The Choice: The Pocket Watch Chronicles by Ceci Giltenan

Author:Ceci Giltenan [Giltenan, Ceci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Duncurra LLC
Published: 2017-04-28T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4 – What if I Fall in Love?

Monday, July 10, 1758

The Lido, Venice, Italy

Benedict MacIan walked along the shore in the evening twilight, as he so often did. This peaceful stillness was a welcome respite from the bustle of the Arsenale, the ship-building center of Venice, just across the lagoon. He stopped and stared out over the water. Unbidden, his thoughts turned to his parents. This had been where he’d stood the last time he’d seen them, as their ship headed out to sea well over thirteen years ago. His father had waved, watching from the aft deck until Benedict couldn’t see him anymore. His mother had never looked back.

“Young man, what grieves ye?” asked an old woman whose approach had been so quiet, she seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

Benedict was startled, not only because of her sudden appearance, but also because she hadn’t addressed him in Venetian, but rather in Scots—the language his parents had spoken at home. “I’m sorry. What did ye ask?”

She smiled warmly at him. “Ye’re standing here, staring out to sea, looking as if ye’ve the weight of the world on yer shoulders.”

“Nay, I haven’t. I was just thinking about my parents. I lost them, years ago. I don’t know why they’re on my mind tonight.”

“Perhaps it was the story of that young woman who drowned. Deaths like that often bring to mind other tragic losses.”

“Aye, perhaps.” Benedict frowned. The captain of the vessel had told him about the foolish girl who’d jumped overboard, but it was to have been kept quiet. Mr. Llewellyn was an extremely wealthy and influential merchant. Losing his daughter was hard enough. He didn’t want gossip spreading.

“He has appearances to maintain,” the captain had told Benedict, wryly. “But if you ask me, he’s more upset by how this might affect his business than by the death of his only child.”

Benedict gave the old woman a searching look. “How is it ye know about her?”

“It’s a rather long story. Perhaps ye’d like to ask me back to yer house for a hot cup of tea and I’ll tell it to ye.”

Benedict chuckled. He guessed there was no harm in it. “Of course. Would ye care to join me for a cup of tea?”

She laughed merrily. “Thank ye, lad. How kind of ye to ask.” She held out her hand to him. “My name is Gertrude.”

Taking her hand, he said, “I’m Benedict MacIan. Pleased to meet ye, Gertrude.”

“Likewise.”

He motioned in the direction from which he had come, “My home is that way.”

They walked together for a few moments before Benedict asked, “I suppose ye were on the ship?”

“What ship would that be?”

“The one the lass was on.”

“Oh, nay, I wasn’t.”

“Then perhaps ye were on Llewellyn’s ship?”

“I wasn’t on any ship, lad.”

“But ye’re a very long way from home.”

“What makes ye say that?”

He smiled. “Are ye not Scottish? Ye speak Scots.”

“I speak many languages, young man,” she said in perfect Venetian.

“So, I see,” he answered in Venetian. “So, you aren’t from Scotland?”

She chuckled, switching back to Scots.

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