“As well as anyone could, I think, though there are times I do not think I know her well at all….” She stopped and bit her lip, emotion making her voice quaver and her lower lip tremble slightly, uncertain what she could say to this child staring up at her with such innocent trust.

It was Franco who stated the obvious, his tone flat. “You are the lady in the painting, so you are our mother.”

She glanced at him, reminded suddenly of Steve by the wary, reserved gaze the boy directed at her, so different than his twin’s openness.

“Yes,” she said, taking a deep breath, “I am your mother.”

“Where have you been?”

Taken aback, she flashed Steve a rueful glance, saw from his face that he had no intention of helping her and said quietly, “I was on my way to you when I became very ill. As soon as I recovered and could travel again, I came to be with you.”

Franco’s steady gaze did not waver. “It took you a long time, ma mère, to join us.”

“Yes.” Her throat tightened so that she could barely force the words past her lips. “Far too long.”

Silence settled briefly, broken by Laura’s impulsive forward motion into her lap, her small body squirming close as she said, “We are glad you have finally come! I have a new puppy. Would you like to see her?”

“Yes…yes, I would like that very much,” Ginny got out past the lump in her throat. Laura’s sweet face was a blur beyond the hot tears that stung her eyes.

Blindly she allowed the child to pull her up from the ottoman, watched as Laura remembered her manners and turned briefly to her father to ask permission to leave and heard his gruff consent. Her eyes swept over Steve, saw the faint smile on his hard mouth.

“It’s always been easy for you, green-eyes,” he said softly. “Welcome home.”

She caught her breath. Home. Strangely, she always thought of Mexico when she thought of home, instead of France, where she had been brought up. Perhaps soon they could return, to bring up their children in the warmth and beauty of Mexico. After all, she still had the Hacienda de la Nostalgia, a marriage gift from Don Francisco, and of course Steve owned a house and extensive land as well. They could take Laura and Franco to Monterey, where the beautiful house overlooked the ocean and the slick black rocks along the California coast, where sea spume laced the air with salty tang and it felt so clean…. Yes, there was much they could do as a family now.