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“Casa Celli?” Olivia pondered. “Mum meant to call this place Casa Cielo – house of heaven. Only she got it wrong. She was looking after three babies, after all.”
“Is that what she told you?” Elizabeth’s smile was good-natured.
“You’re saying it’s not true, Lady Sanderson?” Sophie asked desperately.
Her expression was knowing. “Please, call me Elizabeth. Or perhaps you’d prefer my married name: Elizabeth Casacelli.”
The silence was deafening.
“Casacelli. Casa Celli.” Ava shook her head from side to side. “She named the property after him.”
“Perhaps she wanted you to know more of your heritage than she let on.”
“I can’t believe it!” Sophie murmured, her eyes round as saucers. “So you’re telling me that we have three brothers out there somewhere?”
“Not somewhere,” Elizabeth interjected with a grin. “They’re hovering around the Valley waiting for my text message to tell them you haven’t all died from the shock.”
“They know about us?” Ava squeaked.
“Yes. But I only told them on the flight over here.” Her smile was wry. “I needed them contained and unable to storm off. Your brothers have quite the flair for drama.”
Olivia laughed. “Our brothers? I still can’t quite get my head around this.”
“It is a lot to take in,” Elizabeth promised. “But we were hoping we could all get to know one another. After all, family’s family, and you’ve found your way into a rather big one.”
“Yes,” Ava felt tears sting her eyes.
“Three brothers,” Olivia said again, shaking her head.
“Three brothers, three sisters-in-law, three nieces and a nephew.”
“My goodness!” Sophie laughed now, and it was a sound of true pleasure. “This is just … I can’t …”
“I know,” Ava nodded. “It’s unimaginable. I often wondered about our father. I never considered that he might have had other children.”
“Are there any more of us?” Olivia posed the question as an afterthought.
“No,” Elizabeth spoke with confidence. “Umberto was usually very careful. But he loved your mother. I
don’t know for certain that he didn’t intentionally …”
“Planned? You think he planned to get her pregnant?”
“Who knows?” Elizabeth shrugged her slim shoulders. “This information died with Umberto and your mother.”
“When did he die?” Ava asked suddenly.
Elizabeth’s nod was grave. “A month after Meredith. Nicoletta believed it to be grief.”
They sat in stunned silence for several moments while the news sunk in. “He really did love her.”
“Yes.”
“Then her mistrust of men and love was a mistake,” Sophie smiled, relieved that her gentle heart and loving instincts were not as ridiculous as she had often believed.
“Not to her,” Ava reminded Sophie.
“So?” Elizabeth said after a minute. “Shall I tell the hoards to join us?”
