‘They have started digging the foundations up on the top of Corcovado Mountain,’ Carla had remarked one day. ‘I would love to go up and see it sometime.’
‘And I will take you there,’ Bel had replied, willing her mother to get well again so that it would be possible.
‘And we must, of course, talk about the plans for your wedding,’ said Carla, having pronounced herself well enough to sit in a chair on the terrace that led from her bedroom. ‘There is so much to discuss.’
‘All in good time, Mãe, when you are stronger,’ Bel had insisted adamantly.
Over supper together, three nights after Bel had arrived home, Antonio told her that he had just taken a call from Gustavo.
‘He wishes to know when he can come and see you.’
‘Perhaps when Mãe is a little better,’ she suggested.
‘Izabela, you have been out of his sight for nine months. So I have suggested he calls tomorrow afternoon. Gabriela can sit with your mother while you entertain Gustavo. I wouldn’t wish him to think you don’t want to see him.’
‘Yes, Pai,’ Bel agreed meekly.
‘And surely you must be eager to see him too?’
‘Of course.’
Gustavo duly arrived at three the following afternoon. Carla insisted Bel change into one of the new dresses she’d had fitted in Paris.
‘You must look even more beautiful than he remembers you,’ Carla emphasised. ‘After so long apart, we wouldn’t wish that he changes his mind. Especially as you are as scrawny as me these days,’ she teased her daughter.
Loen helped her into the dress and then styled her hair into an elegant chignon.
‘How do you feel about seeing Gustavo again?’ Loen asked her tentatively.
‘I don’t know,’ Bel replied honestly. ‘Nervous, I suppose.’
‘And the . . . other man you wrote to me of in Paris? You can forget him?’
Bel stared at her reflection in the mirror. ‘Never, Loen, never.’
Downstairs, ready and waiting for Gustavo in the drawing room, she heard the doorbell ring with trepidation and Gabriela walk down the hall to answer it. Hearing Gustavo’s voice, and enjoying the few seconds’ hiatus before he entered the room and she saw him, Bel asked for heavenly help, praying that Gustavo would never see the turmoil in her heart.
‘Izabela,’ he said as he walked in and moved towards her, his arms outstretched.
‘Gustavo.’ She lifted her hands to his and he clasped them, surveying her as he did so.
‘My goodness, I think Europe must have suited you, as you look even more radiant than I remember. You’ve grown into a beautiful woman,’ he said, as she felt him drink in every centimetre of her. ‘Was it wonderful?’
‘Truly,’ she replied, signalling to Gabriela to bring in a jug of fresh mango juice and gesturing to Gustavo to sit down. ‘Paris especially.’
‘Ah, yes, the city of love,’ he commented. ‘And I’m so sad I was not there to enjoy it with you. Perhaps someday, if God is kind, we will go together. So, tell me all about your travels.’
As Bel spoke to him of all that she had seen in the past few months, she decided that Gustavo seemed even more insubstantial than she remembered. But she forced herself to focus instead on his warm brown eyes, and the kindness within them.
‘Well,’ he said, as he sipped his juice, ‘it indeed sounds like you had a marvellous time. You gave so few details in your letters that I wasn’t sure if it had been a success or not. For example, you didn’t mention that a sculptor had asked you to sit for him while you were in Paris.’
‘Who told you?’ asked Bel, shaken that he had heard about this.
‘Your father, of course, when I spoke to him on the telephone yesterday. That must have been an interesting experience.’
‘It was,’ Bel agreed weakly.
‘You know,’ he said, smiling at her, ‘six weeks or so ago, just as you were preparing to leave Paris, I had the strangest feeling that you weren’t going to return to me. I actually contacted your father to make sure you had boarded the ship as planned. But of course, it was simply my own fear getting the better of me. Because here you are, Izabela.’ He reached his hand to hers. ‘Have you missed me as I have missed you?’
‘Yes, very much.’
‘It’s a shame we can’t marry sooner, but of course we must give your mother time to recover. How is she?’
‘Weak, but improving slowly,’ said Bel. ‘I’m still very angry that neither she nor my father told me of her illness when I was away. I would of course have returned earlier.’
‘Well, Izabela, perhaps there are some things it’s best not to share in a letter, don’t you agree?’
Bel felt herself blushing under his gaze, as every word that dropped from his mouth seemed to suggest he knew the secret she was hiding.
‘Even if they meant well by trying to protect me, they should have told me,’ she replied brusquely.
‘Well.’ Gustavo dropped her hand. ‘You’re safe home with me, and your mother is on the mend. And that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Now,’ he said, ‘my mother is eager to see you too and to start discussing some of the arrangements for the wedding. Obviously, she hasn’t wanted to disturb Senhora Carla, but there are some details that need to be finalised very soon. For example, the date. Have you any particular preference as to when in January?’
‘I would prefer it towards the end of the month, to give my mother as much time to recover as possible.’
‘Of course. Perhaps in the next few days, you would like to visit my mother at the Casa and discuss the wedding plans? And also review those your father and I have for the renovation of our house. The structural work is already underway and your father has found an architect who has some very modern ideas. He has suggested we remodel the upper floors so that we can add bathrooms to the main bedrooms. And I’m sure you wish to have a hand in the interior design of our own private suite of rooms. I know you ladies have much better ideas on decor than us men.’
The mere thought of a future room – and a bed – shared with Gustavo sent a shiver of fear up her spine. ‘I would be happy to come up whenever it is suitable for your mother,’ she answered.
‘Well, shall I suggest next Wednesday?’
‘I’m sure that will be fine.’
‘Good. And I hope you will allow me to enjoy your company in the meantime. Perhaps I can call on you tomorrow afternoon?’
‘I will be here,’ said Bel as Gustavo stood and she did too.
‘Until tomorrow, Izabela,’ he murmured, kissing her hand. ‘And I long for the day when I no longer have to book an appointment to see you.’
When Gustavo had left the house, Bel walked upstairs to her bedroom to gather herself together before she went to check on her mother. Standing by the window, she gave herself a thorough talking-to. Gustavo was sweet, kind and gentle, and she must remember that it wasn’t his fault that she could never love him the way he loved her. Or that she already loved another . . .
Remembering with a shudder Laurent’s words of warning – that one day her true feelings would reveal themselves – Bel splashed her face with cold water before making her way to her mother’s room.
A week later, Bel was pleased to see that Carla, although still weak and thin, was most definitely improving.
‘Oh,’ Carla sighed one afternoon, after listening to Bel read Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, translating it from French into Portuguese so her mother could understand the words. ‘I have such a clever daughter! Who would have thought it?’ Carla looked at Bel fondly and stroked her cheek. ‘You make me very proud.’
‘And you will make me proud if you eat every bit of your supper,’ Bel replied.
Carla glanced out of the window at the sunny afternoon, watching shadows dance across the lush flora and fauna in the gardens. ‘The brightness makes me long to be at my beloved fazenda, she said. ‘I always find the mountain air there so restorative and the atmosphere so tranquil.’
‘Would you like to go, Mãe?’
‘You know how I love it there, Izabela. But of course, your father is so busy at his office that he would not wish to leave Rio.’
‘What’s important is what’s best for your health. You leave it to me,’ replied Bel firmly.
Over dinner that evening with her father, Bel broached the idea of her accompanying Carla to the fazenda.
‘I think it would lift her spirits, and therefore benefit her health immensely. Would you let us go, Pai, just for a couple of weeks or so? It’s so very hot in Rio just now.’
‘Izabela,’ Antonio said with a frown, ‘you have only just arrived back and now you talk of leaving again. Anyone would think you disliked being here.’
‘You know that isn’t true, Pai. But until we both feel Mãe is on the mend, I’m not comfortable with finalising a date for the wedding. And you know how eager I am to do that. So if some time spent at the fazenda would hasten her recovery, I’m happy to accompany her.’
‘And leave me all alone here, with no wife or child to come home to?’ Antonio complained.
‘I’m sure it would be possible to visit us at the weekends when you’re not working, Pai.’
‘Perhaps. But it isn’t me you have to convince; it’s your fiancé, who may not wish you to disappear from his sight again.’
‘I will talk to Gustavo,’ Bel agreed.
‘Of course,’ Gustavo nodded, as Bel explained her plan the following afternoon. ‘I’m in favour of anything that will hasten our walk to the altar. And,’ he added quickly, ‘it will be the best thing for your mother’s health. However, before you go, we must make a few decisions.’
Bel told a delighted Carla that they were to leave for the fazenda the following week. She wasn’t the only member of the Bonifacio household who was happy at the thought. Loen’s face lit up when Bel asked her to accompany mother and daughter up to the mountains. Even though her presence wasn’t technically necessary, as Fabiana and Sandro who ran the fazenda were capable of caring for their needs, Bel knew it would give her a chance to spend time with her young man.
‘Oh, Senhorita Bel,’ Loen had said, her eyes glowing with pleasure. ‘I cannot believe I will see him again! Because he can’t read or write, we haven’t spoken since we last saw each other. Obrigada! Obrigadaí!’
Giving her mistress a spontaneous hug, Loen had virtually skipped from the room. And Bel decided that even if she herself could never be reunited with the one she loved, she’d live vicariously through Loen’s joy.
The following day, Bel duly went to meet with both Gustavo and his mother to discuss the wedding plans.
‘It is most unfortunate that your mother’s illness means she is unable to contribute to the organisation at this crucial time,’ said Luiza Aires Cabral. ‘But we must do as much as we can to plan the event in the meantime.’
Bel had an urge to reach out and slap Luiza’s arrogant face, but she managed to restrain herself. ‘I’m sure she will be better very soon, especially with a dose of fresh mountain air,’ she answered.
‘Well, if we can at least set the date, Rio will not feel as though there is further procrastination, given that you have already spent so long abroad. Now . . .’ Luiza put on her glasses and studied her diary. ‘The archbishop has already informed me of the dates he has available. As you can imagine, his schedule is booked up months in advance. Gustavo has told me that you wish the marriage to take place towards the end of January. On a Friday, of course. Weekend weddings are so vulgar.’
‘Whatever you think best,’ Bel agreed demurely.
‘As for the reception afterwards, your father has a notion that we should hold the wedding breakfast at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. Personally, I find it’s rather a common crowd that rate it and would have favoured a smaller, more select event here at the house, following in the family tradition. But as your father has decided to renovate what I think are already adequate facilities here, that is not possible. The house is crawling with tradesmen and I can’t run the risk of them not being finished by January. So we must select another venue.’
‘I’m happy with whatever you decide,’ Bel repeated.
‘As for bridesmaids and pages, your mother has put forward a number of names of your cousins from São Paulo. Eight in all,’ Luiza clarified. ‘We too have at least twelve from our side whom I must consider, as they are godchildren and would of course expect to take a leading role in the ceremony. Eight is the maximum number of attendants we could allow without it looking showy. Do you have anyone you especially wish to be included on the shortlist?’
Bel named two young daughters of her mother’s cousin and one boy from her father’s side. ‘Please, I am happy to accept the rest of my attendants from Gustavo’s side of the family.’
She glanced at her fiancé, and he gave her a sweet, sympathetic smile.
For the next two hours, Luiza questioned Bel on every tiny detail of the wedding. But each time Bel ventured a suggestion, her ideas were just as quickly rebuffed, due to her future mother-in-law’s determination to have things her own way.
However, there was one point on which Bel was determined not to budge: that after the marriage, Loen would accompany her to her new home as her personal maid.
When she dared to raise the subject, Luiza fixed her with an icy stare before waving her hand dismissively. ‘That is quite ridiculous,’ she said. ‘We already have servants here who are more than capable of taking care of your needs.’
‘But—’
‘Mãe,’ Gustavo interrupted, finally rising to Bel’s defence. ‘If Izabela wishes to bring her maid, whom she has known since childhood, then I cannot see why it should pose a problem.’
Luiza looked at him with an irritated raise of her eyebrows. ‘I see. Well then, so be it,’ she said, nodding at her son curtly before turning back to Bel and continuing. ‘At least what we’ve discussed today gives me some detail to work with while you scurry off to the mountains next week. Given you have been so long apart from my son, anyone would think that you didn’t wish for your intended’s company.’
Again, Gustavo intervened. ‘Come now, Mãe, that is not fair. Izabela simply wishes for her mother’s health to improve.’
‘Of course, and I will mention her in my prayers when I attend Mass tomorrow. In the meantime, I will do my duty and take control of arrangements until you and Senhora Bonifacio are back in Rio to share the burden. Now’ – Luiza glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece – ‘if you’ll excuse me, I have a committee meeting with the Sisters of Mercy orphanage in less than half an hour. Gustavo, I am sure you can escort Izabela around the gardens to take some air, and show her the renovations in progress. Good day to you.’
Bel watched Luiza leave the room, feeling akin to a kettle left too long on the stove and near to boiling over.
‘Don’t mind her.’ Gustavo walked over to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, sensing her irritation. ‘Mãe might complain, but she loves every second of it. She’s talked of nothing else for the past nine months. Now, allow me to accompany you into the garden.’
‘Gustavo,’ Bel said as they left the house, ‘where will your parents live after we are married and I am living here with you?’
He raised an eyebrow in surprise at her question. ‘Well, of course they will continue to live here with us. Where else would they go?’
The following morning, Bel made Carla comfortable in the back of the Rolls-Royce and climbed in next to her. Loen sat with their driver in the front as they embarked on the five-hour journey up to the cool air of the mountainous region of Paty do Alferes. For two hundred years Fazenda Santa Tereza had belonged to the family of the Baron Paty do Alferes, a Portuguese nobleman and also, as Antonio had pointed out before they’d left that morning, a distant cousin of the Aires Cabral family.
The roads up to the region were surprisingly good, due to the fact that the wealthy landowners had once needed to transport their coffee beans and themselves
back and forth to Rio and had financed the construction. Carla was able to sleep most of the way without disturbance.
Bel gazed out of the window as they began to climb up through the mountains, the gentle slopes falling into the valleys beneath, the streams that carried pure, fresh spring water cutting narrow crevices into them.
‘Mãe, we are here,’ said Bel, as the car bumped along the dusty drive which led to the main house.
Carla stirred as the car came to a halt and Bel jumped out to breathe in the wonderful clean air the area was renowned for. As it was almost dusk, the cicadas chirruped at full force and Vanila and Donna – the two strays that Bel had begged her parents to keep when they’d arrived as hungry puppies at the kitchen door seven years ago – yelped excitedly around their mistress’s legs.
‘Home,’ Bel sighed in pleasure as she saw Fabiana and Sandro, who took care of the fazenda, following behind the dogs.
‘Senhorita Izabela!’ Fabiana wrapped her in a comforting embrace. ‘Why, I think you have grown more beautiful since the last time I saw you. Are you well?’
‘Yes, I am, thank you. But,’ she said, lowering her voice, ‘I think you will be shocked when you see my mother. Try not to show her,’ she warned.
Fabiana nodded and watched as the driver helped Carla out of the car. She patted Bel’s arm and then walked over to greet her mistress. If anyone could restore her mother to health, thought Bel, it was Fabiana. Not only would she offer up prayers in the tiny chapel which sat in an alcove just off the drawing room, she would also ply Carla with all types of traditional remedies: mixtures of the different plants and flowers that grew in abundance here and were renowned for their medicinal qualities.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bruno – Fabiana and Sandro’s dark-eyed son – hovering in the background. As they all approached the entrance to the house, she saw Loen throw him a coy smile. And watched as Bruno returned it.
The Seven Sisters Page 29