The Crooked Path

by Irma Joubert

  “We are fit,” Pérsomi said. “And those who can’t keep up can wait on the path, and we’ll meet up with them on the way down.”

  Boelie groaned softly. “Next time I want to get married, please remind me not to pick a young wife.”

  “Oh, Boelie, you poor man,” Klara teased him.

  “That level piece of ground over on the side where the sun goes down is where we used to play soccer,” Antonio said, pointing. “And down there was the doctor’s house. His son, Pietro, lives there now. He’s quite a renowned writer in Italy.”

  “He’s the one who found Marco in a hospital in Rome and brought him home,” Lettie remembered. “I’d like to meet him.”

  “You will. You’ll meet everyone in the village,” Antonio said. “No one is persona non grata around here.”

  “That house on the other side of the square was where Antonio’s family used to live. A young teacher and his wife rent it from Lorenzo at present,” Klara said.

  “On that small patio in front of our home, the men gathered on Saturdays to play chess and talk about politics,” Antonio said. “My father and Don Veneto and Father Enrico and the doctor, later also Mr. Rozenfeld. They drank the wine Father Enrico made, and my mother cooked for them: pasta con ragù, cannelloni, ravioli, minestrone soup, sometimes polenta, simmering slowly in a cast-iron saucepan.”

  “For goodness’ sake, you’re making me hungry,” Boelie said.

  Antonio laughed out loud. “Boelie, I’m never traveling without you again,” he said. “Let’s go see if the maidservants cook as well as Gina said.”

  At dusk Lettie and De Wet headed up the path. They crossed the Ponte Bartolini and walked past the level ground where Antonio used to play soccer with his friends, past the centuries-old bell tower to the remnants of the stone walls that were once a castle.

  They stopped there to look up at the walls towering over them, at the steep cliffs higher up the mountain. “I hope we don’t have to climb those cliffs tomorrow,” Lettie said somewhat anxiously.

  “I’m sure there’ll be a path,” said De Wet. “See the path the water has carved through the rocks over the centuries?”

  “This is a truly beautiful part of the world,” Lettie said, sitting down on the warm rocks.

  De Wet stood admiring the view before he sat down beside her. “I was serious last night when I asked if you knew that I meant the words I was singing,” he said.

  She felt her inner being grow quiet. The time had come.

  “I’m not stupid, De Wet,” she said.

  “I’ve never thought that, Lettie. Naive, maybe, at times, but without a doubt one of the smartest women I know.”

  She was quiet for a long time. He was waiting for an answer, but she didn’t really know what the question was. “There are many things I’m unsure about,” she said after a while.

  “Then we should talk. There are things I want to know as well.”

  “I don’t know where to begin,” she said.

  “At the beginning,” he suggested.

  She gave it a moment’s thought. “De Wet, how do we know this thing between us won’t blow over when we get home? We’re here, in the most romantic setting in the world, we’re on vacation, we’re with people we love. But reality is back home, not here. Who’s to say . . .” She stopped, uncertain how to go on.

  “This is no holiday romance for me, if that’s what you mean,” De Wet said.

  “I know. I just wanted to be sure.”

  “Is it because this is Marco’s home?” he asked kindly.

  “No. No, strangely enough, it’s not. We never had this village in common. This is where he loved Rachel, and I . . .” She didn’t know how to complete her own thought.

  She sat quietly, waiting for him to continue.

  “I’ve given it a lot of thought, Lettie. I’d like to spend the rest of my life with you.” He smiled somewhat sadly. “You know, when young people get married, they believe they’ll grow old together. It didn’t work out for you and Marco or Christine and me.” He regarded her fondly. “But I hope the two of us will grow old together. I love you, Lettie.”

  She pressed her hands to her warm face. “It’s the first time you’ve said it,” she said softly.

  “Is it?” he asked, almost surprised. “But I . . . yes, well . . .”

  She laughed softly. “I love you too, De Wet.”

  “It makes me very happy to hear you say it,” he said, feigning relief. “It makes the road ahead more even.”

  They sat in silence for a while, the moment almost too big for them.

  “Your turn,” she said. “What are you unsure about?”

  There was a long pause. “Actually, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you,” he said.

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve been playing with the idea for a while, but it depends on what you think, of course . . .” He hesitated, then started over. “Boelie and Nelius want to buy my farm. They’ve been farming it for years, after all. Gerbrand will never farm—flying is all he’s ever wanted to do, and my sons-in-law have no interest in it either. I’m considering selling to Boelie, giving the kids their share, and having a smaller, more modern house built in town—in that new neighborhood where Antonio and Klara live.”

  He fell silent.

  “Yes?” she asked. She began to add up the implications. A brand-new, modern home . . .

  “That’s all. How would you feel about it?”

  She would probably have to sell her home, but it also meant she wouldn’t have to . . .

  “In the end it’s your decision,” she said hesitantly. “And your children’s.”

  “You threw three coins into the Trevi fountain, remember?”

  She gave him a puzzled look. “Yes?”

  “One coin means you’ll return to Rome one day. I believe you will. Two coins mean you’ll find love in Rome.” He began to smile. “I believe you have. Do you agree?”

  She smiled too. “And the third coin?”

  He shrugged. “Three coins can mean either divorce or marriage,” he said, his green eyes twinkling.

  “Well, divorce certainly isn’t an option,” she said.

  “But marriage is.” He looked directly at her, his gaze suddenly very serious. “That’s why I want you to make this decision with me. Lettie, will you marry me?”

  Suddenly she didn’t have to think anymore. The answer was clear. “Yes, De Wet, I’d like that very much.”

  His face broke open in a smile. “Then I’m going to kiss you now,” he warned her, his eyes dancing with mischief.

  “I thought you never would. I—”

  But he didn’t allow her to finish the sentence.

  “Shall we tell the others?” he asked, much, much later.

  “No, let’s keep it a secret for now,” she said.

  He laughed softly. “If we go back now, they’ll know at once. Your eyes are sparkling like a young girl’s, Lettie.”

  She laughed, embarrassed. “We should speak to our children first,” she said.

  “You’re right,” he said. He laughed again, looked deep into her eyes, and began to croon: “If I should live forever, and all my dreams come true, my memories of love will be of you . . .”

  “That’s my favorite song at the moment!” she said, amazed. “How did you know?”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “I guessed. I’ve known you for years, remember?” he said, getting to his feet. “Come, we have to get back, it’s almost completely dark.”

  Hand in hand they walked down the narrow path that wound its way back to the villa.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thanks to everyone who comes to me with a story—all my historical novels are based on true stories people have told me.

  Thanks to NB Publishers, and specifically Etienne Bloemhof and Eben Pienaar, for their help in publishing all three of the books in the trilogy.*

  Thanks to Jan-Jan, who virtually has a research library in his apartment. I on
ly have to ask, “Jan-Jan, please lend your mother a book on the persecution of the Jews in Italy during the Second World War,” and he will produce a variety to choose from.

  Thanks to my cousin Leonie Nel, who contracted a severe degree of infantile paralysis at the age of three. The pain suffered by the character Leonora, the giving up of her dreams, and the ultimate acceptance of her new body with its limitations were based on what Leonie experienced in her own life. Thanks as well to various other polio victims for snippets from their own lives that I could weave into my story.

  Thanks to Dr. John Pauw, who practiced in the 1950s and could supply me with background information. And especially to my mother, Alida Moerdyk, who worked as a nursing sister and can describe to me the exact treatment and medicines for any disease, such as pneumonia. What a blessing that, at the age of eighty-eight, she still has the same quick mind she had as a young working woman in the 1940s and ’50s!

  Thanks to my pharmacist daughter, Madeleine, for her proofreading, very useful feedback, and especially help with medical terms and concepts.

  As always, a very special thanks to my good friend and excolleague Elize Gerber, not only for proofreading the manuscript, but also for being my soundboard and writing partner.

  Thanks to good friends who understand, even during vacations: Suzette and Christo, Fanie and Wourine.

  Thanks to my husband, Jan, for his help with classical music and especially for continuing to love his writing wife.

  If I have a gift, it is a pure blessing—the greatest thanks go to my heavenly Father.

  —Irma Joubert

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Battaglia, Roberto. The Story of the Italian Resistance. London: Odhams, 1957.

  Delzell, Charles F. Mussolini’s Enemies: The Italian Anti-Fascist Resistance. Princeton, NJ: University Press, 1961.

  Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Publishers, 1985.

  Hall, Walter, and William Davis. The Course of Europe Since Waterloo. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1951.

  www.health24.com: “Polio”

  www.cloudnet.com: “The History of Polio”

  www.bmj.com: “A Calculated Risk: The Salk Polio Vaccine Field Trials of 1954”

  www.politicsforum.org: “Mussolini’s Italian Concentration Camp for Slovene, Communist, and Jewish Prisoners,” by James Mayfield (Chairperson, European Heritage Library)

  www.holocaustresearchproject.org: “The Destruction of the Jews of Italy”

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1.Which character did you most relate to and why?

  2.How do you see Lettie acting as her own person throughout the novel?

  3.Lettie struggles with body image for a significant portion of her life. How do you see her resolving that and moving forward?

  4.Lettie is a strong female character. She forges her own path in medicine, keeps her name professionally, and is eventually a single mother. How do people react to this strength of character throughout the novel?

  5.Lettie suffers some intense personal disappointment. How do you see her finding the strength to persevere through these situations?

  6.How did Lettie and Marco’s personal experiences before they met one another allow their relationship to flourish and deepen in the way that it does throughout the novel? How different would their relationship have looked had they met before they faced those difficult times?

  7.Have you, like Lettie later in her life, ever found yourself afraid to take risks for happiness because you might disrupt the status quo? What happened in that situation?

  8.There are many ways that love is played out in relationships throughout the story. Young love, soul-mate love, convenient love, a marriage without love, and more. Some of these loves are faithful; some are difficult. Whose love story resonated the most with you? With whom did you identify most strongly? What parts of the marriages in the book stood out to you and why?

  9.In a world of vaccinations that are readily available, it can seem odd to think that this was not always the case. Did you learn anything about polio and the vaccination for that disease that you hadn’t known before?

  10.How have you seen love and life worth experiencing in your own life? What are the crooked paths on which you have found yourself?

  11.Pérsomi and Boelie have a story told in more detail in Child of the River. Have you read this book? What did it add to your experience of this story?

  12.The political backdrop of South Africa at the time of the novel is one in which the apartheid legislation was being formed. How does this affect the lives on the characters?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  International bestselling author Irma Joubert was a history teacher for thirty-five years before she began writing. Her stories are known for their deep insight into personal relationships and rich historical detail. She’s the author of eight novels and a regular fixture on bestseller lists in the Netherlands and in her native South Africa. She is the winner of the 2010 ATKV Prize for Romance Novels.

  Facebook: irmajoubertpage

  * Published in the United States as The Girl from the

  Train, Child of the River, and The Crooked Path.