Sisters of Glass (10 page)

more complicated

than I thought.

My plan begins

with a boat

and a prayer

and a trip to visit Luca.

DISHONOR

As I enter the fornica

I can hardly believe my eyes.

Luca and
Andrea
?

Andrea draws his sword on Luca.

“I should report you

to the Council of Ten

or slay you here now

for trying to take Maria

from me when she and I have

signed a contract to be ringed.

I would be just to do so.”

“True enough.” Luca sets down

his blowpipe, his arms free

and wide in surrender.

I want to rush between them,

to yank the hem of Andrea’s shirt

like a child tugs her mother’s skirt

for attention. I want to hold Andrea

and his weapon back

from moving toward Luca.

But all I can do is remain

where I stand. Andrea must

have found out about me and Luca

from my sister and Leona.

And he either does not want

to marry my sister

or cannot.

The sword tip grazes

Luca’s blouse. I never

realized the sinister angle

of Andrea’s nose, the strength

and cruelty of his shoulder blade.

“You dishonor my family,

Luca—” and Andrea

pauses thirty-three measures

to think of Luca’s given name.

“What is your family name?”

Andrea asks,

momentarily lowering his sword.

“I have none, sir.

Or do not know what it is.”

Luca stares at Andrea with those eyes

that turn cullet to molten glass.

I wonder what, if any, effect

they might cause upon Andrea.

“Curious,” Andrea says,

again brandishing his weapon.

And then a small tumble

of jacks, blocks, and pincers

turns my head, and Vanna cries,

“No, please, Andrea, stop!”

Andrea’s expression melts

from madness to near joy

at the sight of my sister.

SWAP

Leona follows my sister

into our fornica.

She looks about as comfortable

as a peacock in our furnace.

She tries hard not to inhale too deeply.

“Brother, put down your sword.”

Andrea sheathes his metal

but keeps his hand on the grip.

Leona fans herself

with a large document.

“Giovanna and I have been

examining the will all morning

and may have found a solution

to our dilemma. Nowhere does

the will state the first names

of Giovanna or Maria

but only refers

to the first and second daughters

of Angelo Barovier.”

I shrug.

“But, Leona, everyone knows

that Giovanna is the elder

and I am the younger daughter, so—”

Leona rolls her eyes

and raises her hand to me,

annoyed as only an older sister can be.

“That would be a problem only

were you not to marry a nobleman, Maria.

And the betrothal papers drawn between

the Bembo family and the Barovier family

state only that a daughter of Angelo Barovier

is to marry my brother.”

Like three singing larks, Andrea,

Luca, and Vanna look about to rejoice

in heavenly praise.

“I don’t understand.” And I don’t.

“Dearest Maria,” Andrea says.

“All you must do is marry a nobleman

according to your father’s will.

You need not marry me. And I must

only marry a daughter Barovier,

not specifically you.

For we have not been ringed.”

Andrea smiles an ocean’s breadth

at my sister. So he does wish

to marry her after all.

I clutch the finished betrothal glass

to my chest, almost to crushing it.

I had a similar plan but now wish

never to admit it.

“What do you hold there?” Luca asks.

“Please let us see.”

I would give it up to no one,

but his plea is sweeter than sugared figs.

Leona examines the glass,

eyes me oddly, then laughs.

“You silly girl. You had the same plan.”

“Only I will throw myself

to sea before I marry a nobleman

I do not love,” I say indignantly.

A NOBLEMAN’S CLEVER SOLUTION

Andrea clears his throat.

“That may not be necessary, little sister.

For if Luca does not know his surname,

could it not be Bembo?”

Andrea winks at us.

“I believe I have just been reunited

with my long-lost cousin Luca Bembo.”

He lets go his sword’s handle

and embraces Luca.

“I shall throw a feast of grandeur

two days hence to anoint you, Luca Bembo,

and welcome you home.”

Andrea is so tall and handsome

right now I should like to smother him

with kisses, but I wisely leave

that privilege to my sister.

Vanna gives Andrea her hand

and he seals it a hundred times over

with his lips.

GOD’S WILL

Mother awaits me in my chambers

with my dancing master,

who has been hired

to lead me through the streets

as we publicly announce

my engagement to Andrea tomorrow.

“Mother, an urgent matter

calls your attention in the hall,”

I say, and nearly drag her like

a tugboat from my room

until she and the master follow me.

Mother is shocked

to see Andrea, Leona, Luca,

Vanna, Uncle Giova, and my brothers

stand before her.

Uncle Giova beckons

her to assume her rightful chair at the table.

It appears as though as we are

about to coronate Mother queen.

Uncle Giova makes our plea,

and the dancing master

cannot control his feet.

The master clicks his heels.

“Highly unusual. But what

a beautiful procession of gondolas

this will make, double the number of boats.

The elder sister dancing before

the clumsy younger one.

I have never before seen it.

It will be the rage of Venice.”

Mother interrupts him.

“I have yet to give my consent.”

Her eyes hold back tears.

Mother weighs this as though she

were determining whether

to send Vanna and me to war.

She crosses herself and calls

me and my sister to kneel

at her side, gathering our hands

in hers. “I hope my decision is just.

Your father always said,

‘God’s will will out.’

You shall both go forth

and marry as you choose.

I believe in my heart this

is God’s will,

and no will of man

should interfere with that.”

WHAT TO DO ABOUT MY FATHER’S WILL

For a wedding gift

Luca gives my sister and Andrea

all of the ducats of my dowry.

I clutch the paper

that holds Father’s original

recipe for cristallo.

Father believed, with the conviction

of a stubborn child

who will not come in from the cold,

that when he invented clear glass,

it was God’s will to reward me

with a husband,

even though in his heart

he knew Vanna

was best suited for a senator.

If only he had lived longer.

For I know that if he

were alive today,

he would want us to create

these unions,

that he would see with clarity

how happy Vanna and I are

and rejoice.

SISTERS OF GLASS

I do not want the waving to end,

but Vanna’s gondola grows smaller

until it is but a speck

on the horizon.

Luca’s ringed hand clasps mine.

“It is not as though

you shall not see Giovanna.

You will visit your aunts

in the convent two weeks hence.

So why this ocean of tears?”

“Because she was made for Venice

and I for Murano,

and I will be so lonely

here without her,” I say.

“What is it that she can do

that I cannot for you?” Luca asks.

“Well, for one thing, she sang

to me while I prepared the batch?”

Luca opens his mouth,

and a horrible honk

like a sickly goose emerges.

“Please save your tunes

for the blowpipe, my love.

I shall have singing enough in mass.”

We both laugh.

“There is only one Vanna,” Luca says.

“Do you suppose she misses me?” I ask him.

“I am certain that right now, instead

of marveling as she should, as any girl should,

about her good fortune

in taking such a dashing husband,

she is lamenting the fact

that you will not be around

to sketch for her.

Oh, Maria, will you never be satisfied?”

I shrug.

“Well, my dear. Close your eyes now

and I shall give you your wedding gift.”

Luca leads me from my mother’s palazzo

into the road. I feel the last stretch of sun

upon my face. And before I can orient myself,

Luca spins me round like a child’s game.

“This is foolish,” I say.

When I open my eyes,

we stand in the second fornica.

The furnace is repaired, only it differs

slightly from our first fornica.

“What is that oven over there

and those tools?” I ask.

“I thought that with your talent

at sketching, you might try enameling

while I blow glass. We could then

work together.”

I am stunned, still and silent as a wall.

“Oh, you hate it.

You need never work, Maria.

I just thought—”

I stutter. “I … love … it. I just don’t

know what to say.”

“Well, that is a new proposition.

Maria Barovier without words.”

Luca smiles.

“Well, then kiss me, you foolish girl.”

And so, I do.

GLOSSARY

annealer
—an oven that is generally heated to about 900 degrees Fahrenheit and used to cool the glass slowly. Overnight, the oven is brought to room temperature so that the glass does not crack from stress.

batch
—the mixture of raw components that is used to make glass.

beaker
—a glass used for drinking during the Renaissance. It may be made of clear glass and decorated with colorful enamel and gold leaf to signify special occasions.

bella
—Italian for “beautiful.”

bench
—the place where the gaffer works the piece and where all the tools are kept. It has two rails perpendicular to the seat on which the glass pipes are rolled.

Berlingozzo
—a simple, ring-shaped cake that was popular for Carnevale in the late fifteenth century. Its name may derive from the word
Berlingaccio
, meaning “Fat Thursday.”

betrothal goblet
—a vessel made during the courtship and marriage process in Renaissance times, often of Venetian enameled and gilded glass. It was not an item that was used for drinking, but rather a keepsake, commissioned for the special occasion of marriage. Sometimes it contained profiles of the bride and groom.

biretta
—a type of headdress composed of three or four rigid sections and a tassel that evolved in the Middle Ages among the cultured classes and the ecclesiastical hierarchies. The felt biretta that was very much in fashion was often yellowish in color. A hat resembling the black biretta continues to be used in courtrooms by judges and lawyers.

bits
—tiny scraps of glass that can be added to the mixture to give color, texture, or shape to the glass.

blocks
—hand-sized wooden molds used in the early stages of glass shaping.

blowpipe
—a hollow steel rod with a mouthpiece at one end that the gaffer blows through to create a bubble in the glass.

bolognini
—a unit of currency equal to 1/100 of a ducat.

buon giorno, signore
—Italian for “Good day, sir.”

camicia
—a slip, shift, or chemise that was worn underneath women’s garments, generally coming to about mid-calf and made of fine linen. The word
camicia
means “shirt” in Italian.

capon
—a castrated rooster or meat from a castrated rooster. It is especially tender and much less stringy than chicken.

cardinal
—the highest church official in the city of Venice in the fifteenth century. He wielded great political and social influence and, with a conclave of other cardinals across Italy, chose the next pope.

Carnevale mask
—Carnevale is a festival in Venice that is celebrated before the Lenten season (from two weeks before Ash Wednesday until Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras) during which masks are worn, making it impossible to distinguish between the social classes. The three most common types of masks are bautas, which can cover the whole face; morettas, which are oval masks of black velvet generally worn to visit the convents; and voltos (also called larvas), which are the simplest and most common type of mask.