Spring, 1505
Toulouse, France
Mira
Mira slept later than usual the next morning. She found Arnaud in the sitting room, carving a block of oak with a sharp-nosed tool. Rose sat fussing on the bed, mystified by the absence of her mother.
Arnaud wiped the blade of his tool on his apron. “I took Deedit to the Cagot cemetery outside the city walls in the night.”
“Did you see her buried?”
His expression tightened. “I could have been jailed for that. I found a Cagot man nearby. He promised to do it. I paid him well.”
“And you trusted him?” Her voice grew shrill. “How could you...”
“Stop!” Rarely did Mira see Arnaud lose his temper, but he was very close to doing so at this moment. “We can’t risk a tangle with the bailiff. I’ve been working illegally for months. They’ll lock me up or worse if word gets out. We’ve already drawn too much attention to ourselves as it is.” Before she could protest again, he shook his head wearily. “The other tenants complained to the landlord about Rose. They want us out, and he’s willing to go along with it. Only the threat of the lord’s wrath convinced him to let us upstairs. If that threat turns out to be empty, he’ll turn us out.”
“What harm can a baby do them?”
“She’s a Cagot. They must live apart from other folk.”
“Those rules are wrong!”
“You’ll find little sympathy for that view. It could get us into trouble.”
“I do not care!”
Rose began to scream. Mira scooped her up and jiggled her.
“She’s hungry,” said Arnaud. He resumed carving the wood. “Wouldn’t take what I offered her.”
“Boiled millet and goat’s cheese is all we have. She will learn to like it.”
“We should find her a wet-nurse.”
Mira transferred Rose to the other hip. “Who would nurse a Cagot baby?”
“We’ll find a Cagot family. They’ll be glad to take our money. Let her go to one of them, and improve their fortunes at the same time.”
“What?” Mira was incredulous. “She can’t live with strangers. Deedit brought her here for a better life. At my urging. I want to keep Rose with us.”
Arnaud put down his work again. “Is that truly what you want?”
“I just said so.”
“It’ll change the course of our lives forever. Raising a child is no small thing.”
“You forget I helped raise many children at the abbey.”
Rose let out a piercing shriek. Mira realized she had stopped bouncing. She began jiggling the girl again.
He watched them thoughtfully. “I fear you won’t like the consequences.”
“You want to give her up because she is a Cagot,” Mira accused him. “Are you like all the rest of them?”
There was reproach in his brown eyes. “You know the answer to that.”
She dropped her gaze. “Forgive me.”
“I only want you to understand the hardships you’re taking on.”
“I swear to you I do,” Mira said. “Please let us keep her.”
He regarded them for another moment, then stood and made for the door.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To find another place for the three of us to live.”
“Wait. We can go to Lord de Vernier, as you said. There’s no one in Toulouse more powerful than he.”
“And if he despises Cagots as much as every other citizen?”
She shook her head. “No. He is bound to us now. We have a contract. I know he will want to help us, and his wife will too.”
Arnaud’s expression darkened, but he stayed silent.
“You shall see. I’ll go at once, and make things right.” She handed Rose to him.
Her fingers trembled and her heart thudded as she threw on a cloak and slipped out the door of the lodging house. She dreaded another confrontation with the landlord or other tenants, but luck was with her. No one was about.
Quickly she strode through the streets, praying that her employers would show more mercy than the common citizens of Toulouse, would use the power of their position to help them keep their lodgings and protect baby Rose. The lord had finally warmed to them, and his wife was Mira’s true ally.
The thought of turning Rose out to the crumbling alleyways of the Cagot slums was unbearable.