A Knowing Smile

I am very fond of Jessica and I am always been concerned about her welfare.

Up to recently as well as being my niece she had been my ward but the guardianship ended when she reached eighteen.

She has since grown from a rebellious teenager into a well-balanced person.
Vivacious and with a face so beautiful that, had she lived in the 16th century, it would have been Botticelly's first choice for the portrait of Venus rising from the sea. 

Framed by a mass of curly red hair, her face has smooth skin, a pert nose and sparkles with a pair of twinkling eyes but its main feature is her expressive smile, sometimes radiant, sometimes enigmatic like the Mona Lisa's.

Today, though, is neither one nor the other; it is undefinable. Not quite sardonic, more of a knowing smile – un certain sourire –  that seems to suggest that she's privy to a secret that she won't yet divulge.

“I have been re-reading mamma's diary”, she says.

My heart sinks. I am dreading what Francesca might have written in her journal and how frank she has been in her recollections.

I try to look unperturbed and nonchalant and ask:

“Have you found anything interesting?”

She is an aspiring writer and finds inspiration from any source, hoping that one day she'll write the ultimate great British novel. For the time being, her expectations are more modest and experiments in various genres.

“I  have been scouring that part of her diary that contains accounts of the time when she was a war correspondent in Baghdad and from her notes, I gather that her reports were sent to the Foreign Office which reinforces my belief that she was also a spy.”

I tell her not to let her imagination run wild but she frowns and says that she will not rest until she can build a complete picture of her mother”

“...warts and all.”, she adds.

This does not bode well and could open a can of worms. I knew that while trying to establish a connection between her mother and M5 she had discovered some letters in the attic revealing a dalliance with Ferenc, a Hungarian officer prior to her marriage to my brother Justin and believe that that is what she means.

What I hope is that her mother hasn't elaborated about the aftermath of her husband's disappearance when she came to give me the distressing news. 
That night, she and I found solace in each other arms.

To this day I am still in the dark as to whether I am Jessica's biological father.
After that one-night stand, there was no further intimacy though we remained friends and Francesca never accepted the possibility of my paternity.

I wonder if Jessica's teasing smile means that she stumbled on the truth.
© Luigi Pagano 2022