Kraken and Canals by Anne Renwick

Author:Anne Renwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948359023
Publisher: Anne Renwick

Epilogue

Dear Aunt Judy,

Warmest congratulations! I hear you are to be married. Uncle Arturo positively trips off the tongue. Please accept my apologies as well. It seems a number of airship passengers took my comment about Venice crumbling into the sea to heart. Those in my profession are frequently given over to extreme exaggeration, and I fear some may have become rather concerned for the welfare of a well-loved playground.

Your favorite niece,

Olivia

* * *

Her brother’s children were quite the handful.

With a smile, Judy set the note aside and crossed the room to join her aunt upon the balcony of the piano nobile, the first floor, overlooking the canal that ran before Arturo’s home. Their home.

“A beautiful sight, is it not?” Aunt Agatha said. Contentment radiated from her face.

“It is.” For the first time in decades, gondoliers in striped shirts traveled upon its waters beneath a full moon. One gondolier caught sight of them above, waved, and broke into song. Thanks to Arturo’s I Cancelli di Recupero del Canale, three canals were now safe. More would follow.

Every day this district of Venice showed new signs of life. Flowers appeared in window boxes. Laundry hung from clotheslines. A vegetable cart arrived in the campo — square — beside the church where she and Arturo had spoken their vows earlier today.

Below, in her new laboratory, a small indigo lagoon kraken resided in a ten-gallon tank. Promising, even if its constant testing of the locked lid with its hooks was somewhat worrisome.

“No pain, numbness?” Judy asked, hardly able to believe her mad scheme had worked.

Aunt Agatha reached out and squeezed her hand. “Nothing. Even my ancient joints feel ten years younger.”

While the population of Venice gawked at the collapse of one of their ancient buildings, wringing its collective hands, Judy and Vittoria — urged onward by Arturo — had set the Giordano Restorative Apparatus into motion, frantically processing the indigo ink with Dr. Fracastoro’s adjuvant. Mere hours after their perilous diving expedition, Judy had stood beside her aunt’s bed to administer the first injection.

As the days passed, Arturo fended off city officials and men seeking the unaccountably missing Lord Garrick. He directed his project from her palazzo, venturing out only to visit Gino in the hospital where — mercifully — his hand had been saved. Slowly but steadily, Aunt Agatha also recovered. Though it was impossible to be certain the tumor was in complete remission, there was no evidence to the contrary.

At the soft sound of footfalls on the floor behind her, Judy smiled. Moments later Arturo’s strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her tight against his hard form.

“Enjoying the view from our home, Signoria Piatti?” he murmured into her neck before nipping it playfully.

Heat rushed through her veins. “I am, husband.” Arturo claimed fate had brought them back together, but knowing he was in Venice had certainly swayed her decision to study its lagoon kraken. Some small part of her had hoped a spark might once again flare between them.

And it most definitely had.

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