The Italian Romance by Joanne Carroll Read Free Book Online Page A

on one of the kitchen chairs, which Mae had quietly carried into the lounge room before the guests arrived. He balanced his bread-and-butter plate on his knees and held a delicate and very best cup and saucer in his intimidated hands.
    Beside him, her father-in-law reached down for the cup and saucer he’d placed on the floor, crossed his legs and said, ‘Yes, well, o’course the Poles couldn’t a been expected to hold out any longer than they did. They never had a chance, really. I don’t know, Mick, I don’t trust this man at all. It remains to be seen what he intends to do next.’
    â€˜Still, it doesn’t look too bad over there at present,’ Mick Ferguson assured him. ‘They’ve gone quiet. Won’t blow up like the last one.’
    â€˜Let’s hope not,’ Mae Malone said. ‘We wouldn’t want to go that way again.’ Mae picked at her sandwich, two fingers beak-like at the bread. She had painstakingly sliced all the crusts off earlier and thrown them out the back door to the dogs. She seemed lost in contemplation of the moist white triangle of bread and the slice of red tomato trailing from it onto her flowered plate.
    Mick said, ‘Storm in a teacup, love. It’ll all die down again.’
    â€˜Of course it will,’ Vivienne said. ‘They’ve got more sense.’
    â€˜You’d think the Germans would a bloody learned their lesson.’ The girl’s shoulders jumped. She looked over at her father-in-law, watched how his big, sun-leathered hand circled the tiny cup. He slurped at the strong tea. He said, ‘How many times do they have to have their backsides kicked?’
    â€˜Oh, Vince,’ Mae said. She looked sheepishly at Viv.
    â€˜Sorry, ladies,’ he said. ‘But you’d agree with me on that, Mick. When my lot were over there, in France, you never saw anything like it.’ He moved slightly on his chair and glanced at the women. As Mae caught his eye, he held up a hand and said, ‘Now, I’m not going to talk about it, love. Anyway, we’ve had enough of it, I can tell you.’
    â€˜Too right,’ Mick Ferguson said. He stared at the milky dregs in his own cup and put it back on the saucer. ‘Still,’ he said ‘if it comes to it, I suppose there’s only one thing to do about it.’
    The girl felt the muscle in her husband’s arm tense and grow hard. And then she heard him say, ‘They reckon France will hold this time, if the Germans attack. That might put a bit of sense into Adolph’s head.’
    She wanted to sip at her cooling tea, but the air had thickened around her; she couldn’t raise her hand. She didn’t really know why.
    Her mother’s voice broke a moment’s unexplained silence. ‘Just let him have the bits he says belong to them,’ Viv said. The girl felt a worm of embarrassment. Her mother tried to please sometimes, in a way that made her daughter too sorry for them all. Viv said, ‘That way, we can have peace.’
    â€˜That’s right, darling. A bit of common sense, that’s all that’s needed,’ Mae said. She leaned forward and pushed the plate with the lone sandwich forward. ‘Anyone going to have that? Come on. It’ll only go out to the dogs.’
    â€˜Don’t be shy,’ Vince said.
    Bernie sat forward, too. His thigh bumped her elbow. ‘Well, theAussies took care of them the last time. Our boys will sort them out again, if need be.’
    The light cotton curtains billowed in a breeze that took them by surprise. Her mother suddenly made a grab for the egg sandwich and stuffed most of it in her mouth as if she were hardly aware of herself. Her father picked up his cup again and drained it of its cold, milky dregs. Mae hit her knee with her hands, just once, gently.
    Vince nested his cup and saucer in one hand and stood. ‘Let’s get them into the kitchen for her, Mick,