My Husband's Wife(15)

‘I’m sorry, but you reminded me of someone.’

Instantly Carla’s curiosity was aroused. ‘Who?’

Then Lily turned away. ‘Someone I used to know.’

They were going under a bridge now. The taxi grew dark inside. Carla could hear Lily blowing her nose. When they came out the other side, her eyes were very bright. ‘I like your pencil case.’

‘It’s not a pencil case. He’s a caterpillar.’ Carla stroked the green fur lovingly; first one way and then the other. ‘Charlie can understand every word you are saying.’

‘I used to feel that way about a doll I had once. She was called Amelia.’

‘Do you still have her?’

The face turned away again. ‘No. I don’t.’

Lily used exactly the same tone of voice that Mamma used when she said that there was only enough dinner for one and that it didn’t matter because she wasn’t hungry. And just as she did with Mamma, Carla stayed silent because sometimes adults didn’t want you to ask any more questions.

Meanwhile, the taxi was jolting along through big wide streets with pretty shops and then smaller ones with wooden boxes of fruit outside. Eventually, they passed a park she recognized and then they turned into their road. Charlie’s fur stood up on end. Carla felt her chest beating at the same time. Mamma might be home now. What would she say?

Never talk to strangers. How often had she told her that? Yet Carla had not only gone off with a stranger, she had also stolen Charlie.

‘I’ll explain everything to your mother,’ said golden-haired Lily, as if she could see what Carla was thinking. Then she handed over two real paper notes for the taxi ride to the driver. How rich she must be! ‘Do you think she’ll be home yet? If not, you can …’

‘Piccola mia!’

She smelled Mamma’s rich perfume swooping out of the block before she saw her. ‘Where have you been? I am out of my mind with worry.’ Then she glared at Lily, black eyes flashing. ‘How dare you take my daughter away? And what have you done to her eye? I will report you to the police. I will …’

It suddenly occurred to Carla that Lily wouldn’t understand what Mamma was saying because she was speaking in their own language. Italian! What Mamma called ‘the tongue of the poets and the artists and the great thinkers’. Whatever that meant. Certainly Lily had looked very confused until the word polizia. Then her face grew red and cross.

‘Your daughter got hit by a ball at school.’ She was speaking very slowly, as if making a big effort to stay calm. But Carla could see that her throat had gone all blotchy. ‘One of the staff took her home but you weren’t in. She was going to have to go back to school but it just happened that I came back from work early and offered to take Carla to hospital for that eye.’

‘The teacher, why did she not do this?’

Mamma was speaking in English now. It worried Carla when she did this because she sometimes got the words in the wrong order. Then people would laugh or try to correct her. She didn’t want Mamma feeling hurt.

‘She had to get back to her own children, apparently.’

‘They rang your work from school,’ Carla butted in. ‘But they said you weren’t there today.’

Mamma’s eyes widened. ‘Of course I was. My manager had sent me on a training course. Someone should have known where to get me. Mi dispiace.’ Mamma was almost suffocating her with a big hug. ‘I am so sorry. Thank you for looking after my little one.’

Together, she and Mamma rocked back and forth on the dirty steps. Even though the grip was uncomfortable, Carla’s heart soared. This is what it had been like before the man with the shiny car had come into their lives. Just her and Mamma. No laughter through the walls that shut her out and danced up and down in her nightmares.

‘You are Italian?’ Lily’s soft voice released Mamma’s grip and the old emptiness dived back in. ‘My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Italy. Sicily. We loved it.’

Mamma’s eyes were wet with tears. Real tears, Carla observed. Not the kind of tears she practised in front of the mirror. ‘My daughter’s father, he came from there …’

Carla’s skin began to prickle. She had not known that.

‘But now … now …’

Poor Mamma. Her voice was coming out in big gulps. She needed help.

Carla heard her own voice piping up. ‘Now it is just Mamma and me.’

Do not talk about Larry, she wanted to say out loud. Do not mention that man.

‘It is very hard,’ Mamma continued. ‘I do not like to leave my little one alone, but there are times when I have to work. Saturdays are the worst, when there is no school.’

Golden-haired Lily was nodding. ‘If it would help, my husband and I can look after her sometimes.’

Carla felt her breath stop. Really? Then she wouldn’t have to stay inside the flat all on her own, with the door locked. She would have someone to talk to until Mamma got home!

‘You would look after my little girl? That is very kind.’

Both women were flushed now. Was Lily regretting her offer? Carla hoped not. Adults often suggested something and then took it away.

‘I must go now.’ Lily glanced at her case. ‘I have work to do and you’ll want time with your daughter. Don’t worry about the cut. The hospital said it would heal fast.’