TWENTY-NINE
The four women ate in heavy, apprehensive silence, broken now and again by the clink of a fork on a plate or the clunk of a glass on the table. Sophia placed her utensil by her salver; in the last ten minutes, she had taken not a single bite, merely shuffled the thin rolls of sautéed, sauce-covered beef from one side of her dish to the other. Her grandmother made no pretense of eating, while her sisters toyed with their food, much as she did.
The creaking tread upon the stairs made them all sit up, intent and watchful, hopeful as their mother descended from the upper floor.
Viviana shuffled toward them and sat, dropping her exhaustion-laden body into the chair and slumping over, her tired eyes seeking out her mother-in-law.
“Would you sit with him for a while, Marcella? I m
