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‘What a selfish young lady you are turning into,’ Reverend Mother said. ‘Quite the rebel too, I hear.’
Sister Angelique happily broke her silence then. ‘Alicia has been seen holding hands with that ruffian—’
‘I’m aware, thank you,’ Reverend Mother cut in, glancing down at Alicia’s emerging figure and then back to her eyes. ‘Sister Angelique will take you to the donation cupboard and find you something suitable to wear underneath your school dress. Then it will be time for evening prayers—use them wisely. I do believe you care for Beatrice, and I trust you will do the right thing.’ As Alicia turned to go, Reverend Mother added one more thing. ‘And, Alicia, choose the company you keep more carefully.’
Her heart felt shorn by the news that she was losing Beatrice, but Alicia’s fire remained. ‘I do choose carefully, Reverend Mother. I only have two friends...’
‘You have many more.’
‘There are people I play with and speak to and like, but true friends are something precious.’
‘You are maybe a little young for this lesson, Alicia, but I feel it necessary to tell you now—there are certain young men a young lady would be well advised to stay away from.’
‘But I thought we were supposed to be kind to the homeless and the hungry?’
Alicia frowned as if she had misunderstood something and watched as Reverend Mother swallowed.
‘Most nights Dante Schininà is both.’
The donation cupboard smelt musty and of mothballs. Alicia’s eyes drifted to a beautiful sequined dress, but then sagged in disappointment as Sister Angelique handed her a bra, already long faded from pink to grey.
It was a very long walk back from the convent to the school chapel, where she sat for evening prayers, feeling just a little relieved that Beatrice wasn’t there so that she could properly think.
After prayers she made her way to the small residence for boarders, where she and Beatrice shared a simple bedroom. Outside the room she stopped at the wooden door and wished mirrors were allowed, just so she could check her face. She didn’t want Beatrice to know she’d been crying, as Alicia really was not one to cry.
She was confused, though—deeply so. After being punished for all the little fibs she had told, now Reverend Mother wastellingher to lie. And it would be the biggest lie she’d ever told, for she did not want Beatrice to leave.
Beatrice jumped up from her bed as Alicia walked in. ‘I’m not going,’ she stated immediately. ‘I’ve told them I’ll only take it if you can come too...’
‘They’re not going to give me a scholarship to a posh school in Milan.’ Alicia laughed at the very notion. ‘I can’t write or do sums, but you’re so clever, Beatrice. I think you should go.’
‘You’re just saying that.’ Beatrice shook her head wildly. ‘You’ve been crying.’
‘Yes.’
‘You never cry.’
‘I was told off about Ragno,’ Alicia said. ‘You were right; we were seen holding hands. I am to choose my company more wisely.’
‘We swore we’d never be separated, though—that we’re as good as twins...’
‘But we’re not twins,’ Alicia said. ‘We’re not even sisters.’
‘We’re sisters of the heart.’
‘Yes,’ Alicia agreed, ‘and that means you had better study hard, so that when I’m old enough I can come to Milan and see what you’ve made of yourself.’ She pushed out a smile and squeezed Beatrice’s hands. ‘Then we can be together again...’
CHAPTER ONE
Milan
ALICIAWOKEBEFOREher alarm, as she often did. And she lay there, as she often did.
But today was not a usual day.
It was not the dark of night she hated but the silence.
The absence.
