It was my sisters who spotted me first, coming out onto the terrazza. I wondered if they knew this secret? Well, there was only one way to find out. I saw Susannah coming towards me now, already looking concerned. She had clearly seen something amiss on my face. My sisters, too, looked worried.
‘Come.’ I led them all away until I found a shaded spot where we might have some privacy. I stared hard at them. ‘Did you know?’
Susannah clasped my hand. ‘Know what?’
Artemisia gasped. ‘I don’t believe he told you. He can’t have.’
‘Raphael, in the name of God. Told you what?’
I took a deep breath of air heavy with the scent of sap from a row of newly trimmed cypress trees. ‘It seems my papà is not my papà after all, cara.’
papàpapàcaraShe put her arms around me, pulling me close. ‘What? Oh my
