Page 111 of The Seven Sisters

The comforting sight of her mother made Bel want to throw herself into her arms and weep on her shoulder.

‘Yes,’ she agreed quietly as Carla led her through to the drawing room. ‘Gustavo’s relatives were most kind to me.’

‘Good, good,’ she said as Gabriela brought them some coffee. ‘And Gustavo? He is well and happy?’

‘Yes, he has gone to his club this afternoon. To be quite honest, I’ve no idea what it is he does there.’

‘Gentlemen’s business,’ Carla replied. ‘Probably checking his stocks and shares. Which, if they are anything like your father’s, are doing very well at present. The coffee trade continues to boom. Only last week your father bought another two farms. Which one day you, and therefore Gustavo, will inherit. So, tell me, how is married life?’

‘I’m . . . adjusting.’

‘“Adjusting”?’ Carla frowned. ‘Izabela, what does that word mean? You’re not happy with your new state?’

‘Mama,’ Bel said, reverting to her childhood word, ‘I . . .’

‘Please, Izabela, continue with what you wish to say.’

‘I . . . need to know if, well, Gustavo will always wish to have . . . activity . . . in the bedroom every night?’

Carla studied her daughter, then chuckled.

‘Now I understand. You have a husband who is hot-blooded and wishes to enjoy his beautiful new wife. Izabela, this is a good thing. It means he loves you and wants you. Surely you must understand that?’

Bel was desperate to ask her about the other things Gustavo did and wished her to do, but she could not voice the words. ‘But Mãe, I am very tired.’

‘You are not getting much sleep, that is to be expected,’ said Carla, either stubbornly refusing to acknowledge her daughter’s tension or being genuinely blind to it. ‘I remember it is how your father and I were in the days after we married. It is natural,querida, and yes, after a time, of course it will calm down. Perhaps when you are pregnant, which from the sounds of things, you soon will be,’ she added with a smile. ‘I have always longed to be a grandmother.’

‘And I a mother.’

‘How is it living in your beautiful new home? Is Senhora Aires Cabral being kind to you?’

‘She has been welcoming,’ said Bel shortly. ‘Although this morning we talked about the household accounts. They live far more frugally than we do.’

‘Surely now, with your father giving Gustavo such a handsome sum, that will change? And in fact, we have something to tell you. But I will wait until your father is here with me before we do,’ said Carla secretively.

‘You are well, Mãe?’ Bel changed the subject, realising that Carla simply did not wish to know or hear about any problems her daughter was experiencing. She also thought Carla still looked far too thin and pale.

‘I am feeling very well indeed,’ her mother replied brightly. ‘Although it’s very strange in the house without you. When you were away in the Old World, I always knew that you were returning home here. I know now that you never will. Still, you are not far away and I hope we will see each other often.’

‘Of course we will.’ Bel was depressed by the odd feeling of distance that seemed to have suddenly emerged between them. It was as though Carla had accepted that her daughter no longer belonged to her, but to Bel’s husband andhisfamily.

‘Ah, here is your father. I told him you were coming to visit and he promised he would return early from the office to see you.’

Antonio arrived, full of his usual bonhomie. Once he’d hugged his daughter, he sat down next to her and took her hands in his.

‘I wanted to wait until you were returned from honeymoon to tell you of our gift to you on the occasion of your marriage. Yesterday, Izabela, I transferred the deeds of Fazenda Santa Tereza to you.’

‘Pai!’ Bel stared at her father in genuine delight. ‘You are telling me thefazendais mine? Just mine alone?’

‘Yes, Izabela. However,’ her father continued, ‘there is a slight complication that you should be aware of.’ Antonio paused and rubbed his chin in contemplation for a moment. ‘You may not know that currently in Brazil a husband normally acquires the legal rights to any property that his wife owns. So, since your mother insisted that thefazendashould be yours alone, I had to be a little . . . creative. I have set up a trust in your name, to be administered by my lawyer, which includes thefazendawithin it and your right to any income that the farm earns. Plus the right to live in it until your death. We must hope that before that happens, our outdated laws will be changed and you will own thefazendaoutright. There is also a clause which allows the trust to be passed on automatically to any children you may have.’

‘I understand. Thank you, both of you,’ Bel whispered, so moved she could barely speak. ‘Nothing you could have done could have made me happier.’ Bel rose to embrace her mother, who she now knew was primarily responsible for this wonderful gift.

‘I felt that your father has been more than generous to your husband’s family,’ Carla said. ‘Even if Gustavo knew about this – which he does not – he could hardly complain that Antonio wishes to be equally generous to his daughter. Especially when he has worked so hard all his life to be able to provide for her.’

Bel saw the hint of disapproval in her mother’s eyes, and realised that there was part of Carla that resented Antonio’s financial benevolence to a family who had never worked a single day in their lives.

‘Now . . .’ Antonio retrieved a sheaf of documents from an envelope he had brought in with him. ‘Come here and sign these along with me. Witnessed by your mother and Gabriela.’