Read Online The Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adam - Free Book Online

of rejection yet unable to rationalise it like his brother and sister.
    â€˜Are they going to come back?’
    He looked up at me and I saw that he was crying.
    â€˜Oh, Pietro.’
    I put down the knife I was using to chop vegetables and sat him on my lap. With my finger I wiped away the tears on his cheeks.
    â€˜Of course they’re going to come back,’ I said.
    â€˜Are you sure?’
    â€˜Yes, I’m sure. Shall I tell you something, something your old grandpa has learned over the years? There are very few simple truths in life, but there is one that’s universal, that’s true for everyone. And that is that your mother and father love you more than anything in the world. You and Carla and Paolo. And they will continue to love you. Even when you’re grown up and you’ve left home and are making your own way in the world they will still love you. Believe me, I know.’
    Pietro sniffed and looked up at me. ‘So they’ve not left us?’
    â€˜No, you silly old thing. Tomorrow afternoon they will be back for you. You can wait until then, can’t you?’
    â€˜I’ll try.’
    â€˜Good boy. Now why don’t you come and help me light the fire?’
    We made a big blaze at the far end of my vegetable patch and waited until the flames had died down and the logs were glowing red before we put the kebabs on to roast. There were thick chunks of lamb and red peppers and onions on the skewers. We ate them with bread and potatoes and crisp green beans followed by ripe peaches. Then we sat around the embers as night fell and I told them creepy ghost stories, Pietro pressing up close to me, shivering and asking for more.
    I regretted it later, though, for when I finally put them to bed they were too terrified to sleep. I sat beside Pietro, stroking his head and murmuring soothingly until at last he dropped off. I stayed there for a while afterwards, remembering when Francesca and her two brothers had been little and I would sit watching over them sometimes while they slept. It seemed such a very short time ago.
    *   *   *
    I was dozing in my chair under the shade of my cherry tree when Francesca and her husband returned.
    â€˜Papa,’ Francesca said, shaking me gently.
    â€˜Ah, you’re back,’ I said sleepily, rubbing my eyes and stretching.
    Francesca was looking around the garden. ‘Where are the children? Are they inside?’
    â€˜They’re somewhere,’ I said vaguely.
    â€˜You mean you don’t know?’
    â€˜They’re off exploring in the fields.’
    Francesca stared at me. ‘You let them go off on their own?’
    â€˜I told them not to go far.’
    â€˜Papa, how could you be so irresponsible? They could have been abducted.’
    â€˜No one would abduct those three, they wouldn’t dare.’
    â€˜It’s not funny. There are all sorts of perverts and weird people out there. Anything could have happened.’
    She marched off down the garden, her husband in tow, and disappeared into the fields at the bottom. Twenty minutes later they reappeared herding three sheepish children. The kids were dishevelled, dirt smeared all over their clothes and faces. All three of them were carrying sticks. Even I had to admit they looked pretty scruffy.
    â€˜Go inside and clean yourselves up,’ Francesca ordered as they drew level with me.
    â€˜Aw, do we have to?’ Paolo said.
    â€˜Now.’
    â€˜We saw a rabbit,’ Carla said to me proudly. ‘Eating grass. It was this big.’ She held out her hands to demonstrate.
    â€˜Can we go swimming again, Grandpa, before we go home?’ Pietro asked.
    I looked away, sensing Francesca’s steely gaze coming to bear on me. She waited until the children were inside the house before she opened fire.
    â€˜Swimming? How did you take them swimming? I didn’t leave their costumes.’
    â€˜They went skinny dipping,’ I