Page 121 of The Seven Sisters

‘Is she sick?’

‘I don’t . . . know,’ Loen had replied warily.

‘Then of course I will go tomorrow and see her for myself.’

As the car arrived in the drive of Mansão da Princesa, Bel instructed Jorge to collect her from the Copacabana Palace at six thirty that evening.

She’d told Luiza earlier this morning that after she had called on her mother, she was meeting her new friend Heloise, whom she sat next to at the Igreja da Glória, for tea at the Copacabana Palace. Bel had known Luiza would approve, as she had been the one to encourage her daughter-in-law to befriend suitable young ladies that matched her new status, and Heloise came from a very old aristocratic family. Moreover, knowing that Luiza found the flamboyant grandeur of the hotel distasteful, Bel had deduced correctly that she would not suggest she join them there.

As she walked towards the front door of her old home, Bel’s stomach churned at the thought of being caught out in her deception, but she knew she had little choice. Sadly, in the past two months she had become a reluctant but adept liar.

Gabriela opened the front door and her face lit up when she saw Bel. ‘Senhora, it is a pleasure to see you. Your mother is resting at present, but she asked me to wake her when you arrived.’

‘Is she unwell?’ Bel frowned as she followed Gabriela into the drawing room. ‘Loen said you were concerned about her.’

‘I . . .’ Gabriela hesitated. ‘I don’t know if she is sick, but she is certainly very tired.’

‘You don’t think’ – Bel steeled herself to say the words – ‘that her problem has returned, do you?’

‘Senhora, I do not know. Perhaps you must ask her yourself. And persuade her to see a doctor. Now, what can I get you to drink?’

As Gabriela left to fetch some orange juice and wake her mother, Bel stood up and paced the familiar room anxiously. Eventually, Carla arrived to join her and Bel noticed that her mother not only looked pale and tired, but had also developed a strange yellow tinge to her skin since the last time she’d seen her.

‘Mãe, forgive me for not seeing you for so long. How are you?’ she said, trying to quell her fear and her guilt for not visiting sooner, as she walked towards Carla to greet her with a kiss.

‘I am well. And you?’

‘Yes, Mãe . . .’

‘Shall we sit down?’ said Carla, slumping heavily onto a chair as if her legs could hold her upright no longer.

‘Mãe, it is obvious you are not well. Are you in pain?’

‘Only a little, I’m sure it is nothing. I . . .’

‘Please, you know it issomething. Surely Pai must have noticed you’re not yourself?’

‘Your father has other things to concern him at the moment,’ sighed Carla. ‘The coffee farms are not making the yield they once did, and the stockpiling plan the government has suggested does not seem to be helping.’

‘I hardly think that Pai’s business concerns are more important than his wife’s health,’ Bel shot back.

‘Querida, with your father so strained, I don’t wish to burden him further.’

Tears brimmed in Bel’s eyes. ‘It might be inconvenient timing, but don’t you see that nothing is as important as your health? Besides, you may be fearing the worst.’

‘It is my body and I live in it, and I understand and can feel what is happening to it,’ Carla interrupted firmly. ‘I do not want to put myself, or you and your father, through a distressing process that will only lead to the same end.’

‘Mãe,’ Bel uttered, her throat constricted with the hard lump of emotion that had formed there. ‘Please, at the very least, let me book an appointment with the doctor who treated you last time. You trust him, don’t you?’

‘Yes, I think he is the best that there is in Rio. But I promise you, Bel, I am beyond his help.’

‘Don’t say that! I need you here, and so does Pai.’

‘Maybe,’ Carla agreed with a grim smile. ‘But Izabela, I am not a coffee bean or arealnote. And I can assure you that they are his first true loves.’

‘You are wrong, Mãe! Please, even though you may not see it, your daughter does. You are everything to him and without you, his life would be nothing.’

The two women sat in silence for a few minutes.