Free Lucianna by Bertrice Small

and reluctantly directed them home to inform his wife that their third daughter was going to England.
    Orianna behaved exactly as he had anticipated. “Are you mad?” she demanded. “A woman? You are sending a delicate woman to represent the silk merchants of Florence in London? I will not allow it! I will not, Gio!”
    “My dear, you have no voice in this matter,” he told her, infuriating her further. “This is the decision of the guild. Do you want us to lose more business than we have already lost to Milan? Besides, I will arrange to have Luca sell his commission in the army, and go with Lucianna. She will teach him our trade, and he will be saved from the military. Certainly you are pleased by that, my dear.”
    Orianna considered his words. Then she said, “You cannot turn my daughter, the granddaughter of a prince, into a tradeswoman.”
    “She enjoys it,” he replied. “You would have her sit here in Florence while you seek another husband for her, though they are only interested in her inherited wealth? No! You will not force my clever daughter into a boring and dull life because that suits you. No! She is going to London. With luck, she may attract her earl again.”
    “Are you foolish enough to believe that an English earl will have a tradeswoman for a wife? A mistress, perhaps, but certainly not a wife. Gio, the man is a personal friend of his king!”
    “He asked my permission to direct his attentions towards Lucianna the day he had dinner with us,” her husband countered.
    “You never told me that!” Orianna said, very surprised.
    “No, I did not. I did not want you interfering, Wife. We have had four daughters, but I claim this third daughter of ours as mine alone. You have the other three, Orianna. Lucianna is mine. Now I will not discuss this with you further. I am tired and wish only for my bed. Good night, my dear.” He kissed her forehead and then left her.
    Orianna was astounded by what she had learned, what he had said to her this night. Lucianna his? She thought on it and had to admit to herself that their third daughter was very much like her father. She was quiet, and thoughtful, rarely if ever revealing her private thoughts. She had been obedient in all things asked of her, even marrying without complaint a man old enough to be her grandfather.
    It was only upon her husband’s death that she had become independent.
    Yes, Orianna realized, Lucianna was more Gio’s than hers. Still, she didn’t want her daughter leaving Florence unless it was in the keeping of a husband. But she knew she would not get that wish. Was her daughter pleased to have been given such a position that would take her from Florence? Yes, she probably was very delighted, and she would take the wretched Balia with her. Orianna didn’t like Balia. She came from the Allibatore household and was entirely loyal to Lucianna. She would not spy on her mistress for Orianna. It was difficult to know exactly what her daughter was doing if she didn’t have someone who would report to her. Who in England would, and then write to her? Orianna realized she would have to resign herself to whatever her daughter would write. If she would write.
I will have to write to her quite regularly so she will be forced to answer me back,
she realized. It was very bothersome, yet she would do it. Then she considered that Luca would be with his sister. If Lucianna was her father’s daughter, her twin brother, Luca, was his mother’s child. Luca would keep her informed of what was happening in England if she asked him.
    The next morning, her husband ate his breakfast and then departed for his shop for the first time in several months. Orianna realized he would have to go regularly once Lucianna was no longer there. Even she was willing to admit that Marco’s mind was not on their business. Gio would have to work hard to train him, but she was equally certain he already had a plan.
    At the silk shop, Giovanni found Lucianna already