The Harem Midwife by Rich Roberta

Author:Rich, Roberta [Rich, Roberta]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781446460870
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2013-11-20T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

HANNAH WAS IN such a state of anxiety that she felt like a mother in labour. Rabbi Yakov ben Asher had the power to make binding orders on all issues, both civil and criminal. The Ottoman government cared little about the Jews as long as peace prevailed in the mahalle and everyone paid their taxes. But the Rabbi was ill with influenza. There was nothing to do but wait for his recovery, which was taking too long. Meanwhile, during the nearly two months since Grazia had arrived, the two women moved warily through the house, neither of them wanting to discuss what was so present in both their minds. Hannah went about her daily chores and watched helplessly as both her son and her husband seemed to fall deeper and deeper in thrall with Grazia. Her influence in the household grew stronger with each passing day. She sought Isaac’s opinion on a variety of matters, from whether it would rain, to what he would like for his supper. She cooked Matteo special dishes, singing him to sleep at night. She helped Möishe set up the warp and weft on the looms. Her nimble fingers rapidly unravelled silk cocoons, a tedious task.

Isaac had begun consulting Grazia in business matters, as she had a clever head for figures. She was keeping his ledgers for him, something Hannah had once tried without success. She had no knowledge of how the long columns of figures were supposed to be arranged on the page; her addition and subtraction was neither rapid nor accurate. When she added more than ten numbers together, she got several different answers. When Hannah asked Isaac why he encouraged Grazia to sit poring over his books night after night, he said, “So she could see for herself the workshop is not prospering and that we have no money to pay her.”

It was not necessary to strain one’s eyes over ledgers. Any fool could see Isaac’s many bolts of printed silk—the entire output of his shop for the past six months—were gathering dust in a backroom just beyond the workshop. Exquisite material that shimmered like the wings of a butterfly. Fabric that would fetch a fortune in Venice languished for buyers here in Constantinople where the price was so low that Isaac could not sell it without sustaining a loss.

As for Leah, all Hannah knew—from the Valide’s messenger who had arrived out of breath on her doorstep yesterday—was that the couching would take place in three days. The Imperial carriage would fetch her. As to how the girl was adjusting to life in the harem, even Ezster, with her consummate gift for ferreting out palace gossip, had no news of her.

Hannah had not told Isaac that she was soon to go to the palace. Once, she would have confided in him. Now, he was so worried about money she did not want to add to his burden.

The couching would proceed unless Hannah could think of a means to prevent it. The

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