With many many thanks to l'bogo and Eulalia, who make all this possible...
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Tuesday evening
Tonight we’ll stay in Venice, it's such a magical night. Vio has reserved a table at a well-known restaurant, he wants us to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day in this way a day early - he doesn’t want to celebrate it on Ash Wednesday, that would bring bad luck according to him. We shall spend the night in a small apartment that he owns, near the family home he has leased to the Chinese restaurant owner.
'Hello Vio, you’re already here!'
'Hi ... So, who’s the "plague doctor" who was with you today?'
'Hey Vio, were you spying on me? He was the set designer, we’d been at the Teatro del Ridotto, we’ll be doing the rehearsals for the ballet there.'
'But you stayed in the Piazza...'
'It's Carnival, Vio ... Oh come on, Vio, don’t be jealous - we didn’t do anything wrong, okay?'
'Well... but you ... but you ... I ... I love you ... I ... I ... I want to marry you ...'
'Vio! What are you saying? We aren’t even engaged !'
I’m knocked back, gobsmacked, this declaration has caught me unprepared - I really did not expect it. I thought we’d be good friends, but I wasn’t thinking about marriage, that’s not on my radar, I'm still too young...
'We are now – engaged!'
He pulls out from his pocket a small box: Oreficeria Antiquaria dei Dogi, Rialto.
I just stand holding the box, I’m winded, my hand is trembling...
'Open it.'
'Let's go to the restaurant first, it’s starting to rain.'
The waiter, in a white linen jacket and black silk bow tie, bends in an exaggerated bow, then takes us to our reserved table, the candle is alight on its candlestick, there’s a bunch of white roses.
I have a sensation of vertigo, I gladly accept the gesture of the waiter who moves the chair to accommodate me. The situation is absurd, I'm dressed like I’m going fishing in the lagoon, with rubber boots, pants rolled up, and here I am in one of the most prestigious restaurants in Venice - with a little box in my hand that, for sure, contains a precious ring. And I don’t know what to do!
Vio ... Vio ... Whatever’s got into your head? Without talking about it first... how can I accept?'
'As always. You always pull back, always find an excuse ...'
I can’t simply disappoint him. I'll open the box, I'll accept the ring, but we'll talk about marriage later - I can always give it back to him.
I open it. I’m dazzled as if blinded by a searchlight, an impossible brightness, a stone of a size never seen - for a girl like me! A beautiful diamond, surrounded by a crown of smaller diamonds, I cannot count them.
'Are you crazy, Vio? It’s worth a fortune (patrimonio)... '
'It’s worth a wedding (matrimonio)...'
He’s not wrong, any woman would surely surrender instantly... But I'm tormented, I know I don’t love him, I ought to refuse, I should say I cannot, or I do not want to. But Vio is alone, he’s got no-one else, for him I am his only hope, his future...
He approaches me, takes my trembling hand, and puts on my ring. I'm hooked now. He kisses me on my lips, I don’t resist.
The menu for this dinner is the most obvious anyone could think of: lobster, avocado salad, and ... I don’t swallow a single bite. On the other hand, the wine is delicious, I gulp it down to ‘lubricate’ the fix I’ve got myself into...
More stunned by the situation than by the wine, I let myself be led through the flooded streets, wandering through this magical Venice to the wedding bed. At least I'm not a virgin any more...