“One’s true character does not show itself when all is well,
“One’s true character does not show itself when all is well,but when all is not.”
but when all is not.”Each woman wore the same face.
It mattered not if some were more creased than others were, some darker, some rounder. Dark crescent moons shadowed swollen eyes; lips drooped at the corners, and shoulders slumped and curled inward.
Yet they came. Their maestro and the two others had assured them it could be fixed; if their doubt hung heavy upon them, it would not stop them from trying.
maestroWith them came their families, their husbands, their sons, Viviana’s lover, and even Mattea’s mother. Only Lapaccia was not among them.
“She took a fall,” Mattea told Viviana when asked. “She claims she stumbled upon a step.”
Viviana’
