• Venice, Italy, 1746


    I had never meant to catch a man's eye. Or the eye of yet another. I had never intended on falling in love with one of them and scorning the other. I had had no intention whatsoever of even getting close to either man. But I ended up becoming wrapped up in the favor and passion of both. However, only one had my heart in the end. One was a noble gentleman and a musician. The other was a charming, handsome, and daring thief.
    They were as different as night and day, those two men. One was a womanizer and had several affairs throughout his lifetime, while the other was true to only one woman and one woman alone. One was polite and had perfect manners. The other was wild and daring. One had power, the other had his wits and cunning. Both men had at first put my heart fluttering. But I resulted in taking one, for my heart had finally decided what was right for me.
    It's still quite hard to believe what had caused all this confusion and competition. It had all started back when I had first seen a woman wearing a lovely dress. I was poor and had barely any money to my name. My clothes were simple and not the least bit impressive. But the clothes of the women who could afford to buy them were stunning. They amazed me and I longed to have one for myself. Should it be the case that you have not yet noticed what had started the whole incident when I became older, it was the day I had finally saved up for a dress.

    As I did my usual errands for the family that my family served, I anxiously counted off the hours that passed. I usually frowned as I did my chores and errands, but today I smiled like a hopeful little girl. For today was a very special day for me. A very special day indeed.
    I ran home as fast I could. When I arrived, I hastily ran to the room where I was to leave the package I had been sent to deliver and just left it lying there on a table. Then I bolted out of the fancy, ornate house and headed to my family's own, less ornate, and much smaller home.
    I won't bother you with the details of my own home. It was simple and unimpressive. I'm sorry to say that I was rather ashamed of it. I would have much rather lived in a lovely, large home much like that of the many richer families of Venice. But I had been born into a poor, rather destitute family, who's wages as servants and other lowly occupations just barely paid for what we needed.
    At the time, no one was home, so I quietly stole up to the room that I shared with my mother. My father shared a room with my two older brothers, Bettino and Constantino. Our room was right next to their's.
    Once in my room, I lifted up the mat I used for a bed. Underneath the mat was a small purse full of coins that I had saved up for several years since I was eight. I was now sixteen. I now had every bit of money that I needed for what I had strove so hard for.
    I picked up the purse and put the small bag of money to my breast, hearing the slight jangle of the money.

    As soon as my family had fallen asleep, I silently stole out of the house and rushed to the dress shop. Luckily, the shopkeeper was still there. I smiled as I entered. The woman just looked at me with a strange glance, as if she knew that I couldn't afford to buy anything in her shop. But I showed her my purse of money and she looked away.
    I then searched for the dress that I had seen a few days ago. After much looking and searching, I finally found the stunning garment. It was light pink and had a much darker shade down the middle, with rose colored ribbons criss-crossing. The sleeves where slightly puffed and there were lovely fake roses on the on the sides. The dress took my breath away just to see it. I touched it, just to know that it was real. To my happiness, it was.
    I paid for the dress and had it put into a box. Then I left the dress shop with the box underneath my arm and smiling. I had accomplished my goal to obtain the dress of my dreams.
    However, there was one problem. I had no place to where it to.