Page 10 of Much Ado About Mistletoe
I didn’t disagree, so I said nothing.
“Who is thebambinowith her?” Maria asked.
This I knew the answer to. “At the orphanage, there are too many children for the nuns and monks to care for, so they assign responsibility for a little one to an older child. It teaches the older child responsibility, and when fondness grows, it anchors them in the orphanage. Many of them grow up on the streets, and when difficulties come, and they always do—they don’t escape so quickly into trouble.”
Maria nodded, her gaze still fixed on her child.
Eva looked toward us, as if her mother’s intense longing attracted her, and Maria slipped behind Cal’s tall form and deeper into the shadows.
Maria had no intention of revealing herself to her daughter, but clearly, she wanted toknow.
What was I to do?
CHAPTER SIX
In a flurry of bright, rustling skirts and long, fluttering tresses, I hurried toward the girl. “I’m Lady Rosaline of the House of Montague, and my family supports the orphanage in all ways. You are an orphan, aren’t you?”
Eva glanced down at her nun-like uniform. “No, I simply have appalling taste in garments.”
I laughed. Oh, I liked this one. “What’s your name?”
“The monks, they call me Colomba.”
It meant “dove,” and was a common name for an orphan, but the way she said it, with such resentment and disdain… I pretended ignorance. “What do you call yourself?”
“Eva.”
“Ah. Yes.” I did understand why the monks had changed it. They would hardly approve of a name of a female they called the mother of mankind and, more pointedly, the originator of the sin of lust. Also—I examined the child—she looked a little like her mother, and was obviously not of Verona. “Evella is an affectionate name. May I call you that?”
She thought about it; this charity child so lacked in family and possessions, and yet was so sure of her worth. “You may do so.”
“Grazie, Evella,” I said gravely. “The holy people treat you well? You have enough to eat?”
“I’m treated as all the children are treated. Yes, I have enough to eat—but not too much.” She glanced down at the boy beside her; he eyed me warily. “Sometimes I save bits for him. He grows fast. He’s always hungry.”
“He’s your charge?”
Cal appeared beside me. “Buona giornata,Eva. You have kept the lad safe, as you promised.” He turned to me. “Eva was cutting purses on market day when she heard him crying for his mamma. He was alone. Eva brought him to me and told me to take care of him. No one claimed him, but Marcellus found the woman we think was his mother… The angels had escorted her to her reward.”
I didn’t ask how. His tone told the tale, and it wasn’t pleasant.
He continued, “I asked Eva if she’d take him to the orphanage, and to stay with him until he settled.”
Evella’s chin jutted out as if she resented being manipulated, even for her own good, and feared his triumphant pointing out of his wisdom. “He loves me.”
“As he should,” I said. “You’re his savior.”
“If only more of our citizens were so good to others as you have been, Eva, how easy my job would be!” Cal gave his praise easily.
Evella relaxed…a little. This was a child who didn’t easily give her trust.
The boy tugged her hand. “I’m hungry. You promised we were going to get an apple!”
I knew a celestial cue when I heard one. Slipping my hand into my purse, I produced the silver coin Cal had given Maria and she had given me. “Perhaps with this you could get two apples.”
Suspicious thing that she was, Evella bit the coin. “What do I have to do for it?”
I ignored the wary tone. “I’ll call on you when I need your services. Now go and feast, and may St. Lucy bless you on her day.” I watched as the children ran toward the market. “They weren’t going tobuyan apple,” I remarked.
