She realised Gustavo was still staring at her.

‘Izabela, you look terrified. Do I frighten you that much?’

‘No, no . . . of course not.’

‘Querida, I understand that you are grieving and perhaps need some time before you are able to fully relax. So let me simply hold you.’

Gustavo’s words were a complete surprise to her. And, given the realisation of her current condition earlier, the pain of watching her mother die and the news over dinner of the situation in America, his empathy was enough to bring further tears to her eyes.

‘Please, Izabela, don’t be frightened of me. I promise I only wish to comfort you tonight,’ he reiterated as he reached to turn out the light.

She allowed Gustavo to pull her into his arms, and lay there on his chest, staring wide-eyed into the darkness. She felt his hand stroking her hair, and, as she thought of the tiny heartbeat inside her, her emotions see-sawed towards guilt.

‘While you were away, I had plenty of time to think,’ Gustavo said softly. ‘I remembered how we were when we first met, how we used to talk about art and culture and laugh together. But since we married, I feel we have been drifting apart, and I take a lot of responsibility for that. I understand I’ve been spending far too long at my club. Partly, if I’m honest, to get me out of this house. We both know the atmosphere is somewhat . . . austere.’

Bel lay in the dark listening to what he was saying, but decided to make no comment until he had finished.

‘But that again is my fault. I should have been firmer with my mother when I married you. Told her point-blank that you would now be running the household and that she must retire gracefully into the background to allow you to do so. Forgive me, Izabela, I have been weak and have not stood up for you, or for myself, when it was needed.’

‘Gustavo, it’s hardly your fault that Luiza dislikes me.’

‘I doubt it’s you she dislikes,’ he replied bitterly. ‘She wouldn’t take to anyone who threatened her position in the household. She even suggested to me that, given the fact that you’d not yet managed to conceive a child since we were married, she could speak to the bishop and have our marriage annulled. On the grounds that we had obviously not shared intimate relations.’

Bel could not help a gasp of horror at Gustavo’s words, given what currently lay secretly inside her. Gustavo took her reaction as shock at his mother’s dreadful damning of their marriage and pulled her closer to him.

‘Of course I was furious with her and told her that if she ever uttered such blasphemy again, it would be her who was out on the street, not my wife. After that,’ Gustavo continued, ‘I decided I must act. I have asked my father to transfer this house into my name, something I should have insisted on the moment we married, since it is the normal protocol. He has agreed, and will also pass over the running of the family finances to me once I feel equipped and knowledgeable enough to handle them. Therefore, for the next few weeks I will be with my father for much of the time, learning from him rather than wasting my days at the club. Once all that happens, I will be passing responsibility for all domestic matters over to you. And my mother will have no choice but to accept the situation.’