And now . . . I realised that in giving me my past, Pa Salt had probably offered me my future too. I quailed as I recalled my behaviour towards Floriano this morning.

Maia, what have you done?

Calling Christian on my mobile, I asked him to meet me at the pontoon in fifteen minutes. As I walked through the hectic streets of Geneva, I longed for the relaxed atmosphere of Rio. The people worked and they played and they also respected what they could not change or understand. And if I had messed up my future by letting old fears get the better of me, I accepted responsibility for it.

For as I stepped onto the pontoon and boarded the launch, I knew that although my life had been shaped by events out of my control, it was I who had made the decision to react to them in the way I had.

A very familiar but equally unexpected figure greeted me on the pier as Christian pulled the launch into Atlantis.

‘Surprise!’ she said, throwing her arms open to embrace me as I climbed out of the boat.

‘Ally! What are you doing here?’

‘Strangely enough, this is my home too,’ she said with a grin as we walked up to the house together arm in arm.

‘I know, but I wasn’t expecting you.’

‘I had a few days off, so I thought I’d come and check on how Ma was while you were away. I imagine it’s been hard on her too since Pa died.’

Instantly, I felt guilty at my own selfishness. I hadn’t spoken to Ma once during my time in Rio. Or even given her much more than a casual ‘hello’ since I’d arrived yesterday.

‘You look wonderful, Maia! I hear you’ve been busy.’ Ally nudged me affectionately. ‘Ma tells me you had a guest here last night. Who is he?’

‘Just someone I met in Rio.’

‘Well, let’s get ourselves a cool drink and you can tell me all about it.’

We sat at the table on the terrace, enjoying the sunshine. And as my usual initial ambivalence towards my ‘perfect’ sister abated after a few minutes in her easy company, I began to relax and tell her what had happened in Brazil.

‘Wow,’ she said as I paused for breath and took a sip of the home-made lemonade Claudia knew we both loved. ‘What an adventure you’ve been on. And it’s so brave of you to have gone there and discovered your past. I’m not confident that I’d be able to cope with finding out the reasons why I was put up for adoption in the first place, even though I did get lucky with Pa Salt and all my sisters afterwards. Didn’t it hurt when your grandmother told you about your mother?’ she asked me.

‘Yes, of course it did, but I understand. And Ally, there’s something else I want to tell you. That perhaps I should have told you a long time ago . . .’