will think of something. However he is growing well, healthy and strong. The only problem is that he is not very smart."
"If we only could find him, at the right time, a good wife..." Damianu murmured thoughtfully.
"Or a good male lover. Do you know that Renzino is not like us?"
"How, like us? What makes you think so? Guys like us are few..."
"Perhaps more than we think. However, many or few they may be, he could be like us, when you think that his father also liked men, and I like only men. Maybe there is something in the blood, which runs in the family, who knows? Have you ever wondered why the two of us are like that, unlike most of the others? "
"No, not ever... But I think everyone simply is born as he is born. Even among siblings, sometimes they are so different that it seems to be of two different families," Damianu said. "But how can we tell if Renzino will be like us or not?"
"I do not really know... We can only pay attention, hope to understand it. And anyway, even if he is like us, it will not be any easier to find him a male partner, indeed, it will be even more difficult."
"I, however, Matteo... I was lucky to find you."
"But I was more fortunate than you - thanks to you I put my head straight..." the lover said with a big smile.
"You were just a dare-devil, eh?" Damianu said, smiling sweetly. "But do you not miss, now, your adventures?"
"No, actually no, I'm too well with you."
"You like my ass?" Damianu asked slyly.
"Not only that. I love everything about you, do you not know? Am I not making myself clear enough?"
Damianu smiled and nodded.
The requests for lead and zinc increased, so the mine owners hired new staff. Consequently, the work for the three Dore increased. While this meant earning more and more as a result they were also very tired. So at one point they thought it was necessary to have a couple more people to help them.
Matteo was planning to go to the village to spread the word to find someone. It was an early afternoon in March, the spring was announcing, and in a moment of pause in their work, while Renzino watered the wisterias, Damianu and Matteo sat on a bench to rest a bit, looking at the long line of people who went to the queue to be hired in the mine.
The owners, taking advantage of the fact that the requests were many more than the available places, were doing a strict selection, choosing and looking for strong men who did not look like troublemakers. Therefore many came back empty-handed.
At one point they saw a boy come back, young and delicate by constitution, who walked along weeping to go back to the valley.
Arriving in front of the pergola, he stopped, wiped his tears and with broken voice asked: "Could you give me a glass of water, please?"
" Would you not like a bit of wine, boy?" asked Matteo.
"I can not pay for it, the water is fine, thanks," replied the boy.
While Matteo was going to get the pitcher and a mug Damianu asked him: "They've said no, right?"
"They say I'm too weak, they did not want me. But I need to work. For days I knocked on every door, but nobody wants me, neither the shepherds nor the shopkeepers. The mine was my last hope."
"The work in the mines is very hard, my boy. I don't know how long you could withstand it without getting sick. It is men's work... and unfortunately for you, there are too many people willing to do it. Find something else; do not despair. "
The boy drank the water almost eagerly, then, holding out the mug, asked if he could have some more.
"You're hungry too, I'll bet... but you have not even a coin," Matteo said, studying him.
The boy nodded, blushing.
"Come into the kitchen, there's enough stuff to eat, and no need to pay us," Matteo said.
They watched the boy eat. Like people used to having little food, the boy made small bites and chewed them for a very long time. They persuaded him to drink also half a glass of wine.
"Where are you from, boy? Your speech is not from around here," asked Damianu.
"From Posada."
"You have family there? What do they do?"
"They were fishermen. My father died at sea when I was thirteen. My mother died of tuberculosis last year. We are four brothers and I am the oldest. I worked for master Derosas, I was the scullery boy, earned little, but at least I could feed my brothers and the owner let us sleep in the stable of the horses. Then master Derosas died and his sons sold everything and I so was left jobless and homeless. "
"How old are you, boy?"
"Seventeen."
"And your brothers?"
"My brother is fourteen, my sister ten, and the youngest sister seven." The boy had finished eating. Blushing to the ears he asked: "Can I take away a little piece of cheese for my brothers?"
"What is your name, boy?" asked Damianu.
"Canu Ottavio."
"Listen, Ottavio," Damianu said after casting a look at Matteo who nodded quickly having understood what his lover had in mind, "Now you take all that cheese and also a loaf of bread and bring it to your brothers. Then you take them and bring them up here with us. You and your brother will work for us, give us a hand to prepare food, serve customers, sweep, wash dishes and all that is needed. We will give you food, a place to sleep and a change of clothes for each season, for all four. And if you and your brother work hard, even a few coins. Is that all right? "
The boy widened his eyes, "Really? You say this for real? May the Lord bless you! Of course I will work hard, you will not regret it, I swear! The Lord bless you!" He took and the kissed the hands of Damianu and Matteo, who were very touched.
"How long will it take you to be back here, Ottavio?"
"No more than three days, to go and come back. May Our Lady reward you!"
"Then go. Somehow we'll find a place for the four of you to sleep. Go, Ottavio Canu, and come back soon!"
"I fly, I fly and come back. May the Lord reward you!" said the boy and, with the bundle of bread and cheese in hand, he disappeared running down the road.
"Seems like a good guy, right?" Damianu said to Matteo.
"Yes, we can give him a hand and we must do so. And if they really work hard, it will be a blessing for us. Also for Renzino, having other kids around will be a good thing."
Actually four days elapsed, but finally came to Our Pinnetta Ottavio with his brother and sisters- Luigi, Caterina and Annetta. Ottavio and Luigi at once set to work, and also Caterina and her sister helped as much as they could. The boys learned quickly and were eager to do well what was required of them. Provisionally they made them sleep on two mattresses that lay in a corner of the dining hall after they closed.
After some months, pleased with how the four siblings had settled with them, and also with Renzino that they treated like he was their brother, and saw that Renzino was fine with them, they built two other small rooms behind the farmhouse, next to that of Renzino, bought other mattresses to make them sleep more comfortably and also made new clothes for all four. Caterina was also good at mending, which was a good thing. Luigi learned to cook and was in the kitchen with Damianu, Ottavio took care of the garden and cages, as well as serving at the table when there were many customers.
Soon they realized that Renzino and Caterina were more and more happy together. Another thing they noticed, by certain glances, was that most likely Ottavio had to be like them.
Then, after a year that the four young people lived with them, one evening they said to Ottavio after putting to bed the other children and Renzino, he joined them under the pergola, because they wanted to talk. The boy obeyed, and joined them. They made him sit next to them.
"Ottavio, we have to have with you a very serious speech. But you must promise that you'll be honest with us and that you will not tell any lies..."
The boy looked at them worried: " Did I do something wrong?" he asked a little shaken.
"No, we are happy with the way you work, with what you do," Damianu said, "But there are some things we need to clarify with you. Do you promise to be honest with us, as we will be with you?"
"Yes... I promise..." Ottavio replied a little uncertainly.
"We have noticed that your sister Caterina is happy with our Renzino. Did she say anything, to you?"
"She has grown fond of Renzino, she likes him..."
"Do you realize that our Renzino... is not like the other boys?" asked Matteo.
"Yes... however he is good and kind..." Ottavio replied, wondering where this speech was going to end.
"Renzino is good and kind, yes, but he is growing... and we would not want that... you know... he did something... that can embarrass your sister," Damianu said, "I mean, if the two like each other, if they love each other, we would be happy, but... I think you should talk to Caterina, as we will talk to Renzino, and we should all be very attentive."
"Yes... I understand. Maybe you're right. However Caterina likes Renzo, she told me."
"Time will tell... but in due time, and none too soon, will be better," Matteo insisted.
"Yes... it is true," Ottavio agreed.
"If one day they fall in love... if they talked about marriage, what would you decide?" asked Matteo.
"I would love it," replied the boy.
"Although Renzino is... how he is?" Damianu insisted.
"He's good hearted, and that's what counts," Ottavio said.
"Very well, we are glad you feel so. Now for the second argument, Ottavio, you are not interested in girls?" Damianu asked.
The boy looked at them in surprise, then, as if he were choosing his words, he replied: "I never had time to think about... And here there are none..."
"We feel that in reality, even if there were a dozen and one prettier than the other... you'd not look at them," said Matteo.
The boy was visibly uncomfortable: "I... I do not know..."
"Ottavio, you promised to be honest and sincere with us. You like boys, is it not true?" asked Matteo.
The boy blushed and looked down. He began to tremble and said in a low voice: "Do not send me away, please... I never... I never touched Renzo, I swear..."
"I never said that. So it's true, you like boys. Or maybe you prefer grown men?"
"I... I... no... once... I had a friend there at master Derosa's... he was his groom, a boy about my age, he was a year younger than me..."
"Were you in love?" asked Damianu.
"I was... even if he... he just wanted to have fun. But to me it was fine, if I could be with him..." Ottavio almost stammered, confused.
"For this reason you looked at Damianu... in a certain way?" asked Matteo.
"No... Well, yes, but... it's just that I would like to be like you, Damianu... not that I wanted... not that I wanted to do it with you..."
"And what do you do to... to vent your desire?" asked Matteo.
"Sometimes... with Luigi..."
"With your brother? He is like you? You make love, you two?" Damianu asked.
"No, we do not make love... but sometimes we touch, nothing more, I swear... Luigi likes girls, but here... and then..."
"Ottavio, do not be so scared, we just want to help you. We want you to consider us as your family. Therefore speak freely," Damianu said. "Luigi and your sisters know about you?"
"Luigi knows, I spoke with him. My sisters do not, they are too young and then, with them I would feel ashamed. You are the first, apart from Luigi, to whom I said how I am. It is just that, because of how I am, I know everybody would condemn me, worse than if I were a thief. "
"Not us. See, your problem is to find a boy like Luigi is to find sooner or later a girl. We understand it well and we know that we must do something, sooner or later," Matteo said, "And since you're being honest with us, we want to be honest with you. See, Damianu and I are lovers, we love each other and make love between us, so we can fully understand you."
The boy looked at them with eyes wide open, almost incredulously, "Really you two..."
"Yes, that's right. But we've not mentioned it to take you to bed with us." Damianu smiled, "We both love each other and do not want to do it with anyone else. But we would be glad to help you out in some way. So we thought that you and Luigi must go more often to the village, meet people, boys and girls. For Luigi it will be easier, and he has more time in front; not so for you. But if you found, Luigi a girl that he wants to marry, and you a guy to live with, you can talk with us. And if one day Luigi wanted to bring his wife here to work with us, or you your own guy, we will simply build an extra room and will expand the family. So that's what we wanted to tell you, Ottavio. "
"Really you say that, if I... if one day I fell in love with a guy and he with me... like you two... I could bring him to live here with me, with you?"
"Certainly. And here, especially as Luigi knows about you, to live together would be much easier than in the village, right?" said Matteo.
Now Ottavio was visibly relieved: "It would be nice... oh yeah, that would be great. I always thought that I have been lucky to ask that day for that glass of water, but I did not know how lucky I really was ."
So, they also spoke with Luigi, and they agreed to give the two boys a little more free time to go to the village and attend their peers, get to know people, make friends.
The two boys now often confided with Matteo and Damianu and they were truly becoming all one big family.
Some years passed. The first was Luigi who got married to Maresa, a girl from Orune, who went to work with them in the Pinnetta. Then Ottavio, at the feast of St. Francis, at the sanctuary, met a shepherd three years his junior, a cheerful and easygoing boy of Irgoli, but a hard worker named Vannuzzu. The two boys fell in love and so Vannuzzu left home and went to live with Ottavio, fitting in well with the big family. Finally Renzino wanted to marry Caterina, of whom he was very fond and who now, having grown up, everyone called Lorenzo.
The farm started popping up grandchildren, the children of Lorenzo and Luigi. Damianu with Matteo, who have become mature men, saw with pleasure the family grow up around them. Thank goodness and the wisdom of the two lovers, in the farmhouse, which they had expanded and renovated building a second floor on the premises adjacent the former stables, an industrious harmony reigned.
Sometimes, at night, all gathered in front of the farmhouse, and the two mature lovers told their life to Vannuzzu and Ottavio, Luigi and Maresa, Lorenzo and Caterina, and Annetta, who was becoming a pretty girl, who listened to them with pleasure.
Also the three young women had no problem accepting the relationship between Damianu and Matteo, like the one between Ottavio and Vannuzzu. Outside the big family no one suspected the real nature of the relationship of the two couples, so they lived with no problems.
Vannuzzu had also realized an old dream of Damianu and Matteo - he had got some sheep from his father and now they also had a small flock. So, from what they cultivated and the animals they raised, they had meat, eggs, milk, cheese, fruit and vegetables for the customers of the farmhouse, and their earnings were enough to live on without any problems.
Damianu and Matteo, having now a little more free time, taught the others and especially the children, to read and write. Matteo, for his business acumen, was the de facto leader of the house and everyone always referred to him. But Damianu had become the confidant of all, for his kindness, his gentleness and his listening skills.
Late one evening Damianu and Matteo were in their room, hugging and lying on their bed, as they had also been able to finally have real beds for everyone.
"Are you happy, my Damianu?" Matteo asked in a whisper full of affection, holding him in his arms.
"More would not be possible, love. And you?"
"As long as I'm with you, how could I not be?"
"No regrets for the past?" Damianu asked, caressing the beautiful mature, strong and virile body of his lover
"Regrets? None. See, I was just a bastard child, received at home out of pity, you a foundling. But now we are grandparents, loved and respected in this great family. How many are we now? Fourteen! And also for Lorenzo we have no longer to fear for the future, because despite his problems, he is loved and respected by all." Matteo said caressing him more and more intimately, "Just think, my love - we started all this, us two, with nothing but the clothes we wore and a handful of coins I had in the old tin box. Now we have the farmhouse, and a good stretch of land, horses, two wagons, animals, but above all one big family. How could I want more? But above all I have you, my Damianu!"
"Are you too tired to make love with me?" Damianu asked, already knowing the answer.
"Who can become tired of the air he breathes, of the sun that warms him, of the water that quenches him? No, my love."
They stopped talking, and let their souls, their hearts talk, through their entire bodies. They gave themselves each other, vaguely aware that most likely in three other rooms, on three other large wooden beds, three other couples under the eaves of the farmhouse were equally exchanging desire and love - the fiery Luigi with his beautiful Maresa, the strong Vannuzzu with his handsome Ottavio, and the sweet Caterina with her meek Lorenzo.
Life is beautiful for those who are content with little and, with love, share with others what little they have.