Page 166 of The Seven Sisters
For as I stepped onto the pontoon and boarded the launch, I knew that although my life had been shaped by events out of my control, it wasIwho had made the decision to react to them in the way I had.
*
A very familiar but equally unexpected figure greeted me on the pier as Christian pulled the launch into Atlantis.
‘Surprise!’ she said, throwing her arms open to embrace me as I climbed out of the boat.
‘Ally! What are you doing here?’
‘Strangely enough, this is my home too,’ she said with a grin as we walked up to the house together arm in arm.
‘I know, but I wasn’t expecting you.’
‘I had a few days off, so I thought I’d come and check on how Ma was while you were away. I imagine it’s been hard on her too since Pa died.’
Instantly, I felt guilty at my own selfishness. I hadn’t spoken to Ma once during my time in Rio. Or even given her much more than a casual ‘hello’ since I’d arrived yesterday.
‘You look wonderful, Maia! I hear you’ve been busy.’ Ally nudged me affectionately. ‘Ma tells me you had a guest here last night. Who is he?’
‘Just someone I met in Rio.’
‘Well, let’s get ourselves a cool drink and you can tell me all about it.’
We sat at the table on the terrace, enjoying the sunshine. And as my usual initial ambivalence towards my ‘perfect’ sister abated after a few minutes in her easy company, I began to relax and tell her what had happened in Brazil.
‘Wow,’ she said as I paused for breath and took a sip of the home-made lemonade Claudia knew we both loved. ‘What an adventure you’ve been on. And it’s so brave of you to have gone there and discovered your past. I’m not confident that I’d be able to cope with finding out the reasons why I was put up for adoption in the first place, even though I did get lucky with Pa Salt and all my sisters afterwards. Didn’t it hurt when your grandmother told you about your mother?’ she asked me.
‘Yes, of course it did, but I understand. And Ally, there’s something else I want to tell you. That perhaps I should have told you a long time ago . . .’
I told her about my son then, and how I’d made the terrible decision to give him up. Ally looked genuinely shocked and I saw tears appear in her eyes.
‘Maia, how dreadful that you had to go through that all alone. Why on earth didn’t you tell me? I was your sister! I always thought we were close. I would have been there for you, I really would.’
‘I know, Ally, but you were only just sixteen at the time. And besides, I was ashamed.’
‘What a burden you’ve had to carry,’ she breathed. ‘By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, who was the father?’
‘Oh, no one you’d know. He was someone I met at university called Zed.’
‘Zed Eszu?’
‘Yes. You may have heard his name on the news. His father was the tycoon who committed suicide.’
‘And whose boat I saw close to Pa’s that terrible day when I heard he’d died, if you remember.’ Ally shuddered.
‘Of course,’ I acknowledged, having completely forgotten that detail in the maelstrom of the past three weeks. ‘Ironically, it was Zed who inadvertently forced me onto the plane to Rio when I was originally deciding whether to go or not. After fourteen years of silence, he left me a voicemail message out of the blue, saying he had to come to Switzerland and asking if we could meet up.’
Ally looked at me oddly. ‘He wanted to meetyou?’
‘Yes. He said he’d heard about Pa’s death and suggested that perhaps we could cry on each other’s shoulders. If anything was going to send me scurrying away from Switzerland, that was it.’
‘Does Zed know that he was the father of your child?’
‘No. And if he did, I doubt he’d care.’
‘I think you are definitely best rid of him,’ Ally said darkly.
‘You know him then?’
