22 Britannia Road - Amanda Hodgkinson [118]
‘Ready yet? Can I see?’
‘Yes.’
Tony smiles, opening his arms wide.
‘Bella! Look at yourself. You’re beautiful.’
The woman looking back at her in the mirror wears the dress confidently. She puts a hand on her hip, twists her body so that its curves show, lifts her ribcage, turns to see her back, the round swell of her buttocks. The woman in the mirror is beautiful. Film-star beautiful.
Silvana looks into Tony’s eyes. They are glassy with emotion.
‘Tony? Are you all right?’
‘I’m tired,’ he says. ‘My eyes water when I’m tired.’
He picks through the clothes, suggests she try on a floral linen day dress.
‘All right,’ she says, though she prefers the look of the pale-green silk dress that hangs beside it. He strokes her arm, his fingers tracing her shoulder, running along the dip of her collarbone.
‘You know I love you,’ he whispers.
Silvana nods. She takes the day dress and holds it up to her.
‘Perfect,’ he says, and kisses her cheek so gently, so lightly, she finds herself closing her eyes and leaning into him, lifting her lips to his.
Poland
Silvana
Silvana started to understand the way the forest worked. It was like a compass. Spider’s webs faced south. The tops of the pine trees bent to the east. Squirrels nested in tree holes that faced west. Woodpeckers’ nests had their openings to the north. The forest was a map if you could learn how to read it. She and the boy were part of it all.
One morning, early, when they had put their clothes on and were trekking across the forest looking for a new place to camp, they stumbled out of the woods onto a road. Aurek sniffed the air and backed away. It was a long straight road, disappearing into the horizon like an upside-down V. In the other direction the road disappeared at a dip where the trees rose up over it.
Silvana felt the hard surface of the road beneath her boots. She buttoned her coat and kicked at stones and Aurek joined her, picking up a handful of gravel and throwing it into the air. She heard a dusty grumble, getting louder. Standing with Aurek in the middle of the road, backs to the sun, they waited for the noise to arrive.
A line of green army trucks and tanks came into view, rising up over the dip in the road. On the first truck a flag was flying. Silvana recognized it. It was British.
‘Aurek, look,’ she said, trying to fix her headscarf and pull the boy up straight beside her. ‘Look.’
Janusz
Janusz took the train to Stirling and met Ruby in a pub in the village. She looked tired and her skin was pale, but she was cheerful.
‘Well, it’s good to see you.’
She squeezed his arm. ‘How are things in England? Can’t be as bloody awful as they are up here.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Janusz. ‘It’s been raining so long I think we may need to build an ark. What can I get you to drink?’
‘I’ll have a shandy, thanks.’
Janusz put their drinks down on the table and watched her pick up her glass. He might as well say it now. What point was there in waiting?
Ruby sipped her drink and put it down carefully. ‘Did you come here to tell me something? Is something wrong? Did Bruno send you?’
Janusz took a deep breath and started to talk. It was easier than he thought it would be. Ruby didn’t interrupt. She nodded her head, listening. Tears ran down her face, making two pink streaks of clean skin through her make-up.
‘Are you staying around here?’
‘No,’ said Janusz. ‘I’m going back tonight.’
He leaned across the table and kissed her on the cheek.
‘Don’t,’ she said, pulling away. ‘Don’t. I’m all right. But what about you, Jan? What are you going to do now?’
He looked at Ruby’s tired face and said nothing.
‘You were married, weren’t you?’ she said. ‘Bruno told me you’ve got a little lad.’
‘Did he?’
‘He thought the world of you. Why don’t you try to find your wife and son? Put your family back together.’
‘I don