“Forever and ever,” he carried her into their bedroom and kicked the door shut. Forever and ever, his love, his life.
* * *
Three weeks later, the questions that had been building up were finally answered.
A convoy of black four wheel drives arrived first, carrying a glowing Olivia and a clearly devoted Sheikh Zamir Fayez, exalted leader of Dashan.
“Call me Zami,” he said disarmingly in his foreign tone, extending a hand to Cristiano. “You must be Ava?” He kissed her on both cheeks. “Liv has told me so much of her sisters; it is a pleasure to finally meet you.” He gestured to the following vehicle. “This is my brother Ra’if.”
If Ava was a little over-awed by the royal presence, Cristiano was not at all.
“Cris!” Olivia broke into a run and threw herself at Cristiano, her arms around his neck, her face just an enormous smile. “Thank God you too finally came to your senses. I can’t believe it. Ava never said that things worked out for you.”
“Didn’t she now?” He teased over her head. “And here she’s been complaining about her non-communicative sisters.”
“Ah, yes, well,” Liv grinned, “I thought this news was better explained face to face.”
“Definitely,” Ava giggled. “Cris, why don’t you show Zami and Ra’if around. Liv and I have some catching up to do.”
The sisters linked arms and began to walk towards the house. It had changed so little over the years that Olivia was struck with certainty that she was stepping back into a piece of her history. Not her present, nor her future, but her past. And a cherished piece of it, too.
“Where’s Soph?”
“Not here yet.”
“Sophie! Sophie!” It was Milly, at the door, pointing towards the drive. Sure enough, another vehicle was approaching. No convoy this time, just a sleek silver sports car that had dust plumes in its wake.
“Our catch up will have to wait,” Ava said, dropping Olivia’s arm so that she could move quickly back into the driveway.
&n
bsp; The man who stepped out of the car gave the sisters a bemused smile before sweeping around to open Sophie’s door. She stood with her usual grace, and then broke into a run, towards Ava and Olivia.
“Oh, girls, I have missed you so much.”
They embraced for several moments, each unwilling to break the contact.
“Ava,” Alessandro interrupted, finally. “It is lovely to meet you finally.” He kissed her cheek and then turned to Olivia. “And to see you again, Olivia. Or must we now address you as Her Royal Highness?”
Her laugh was like bells in the breeze. “I’ll always be Livvie to my family, I promise.”
“Good, excellent.”
He looked past the sisters towards the house.
“Oh, you won’t find anyone in there. Zami and Ra’if are getting a tour from Cristiano. They went that way.”
“I shall catch up to them,” he said with a wink, and moved off with easy athleticism.
They watched him go, and then Olivia spoke. “I think it’s time to crack out one of mum’s special bottles and have a proper talk, don’t you?”
“Damn straight,” Ava began to move towards the house.
Milly jumped into Sophie’s arms and dear Sophie, who had always been such a soft touch with children, had tears in her eyes. “We have so much to talk about,” she said in a voice that was slightly tinged with sadness.
One of Meredith Henderson’s first vintages of wine later and the girls were tripping over themselves to share the details of their lives. How much had happened between their last encounter! Some good, some great, some bad. Poor Sophie, despite the time that had passed, was still mourning the loss of her baby. It had brought her and Alex together, but these things could not easily be forgotten, nor recovered from.
“I’ve been thinking about mum so much lately,” Sophie confided finally. “There was a time when I would have said she had all the answers. Remember how she used to speak about love? That it was something to be feared and wary of?”