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“Yes, let’s go where we can speak without interruption.” Her smile was one of formality rather than friendship. She indicated the doorway that led to the private living area and waited for Elizabeth to precede her.
Milly came tumbling through the door only a moment after they’d sat down, followed swiftly by Sophie. “Young lady, you run far, far too fast. Are you eight or are you two?” She teased, crouching down and tickling her niece until giggles pealed through the room. “Oh!” She startled at the stranger in their midst. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I didn’t know we had company.”
“Not at all,” Ava assured Sophie. “In fact, it’s excellent timing that you’re here. Soph, this is Lady Elizabeth Sanderson. She has something to tell us about our mother.”
“About mum?” Sophie scrunched her nose up and came to sit on the other side of the sofa, so that Ava was sandwiched in the middle. Milly, as if sensing the gravity of the situation, sat at Ava’s feet, still as a statue, her dark eyes intent on Elizabeth’s face.
“So it’s true,” Elizabeth said softly. “You’re triplets.”
The sisters shared a look of growing confusion.
“Yes,” Ava said, her impatience taking over any other emotion.
Marie appeared with a tray of tea; she set it down and then held a hand out to Milly. The little girl looked from her mother to Marie to the beautiful stranger and shook her head.
“That’s okay, Marie. Milly can stay.”
Elizabeth’s eyes drifted down to the little girl. “She’s very sweet,” she said, her accent clipped. “I have a six year old daughter as well, Rose. She’ll be joining us shortly.”
Sophie’s smile was genuine. “You seem to know an awful lot about us, Lady Sanderson.”
Elizabeth’s cheeks were pink. “Please, call me Elizabeth,” she instructed.
“Elizabeth, then,” Sophie corrected. “I’m sure my sisters feel the same way I do; fascinated to meet someone who claims to know our mother.”
“Your mother has passed away,” she said, her tone sympathetic.
“Five years ago,” Olivia supplied, crossing one leg over the other. Milly’s little face was drawn to the movement and she studied the spindly heel on Olivia’s shoe.
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said.
The triplets waited in silence.
“I’m sorry again,” Elizabeth’s laugh was nervous. “I’ve been planning this for months, and now that I’m here, I have no idea where to start.”
“At the beginning,” Ava recommended, leaning forward an inch or two out of fascination now.
“Yes, of course.” Elizabeth’s hand was shaking as she reached for the pot and poured out a cup of tea. She added a dash of milk and then settled back into the chair, all without disturbing the infant she kept cradled against her shoulder. “I’ll start at the beginning, and ask only that you bear with me while I seem to be discussing matters that are of no relevance to you.”
“Very well,” Olivia agreed, though inside her tummy was in knots.
“My husband Antonio, who you’ll meet soon enough, is the reason I’m here.” She furrowed her brow. “I’m speaking on condition of privacy, of course; and in the hope that you will have as much reason as I to be discreet about this matter.”
Ava nodded encouragingly.
“My husband is one of three brothers. Antonio, Niko and Marcos were always close, growing up.” Her smile was distracted. “I’m sure you can understand.” She took in a breath. “Shortly before I met Antonio, he had learned a shocking family secret. His father, Umberto, the man who had raised him from birth, was not, in point of fact, his biological father. My mother-in-law had indulged in an affair and Antonio was the product of that. She passed him off as Umberto’s biological child and he went to his grave never knowing it to be false.”
Ava’s breath hitched in her throat. Was it possible that the same man who had fathered Antonio had also fathered them?
“We know a little about this type of mystery,” Olivia said. “Though I guess you already know that, huh?”
Elizabeth inclined her head in silent admission of that fact. “Who was the father?”
“Well,” Elizabeth said with a shake of her head. “He is not really relevant. But the reason for her infidelity bothered me greatly. You see, My husband and his brothers preferred to shut their mother out. They were furious with her for this duplicity.”
“Naturally,” Ava agreed sympathetically.
“Yes, of course,” Sophie murmured.
