‘Yes, I think he is the best that there is in Rio. But I promise you, Bel, I am beyond his help.’

‘Don’t say that! I need you here, and so does Pai.’

‘Maybe,’ Carla agreed with a grim smile. ‘But Izabela, I am not a coffee bean or a real note. And I can assure you that they are his first true loves.’

‘You are wrong, Mãe! Please, even though you may not see it, your daughter does. You are everything to him and without you, his life would be nothing.’

The two women sat in silence for a few minutes.

‘If it makes you happy, Izabela, you can book an appointment with my doctor and accompany me to see him. Then you will hear, I am sure, that every word I have spoken to you is true. I have only one request if I agree to see the doctor.’

‘What is that?’

‘For the present, do not tell your father. I couldn’t bear to make him suffer for any longer than he has to.’

Bel left the house with her parents’ driver half an hour later, after Carla had admitted that she needed to lie down, and asked him to take her to Ipanema. She was reeling from shock. Surely, she thought, her mother was exaggerating through fear?

Bel left the car two blocks away from Laurent’s apartment and began to pick up speed, running mentally and physically to the one person who she believed could give her comfort.

‘Chérie! I thought you were not coming. Mon Dieu! What is wrong? What has happened?’ Laurent appeared at the door and embraced her.

‘My mother,’ Bel managed to utter between gasps. ‘She thinks she is dying!’ she cried into his shoulder.

‘What? Has she been told this by a doctor?’

‘No, but she was sick with cancer a year ago and is certain it has returned. She is convinced that it is the end for her. But she doesn’t want to worry my father, who has business problems. I’ve told her, of course, that she must see a doctor, but . . . in the month since I last saw her, she has deteriorated so much. And’ – Bel looked up into Laurent’s eyes – ‘I am so very fearful that her instincts may be right.’

‘Bel,’ Laurent said, taking her shaking hands and gently pulling her down onto the sofa next to him, ‘of course you and she must go and get a professional opinion. It is easy to imagine these things are back if you have suffered them before, but it may not be what it seems. Your maman tells you that your papa has business problems?’ Laurent clarified. ‘I thought he was as rich as Croesus.’

‘He is, and I’m sure that if he does have concerns, they are overexaggerated,’ Bel agreed. ‘So,’ she said, struggling to pull herself together, ‘are you well, Laurent?’

‘Yes, chérie, I am well, but I think that we are past those kinds of formalities. I have missed you terribly in the past few days,’ he admitted.