The Miracles of Prato by Laurie Albanese

Author:Laurie Albanese
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins

Fra Filippo found the thick white robe he wore in the coldest winter months and brought it to her. He poured a bowl of water from the cistern and handed her a clean linen cloth.

“Mia cara, you must wash yourself, please,” he said. “Call to me when you’re finished.”

Alone by the fire, Lucrezia gingerly touched the moist cloth to the place where she’d been torn. She didn’t look down at her body, but kept her eyes steady on the ground. When she was finished, she pulled on the robe. The monk’s garment fell far below her feet, and she tugged it up in a bulky drape, wrapping his rope belt twice around her waist. She combed out her hair and braided it as she’d done when she was a girl. She was sitting, waiting, when Fra Filippo came back into the room.

“How can I go back to the convent now?” she asked.

“Maybe there’s another way,” the monk said quietly. What had happened made no sense. It made no sense that she should be so beautiful, and so sad. It made no sense that he should love her as he did.

“And what if I’m to have his child?” A fresh sob escaped her throat.

“You won’t have his child,” Fra Filippo said. “I’ll send for Sister Pureza. She’ll know what to do.”

“No, you can’t tell anyone,” she cried. “If you do, he’ll speak against me, you know he will. Even powerful friends can’t protect a woman from the lies of a man like him.”

Fra Filippo had heard the tearful stories of many young women who’d lost their innocence in an act of violence, then lived in silence with the secret for just this reason.

“You’ll stay here,” the painter said. “You’ll stay with me and I’ll take care of you.”

“It’s impossible,” she said. “Don’t promise what can’t be.”

“But it can be, Lucrezia. Nothing is impossible if God wills it.” He took her cold hands and rubbed them between his warm palms.

“It’s wrong,” she cried.

Fra Filippo squatted so that they were face-to-face.

“What was done to you is wrong,” he said. “But not love. Love is never wrong.”

He looked at her steadily, and she began to weep.

“Will you pray for me, Fra Filippo?” she asked, falling on her knees. “It’s my fault, Fra Filippo. I don’t know what to do. Please pray for me.”

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