her for a few moments. ‘Your mother would argue that your place is with her.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry about that. But I can’t stay here, please take me with you.’
‘I will, don’t worry. I thought you’d want to come back – and I’m very pleased, if I’m honest. We’re going to need you, as the Pd’A is expanding its role. We need to be more than just a political party. We are organising ourselves into a proper fighting force.’
‘Good,’ she said. ‘I’ve long thought we need to do more than argue our point intellectually.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with making sure people know the truth – in fact it’s vital if we are to bring the general population with us. But we must do more than publish a paper. The time has come to fight back.’ Giacomo looked into her eyes. ‘Listen Livia, I’ve been authorised by my colleagues to recruit you, along with other young people, to work as a staffetta.’
‘They only carry messages, don’t they?’ Livia sounded disappointed.
‘They do carry messages, yes, but also guns and arms, and spare parts for printing presses, and they distribute the party newspaper of course. More importantly, I’ve arranged for you to take on a special job.’
‘What sort of job?’
‘To monitor coded messages on the radio.’
‘Whose messages?’ Livia asked, wide-eyed.
‘The British Secret Service. They want to communicate information to the partisans about things like arms drops and sabotage attacks. The instructions will come in the form of random meaningless sentences; these are codes which only a few key people will understand and then act upon. But the sentences need to be transcribed exactly. I know you’d do it well.’
Livia felt thrilled to be asked to do something so important. ‘Of course, Papa,’ she assured him.
‘Before the coded message, they will play the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Do you remember the tune?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ She hummed a few notes. ‘Da da da, daaaa. Is that it?’
‘Yes. It’s an idea of Churchill’s, the British Prime Minister, I’m told. Those notes represent the Morse code for the letter “V”. Dot, dot, dot, dash.’
Livia looked confused.
‘V for Victory.’
She smiled. ‘That’s quite clever. When do I start?’
‘As soon as we’re back in Florence.’
Livia left Giacomo’s study suddenly full of energy. The days of living quietly in the country were over. She was going back to the city, with all the associated dangers and intrigue. It was everything she had hoped for.
Luisa, predictably, was against the whole idea of her husband and daughter returning to the city. She berated him that evening. ‘You must be mad, Giacomo. I can’t believe you’re going back – and taking Livia too. Apart from the risks to her safety, I need her here to help me with Alberto. I can’t manage him by myself.’
‘I know that,’ replied Giacomo. ‘But I’ve found you a nurse.’
‘A nurse? I don’t want a stranger here,’ she protested.
‘So you would rather cope by yourself?’
‘No, but…’ She leant back in her chair, sensing she would not win this particular argument.
‘Good,’ he said firmly. ‘I’m glad that’s settled.’
Livia and Giacomo arrived back in Florence the next afternoon. As they drove into the centre of the city, they had to stop the car to allow columns of German troops to march past. As their boots hit the cobbles, Livia felt an almost visceral hatred for them.
‘Stare straight ahead,’ her father advised her. ‘Don’t catch their eye.’
‘I can’t bear it,’ she murmured.
‘I know,’ he said, patting her knee affectionately. Livia squeezed her father’s hand until the soldiers had finally disappeared, strutting round the corner towards the Duomo. ‘Let’s get moving,’ he said. ‘The curfew begins soon.’
Back at the apartment building, Livia opened the family postbox and was thrilled to find a letter from Cosimo.
My darling Livia,
Hopefully you will get this when you return from the country. I hear from Elena you had a wonderful time together. You’ll be glad to hear I have not been idle over the summer. There have been improvements in my condition, which I am keen to share with you. The one advantage of my injuries is that I have been officially discharged from the army and I can return to university to complete my studies. Shall we meet on the first day of term – in the main entrance hall?
I can’t wait to see you.
With all my love,
Cosimo.
Livia kissed the letter and slipped it into her pocket. She unpacked her clothes and began to cook the food they had brought with them for supper.