‘And I a mother.’

‘How is it living in your beautiful new home? Is Senhora Aires Cabral being kind to you?’

‘She has been welcoming,’ said Bel shortly. ‘Although this morning we talked about the household accounts. They live far more frugally than we do.’

‘Surely now, with your father giving Gustavo such a handsome sum, that will change? And in fact, we have something to tell you. But I will wait until your father is here with me before we do,’ said Carla secretively.

‘You are well, Mãe?’ Bel changed the subject, realising that Carla simply did not wish to know or hear about any problems her daughter was experiencing. She also thought Carla still looked far too thin and pale.

‘I am feeling very well indeed,’ her mother replied brightly. ‘Although it’s very strange in the house without you. When you were away in the Old World, I always knew that you were returning home here. I know now that you never will. Still, you are not far away and I hope we will see each other often.’

‘Of course we will.’ Bel was depressed by the odd feeling of distance that seemed to have suddenly emerged between them. It was as though Carla had accepted that her daughter no longer belonged to her, but to Bel’s husband and his family.

‘Ah, here is your father. I told him you were coming to visit and he promised he would return early from the office to see you.’

Antonio arrived, full of his usual bonhomie. Once he’d hugged his daughter, he sat down next to her and took her hands in his.

‘I wanted to wait until you were returned from honeymoon to tell you of our gift to you on the occasion of your marriage. Yesterday, Izabela, I transferred the deeds of Fazenda Santa Tereza to you.’

‘Pai!’ Bel stared at her father in genuine delight. ‘You are telling me the fazenda is mine? Just mine alone?’

‘Yes, Izabela. However,’ her father continued, ‘there is a slight complication that you should be aware of.’ Antonio paused and rubbed his chin in contemplation for a moment. ‘You may not know that currently in Brazil a husband normally acquires the legal rights to any property that his wife owns. So, since your mother insisted that the fazenda should be yours alone, I had to be a little . . . creative. I have set up a trust in your name, to be administered by my lawyer, which includes the fazenda within it and your right to any income that the farm earns. Plus the right to live in it until your death. We must hope that before that happens, our outdated laws will be changed and you will own the fazenda outright. There is also a clause which allows the trust to be passed on automatically to any children you may have.’

‘I understand. Thank you, both of you,’ Bel whispered, so moved she could barely speak. ‘Nothing you could have done could have made me happier.’ Bel rose to embrace her mother, who she now knew was primarily responsible for this wonderful gift.