The Family - Mario Puzo [110]
He pulled Lucrezia into his arms to hold her as he watched the fires rage. “My family is in danger if there is a French invasion,” he said softly. “I must go to Naples to command the troops. My father and uncle will need me.”
Lucrezia clung tight to him. “But the Holy Father assures me that we will not be in danger, for he will never let political discord interfere with our love.”
Alfonso, though only eighteen, looked at Lucrezia with deep sadness. He brushed her hair from her eyes. “And you believe this, my sweet Lucrezia?”
That night, after they made love, they lay awake a long time before Lucrezia was able to fall asleep. And once Alfonso heard the soft sound of her easy breathing, he sneaked out of bed and walked carefully to the stables. There he mounted his horse and made his way south into the countryside, to the castle of the Colonna; from there, in the morning, he would leave for Naples.
But the Pope sent papal police to hound him, and he was forced to stay at the castle or return to Rome, for otherwise he would be carried back by papal troops. Day after day Alfonso wrote Lucrezia, begging her to join him, but his letters never reached her for they fell into the hands of the Vatican messengers and were brought instead to the Pope.
Lucrezia was more unhappy than she had ever been. She could not understand why Alfonso did not write, for she missed him desperately. If she had not been six months pregnant, she would have followed him to Naples. But now she dared not make such a strenuous trip, for she had already lost one baby early in that year, when she had fallen off a horse. And even to attempt such a journey would mean having to sneak out in the night past her father’s guards—for they surrounded her palace.
Cesare stayed in France—not only long enough to marry Charlotte, but to spend months with her in a small château in the beautiful Loire Valley.
Charlotte was as beautiful and intelligent as the king had promised, and Cesare finally felt some peace. She radiated a remarkable serenity, and their lovemaking calmed Cesare. But each day he struggled with himself, for in his heart he still longed for Lucrezia.
For a time, Charlotte’s presence in his life balanced Cesare’s fierce urge to succeed, to achieve, to conquer. The young couple spent days together taking long walks, boating on the placid river, reading together. And they laughed in great measure as Cesare tried to teach Charlotte to swim and to fish.
One evening during this time, Charlotte confessed, “I truly love you as I have loved no other man.”
Despite his usual cynicism, Cesare found he believed her—and yet her words did not matter as much as they should. It was puzzling: though he tried to fall in love again, something seemed to be standing in his way. As they spent their nights together making love by the fire and holding each other in comfort, Cesare began to wonder if he had been cursed, as his sister had suggested. Had his father truly sacrificed him to the serpent that first time in the Garden?
On the very night that Charlotte told him she was pregnant with his child, he received an urgent message from the Pope.
“Return to Rome immediately to fulfill your duties,” it read. “The vicars are conspiring, and the Sforza have invited Spain to Italy.”
Cesare told Charlotte that he must return to Rome to lead the papal armies, to claim the territories in the Romagna and establish a strong central government for the papacy. Until he secured the Borgia power so completely that it would endure beyond his life and the life of the Pope, she and their children would be in danger. In the meantime, he told her that she and the child she was carrying must remain in France.
On the day Cesare left Charlotte tried to be gracious, but in the end she clung fiercely and tearfully to him as he mounted his horse. He stepped down, held her in his arms, and felt her body tremble. “My dear Lottie,” he said, “I’ll send for you and the infant as soon as I am able. And have no fear, for there is not an Italian alive who can kill me.” He bent and kissed her