‘Have a safe journey,’ I said as I watched him walk to the door.

‘Thank you. Just pull the door closed behind you when you leave. Petra will be back in the next couple of days. Goodbye, querida.’

I heard the front door click a few seconds later and I jumped out of bed to dress. I left the apartment and walked fast through the streets of Ipanema to my hotel. I strode through the lobby with my head held high and asked for my key at the desk, ignoring the sweep of the receptionist’s eyes as she took in my dishevelled appearance, and asked her if Pietro was available in twenty minutes to drive me up to the convent.

Upstairs in my suite, I took a hasty shower, part of me not wishing to remove the scent of Floriano from my body, dressed quickly in something more appropriate and was back down in the lobby fifteen minutes later. I could see Pietro waiting for me outside and he smiled at me as I climbed into the car.

‘Senhorita D‘Apliése, how are you? I haven‘t seen you for a few days. We‘re going up to the convent hospital, yes?’ he confirmed.

‘Yes,’ I said as we drove off, before turning my attention to clearing my jumbled brain for the meeting ahead.

When we arrived, Yara was already waiting for me nervously outside.

‘Hello, Senhorita Maia. Thank you for coming.’

‘Thank you for arranging it.’

‘As a matter of fact, it had nothing to do with me. It was Senhora Beatriz who asked without prompting if I could contact you. She knows she only has a short time left. Are you ready?’ I read sympathy in Yara‘s eyes.

I said I was and she led me along wide, dark corridors towards the hospital wing. As she pushed open the double doors and we walked through, I smelt disinfectant mixed with another, indefinable aroma that seemed to pervade all the hospitals I‘d ever visited. The last time I‘d been in one was when I‘d given birth to my baby boy.

‘Senhora Beatriz is in here.’ Yara indicated a door at the end of the corridor. ‘I will just go and see if she is prepared.’

I sat on the bench outside, thinking that no matter what Beatriz told me today, it would not bring me down. The past was the past, and yesterday I‘d finally begun to have a future.

The door to Beatriz‘s room opened and Yara beckoned me in. ‘She‘s very alert this morning. She told the nurse she didn‘t want any drugs until she‘d spoken with you so that her mind would be clear. You‘ll have about an hour until the pain will be too much for her.’ She ushered me into the room, which was bright and airy with a beautiful view of the mountains and the sea below. Even though Beatriz‘s bed was of hospital design, everything else resembled an ordinary bedroom.

‘Good morning, Maia.’

Beatriz, who was sitting in a chair by the window, greeted me with surprising warmth. ‘Thank you for coming to see me. Please, sit down.’ She indicated a wooden chair opposite her. ‘Yara, you can leave us now.’