Page 92 of Good Sisters

‘Very solid,’ Tommaso said. ‘Marco look after his mother.’

‘That’s a good sign,’ Dad acknowledged.

‘Why are you asking all this? What do you wanting?’ Marco was beginning to look alarmed.

‘You want ’usband?’ Lorenzo asked.

‘You want to marry Marco?’ Tommaso exclaimed.

‘She most certainly does not. Louise doesn’t need any man. She’s by far the most independent of all my children,’ Dad informed them.

‘I’m pretty independent too,’ Sophie muttered. I smiled. Sophie had always been competitive – if any of us got any snippet of praise, she was on it, looking for her share. It annoyed her when Mum or Dad praised the rest of us, although I always felt it was because, deep down, she didn’t feel good enough.

‘I need to speak to you,’ Louise said to Marco.

‘You speaking to me now.’

‘It’s a delicate matter.’

‘What is delicate?’ Lorenzo asked.

‘It means … uhm … well … Julie, feel free to help me out,’ Sophie said.

‘In this case,’ I said, ‘delicate means sensitive.’

‘Sensibile?’ Tommaso looked at Marco.

Marco looked at Louise.

‘Yes. I think we should talk in private.’

Marco folded his arms and shook his head. ‘No private. You speak ’ere. I want friends to listen. I not know what you saying or doing.’ Marco was clearly suspicious of Louise’s intentions.

Dad slapped his hand on the table. ‘Hold on a minute, sonny. If my daughter asks you to speak to her in private, you will speak in private.’

‘Why is Dad behaving like some kind of gangster boss?’ Sophie whispered.

I stifled a laugh. ‘He’s watched too muchSopranos.’

Marco folded his arms. ‘My friends is my family. I staying ’ere.’

It looked like Danny DeVito was no pushover.

Dad stood up straighter. Mum called this look his ‘argument face’ – you knew he was about to let you have it with both barrels. ‘It’s okay, Dad.’ Louise stopped him responding. She pulled her briefcase onto her lap. Tommaso and Lorenzo looked alarmed.

Louise pulled out the DNA test results and a DNA kit.

‘This is a DNA test. TestdelDNA.’

‘DNA?’ the three men said in unison.

Marco went white.

Louise went into lawyer mode. ‘If you remember me, you will remember that we had unprotected sex. The result of that is my daughter, Clara. She is nine years old. She will be ten later this year. You are her father.’

‘Che cosa?’ Lorenzo gasped.

‘Una Figlia?’ Tommaso spluttered.

---