BooksBarbecue
Back The Woman in Red Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Epigraph
  4. Prologue
  5. Part One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Part Two
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Part Three
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. Thirty-Five
  43. Thirty-Six
  44. Thirty-Seven
  45. Thirty-Eight
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Part Four
  51. Forty-Three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. Fifty-Two
  61. Fifty-Three
  62. Epilogue
  63. Author’s Note
  64. Acknowledgments
  65. Discover More
  66. Reading Group Guide
  67. Discussion Questions
  68. ESSAY FROMDIANA GIOVINAZZO
  69. Antoinette’s Sister
  70. Chapter One
  71. Chapter Two
  72. About the Author
  73. Praise forThe Woman in Red

“You don’t understand what it’s like for us. You are a foreigner.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. I knew as soon as they reached José’s ears that I had said the wrong thing. I shrank back as his face grew crimson.

“Did you dare call me a foreigner?”

“It’s not what I meant. You are not from here, you don’t understand our ways.”

“I am good enough to shed my foreign blood for you on those fields but not good enough to respect. Is that it?” His voice grew low and menacing.

“José, please.” I reached out to him, but he batted my hand away.

He came up very close to me. I tensed, unsure of what was to follow. “Don’t forget that the child growing in that stomach of yours is half foreigner too.” He turned on his heel and strode away, cursing in Italian.

I was still hungry and knew that José would be too, once he came to his senses, so I made our breakfast. I finished eating, just a simple meal of beans and rice. I left a plate for José as I began my camp-breaking chores. An hour into my work he approached our tent.

“I’m sorry for being so angry with you earlier.” He lifted my hand to his lips, gently kissing my fingers. “Do you forgive me?”

I was surprised. It was not like a man, any man I knew, to apologize to his wife. I stammered, “Of course you may have my forgiveness.”

He smiled tenderly, giving my hand a small squeeze. “Grazie, tesoro mio.” Sheepishly, he took the plate I left for him.

With a mouth partially full of food, he began to talk. “I was thinking about what you and General Canabarro said, and you make a valid point.” He swallowed the large mouthful. “If we go southwest, we can also really entrench ourselves with the people, bolster our numbers. I hear the people there are more sympathetic toward our independence.”

I regarded him as he ate, continuing to talk about his new plans. In José’s eyes I was no longer the shy little girl from Laguna. In his eyes I was equal to him and his advisors. My chest swelled with pride. How many other women in Brazil could say this about their husbands? We spent the day breaking camp before setting off on the long journey to General Terceira’s region.

Seventeen

Seventeen

August 1840

In the time it took to travel back to the Vacaria region my belly grew to the point where I felt as big as one of the horses. Nothing alleviated the discomfort.

The Imperial forces that we encountered when we arrived were well fed and well armed. Everything that we weren’t. My heart raced as the men took their places, preparing for battle, head on.