‘Yes, my dear.’ Carla, as usual, acquiescing to her husband’s thoughts. ‘The luncheon went well.’
‘But the house . . . goodness! It needs razing to the ground and starting again. Or at least, a coffee fortune to restore it.’ Antonio grinned smugly. ‘And the food they served . . . I have eaten better at a beach-side shack. So, you will invite them to dinner next week, Carla, and we will show them how it should be done. Tell our cook to source the finest fish and beef and to spare no expense.’
‘Yes, Antonio.’
When they arrived home, Antonio left immediately, saying he must spend a few hours at his office. Carla and Bel walked through the gardens towards the house.
‘Gustavo seems sweet enough,’ her mother ventured.
‘Yes, he is,’ Bel agreed.
‘You know, Bel, don’t you, that he is very taken with you?’
‘No, Mãe, how can he be? Today is the first time we have ever properly spoken together.’
‘I saw him watching you over luncheon, and I tell you now that he is already very fond of you.’ Then Carla gave a long sigh. ‘And that at least makes me happy.’
15
‘Have you asked your father to speak to mine about Europe yet?’ Bel said, when Maria Elisa came to see her a few days later. She could hear the desperation in her own voice.
‘Yes, I have,’ said Maria Elisa as they sat in their usual spot in the garden. ‘He’s happy for you to come with us if your father agrees. He’s promised to speak to him when he arrives to collect me later.’
‘Meu Deus,’ breathed Bel. ‘I can only pray that he’ll do all he can to convince Pai that I should go.’
‘But I worry, Bel, because from what you have just told me, it seems a proposal from Gustavo is closer than ever. Even if your father agrees, your fiancé will surely not let you out of his sight.’ Maria Elisa paused and studied Bel’s anxious face before continuing.
‘Would it really be so terrible for you if you did marry him? After all, you’ve just said yourself that Gustavo is at least an intelligent, kind man. You would live in one of the most beautiful houses in Rio, which I’m sure your father would be only too happy to restore to your taste. And with your new surname added to your beauty, you would be the queen of Rio society. Many girls would long for this chance,’ she pointed out.
‘What are you saying?’ Bel turned to her friend, her dark eyes flashing. ‘I thought you were on my side?’
‘I am, Bel, but you know me – I’m pragmatic and listen to my head rather than my heart. All I’m saying is that you could do worse.’
‘Maria Elisa,’ Bel wrung her hands, ‘I don’t love him! Surely, that’s the most important thing of all?’
‘In an ideal world, yes. But we both know the world is not ideal.’
‘You sound like an old woman, Maria Elisa. Surely you wish to fall in love?’
‘Maybe,’ she agreed. ‘But I also know that love is only one of many considerations when it comes to marriage. I’m just saying be careful, Bel, because if you refuse Gustavo, you know it will be a terrible snub to his family. They may not be rich any longer, but they hold so much power here in Rio. Life may become difficult for you and your parents.’
‘Well then, you’re telling me that if Gustavo proposes, I have no choice but to accept. So, shall I just climb up Corcovado Mountain and throw myself off the top of it?’
‘Bel . . .’ Maria Elisa shook her head and raised her eyebrows. ‘Please calm yourself. I’m sure there are ways around it. But you may have to compromise a little between what you want and the wishes of others.’
Bel studied Maria Elisa as she sat watching a hummingbird dart through the trees. Her demeanour, as always, was serene, like a pool of calm water without a ripple on its surface. Whereas she herself was like a waterfall roaring down the mountains and crashing onto the rocks below.
‘I wish I was more like you, Maria Elisa. You’re so sensible.’
‘No, just accepting. But then, Bel, I don’t have your fire or your beauty.’
‘Don’t be silly. You are one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out.’ Bel reached spontaneously to hug her. ‘Thank you for your advice and help. You are a true friend.’
An hour later, Heitor da Silva Costa, Maria Elisa’s father, arrived at the front door of Mansão da Princesa. Gabriela opened it and Bel and Maria Elisa, secreted beside the door in the morning room, listened as he asked if Antonio was at home.
Bel had never exchanged more than a few pleasantries with Senhor da Silva Costa at various social gatherings, but she had liked what she had seen. She thought him a very handsome man, with his fine features and pale blue eyes that often seemed to drift away from his surroundings to another place. Perhaps, she thought, to the top of the Corcovado Mountain and the monumental figure of Christ he was constructing.
Bel breathed a sigh of relief as her father appeared from his study and greeted Heitor warmly, though with a little surprise, in the hall. What gave her hope was the fact that she knew Antonio respected Heitor, for not only was he from an old Portuguese family, but due to the Cristo project, he had recently become something of a celebrity in Rio.
The two girls heard their fathers walk into the drawing room and shut the door behind them.
‘I can’t bear it,’ said Bel, sinking down into a chair. ‘My whole future depends on this conversation.’
‘You’re so dramatic, Bel,’ smiled Maria Elisa. ‘Really, I’m sure everything will be fine.’
Twenty minutes later and still in an agony of suspense, Bel heard the drawing room door open and the two men emerge, chatting about the Cristo.
‘Any time you wish to come up the mountain and see what I have planned for it, do let me know,’ Heitor was saying. ‘Now, I must find my daughter and take her home.’
‘Of course.’ Antonio signalled for Gabriela to find Maria Elisa. ‘It is a pleasure to see you, senhor, and I thank you for your kind offer.’
‘Not at all. Ah, there you are, Maria Elisa. We must hurry as I have a meeting scheduled at five in the city. Adeus, Senhor Bonifacio.’
As father and daughter turned to leave the house, Maria Elisa gave Bel, who was hovering at the end of the hallway, a shrug of uncertainty. Then she disappeared through the front door.
Bel watched her father pause for a few seconds then turn around to walk back to his study. Seeing her standing there, her face a picture of anxiety, he shook his head and sighed heavily.
‘So, I can see from your face that you knew about this.’
‘It was Maria Elisa’s idea,’ Bel said hastily. ‘She asked me because she thought it would be better if she had a female companion to accompany her while she is in Europe. You know that she only has two younger brothers and—’
‘As I told Senhor da Silva Costa and I will now tell you, Izabela, the idea is out of the question.’
‘But why, Pai? Surely you can see how a tour of Europe would improve my education?’
‘You need no more education, Izabela. I have spent thousands of reais on improving you and it has paid off. You have already netted a big fish. We both know that an offer of marriage from Senhor Gustavo is imminent. So tell me, why on earth would I agree at this crucial moment to send you far away across the sea to the Old World when you are about to be crowned queen of the New?’
‘Pai, please, I—’
‘Enough! I will hear no more about it. The matter is closed. I will see you at supper.’
With a sob, Bel turned away from him, ran through the kitchen at the back of the house, surprising the startled staff preparing the evening meal, and charged through the door which led outside. She raced across the garden and, not caring about her dress, began to scramble up the jungle-covered hillside, grabbing the plants and trees to aid her ascent.
Ten minutes later, satisfied she was now high enough for no one to hear her, she sank down onto the warm soil and howled like a wild animal. When her anger and frustration had finally subsided, Bel rolled
over and brushed the soil from her muslin dress. She sat with her knees to her chin, her arms tightly folded around them. And as she looked out across Rio, the beautiful view began to calm her. She surveyed the scene below her, taking in the enclave of Cosme Velho. Then she turned to gaze above her at the soaring Corcovado Mountain, a grey cloud ringing its peak.
In the other direction, some distance away on a mountain-side, was a favela, a slum village where the penniless inhabitants had built shelters from whatever they could find. If she listened carefully, on the breeze she could hear the faint sounds of the surdo drums the slum-dwellers played night and day as they danced the samba, the music of the hills, to forget the misery of their lives. And the sight and sound of this desperate population brought her back to her senses.
I am nothing more than a spoilt, selfish rich girl, Bel berated herself. How can I behave like this when I have everything and they have nothing?
Bel lowered her head slowly onto her knees and asked for forgiveness. ‘Please, blessed Virgin, strip out my passionate heart, and replace it with one like Maria Elisa’s,’ she prayed fervently, ‘for mine does me no good at all. And I swear I will be grateful and obedient from now on and not fight against my father’s wishes.’
Ten minutes later, Bel clambered back down the mountainside and walked through the kitchen, dirty and dishevelled, but with her head held high. Running upstairs, she asked Gabriela to fill her a bath, then she lay in it, thinking how in future she would be the perfect, submissive daughter . . . and wife.
The subject of the rejected trip to Europe was not brought up over dinner, and that night, Bel lay in bed knowing it would never be mentioned again.
16
Two weeks later, the three members of the Aires Cabral family attended a grand dinner at Mansão da Princesa. Antonio pulled out all the stops to impress, making much of how well his coffee business was growing, as the demand from America for Brazil’s magical beans increased with each passing month.
‘Our family once owned a number of coffee farms near Rio, but with the abolition of slavery, they quickly became uneconomical,’ remarked Gustavo’s father.
‘Ah, yes. I am indeed fortunate that my farms are near São Paulo, where of course we never relied so heavily on slave labour,’ replied Antonio. ‘And of course the land around São Paulo is far better suited to growing coffee. I do believe that I produce some of the best. We shall taste it after dinner.’
‘Yes, of course, we must all embrace the New World,’ agreed Maurício stiffly.
‘And strive to maintain the values and traditions of the Old,’ Gustavo’s mother added pointedly.
Bel watched Luiza Aires Cabral during dinner, her face rarely cracking a smile. There was no doubt that when she was younger she must have been a beauty, with her unusual blue eyes and fine bone structure. But it seemed as though bitterness had erased any outward charm, eating her away from the inside. Bel made a promise to herself that, no matter what turn her life took, the same fate would never befall her.
‘I understand you know Heitor da Silva Costa’s daughter, Maria Elisa,’ Gustavo commented to Bel in his quiet voice. ‘She is a good friend of yours?’
‘Yes, she is.’
‘Next week, I’m accompanying my father to meet Senhor da Silva Costa on Corcovado Mountain so that he can update us with his plans. Pai is part of the Catholic Circle that first dreamed up the idea of placing a monument to the Cristo there. I hear Senhor da Silva Costa’s plans change regularly, and I don’t envy him the task he has set himself. The mountain is more than seven hundred metres high.’
‘I’ve never been up to the top, even though we live so near,’ replied Bel. ‘The mountain rises from the back of our garden.’
‘Perhaps your father would allow me to take you.’
‘I would like that, thank you,’ she answered politely.
‘Then we have a plan. I will ask him later.’
As Bel turned from Gustavo’s gaze to eat the delicious dessert of pudim de leite condensado, made from condensed milk and caramel, she felt his eyes still on her.
Two hours later, as the maid closed the door on his guests, Antonio beamed at Carla and Bel. ‘I think they were impressed, and I think you, my princesa’ – he chucked Bel’s chin – ‘will have some news from Gustavo very soon. He asked me before he left if he could take you up Corcovado Mountain next week. It is a perfect place for a young man to propose, is it not?’
Bel opened her mouth to respond negatively to her father’s suggestion, but then remembered her vow to adopt a more accepting demeanour. ‘Yes, Pai,’ she said, lowering her eyes demurely.
Later, as she climbed into bed, wishing yet again that Loen was here to chat to, she heard a knock on the door. ‘Come in.’
‘Querida.’ Carla’s face appeared. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’
‘No, Mãe. Please, come in.’ She patted the mattress and her mother sat down on the bed and reached for her hands.
‘Izabela, please remember you are my beloved daughter and I know you well, so I must ask you now, as it seems Gustavo is bound to propose to you soon. Is this what you want?’
Again remembering her vow, Bel thought carefully about how she should reply. ‘Mãe, in truth I don’t love Gustavo. And neither do I like his mother or father. We both know they are patronising towards us and would prefer a Portuguese bride for their only son. But Gustavo is sweet and kind, and a good person, I think. I know how happy this will make you, and especially Pai. So’ – Bel couldn’t help releasing a small sigh before she said the words – ‘if he proposes, I will be happy to accept.’
Carla stared hard at her daughter. ‘Are you sure, Bel? Whatever your father wants, as a mother, I must know your true feelings. It would be a terrible sin to subject you to a life you don’t wish for. Above all, I want you to be happy.’
‘Thank you, Mãe, and I’m sure I will be.’
‘Well,’ Carla said after a pause, ‘I believe that love can grow between a man and a woman over the years. Trust me, I know. I married your father.’ She chuckled wryly. ‘I too had doubts at the beginning, but now, for all his failings, I would not change him. And remember, it is always important for the man to be more in love with the woman than she is with him.’
‘Why do you say that, Mãe?’
‘Because, my dear, although women’s hearts can be fickle, and love a number of times, men – although they are less outwardly emotional – once they love, they usually love forever. And I believe Gustavo does love you. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you. And that will ensure your husband stays by your side and doesn’t stray.’ Carla kissed Bel. ‘Sleep well, querida.’
Her mother left the room, and Bel lay thinking about what she had said. She only hoped that she was right.
‘You are ready to go?’
‘Yes.’ Bel stood patiently in the drawing room as her mother and father inspected her.
‘You look beautiful, my princesa,’ said Antonio admiringly. ‘What man could refuse you?’
‘Are you nervous, querida?’ asked Carla.
‘I’m taking a train up Corcovado Mountain with Gustavo, that is all,’ said Bel, trying hard to contain her rising irritation.
‘Well,’ said Antonio, visibly jumping as the doorbell rang, ‘we shall see. He has arrived.’
‘Good luck, and God bless you,’ said Carla as she kissed her daughter on both cheeks.
‘We’ll be waiting here later for the news,’ called Antonio, as Bel left the room and found Gabriela outside, waiting to pin on her new silk cloche hat, purchased especially for the occasion.
Gustavo was standing on the doorstep, his thin, wiry frame looking unusually dapper in a cream linen suit, a jaunty straw hat perched on his head. ‘Senhorita Izabela, you look beautiful. I have our driver waiting outside. Shall we go?’
As they walked to the car and both climbed into the back seat, Bel realised that Gustavo was far more nervous than she was. On the three-minute drive to the tiny sta
tion from where the train up to Corcovado Mountain left, he was silent. He escorted her from the car, and they climbed into one of the carriages, which in reality was one of two basic carts attached to the back of a miniature steam engine.
‘I hope you will love the view, even though it is not a comfortable ride,’ commented Gustavo.
The train began its ascent up the mountain, the incline so steep that Bel felt her neck straining to keep her head upright. As the train gave a lurch, instinctively Bel grabbed Gustavo’s shoulder, and he immediately encircled her waist with his arm.
It was the most intimate physical gesture they had shared so far, and although Bel felt no stirring from it, neither did she feel revulsion. It was akin to the comforting touch of an older brother. The noise from the engine made any conversation impossible, so Bel relaxed and began to enjoy the ride as the little train chugged through the lush urban jungle, the roots of which lay at the back of her own garden.
Bel was almost disappointed when the train drew into the station at the top and the passengers climbed out.
‘There is a vantage point here that affords an excellent view of Rio, or we can climb the many steps right to the top and see how they are digging out the foundations for the Cristo Redentor,’ said Gustavo.
‘I want to go right to the top, of course,’ smiled Bel, and she noted his approving look. They followed the braver souls up the steep steps, the burning sun testing their endurance as they grew warmer and warmer in their formal clothes.
I must not sweat, thought Bel, as she felt her undergarments damp against her skin. Finally, they arrived at the plateau at the top of the mountain. In front of them was a viewing pavilion. Further along the mountaintop, Bel could see mechanical diggers tearing out chunks of rock with their giant claws. Gustavo took her hand and pulled her into the shade of the pavilion.
‘Senhor da Silva Costa explained that they must dig down many metres into the earth to make sure the statue doesn’t topple over. Now’ – he turned Bel around by her shoulders and led her to the edge of the pavilion – ‘look over there.’
The Seven Sisters Page 15