The Harem Midwife (28 page)

“Go on.”

With one hand, she reached out and took the pouch. It was heavy. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

“I know you will use this money wisely. You may go.”

Hannah carefully moved the baby so she could tuck the purse into the pocket of her skirt. A sudden joy filled her. If she had been standing instead of seated, her knees would have given out. She looked at the Valide one last time and then tucked the baby under one arm and crawled backwards, awkwardly, from the room, the pouch of ducats clinking against her leg.

Just as she had struggled to rescue Isaac from the Knights of St. John in Malta so long ago, now she would save him again. And their marriage.

IT WAS ALREADY
dark when Hannah returned home from the palace. She went straight upstairs. Isaac was seated upright in bed, his nightshirt opened at the neck. “Oh my God,” he said, jumping to his feet. “It’s so late and I thought the worst. I thought …” He took her and the baby in his arms, resting his chin on the top of Hannah’s head. “I thought …” he began again, but could not go on.

“I know,” said Hannah.

“I wasn’t even here to say goodbye when you left. You could have died alone thinking I didn’t care for you anymore.”

In the doorway, hesitant to move into the bedchamber, stood Möishe and Zephra, both smiling. Möishe said, “Your head is still attached to your shoulders, I see.” He could turn the grimmest subject into a joke.

Zephra entered and patted Hannah’s cheek. “I am so happy you are alive.”

Behind Möishe and Zephra, in the shadows, stood Grazia. She made no move to come into the bedroom, and from the look on her face she was not as happy as the others were to see Hannah and the baby.

“A joyous occasion,” she said finally, and then retreated downstairs.

Zephra and Möishe followed her.

“Such a lovely child,” Isaac said.

“The Valide gave her to me. I will raise her, if you agree.” A tone of defensiveness had crept into her voice.

“Hannah, I am sorry about the way things have been between us—so strained, so difficult. We will raise the child together. You and I.”

Hannah felt a stir of hope. She looked down at the baby, their baby. The tiny face, the rounded cheeks, the mouth like the bud of a rose. She looked so much like Leah, it broke Hannah’s heart. The Valide had almost certainly noticed the resemblance but had not mentioned it.

“And, Isaac, I have the money to repay Grazia.”

He turned to her, a puzzled look on his face.

“The Valide gave it to me.”

“Are you jesting?”

She passed him the baby and took the velvet purse from her pocket. She shook it so the coins jangled.

The look of pure happiness on Isaac’s face made Hannah regret her earlier suspicions.

“I do not know what to say.” Isaac laid the baby down in her cradle and gave it a slight push with his hand. “I was so afraid of losing you, Hannah. I saw us drifting further and further apart until there seemed to be nothing I could do to stop it. I never wanted Grazia. All I wanted to do was placate her to buy us more time. I was trapped.”

Hannah began to see all of Isaac’s actions in a different light. He had not been fawning over Grazia after all, but was merely trying to keep her at bay.

“Shall we tell Grazia the news together?” Hannah asked, taking his hand.

They found her in the garden, tossing a ball to Matteo. Grazia had not been looking well of late. Her mouth was tight. She was not taking the usual care with her appearance. Today her dress was creased and her hair had been arranged in haste.

“We have your money,” Hannah announced without preamble. “Now you can sail home and remarry.”

Grazia stared at her and then at Isaac, an unreadable expression on her face.

“Aren’t you overjoyed?” Isaac asked, his arm around Hannah’s shoulder.

Hannah showed her the velvet pouch. Grazia took it, weighing it in her palm. She did not look like a woman who had just been handed a fortune.

“Where did you get this?” Grazia asked.

“It does not matter,” said Hannah.

“Aren’t you happy?” Isaac asked.

“Of course, I am overjoyed. It is just so unexpected.” But when she tried to smile, her lips remained closed and tight.

Matteo wrapped his arms around Grazia’s legs and buried his face in her skirts.

“I am happy, of course I am. It is just that I shall miss you all so terribly.” Grazia fondled Matteo’s ear. From the chicken coop in rear of the garden, the rooster crowed three hearty
cock-a-doodle-doos
.

“Isaac will ask the Rabbi to arrange for the divorce,” said Hannah.

Grazia took Hannah in an embrace. “Dear clever sister-in-law.” She kissed her on both cheeks. “I am so very pleased that you will remain Isaac’s wife.”

There was such a note of insincerity in Grazia’s voice that Hannah wondered why Grazia had bothered to say the words at all.

The following day, Hannah, Isaac, and Grazia went to the Rabbi’s study, where two other rabbis were present. Under the direction of Rabbi Yakov, Grazia untied from Isaac’s foot a sandal specially designed for the ritual divorce ceremony and hurled it across the room. She then spit on the ground in front of Isaac, declaring, “My brother-in-law refuses to raise unto his brother’s memory a name in Israel; he will not marry me.”

Isaac, as the ceremony demanded, responded, “I do not wish to take her.”

Hannah noted with relief the elation in his voice as he said the words.

Grazia continued at the urging of the Rabbi: “Marriage to you would be an abomination.” She said it without conviction, but Hannah didn’t care.

Then it was over.

They walked home together, Grazia lingering a few steps behind Hannah and Isaac. Isaac cradled Jessica in his arms. He brushed against Hannah from time to time and smiled at her, making jokes and teasing her.

“So I am to be deprived of the happiness of having two wives to scold me and order me about?” Grazia made no reply, not even a smile.

When they reached their house, his face took on the tender look it got when he was thinking of making love to her. She was glad she had been to the
mikvah
recently and so was ready to receive his love. She felt the old Isaac coming back to her, and she accepted him as easily as she might envelop herself in a cherished cloak.

That night was hot and so muggy that Isaac suggested they sleep under the stars. In the middle of their garden was a secluded space formed by arching willow trees and carpeted with moss. On summer nights when their bedchamber grew unbearably hot, they often slept there.

When Isaac made love to her, he let her reach her fulfillment first. When it was his turn, he called out her name. When Isaac had persuaded her to marry him, he had promised no one would ever love her as much as he would. Falling asleep beside her, holding her in his arms, Isaac had
kept that promise.
Thank you, God
, Hannah prayed,
for returning my husband to me
.

At dawn, as they were waking up under the willow, Isaac said, “Good morning, dear wife.” He kissed her on the forehead and drew her closer. They made love again, tenderly, and later, still in each other’s arms, discussed their plans for the day ahead.

Isaac said, “Grazia wants to take Matteo to the parade to celebrate Prince Mehmet’s circumcision.”

Hannah wiggled out from under his arm and sat up. “The streets will be packed with thousands of people. What if he gets tired and has to be carried? What if he stumbles under the wheels of a cart? I think it is wiser if we all go.”

“But baby Jessica needs you here,” said Isaac. “And Möishe and I have work to do on the looms. Matteo will be thrilled to have Grazia all to himself before she takes her leave. It is only for a few hours.”

“I suppose you are right,” Hannah said with reluctance. She should not let her dislike of Grazia interfere with Matteo’s love for his aunt.

“It will be a spectacular event,” said Isaac. “This will be a day he remembers for the rest of his life.”

IT WAS LATE
afternoon and Hannah was chopping onions for a beef stew. Matteo and Grazia should have returned hours ago from the Parade of the Circumcision. Of course, Matteo would be enjoying the jugglers, the magicians, and the bears, but Hannah worried that Grazia would exhaust him. Grazia would let him drink too much sherbet and buy him dozens of sweetmeats, which he adored. Oh well. How often was a prince’s circumcision celebrated with a parade lasting fifty-three days?

The house seemed deserted without the boy’s exuberant cries. By this time in the afternoon he could be counted on to fling his bedsheet over his shoulders like a cloak and
charge up and down the stairs. Other days, he would be in the garden practising walking his tightrope.

Before Hannah took the baby to Tova’s to be nursed, she must go to Grazia’s room to find Matteo’s old swaddling bands. Lately, a few ordinary items had gone missing. It must be the work of the
djinns
. This morning, it had been Matteo’s blanket. Matteo had been inconsolable and sobbed throughout breakfast. He flung himself from his chair, refusing to sit at the table or eat his bread until Grazia searched the house and came back with the blanket.

“Where was it?” Hannah had asked.

“Oh,” Grazia said, “in the garden.”

Odd. Hannah hadn’t seen it there, but no matter. Matteo was overjoyed to have it back and sat clutching it to his chest.

Now, Hannah held the baby upright, patting her back while she climbed the stairs to Grazia’s room. The sleeping mattress was neatly rolled up and put away. The cupboard doors were closed. The curtains were blowing through the open casement window.

Something was very wrong. The bottles and jars of creams and scents and oils that were always arranged on the low table under the window, Grazia’s precious blue enamelled box containing red powder—all gone. The room had been used by the previous owners as a storeroom for turbans. The walls were lined with niches. Grazia had used these for storing odds and ends—gloves and shoes and a hat. Now they were empty.

Hannah searched the closet for her suitcase, but all she found was dust.

“Isaac! Isaac!” she called. “Come, quickly.”

Moments later, she heard Isaac bounding up the stairs.

He came in, his hands and the front of his apron stained green from dye. “What is wrong?”

Hannah paced back and forth, holding the whimpering baby. “All of Grazia’s things are gone.”

Isaac surveyed the barren room and looked into the closet. “There must be a simple explanation.”

Hannah stared at Isaac, wanting to shake him. “Isaac, she has Matteo. All her clothing and personal effects are gone. Do you not understand? She has taken Matteo!”

“What? But … why?”

Why could not Isaac, who was so much wiser in the ways of the world than she, realize what had happened? “We have no time to waste!” Hannah’s voice was so loud that the baby began to cry, reaching a crescendo that made it impossible to hear what Isaac was saying.

Zephra came into the room. “Please take her to Tova for a feeding,” said Hannah. Jessica’s angry pink face nodded over the old servant’s shoulder as Zephra left the room.