Lucianna Read online

  Balia came forward, laughing softly. “That was nicely done, mistress, but she will not be pleased by what you just did.”

  “No, she won’t,” Lucianna agreed, “but she’ll get that poor man to escort her home, walking by her chair litter, and he will give her the flowers for herself, which will please her.”

  “I listened while you two spoke,” Balia said. “You may have surprised her with your reasoning, but she will still seek to see you remarried as quickly as possible now that your formal mourning is over. Do you think she is correct? That the Englishman will not come back to Florence?”

  “I don’t know,” Lucianna admitted. “But there is no harm in waiting for a brief time. Especially if I am going to be importuned by men like Signore Parini.”

  “I do not see how you are going to escape these eager gentlemen,” Balia said. “And your mother will not be happy until she sees you wed again, I fear.”

  When Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo learned of his wife’s visit to Lucianna, he knew it was time for him to act. Since the Englishman had told him of Milan’s decision to set up a representative of their silk trade in London, Giovanni had been investigating discreetly if such a thing was actually coming to pass. He had finally learned it was indeed.

  The Milanese planned next spring to send the son of one of their silk merchants to England to represent their silk guild. It was time to call a meeting of the guild and present this danger to his own guild members. He fully expected opposition, and he got it.

  “Let them,” one of his members said.

  “If we do not have our own agent representing Florence, we will lose a great deal of business,” Giovanni warned them.

  “We are already losing business to Milan.”

  “We will lose more. If you were a busy merchant in London, would you want to leave your business and family to travel to Florence?”

  “I’d travel anywhere, anytime, to avoid listening to my wife and my mistress complain,” one man said, and there was much good-natured laughter at this remark.

  Giovanni smiled. “I imagine we all would at one time or another, but if there is an easier way of obtaining our fine silk for English merchants, why should we not pursue it?” he asked them. “It will not require an enormous outlay on our parts. A small shop in a good location, a single representative, a fine supply of our fabrics, and smaller samples showing the various colors available. If we divide the small cost among us, we then have an excellent advantage.”

  “Where did you learn this information regarding Milan?” one of the silk merchants asked him.

  “I heard it first from the English lord who purchased such a large order from me for his king several months back. He had visited Milan first, and was told it. After he passed his knowledge on to me, I investigated the rumor myself, and learned it was true.”

  “We must pay for the man representing us. London is an expensive city in which to live,” another of the silk merchants said. “We need someone knowledgeable, and someone who can speak their language. Who among us has someone like that who fits that description and is willing to part with them?”

  There was a deep silence. No one spoke up, and Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo knew he now had the advantage over them. He had not been certain until now, but now he knew.

  “I would send my daughter Lucianna,” he said quietly. “She is very knowledgeable of our trade and speaks English quite well.”

  “A woman?”

  “The bookseller’s widow?”

  “Impossible! We will be a laughingstock.”

  “Why?” he demanded of them. “Because she is female? She knows our business. She speaks their language.”

  “What does Orianna think of this?” one merchant dared to ask.

  “She’ll have your balls for even suggesting such a thing,” another said boldly.

  “My wife does not manage my business, nor this guild,” Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo said icily. “If you are foolish enough to allow Milan to get ahead of us, I will send her myself to represent my silks only, and I will end up being the only successful silk merchant remaining in our fair city. It is your decision to make, good sirs.” He had no intention of arguing the point all evening.

  “To send a woman to do our business is unusual,” Carlo Alberti, a well-respected silk merchant said. “I cannot deny, however, that Lucianna, your daughter, knows silk very well. She is a credit to you and to our guild. Will you compromise with us, Giovanni, and send a man with her? My wife tells me that Orianna is unhappy that your Luca follows a military career. He is your daughter’s twin. Could you not persuade him to give up his warlike pursuits to learn the business of our commerce? He might accompany his sister to London. She could teach him our trade. Considering your oldest son’s disinterest in silk, and your second son’s religious vocation, it could do you no disservice to have another heir, with a well-rounded knowledge of silks.”

  The other merchants voiced their agreement and approval of such a plan. Thinking for a moment, Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo decided that Carlo Alberti’s idea was a rather excellent one. Why he hadn’t thought of it himself, he didn’t know. “I will agree to your proposal,” he said, “and send Luca with his sister. Now let us vote on the matter.”

  They voted. While a few disliked the idea, the majority voted in favor of opening a small shop in London to represent their guild, with Lucianna Pietro d’Angelo and her brother Luca as their representatives. They all knew her, and they could be certain she would be a fair deputy for them, for she was, after all, her father’s daughter. And her brother would preserve the dignity of their guild.

  When it had been decided, one among them said, “Now go home and tell your wife what you have done, Gio,” and there was much amused laughter.

  He would tell her tonight, but not before he had spoken to Lucianna. He climbed into his litter chair, and directed it to his daughter’s house. Two torchbearers ran before him, and two behind him as they hurried through the darkening streets to quickly reach her home. He climbed out of his chair and said to them, “I will not be long.”

  Lucianna was surprised to see her father at such an hour. She ushered him inside into the small library and invited him to sit. “What is it, Father? Is all well at home?” She handed him a small goblet.

  “I have had the temerity to rearrange your life tonight, Lucianna,” he began, and sipped his wine. He held up his hand quickly. “Nay, no marriage, for I respect your wishes on that, Daughter.”

  “Then what have you done?” she asked, smiling. As long as it was not another marriage, she was content.

  “You are going to England, Lucianna,” he began.

  Her eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly continued.

  “The earl told me before he departed that Milan was intending to set up a shop in London to display their silks so English tradesmen might order in the comfort of their own city, and not go through the trouble of traveling to Italy. It is, therefore, necessary that Florence do the same thing. The guild has chosen you, at my suggestion, to serve as our deputy in London. I thought perhaps you might enjoy being away from your mother, and her constant planning, for a while.

  “I am also sending Luca with you so you may teach him the business of the silk trade. With Marco’s disinterest and inability to learn, I did not consider it a bad idea for Luca to give up the military and learn our ways. That will please your mother. The earl thought it a good idea for a woman to represent us. It sets us apart from Milan. You will have far more charm than whoever speaks for them. Of course, it will be considered that your brother is in charge, but you will not allow him to abuse his authority, I suspect,” her father said with a chuckle.

  Lucianna gave him a mischievous smile. “No, I will not,” she said, and added, “Mother does not know, does she? I do not doubt, however, that she will be glad to see Luca gone from the military.”

  “Nay, but
when I go home, I must tell her,” he replied. Then he chuckled again. “A bit of both sweet and sour for your mother to digest. She will not be happy to lose you, but she will be happy and relieved to have her precious youngest son freed of his warlike pursuits. It is Luca’s happiness you and I must consider.”

  “There are no wars now to entertain him,” Lucianna said. “I think he only chose the military because Marco was the heir, and Giorgio had chosen the church. He is quick to learn.” Then she considered England, and the Earl of Lisle. “If I go to London,” she said to her father, “will it not appear as if I am chasing after Roberto?”

  “I believe the Englishman is interested in having you for his wife,” Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo said quietly, surprising Lucianna. “He asked me for my permission to court you, Lucianna. I explained to him that since you are a widow, the choices you made would be up to you. I do not know if he was swept away by the charm and beauty of Italy, or if upon returning home to England, he simply forgot you. But nonetheless, let us get your mother more interested in arranging Serena’s life rather than rearranging yours. Unless, of course, there is someone you favor now.”

  “No,” Lucianna told her father. “There is none here I would happily marry. Perhaps Roberto has forgotten me, but I will not know unless we have the opportunity to meet again, will I?”

  “Then you will go?”

  “What of your shop? Marco will simply not pay attention to the business of the silk trade. I cannot, in good conscience, leave it in his hands, Father.”

  “I shall go back into the shop full-time, Daughter. And I believe I have a clever way of detaching Signorina Clarinda from your brother. I shall pay his wages to his wife, and instruct her to give him enough coin to walk about with his friends, but not enough to support his greedy mistress.”

  “He will be heartbroken,” Lucianna said.

  “But hopefully he will see the wench for what she really is,” her father answered. “He will swear off women for the interim, and put his mind on his business before finding another mistress.”

  Lucianna laughed. “It is already autumn. When am I to go?”

  “As quickly as possible. I want your mother to have no time to attempt to thwart me, Daughter. I am used to Orianna’s bouts of pique.”

  “Let me call in Balia and see if she is willing to come with me.”

  “I believe she will be,” he answered as his daughter opened the library door and called for her personal servant.

  She was already seated again by the time the older woman entered the chamber. “Yes, mistress? How may I serve you?”

  Lucianna quickly explained, and then finished by asking, “Will you come with me, Balia?”

  “Of course I will,” Balia said. “Who else would look after you if I didn’t? When do we leave?”

  “As quickly as possible, to avoid familial difficulties,” Lucianna told her. “How quickly can we be packed? We will take my clothing, jewelry, and bed linens. They are mine. Everything else was Alfredo’s and his first wife’s. I don’t want it,” Lucianna said. “I will lock up the house when I go. It is here if I ever come back, but if I do not, then I will sell it.”

  “You don’t want to give it to Norberto?” her father asked.

  “No. He may buy it if he so desires should I sell, but the house is part of my inheritance from Fredo. I will not just give it to his son,” Lucianna said. “He has his own home, given him by his wife’s parents, for she did not wish to live with her in-laws and look after them. That is why Fredo left me the house outright and not Norberto.” Then she asked her father, “By what manner shall we travel?”

  “I think overland to the coast facing what is called the English Channel, and then across that body of water to England itself. I will have my bankers, the Kiras, notify their London branch to see you have both a small shop and a separate house nearby that is furnished for your comfort. They will help you settle yourself. You will carry with you a letter to the English king, announcing your presence and Luca’s as the representatives of the guild of Florentine silk merchants. There will be other letters for the more important of the London guilds so that your presence and authority are known to them. Ask the Kiras to suggest someone to help you in the shop. Accept their advice, but I will speak with you again before you depart. Balia, how long will it take you to make ready?” he asked.

  “Six days, sir,” Lucianna’s serving woman said. “I will have it all packed and ready in six days.”

  “Excellent!” he approved. “We will not tell your mother when you are going, Lucianna. She will, therefore, have less time to meddle. As for Luca, he will meet you somewhere along the road. I am very proud of you, Daughter. This is a great challenge, but I know that you will be successful in this endeavor. You do not have to come to the shop in these last few days, for you will need time to prepare yourself, and direct Balia.”

  “I will come tomorrow, Father,” she said. “Let me speak with Marco before you do. And he must know that Luca comes with me.”

  “Very well,” her father said, standing. “I must go home now, and give your mother this exciting news. I hope I shall be able to gain a bit of sleep this night,” he chuckled. Then, Balia escorting him, he left his daughter’s house, climbed into his litter, and reluctantly directed them home to inform his wife that their third daughter was going to England.

  Orianna behaved exactly as he had anticipated. “Are you mad?” she demanded. “A woman? You are sending a delicate woman to represent the silk merchants of Florence in London? I will not allow it! I will not, Gio!”

  “My dear, you have no voice in this matter,” he told her, infuriating her further. “This is the decision of the guild. Do you want us to lose more business than we have already lost to Milan? Besides, I will arrange to have Luca sell his commission in the army, and go with Lucianna. She will teach him our trade, and he will be saved from the military. Certainly you are pleased by that, my dear.”

  Orianna considered his words. Then she said, “You cannot turn my daughter, the granddaughter of a prince, into a tradeswoman.”

  “She enjoys it,” he replied. “You would have her sit here in Florence while you seek another husband for her, though they are only interested in her inherited wealth? No! You will not force my clever daughter into a boring and dull life because that suits you. No! She is going to London. With luck, she may attract her earl again.”

  “Are you foolish enough to believe that an English earl will have a tradeswoman for a wife? A mistress, perhaps, but certainly not a wife. Gio, the man is a personal friend of his king!”

  “He asked my permission to direct his attentions towards Lucianna the day he had dinner with us,” her husband countered.

  “You never told me that!” Orianna said, very surprised.

  “No, I did not. I did not want you interfering, Wife. We have had four daughters, but I claim this third daughter of ours as mine alone. You have the other three, Orianna. Lucianna is mine. Now I will not discuss this with you further. I am tired and wish only for my bed. Good night, my dear.” He kissed her forehead and then left her.

  Orianna was astounded by what she had learned, what he had said to her this night. Lucianna his? She thought on it and had to admit to herself that their third daughter was very much like her father. She was quiet, and thoughtful, rarely if ever revealing her private thoughts. She had been obedient in all things asked of her, even marrying without complaint a man old enough to be her grandfather.

  It was only upon her husband’s death that she had become independent.

  Yes, Orianna realized, Lucianna was more Gio’s than hers. Still, she didn’t want her daughter leaving Florence unless it was in the keeping of a husband. But she knew she would not get that wish. Was her daughter pleased to have been given such a position that would take her from Florence? Yes, she probably was very delighted, and she would take the wretched Balia with
her. Orianna didn’t like Balia. She came from the Allibatore household and was entirely loyal to Lucianna. She would not spy on her mistress for Orianna. It was difficult to know exactly what her daughter was doing if she didn’t have someone who would report to her. Who in England would, and then write to her? Orianna realized she would have to resign herself to whatever her daughter would write. If she would write. I will have to write to her quite regularly so she will be forced to answer me back, she realized. It was very bothersome, yet she would do it. Then she considered that Luca would be with his sister. If Lucianna was her father’s daughter, her twin brother, Luca, was his mother’s child. Luca would keep her informed of what was happening in England if she asked him.

  The next morning, her husband ate his breakfast and then departed for his shop for the first time in several months. Orianna realized he would have to go regularly once Lucianna was no longer there. Even she was willing to admit that Marco’s mind was not on their business. Gio would have to work hard to train him, but she was equally certain he already had a plan.

  At the silk shop, Giovanni found Lucianna already opening up. “Good morning, Father. You actually look rested this morning.”

  “I said my piece. Your mother said hers, and then I told her I would not argue the point, so I went to bed,” he explained. “Where is your brother, Lucianna?”

  “It is Monday,” she explained. “Marco does not come into the shop until after ten o’clock on Mondays.”

  “That will change,” Master Pietro d’Angelo said grimly. “You will not yet have spoken to him, then.”

  She shook her head. “But I will.”

  When Marco finally arrived, he was surprised to find his father in the shop. He greeted them both, announcing, “I cannot remain long today, Lucianna. I am taking Clarinda to the races.”

  “You are a shop merchant,” his father said. “You do not have time to take your mistress to the races, Marco. Do you suddenly think you are a Medici, that you may lollygag about?”

  “I promised her, Father, and besides, Lucianna is always here for those seeking silks,” Marco said, and she could see her father was very angry with her brother’s words.