‘We can’t afford to keep this up.’ It was the first time he had admitted that they might not be able to win back their losses. ‘We’d better stop. It has gone beyond what we can handle.’

She shook her head slowly. She felt adrift, not knowing what it was she needed. She accepted that they couldn’t carry on like this, but while she was sitting at the roulette table, the thrill of it coursing through her veins, she was happy. Gambling was her place to forget.

‘What are you thinking?’ asked Paulo.

She shivered.

‘You’re cold.’ He put a hand on her stomach. ‘When you get pregnant, everything will be better, you’ll see. We won’t even feel like going to the casino.’

She clenched her jaw so hard it hurt. The shame of her barrenness was choking her. Paulo’s hand moved lower, rubbing in slow circles. ‘Let’s work on it.’ His voice was thickening. ‘Before I go back to camp.’

She flicked his hand away. ‘Stop treating me as if I’m a breeding mare.’

He gave her a sharp look and suddenly everything about her was out of control. Her head was pounding and her limbs felt wobbly.

‘Haven’t you realized by now that I can’t have a child?’ she cried. She didn’t know where the words had come from, but finally, there was truth between them.

‘What do you mean?’ Paulo’s face was white.

‘My womb is damaged. I can’t get pregnant.’ Her anger was gone, there was only heaviness in her limbs.

He was staring at her with tormented eyes. ‘Did you know this when we got married?’

She nodded wretchedly. ‘I am sorry, Paulo.’

Something in his face changed. A screen went up, barely there, yet impenetrable. She stretched out to touch his cheek, but he shrank away. He got out of bed, pulled on a shirt and a pair of trousers and left the room. Moments later, she heard the front door slam shut and was struck by the magnitude of what she had just done. A relationship could be destroyed in seconds. There was a dull ache in her chest. She sank back on the pillows and closed her eyes. More than anything, she wanted to take the words back.

Paulo avoided Ginie as much as possible. The war made it easy – he didn’t come home on leave. On the rare occasions she saw him, she almost felt sorry for him. He looked desperately unhappy, his face pale and set, the rims of his eyelids reddened. They spoke only when necessary. They were both in an impossible position, for separations were rare and divorce wasn’t allowed under Italian law.