The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato [75]
Shock registered on his face, and after a dazed moment his hands searched for her belly and rested there with hers. Then he lowered his head and she felt his soft curls as he laid his rough cheek on her stomach. She felt a wetness, and when he raised his face it was running with tears. From that moment she knew that it would be alright.
It was alright. Alessandro was delighted and called everyone he knew with the news that he was going to have a son. `How do you know?' laughed Leonora as he refused to consider the alternative. `I just do,' he said. She teased him with being a 'typical Italian', but he did not rise, saying, `No, no, cara, if we had a girl I would love her just as much. But I know this is a boy.' And he refused to be moved.
For the rest of the morning he treated her like the glass of her metaphor, bringing water, getting her chairs, and lifting even the lightest burdens for her. She teased him, but her teasing came of sheer relief and gladness.
And yet ...
All too soon, he was gone. Today was a public holiday, the day after All Souls Sunday, but tomorrow his course began again. He must return this afternoon, to complete his reading before tomorrow morning. As he left the house he kissed her with extra tenderness, but in all the sweetness Leonora thought of the week ahead without him. And after that, when he took up his post in Venice, what then?
I dare not ask.
Leonora fidgeted around the house, fruitlessly beginning tasks she could not finish, and then decided to go to the Sansoviniana Library and do some digging about Corradino. For tomorrow she must go back to the fornace, to face Adelino's wrath over the shattered ad campaign and now this news.
And then what?
She had to be honest with herself. In all his excitement Alessandro had never once mentioned future plans. All talk had been of the child, and while Leonora did not expect a Victorian proposal of marriage, she now thought it strange that he had never once mentioned the possibility of moving in.
As she walked across the campo, Leonora felt the city begin to retreat from her again. She felt her lover and her profession slipping away and the cold, empty Venice of winter closing in. She thought of the tourists and trippers, the pleasure-seekers and lotus-eaters who had now gone. They never saw the city like this. This was the facet of the place that was for residents only. The dark days, the old stones, and the emptiness. She held her head high and thought only of her child.
I must find out about Corradino before the baby is born. I must reconcile my past before I turn to the future. For Corradino is the baby's past too.
CHAPTER 24
Banished
`I'm sorry, Leonora.!
To be fair, he did look sorry. Adelino also looked old and ill.
'I've had to cancel the campaign. They're calling in my debts. I can't possibly keep you on just now.' He walked to the window of his office, as he always did, searching for comfort in the peerless view.
Leonora felt a lurch in her stomach.
Was that the baby? Or the realization that I've just lost the job that I came here for?
She put a hand down there and he turned in time to catch the gesture. He waved at her stomach.
`And now with your ... wonderful news, there are not just financial considerations but implications for your health. All the chemicals and pigments that we use here, to say nothing of the heat.You'd have to leave soon anyway.When are you due? February?'
She nodded.
`Well.' He sat heavily at his desk. `Let's just call this maternity leave. I'll have to see how things go here. I must re-trench.'
Leonora found her voice, `And afterwards?'
Adelino shook his head. `I really don't know. It depends on business. We always have a slump in between Christmas and Carnevale. It could be the end of me: He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. `To be honest Leonora, I can't afford to pay you anything, apart from your money to the end of the month. You could sue me,