Rafa drew deliberate lines, creating a trellis of leaves on a vine, framing the inner design. Inside the square frame, he added rosettes surrounded by geometric clover shapes that could easily be repeated, a design rooted in simplicity. At the bottom of the drawing, he briskly shaded, making a base of swirls that imitated the trowel marks of masonry work. Rafa’s lips curled upward as he created a drawing that honored the King’s design request, as well as that of the traditional motifs inspired by the Chinese porcelain vase he’d seen daily in his youth poised in the window of the de Sousas’ home. He’d grown up inspecting the exquisite vessel that had belonged to the man who had owned both him and his father, his family. It had sat in full view of the garden, overlooking the orchard of cork
