Page 22 of The Seven Sisters

Then, taking a few deep breaths, I picked it up and tore it open. Inside was a letter, but also something else; as I reached inside to grasp it, it felt solid, yet somehow also soft beneath my fingers. As I drew it out, I saw it was a triangular-shaped stone tile, creamy in colour but with a green hue to it. I turned it over and saw there was an illegible faded inscription on the back of it.

Unable to decipher it, I set it down, and, with trembling hands, I unfolded Pa’s letter and began to read.

Atlantis

Lake Geneva

Switzerland

My dearest Maia,

I’m sure as you sit and read this that you’ll be feeling confused and sad. My beloved first-born girl, I can only tell you what a joy you have been to me. Even though I can’t claim to be your natural father, I beg you to believe that I have loved you as though I was. And I must tell you that it wasyouwho inspired me to continue to adopt your beautiful younger sisters, and that all of you have given me more pleasure than anything else in my life.

You have never asked me to tell you about your true heritage, the story of where I found you and the circumstances that led up to your adoption. Rest assured, I would have told you if you had, as one of your sisters did a few years ago. But as I leave this earth, I feel it is only right to allow you the freedom to discover it in the future if you wish.

None of you came to me with a birth certificate, and as you know, all of you are officially registered as my daughters. No one can take that away from you. However, at the very least, I can point you in the right direction. After that, only you can choose to take the journey back into your past if you so wish.

On the armillary sphere, which you have now seen, are a set of coordinates indicating exactly where on this planet your story began. And there is also a small clue inside the envelope to help you further.

Maia, I can’t tell you what you’ll find if you do decide to return to the country of your birth. But what I can tell you is that your true family and their story touched my life.

I’m sad that there is no time left for me to relate my own story to you, and that perhaps you sometimes felt that I kept many things to myself. What I did, I did to protect you all. But of course, no man, or woman, is an island. And as you grew up, I had to set you free to fly.

We all hold secrets inside us, but please believe me when I say that family is everything. And that the love of a parent for a child is the most powerful force on earth.

Maia, it’s understandable that I look back on my life and regret many of the decisions that I’ve made during it. Of course, it is the human condition to make mistakes, as that is how we learn and grow. But my dearest wish is to at least pass on any wisdom that I’ve gathered to my precious daughters.

I think there is a part of you that, because of your life experience so far, has led you to lose your faith in human nature. My dearest Maia, please know that I too have suffered from the same affliction and it blighted my life at times. However, I have learnt over the many years I’ve spent on this earth that for every one bad apple, there are thousands more whose hearts are full of kindness. And you must trust to the intrinsic goodness inside each of us. Only then will you be able to live and love fully.

I will leave you now, my dearest Maia; I’m sure I have given you and your sisters much to think about.

I am watching over you always from the heavens.

Your loving father,

Pa Salt x

I sat holding the letter, and saw that my hands were shaking. I knew I needed to read it again, and probably a third or a fourth time, but one phrase stuck in my mind.

Had he known?

I called Marina on her mobile and asked her if she could come and see me at the Pavilion. She arrived five minutes later, and saw the distress on my face.

Following me into the sitting room, she glanced at the letter lying open on the coffee table.

‘Oh Maia,’ she said, holding out her arms to me. ‘I’m sure you must be very distressed, having heard your father’s voice speaking to you from the grave.’

I didn’t move to accept her embrace. ‘Ma, please, you must tell me if you ever told Pa Salt about our . . . secret?’

‘Of course not! Please believe me, I would never betray you!’

I could see the hurt in Marina’s kind eyes.

‘So he never knew?’

‘No. How could he have done?’

‘In the letter, he says something that made me think hemusthave known . . .’