Page 233 of The Missing Sister

I then called Katie.

‘Hi, it’s Merry. Is everything all right?’

‘Yes, grand altogether, thank you. I just wanted to let you know that I spoke to Nora, and she said she couldn’t remember the name of the family that she worked for up at the Big House, but she’d have a think. Then she called me back to say she’d remembered it. I was right, ’tis a foreign sounding name, but not the one you gave me. I’d better spell it out for you. Got a pen and a pad?’

‘Yup. Fire away,’ I said, pencil at the ready.

‘Right, she thinks she’s got the correct spelling, so it’s E. S. Z. U.’

I read the letters back to myself.

‘Eszu,’ I said. ‘Thanks a million, Katie, and we’ll speak tomorrow.’

‘Have you heard anything back from Jack about who owned Argideen House, Ally?’ asked CeCe, walking into the kitchen, where Chrissie was preparing a supper of steak, with all the Aussie-style trimmings.

‘No. I asked him to let me know if Merry’s sister remembered what it was. Obviously she hasn’t,’ Ally sighed.

‘Did he say if his mum’s still refusing to come on the cruise?’ said Maia, who was sitting in front of a laptop, checking her emails.

‘She wants to stay longer in Ireland, apparently. Well, I think we all have to accept we’ve done our best to find the missing sister. If the ring’s the proof, plus the fact Merry was adopted, along with the address of where she was found being so close to the priest’s house, we’ve found her. But if she won’t come on the cruise, we can’t make her.’

‘No, but it’s such a shame, because everything fits,’ Maia said.

‘Apart from her age,’ Ally countered. ‘We all presumed we were looking for a much younger woman. At least we’ll have her children with us, which will just have to be good enough.’

‘Right,’ Maia said, jotting down some notes on a pad beside the laptop. ‘Tiggy and Charlie’s flight lands in Geneva at eleven thirty on Wednesday, Electra’s confirmed that she’s going to fly straight to Nice, and so will Star, Mouse and Rory. Then there’s Jack and Mary-Kate, who are yet to confirm when they’ll arrive.’

‘So how many bedrooms do we need for tomorrow?’ said Ma, who was ferrying glasses and cutlery out onto the terrace.

‘Just one for Tiggy and Charlie,’ Maia said, standing up. ‘Please relax, Ma. You have to remember we’re all here to help you.’

‘We sure are,’ Chrissie said as she turned round from her station at the range and smiled at Ma. ‘Although how anyone can cook anything on this ancient gadget, I have no idea. Good job we decided to have a barbie and cook the steaks on that, isn’t it, Cee?’

‘Ma, why don’t you sit down and we’ll get you a glass of wine?’ Ally steered her towards the table and pushed her gently into a chair. ‘Let us look after you for a change.’

‘No, Ally, that is not what I am paid to do, and I cannot bear it,’ Ma protested.

‘You were never paid to love us, but you did for free, and now we’re loving you back,’ CeCe said as she plonked a glass of wine in front of Ma. ‘Now drink it,’ she ordered, ‘and stop flapping, okay?’

‘As I said to Star when I visited her in London last year, without Claudia by my side, I fall apart; she is truly the engine of Atlantis.’

‘Well, maybe we never appreciated her enough,’ Maia said, then smiled as she saw Floriano and Valentina walk in through the doors from the terrace. They had both been taking a short nap in the Pavilion, having only arrived from Rio de Janeiro via Lisbon that afternoon.

Ally studied Floriano as he held tight to his daughter’s hand. He had tanned skin, dark hair and expressive brown eyes, his teeth flashing a smile on his handsome face. Valentina looked up at all the adults, her huge brown eyes wide, shyly twisting a strand of her shiny long hair around a dainty finger.

Ma stood up immediately. ‘Hello, Valentina,’ she said, walking over to the little girl. ‘Are you feeling better after your sleep?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ the little girl answered in thickly accented English. Maia had said that, being bilingual himself, Floriano had taught her English from the cradle.

‘Would you like a drink? Coke, maybe?’ Ma continued, looking up at Floriano for guidance.

‘Of course she may have a Coke,’ agreed Floriano.

‘I amverrryhungry, Papai,’ she said, looking up at her father.

‘Supper won’t be ready for perhaps thirty minutes, so why don’t you come with me and we’ll see if we can find a snack for you, to keep you going until then?’ Ma offered her hand to Valentina, who took it willingly. The two of them walked in the direction of the pantry.

‘Straight back into mummy mode,’ Ally smiled as she rolled her eyes.