Read Online Broken Chord by Margaret Moore - Free Book Online

think you’ll agree, Isabella, that quality is far more important than quantity, in every sphere.” Her eyes raked Isabella’s dress which was adamantly floral and frilly.
    “Of course.” Isabella fingered the frills that crossed over and failed to conceal her ample breasts.
    Ursula gulped her coffee and stood up abruptly. “I must rush. See you later Guido, my love.”
    “Where are you going, Teo?” asked Isabella quietly after her mother-in-law had left the room.
    “I just have one or two things to do; you know the bank and so forth. I’m leaving you our car.”
    “Thank you. How kind. Will you take the girls?” Their eyes locked. This was almost a declaration of war.
    “No, not this morning. Can you manage?”
    “It looks as though I’ll have to since you saw fit to send the au pair off on holiday.”
    “Not again, Isabella. It would have been awkward to have her here. Don’t you remember last year?”
    “Well, it’s awkward without her.”
    “I’ll try not to be too long.”
    “Oh, don’t rush things for me. Take all the time you want.” She grabbed the girls by the hand and left the room.
    “Oh dear, Teo, can’t you do all your marital bickering in the bedroom?” remarked Lapo in a bored tone.
    “Lapo, mind your own business.”
    “If only I could, but you always seem to make it other people’s business. You woke me up this morning having a shouting match but I would’ve thought you’d manage to hold off during breakfast.”
    “Well, I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention. At least have the decency not to talk about it.”
    Guido who had sat through all this in silence now crownedthe conversation with a remark that had all the grace of a club over the head, “Well, they say that marriage is the tomb of love and I must say from what I’ve seen this morning that sometimes seems to be true. However, I’m sure that won’t be the case for me and Ursula.”
    “Ursula and I,” Lapo corrected him, and bolted from the room before he burst out laughing. Teo looked over at Guido and said, “If all you can do is make unfortunate remarks you’d do better to keep your mouth shut,” before he too left the room.
     
    Dragonetti drove to work through heavy traffic. It was going to be very hot again. The sky was an amazing clear blue and the sun was already hot. He was in a good mood today. Vanessa’s returns were always marked by an excessive sexual indulgence and, after an excellent meal, the previous night had been no exception. It had relieved his feeling of boredom and isolation. How much he missed her when she was away on her frequent trips! How lucky he was to have her! His children seemed to like her too which was a blessing and a relief because they were at a difficult age and could have made his life hell.
    He turned off the motorway at Lucca and spent a frustrating ten minutes edging round the roundabout which was always jammed with traffic and was a compulsory passage to everywhere. An impatient driver gave him the finger while another, who’d narrowly missed hitting him, screamed abuse at the top of his voice. Apparently, he was a cuckold several times over. Roll on another ordinary day.
     
    Piero collected the morning post and rifled through the letters, sorting them into different piles. His hand halted and hovered over one envelope. He immediately recognised the writing, and the way the address was scrawled. He opened it.
    ‘I warned you but you took no notice. Don’t think you can come here and live among decent people, lording it over us, after what your country did to ours. You have to pay the price and I’ll make sure that you do.’
    He sighed and picked up the phone, he had no choice. This letter was menacing, and not to report it would be negligent. Two letters within a month were too much to ignore. He would deal with it himself and leave Ursula out of it for now, for as long as he could, and if the police could help, then maybe she would never need to know. Perhaps