The Gypsy and the Widow Read Online Free Page A

scowled more deeply and waved them away. Everyone laughed at his discomfort.
    “Leave him be,” said the rom baro. He is a good and virtuous Romanichal . He can easily resist the charms of an immoral Gadji. ”
    “Well, if he resists, perhaps she will accept me,” said a young man thumping his chest. I would be happy to show a rawni what it is to be loved by a Romanichal .”
    There followed a torrent of friendly abuse for the young man. No one paid any attention to Tem, who said, “I believe she is a good and decent woman.” He watched as the children, all talking at once, surrounded Joanna who, squatting, hugged Eleanor while she talked with the others.
    She pets the children and they respond, but a rawni would be no suitable mother for my children—she would care nothing for our ways. Why am I thinking of such a thing? I must be didlo . No rich rawni would marry a poor Romanichal like me. I must find someone among my own people, someone who would love my children and who, perhaps in time, I could come to love.
     
    ***
     
    For a moment, as she approached them, Joanna thought the Gypsies were laughing at her, but then Eleanor, wearing the same yellow dress she had the day before, came running to her and flew into her arms. Soon after, all the children were around her, some chattering in the language of the Gypsies, some speaking careful English.
    “ A ring, a ring o’ roses,” Noah said and the others all took up the cry.
    “Please, lady, sing it for us again,” begged Florica. The children joined hands, including her in the circle, Eleanor on one side and Noah on the other. The circle began to spin as they sang, “A ring, a ring o’ roses, a pocket full o’posies, atishoo atishoo we all fall down.” With the last words, all the children began sneezing violently and throwing themselves on the ground.
    Joanna wanted to remain standing, as she sensed the eyes of the Gypsies on her, but when Noah threw himself down as he sneezed, he knocked against her, upsetting her balance, and she tumbled to the ground. She lay there on her back, surprised. The children went silent.
    She opened her eyes and saw the sky and a ring of anxious little faces looking down at her. Her ankle hurt a lot.
    “I am sorry, I am sorry,” Noah kept repeating, his eyes wide and fearful. Nash looked as if he were about to cry.
    The children moved aside, and Tem Lovell’s worried face appeared.
    “I fell,” she said foolishly. “But it was not Noah’s doing. It’s no one’s fault but my own.”
    Eleanor gave her a wet kiss on her forehead. “Lady fall,” she said.
    “Yes, I fell.”
    Tem helped her to sit. “Are you all right?”
    He was so close. She could smell him—the smell of a hard-working man and of the outdoors. She breathed deeply. She could feel his work-hardened palm on her arm as he supported her, his arm against her back, his hand on her elbow.
    She looked up at him and felt a spark leap between them as she met his black eyes. She felt her heart constrict; her blood slowed and thickened in her veins.
    “My name is Joanna,” she said and immediately felt ridiculous. But she wanted him to know; she wanted to hear him say it.
    “Joanna,” he said softly. He cleared his throat. “Mrs. Daniels, can you stand?”
    “I don’t know.” His arm still about her, she came to her feet and groaned. “I think I hurt my ankle.” She winced.
    There were other people around them now all with concerned, or even frightened, faces. One of the women spoke harshly to the children.
    “No, no it’s no one’s fault.” Scowling, the woman took a step backward, away from her. Tem spoke to them. She assumed he was translating what she had said.
    “Tell them it is my own doing, not to blame the children.”
    Tem spoke again and the woman nodded. One pointed at her ankle and said in the same lightly accented English as Tem’s, “Can you walk on it?”
    “It hurts too much to put all my weight on it.”
    “I would bind it for