The Family - Mario Puzo [111]
Then Cesare mounted his sleek white charger, and with one last wave to Charlotte he rode through the castle gate.
19
ALEXANDER COULD NOT bear Lucrezia’s tears. And while she wore a brave face in public, each time they were alone she spoke little and then only in the most polite terms. Even his invitation to Julia and Adriana, who brought Lucrezia’s firstborn to stay with her, didn’t seem to lift her despair. Now, most evenings, they all sat in silence. He missed their lively conversations, and Lucrezia’s enthusiasm—its absence weighed on him.
Lucrezia once again felt helpless to change her destiny, and though she did not blame her father for his alliance with France, she understood her husband’s need to aid his family. Still, she mourned the truth—that because of political differences, she and her unborn babe were forced to do without Alfonso. It seemed an impossible plight. She tried to reason with her heart, but it refused all reason. And she asked herself one hundred times each day why her dear husband did not send a message.
After several weeks of witnessing his daughter’s despair, Alexander was beside himself. And so he devised a plan that he believed might help. Lucrezia was an intelligent woman, gracious and blessed with many of his own leadership qualities. She certainly had inherited his charm, even if it had not been apparent of late.
Nonetheless, in his larger plan, he had always considered granting her some territories in the Romagna—once Cesare had conquered them—and so he reasoned that some practice in governing would provide an advantage in the future and take her mind off her immediate distress. That foolish husband of hers was still ensconced in the Colonna castle, stubbornly refusing to return to Rome. There was no question that he missed his wife, but having heard nothing from her in months, he believed she had forsaken him. The Pope was obliged to send Cervillon, the Spanish captain who held the sword over them at their wedding ceremony, to enlist the help of the king of Naples to recover Alfonso.
Of all this emotion Alexander was impatient. Though he was anything but stoic in his own love life, his suffering seemed more worthy than the suffering of these two young people. For God knows how many more lovers each would have in a lifetime! If one suffered over each to the same degree, there would be no time left to do one’s work, or God’s.
And so, after much deliberation and discussion with Duarte, Alexander determined that he would send Lucrezia to rule over the land called Nepi, a beautiful territory he had reclaimed from Cardinal Ascanio Sforza once he had fled to Naples.
Because Lucrezia was in the late stages of her pregnancy, Alexander knew they must take special care and allow more time for her journey. He would offer a large envoy to accompany her, a golden-covered litter in the event that riding her horse became too uncomfortable. He would send Michelotto to guard her in the early weeks and to make certain the territory was safe. Of course, she must also have an advisor when she arrived in Nepi, to teach her to govern.
Pope Alexander knew there were some in the church who would object, for she was, after all, a woman. But Lucrezia had been born and raised to statesmanship, and there was no reason to let her waste her gifts just because she had not been born a man. The Borgia blood coursed through her veins, and so her gifts must be utilized.
He felt no such fondness for his youngest son, Jofre, and was in fact quite angry with his wife, Sancia. Of course he realized that some of his ill will was due to his extreme displeasure at her uncle, the king of Naples, whose daughter Rosetta refused to marry the Pope’s son. It was an unbelievable arrogance. What gall! Moreover, Alexander was not fooled. He understood that a king could order his daughter to marry Cesare, and yet he had not. So it was the king, he concluded, who had rejected his son.
Sancia, the princess from Naples that his youngest son had married, was always a stubborn, willful girl; even more to the point, she