Page 93 of The Missing Sister

‘I know very little, Ally, I promise. Your father was a private man and he never shared any of his secrets with me.’

‘But there were secrets, weren’t there?’

‘Yes,chérie, I think there were. Goodnight.’

Walking along the corridor, Ally paused in front of Pa’s bedroom. She put out a tentative hand to open the door, then decided against it. She needed to sleep tonight, not have the ghosts of the past haunt her.

Inside the very comfortable guest room, she undressed quickly and slipped into bed.

‘Who were you, Pa? Who were you?’ she murmured before she fell asleep.

‘I’m going to go to Provence,’ Ally said to Ma early the following morning as she entered Ma’s suite. As if on cue, Bear began screaming. She headed to the cot, scooped the squalling baby out of it, then sat down in the chair and began to feed him. A beautiful silence descended. Ma sat down on the sofa opposite her, managing to look elegant in her peacock-blue silk robe, even this early in the morning.

‘I think that is a very good idea, Ally.’

‘It’s only six now,’ Ally said, looking out of the window at the sun already peeping over the mountains. ‘If I leave in an hour or so, I can be in Provence by this afternoon.’

‘Ally, would you not like Christian to drive you there? Then you can relax and enjoy the scenery.’

‘No. It’s been ages since I took a road trip, and if I’m doing this without Bear, I think it would do me good to have some space and blast out tunes on the way down.’

‘I will take the best care of the little one until your return,’ said Ma.

‘I know you will, Ma. I was thinking last night that at some point, I’ll have to get back to work – but where and what that will be, I’m not sure. So I’ll just have to get used to leaving him in the care of others.’

‘One step at a time, Ally. You have had a most traumatic year. There is plenty of time to decide on your future.’

‘Well, I’m going to have to ask Georg if I can take some money out of the trust Pa set up for all of us. I know I only need to ask,’ Ally said as she moved Bear from one breast to the other, ‘but all us girls find him intimidating.’

‘I can assure you that Georg is one of the kindest men I have ever met. I do know that once you are all gathered on theTitan, he wishes to talk to you about how the trust should be managed from here on in. As he puts it, he is only the temporary gatekeeper until the six of you are ready to manage it yourselves. Now, if you are comfortable, I will go and get dressed. Shall I call Christian and tell him to bring the boat round in an hour?’

‘Yes please. And also say that I’m going to drive the old open-top Mercedes.’

‘Of course, Ally. I will see you downstairs with Bear.’

‘So the expressed milk is in the fridge and just keep an eye on his temperature – it was raised a little a couple of days ago and—’

‘Ally, please trust me to take care of your precious little one and we will see you when you’re back,’ said Ma. She kissed Ally’s cheek and stepped back onto the grass from the jetty where the speedboat was moored.

‘Bye bye, Ally.’ Maia hugged her. ‘Keep in touch.’

‘I will.Au revoir!’

She waved to them as Christian pulled the speedboat away from the jetty. Normally, she would have taken the wheel herself, but today, she decided to sit back and enjoy another glorious morning on the lake. The water shimmered under the sun as they began to speed towards Geneva. Christian knew he didn’t have to worry about his passenger’s sea legs, so he went full steam ahead. Ally could see how he felt in his element at the wheel of the boat, his skin tanned a deep brown and his broad shoulders relaxed.

Even though she felt choked at her first ever goodbye to Bear, being on the water comforted her and reminded her of who she had been before Bear had arrived.

This time last year, she’d been training with the crew, and at the full peak of her fitness.

And then she’d fallen in love...

‘I will always remember those few weeks as the best of my life,’ she murmured to the sky, as Christian began to slow the boat and steer it towards the pontoon. Ally jumped off to secure the ropes as Christian carried her holdall and joined her on dry land.

Parked next to the dock was the little sports car, its racing-green paintwork gleaming in the sun and its roof down. Ally watched as Christian took the keys from a young man in an immaculate white T-shirt and shorts. They chatted for a moment, then the young man waved and wandered off towards a bicycle.

‘I asked Julien from the local garage to check the oil and fill up the tank,’ said Christian. ‘It’s getting old now, but Julien says everything looks good, so you should have no problem with it.’

‘It must be vintage by now,’ Ally chuckled as she took the keys from Christian.