I Won't Bridge an Impossible Gap novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Bread at the Gate
The door that opened behind me was not for my exit.
An old woman came in past the manservant, with a covered dish in both hands and a black shawl over her white hair.
The oldest of the council half rose.
"My dear..."
"Sit down. I'm bringing the pudding."
She was his wife.
She had been waiting in the hall with the other wives, who were allowed to bring dessert and not allowed to sit, and she had heard every word through the wall.
She set the dish in the middle of the table and turned to Domenico.
"I was born in the Quartieri," she said. "In a basement. Your mother knew my mother."
"Signora..."
"In the winter of '56 she carried a sack of flour up our stairs every Friday for four months, and she never told a soul. That was the Montanari house. People ate because of it."
Domenico's smile thinned.
"That was a long time ago."
"It was. And you've forgotten it." She laid one hand on the back of my chair. "This girl came in here with no friend and no coat worth the name, and she called herself a thief to your face because you made her. I have known a lot of Montanari men. Your father would not have made her."
Nobody spoke.
An old man at the bottom of the table coughed and looked ashamed.
"I'll vote with my wife on this," said the oldest of the council, to his plate.
"There's no vote tonight," said Domenico quickly. "A vouching is the family's own matter."
"Then your family should be careful what its matter looks like," said the elder's wife.
I thanked her with my eyes, because my voice had gone.
She patted my arm.
"Go home, ragazza," she said. "Eat something."
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