The Venice Sketchbook(11)
Aunt Hortensia was still asleep, snoring unattractively with her mouth open. I looked out and gave a thumbs up sign. He grinned, waved and steered the boat away. I kept watching until he had disappeared out into the Grand Canal. Then I undressed and got into bed, staring at the ceiling with a huge sigh of happiness.
CHAPTER 4
Juliet, Venice, May 1928
When I awoke in the morning, I wondered if I had dreamed the whole thing. Surely my friends at home wouldn’t believe me when I told them. I wished I had taken a snapshot of Leo to prove how absolutely stunning he was. If I saw him again tonight, I’d give him my address in England and ask him to send me a picture of himself. I realized I had already become bold and daring!
Aunt Hortensia came out of the bathroom.
“So where are we going today?” I asked.
“The Museo Correr, I think,” she said. “Maybe St George’s Church, and since it is our last day, we might spend some time looking in the little shops on the Rialto Bridge. You wanted to buy a piece of Venetian glass, I remember.”
I nodded in agreement. I showered, dressed and started to brush my hair, noticing with alarm that there were some pieces of dry grass at the back of my head. Thank heavens Aunt H. hadn’t spotted them. I brushed hastily, and we went down to breakfast. As we had filled our plates with rolls, ham and cheese and were about to take our places under an umbrella, the proprietress appeared, calling Aunt H.’s name and beckoning to her. I sat down and started to tuck in, having no premonition of anything wrong. Aunt H. appeared a few minutes later with a face like thunder.
“Leave that and come with me, Juliet,” she said.
I stood up and followed her into an empty salon, where she turned to face me.
“You wicked girl,” she said, “you have brought shame and disgrace on me and your entire family!”
I opened my mouth, but she went on. “You were seen last night. Seen climbing in through our window from a boat with a young man at the helm. I presume it was the same fellow who rescued you from the canal. What were you thinking? Are you mad?”
“It was quite harmless,” I said, realizing as I uttered the words that it wasn’t exactly harmless. “Leo is a young man from a good family. He took me to show me the gardens and the pavilions where the Biennale is held, that’s all.”
“You disobeyed me. You betrayed my trust. Quite harmless, you say? Do you not realize that in Italy no young woman is allowed out alone, without a chaperone, until she is married? This young man clearly did not give a fig about your reputation. He obviously thought that you were easy pickings, because that is not how he would have behaved with an Italian girl of good family. You are lucky that something terrible didn’t happen to you. You have been sheltered from the wicked ways of men, I realize, but you must have known what a risk you took. Out alone with a strange young man in the dark, in the middle of the night?” She was wagging a finger in my face. “If I had my way, I’d march you straight back to England today. That is what you deserve. But I do not want to upset your dear father, in his present delicate condition. So we shall continue with our tour, but we are leaving Venice immediately.”
“Immediately?” I blurted out the word. “No, please. You don’t understand. It wasn’t like that at all. He’s really nice. Why won’t you meet him, and then you’ll see?”
“Immediately, Juliet.” Her face was like stone. “Go up and pack your things.”
I felt my eyes brimming with tears. “At least let me write him a note.”
Her stare was withering. “A lady does not show her emotions in public. You have let down not only your family but your country.” She paused to take a breath. “We will go to Florence one day early, and in future you will not be allowed out of my sight until I deposit you on your parents’ doorstep. Is that perfectly clear?”
“Yes, Aunt Hortensia,” I mumbled. There was really nothing else I could say. I did now realize what a stupid risk I had taken. If Leo had wanted to force himself upon me, I could not have stopped him. Maybe that had been his intention. Easy pickings. A naive English girl. But then he had stopped. He had treated me with respect. He had cared.
We finished breakfast in silence, then went upstairs to pack. I tried to think how I could leave a note for Leo, letting him know why I couldn’t see him again, but Aunt H. gave me no chance. I was whisked into a waiting gondola, and off we went to the railway station. I felt as if my heart was breaking as we passed the palaces, one after another. I would never see anything so lovely again. Then I made a vow. I’d study hard, become a famous artist and have the means to travel. One day, I promised myself. One day I will come back.
That evening, at the new hotel overlooking the River Arno in Florence, I sat at the window and drew a sketch of Leo, before his image faded from my memory. Somehow I managed to capture that unruly hair, his wicked smile, the way his eyes lit up, and there he was, on the page, smiling back at me.
CHAPTER 5
Caroline, England, March 2001
Two thousand and one had not been a good year for Caroline Grant. It had started off with optimism and anticipation. Josh had spotted a piece in a fashion magazine, advertising a competition for new designers in New York.
“I should enter, don’t you think?” he asked, looking up, his face alight with expectation. “This might be my big chance. What we’ve been hoping for.”