Read Accabadora for Free Online Page A

all this gold worn together would ever be enough to make Bonacatta beautiful, but in the end that was not the point. The gifts were a sort of votive offering to the supine figure of the Madonna of the Assumption, not so much ornaments as items for barter: coral in exchange for favours, gold to balance against devotion. If Bonacatta had ever reflected on the matter, she would have realized that in reality there was no devotion whatever behind all this display-cabinet ostentation, but reflection had never been a strong point with Sisinnio Listru’s eldest daughter.
    Her betrothed, Antonio Luigi Cau, was sitting in obvious discomfort beside his mother, as motionless as a stuffed animal. He seemed tall even when sitting down and so far had said nothing at all, leaving his parents to do the talking, partly because that was the custom and partly because there was little he could say that had not already been said.
    â€œIs this girl another of your daughters, Anna? I thought you only had three.” The bridegroom’s mother’s eyes examined Maria’s slender figure, while her fat fingers removed two amaretti from her tray.
    â€œMy youngest, our Mariedda. I gave her away as a fill’e anima seven years ago, but when we need help she’s happy to come and give a hand.”
    Anna Teresa Listru spoke in a self-satisfied voice, elaborating the truth to her own advantage as was her habit. This unexpected loquacity gave her daughter’s future mother-in-law a chance to address Maria directly.
    â€œAnd whose soul-child are you, my dear?”
    For a moment the hubbub of conversation dropped to a whisper as Maria answered, unaware of the flash of alarm in her mother’s eyes.
    â€œI was taken by Tzia Bonaria Urrai, the seamstress, who had no children of her own.”
    The silence that greeted this statement lasted long enough to reveal embarrassment, before the fiancé’s mother gave a short smile and removed another amaretto from the tray.
    â€œAn excellent person, Bonaria, we know her. I believe she even made a suit for Vincenzo when he was president of the committee – you remember, Bissè?” She winked at her husband who was listening with interest. “Her hands are worth their weight in gold, though of course she doesn’t really need the work. She will certainly treat you well,” she said to Maria, with a sideways glance at Anna Teresa Listru.
    â€œShe treats me as her own daughter, I lack for nothing.” Maria’s response was as automatic as it was polite, a perfect answer already used a thousand times. “Do please take another amaretto , Bonacatta made them.”
    Maria proffered her tray like a beggar anxious for alms, with a curious hint of a bow that served for a moment to conceal her expression from those round her. Everyone else seemed struck dumb as if by witchcraft, so much so that her eldest sister took the opportunity to break the silence with a trivial remark.
    â€œMaria’s lucky, what a great privilege to have two families. Andfrom now on I’ll have two as well, won’t I? Because you two will be another mother and father to me as though I was your own daughter.”
    Miraculously, her smile made the bride-to-be even uglier, as it disclosed an extensive array of powerful teeth. But her comment did succeed in damping down the embarrassment and bringing out a few forced smiles.
    â€œIt won’t do you much good, Bonacatta, because I was never one to mollycoddle my children! Ask Antonio Luigi if I was ever a loving father, just ask him!” Vincenzo Cau gave a hoarse laugh, stiff in his starched, cream-coloured formal suit that had probably fitted him nicely five years before.
    His comment reminded everyone sharply of the purpose of the meeting, but while everyone else laughed with relief, his wife confined herself to an ambiguous smile and darted one more sharp glance at the little girl still fearlessly circulating with her