Read Online Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie - Free Book Online

sauce, of course, your favorite . . .”
    Was it? Perhaps it had been, once. Doubtless she would be able to tell him exactly where and when he had expressed this rare burst of enthusiasm.
    “—and I’ll ask her to have her cook send over the recipe.”
    “Good,” said Ruso, having no idea what else Arria had just proposed, and no interest in finding out.
    “You like them too? Lovely! You see, already you both have something in common.”
    “Do we?”
“Oh, Gaius! Are you listening to anything I’m saying? Roast testicles!”
“Roast testicles?”
“With pepper and pine nuts.”
“Ah,” said Ruso.

12
    R USO LAY BACK, feeling a faint breeze from the window cool his skin. This was the first night for weeks that he had gone to bed alone. Tilla had been sleeping when he checked her room an hour ago, but his resolve to let her rest was weakening.
    He had planned to introduce her properly this evening when the family gathered for dinner, only to be informed as the salad was served and the girls turned up without her, that she had “gone to play with the children.”
    He had found her sitting on the floor of the children’s room having her hair combed by the nieces. A cheerfully naked toddler was sprawled across her lap, ignoring Galla’s attempts to interest him in the pot.
    Tilla took the pot from Galla and set it between her feet. Then she grasped the toddler under both arms, lifted him up, and set him on it, facing toward her. “There!” She leaned forward and said to the toddler, “We will both sit here and see who can do it first.”
    The girls giggled.
    “Ready?” Tilla asked Little Gaius. She screwed up her eyes, bared her teeth, clenched her fists, and made a straining noise that sounded like, “Nnnnnnnn!”
    Little Gaius shrieked and bounced with delight on the pot while the girls cried, “She’s making a poo noise! Uncle Gaius, listen! Listen, Galla!”
    Ruso was no longer sure she deserved an invitation to dinner, but he was not going to be ignored in favor of his small namesake. “Dinnertime,” he said, realizing that she was still clad in her hot British wool. “Didn’t the girls lend you something cooler to wear?”
    Unable to turn her head without having her hair pulled, Tilla said, “Your stepmother has something yellow for me tomorrow.”
    He raised his voice. “That’ll have to do, girls. She’s mine now.” To Tilla he said, “Come and get something to eat.”
    She stilled the efforts of the nieces by grasping the comb. “I have just had a big bowl of broth and half a loaf at the kitchen table. Then they gave me stewed apple and wine with water. What must I eat now?”
    “Dinner. Whatever the cook was making while you were in there. Didn’t anybody tell you?”
    The eyes that were not really blue widened in alarm. “Nobody said I must eat again! It is too hot!”
“Just come in and have a little. I want to introduce you to the family.”
“I do not think they want to meet me again.”
“Of course they do.”
    “No they don’t, Uncle Gaius!” put in one of the nieces helpfully. “Grandmother Arria said—”
    “Never mind what Arria said,” interrupted Ruso, knowing full well who must have instructed the cook to cram Tilla with food. “You’re welcome to join the family for dinner.”
    “I will come if you want, but I am tired, and hot, and full up.” There was a rare note of anxiety in her voice.
    To his shame, he felt relieved. As far as he knew, Tilla had never attended a proper dinner before. In Britannia she was officially his house keeper. It had never occurred to him to invite her on the rare occasions when he dined with other officers. He had never discussed it with her, but he was certain she would not have wanted to go. That was just as well, because he would no more have been expected to bring her than he would be expected to bring the family dog.
    When he returned to the dining room he admitted none of this to Ar-ria, to whom he explained that there had