Page 57 (1/2)

At five thirty they returned to the reed to follow him home

His cottage was less than a nora Cipriani, portly like her husband and with flashing brown eyes, greeted them with sed some rapid-fire Italian with Umberto, who ushered them onto the porch and toward a cluster of chairs A curtain of white cle a cozy alcove

“You’ll excuse us for a moment,” Umberto said “My wife needs me in the kitchen for a moment”

Sam and Remi sat down and a few minutes later Umberto and his wife, wholasses “You enjoy limoncello, I hope”

“We do,” Sam said

Liared lemonade cut by a healthy dose of vodka “Cento anni di salute e felicità,” Ulass After they’d all sipped, he asked, “You know the toast—Cento anni di salute e felicità?”

Reht for a moment and said, “A hundred years of health and happiness?”

“Bravo! Drink up We will eat shortly”

After supper they returned to the porch and sat in the dusk watching fireflies winking in the trees and sipping espresso Inside they could hear dishes clinking as Teresa cleaned up She’d ada them outside with flaps of her apron

“Umberto, how l

ong have you lived here?” Sam asked

“Allbackthree hundred years? Yes, that’s right When Mussolini came to power my father and my uncles joined the partisans and lived in these hills for years When the British finally landed here in 1944—”

“Operation Brassard,” Sam said

“Yes, that’s right Very good When the British caside the Royal Navy Commandos He even received a decoration for it I was still in my mother’s belly when the war ended”

“He survived the war?” Remi asked