The smell of burning stew slaps Alvise in the face. He comes through the door with Bini at his heels. “Neve!” The girl lies on the floor, her face as pale as her name. Alvise drops the dead hedgehogs and rushes to her. He grabs her hands. Icy. He puts his cheek to her nose. Let there be a hint of breath, Good God, let it be. He slaps her cheeks. “Neve!”
“Is she dead?” Bini’s voice cracks.
“I don’t know.” Alvise rubs her arms.
“What’s that in her bodice?” Bini leans in from the side. “That lace, it’s new. Someone’s been here.”
Alvise pulls out his knife and tries to slide it under the lace, but it’s too tight. He forces a finger under one part and cuts straight. The lace pops open. He rips it the rest of the way.
“She was suffocated,” says Bini.
“Don’t say that. Get her closer to the fire.” Alvise pushes on Neve’s shoulders. “Pull her!”
They push and pull her as gently as they can. Then they stand over her and watch.
“You’ve messed her clothes.” Bini points.
There’s blood everywhere that Alvise’s left hand touched. He sucks on his bleeding finger. Then he squeezes it tight in his right fist. “Get the stew off the hook before it catches fire.”
“It’ll take two of us.”
Alvise grabs the bucket and throws what’s left of the water onto the fire. It sputters and goes out.
“What’d you go and do that for?” Bini gapes at Alvise. “You know how hard it is to get a fire going again.”
“What if the stew caught fire and it spread and we couldn’t get Neve out of here in time?”
Giallino comes through the door. “What’s all this smoke? And the fire’s out.”
“We had to,” says Bini. His face colors, but he doesn’t look at Alvise. “The stew was catching fire, and I couldn’t lift it down myself, and Alvise cut his finger open so he couldn’t help me and—you would have done the same thing.”
“Why’s Neve on the floor?” Giallino runs over.
The others come in the door now, shouting questions. Alvise keeps shaking his head.
“Shut up, everyone.” Ricci claps his hands once, then shakes his clasped hands at them all. “Give Alvise a chance to speak.”
“We came in and she was lying on the floor, cold as snow.” Alvise jerks his chin toward the yellow silk lace in the middle of the floor. “Someone tried to suffocate her with that bodice lace.”
“The Wicked One,” says Giallino. “Yep, that’s who.”
“Neve’s not stupid,” says Baffi. “She’d never let The Wicked One in.”
“How could she keep her out? She’s a girl and The Wicked One is powerful.” Giordano shakes his head. “We need to put a bolt across the door.”
“I bet Neve let her in willingly,” says Bini. “She always says we shouldn’t call her The Wicked One. She refuses to believe her stepmother wants her dead.”
“She won’t refuse now,” says Giallino. “If she lives. She’s not moving.”
“Ai!” Tommaso falls to his knees. “She has to live. I love her.”
“We all love her, Tommaso.” It’s Ricci.
Alvise knew the girl had won their hearts, one by one. Every time she said “please,” and meant it. Every time she sat on a stool and didn’t complain about it being so low. Every time she didn’t smile at them as though they were cute or funny—that sealed it. How you can love someone for what they don’t do, for simply being a decent person…that’s how it happened, though. Neve treats them like people. She works hard. She doesn’t always do things right the first time, but she learns fast and does them right the second time. And her smile, it could make a man fall to his knees. Alvise doesn’t even know if the girl likes any of them, but he knows all of them love her. He’s grateful Ricci was the one to say it. He senses a change in the room. They’re more united than they ever were before.
Good God, let this girl live.
Giordano gets his pillow and puts it under Neve’s head. “Her color’s returning. Don’t you think so?”
“It’s hard to tell, it’s so dark.” Giallino goes to the door. “I’ll get dry firewood. Tommaso, help me. You’re our best fire starter. You’ve got the patience.”
Tommaso stares at Giallino. Alvise watches: the poor kid, he’s not used to praise. Alvise has to find opportunities to praise all of them.
“It’s the best thing you can do for her now,” says Giallino. “We need to keep her warm.”
Bini takes the blanket from his bed and lays it over Neve. He looks at Tommaso. “Our blanket’s thicker than hers, right?”
Tommaso nods. He leaves with Giallino.
An hour later, the fire is roaring, the hedgehogs are roasting, the water buckets have been refilled, the burned stew has been fed to the dogs, the big pot has been scrubbed out by the riverside with pebbles, and the table has been set. Everyone worked, no one grumbled. Alvise calls them to the table.
“We shouldn’t eat till Neve can join us,” says Tommaso.
Alvise kneels over Neve. “Neve?” He puts his face closer. “Neve?” Did her eyelashes flutter? Thank you, God in heaven. Thank you!
Neve looks up at him. Her mouth opens, but she doesn’t speak.
Alvise helps her sit up and get to her stool. Her hands press against her ribs. Her bodice hangs open, but she’s fully covered by the smock underneath. Still, it feels wrong to leave her like that. Her old lace lies on the floor. Alvise grabs it and holds it out to her.
Neve pulls away, shaking her head. She blinks fast. She’s panting now.
Alvise doesn’t know what to do. “Well.” He turns to the others. “What are we waiting for?”
Giallino serves the meat. Bini comes around with the sauce. They eat.
“Oh,” murmurs Neve. She’s the first to break the silence. “It’s delicious.”
“You almost died,” says Tommaso.
Neve’s lips part, then close, then part. “The hazelnut sauce is so good.”
Bini nods. “Tommaso’s right.”
Neve sits up tall. Resolve masks her face. “Bini gave me ideas. Teach me recipes, all of you. We’ll eat better from now on.”
“Recipes?” says Ricci. He gives her a hard look. “We’re waiting.”
Neve’s hand trembles. She puts down her knife. “It was an old peddler woman.”
“The Wicked One,” says Bini.
“I told you she’d come looking,” says Giallino. “Yep, I told you.”
Neve takes a deep breath. “Maybe.” Her shoulders fall. She looks around at them. “You saved me.” She’s blinking fast.
“We’re putting a bolt across the door tomorrow,” says Giordano.
“And we’ll take turns coming back to the cabin every so often all day long to check on you,” says Baffi.
“If she comes this way again,” says Ricci, “I’ll kill her.”
Neve puts her hand over her mouth. She shakes her head.
“Oh, yeah?” says Bini. “You want to die?”
“It’s you or her,” says Giordano. “That’s the long and the short of it. And we won’t let it be you.”
Neve stares at Giordano. Tears well in her eyes. Alvise doesn’t know what to do. Tears stream down her face now. “I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t. The last night we were together she said I was truly beautiful. She said she loved me so much. Why?” Her voice strangles on a sob. She looks around at them. Then she folds one fist inside the other and beats them rapidly against her chest right under her throat. “Recipes? Please?”
“I can gather porcini,” says Tommaso quickly. “They’re good with squirrel. I know a special place. And they’re big ones—rust-colored and heavy as a goose egg.” Tommaso leans forward. “On private property. But I can sneak them.”
“Don’t get in trouble just for mushrooms,” says Neve quietly.
Baffi frowns. “Never call porcini ‘just mushrooms.’ ”
“I saw other mushrooms at the base of an old fig tree,” says Ricci. “Tall and skinny and white, with little ball crowns at the top. They might be chiodini.”
“Chiodini and chestnuts—they go perfect with pigeon,” says Giordano. “And we’ve got plenty of chestnuts.”
“It’s a strange winter when porcini and chiodini are still popping up after the feast of Santo Stefano.” Alvise smiles. He raises his glass. “To a strange winter, and a safe one.”
They all drink.
“Who cut my lace?” asks Neve. Her hands are on her ribs again.
“I did,” says Alvise.
“How did you guess it was too tight?”
“The ends were knotted. Otherwise, I could have pulled it out. But I had to cut it. You never knot the ends. You make a bow.” As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Alvise realizes how revealing they are. He shouldn’t know so much about Neve’s bodice. He swallows in confusion.
“It was new,” says Bini. “We saw the new yellow silk. That was it.”
Neve looks hard at them. Then she smiles. “Thank heaven for that.”