She nodded. She suddenly felt exhausted — as if she’d been running for years and had finally reached the end of her strength.
‘We can face this,’ he said again, softer now. ‘Together.’
Lucy poked her head around the corner of the small office. ‘She’s here. I’ll show her into the back courtyard. Give you all a bit of privacy.’ She shot Augi a sympathetic glance and disappeared.
‘Come on, let’s go. Let’s get this sorted.’
Augi nodded and with her hand in his, they went outside.
The light was beginning to fade as the days became shorter, the sky holding an almost violet tint, shadowy. Beneath the arbour sat a woman who stood up when she saw them approach.
With Dan beside her and Lucy not far away, Augi felt calmer than she’d felt in days. Dan was right. It was time to deal with this.
The woman saw them and rose, her eyes meeting Augi’s with a question, and Augi instantly realised what she’d failed to see when she’d first caught sight of the woman. It seemed fear could do that. She knew this woman. Or, rather, she had known her when she’d been a girl barely in her teens.
‘Have I changed so much?’ the woman asked.
‘Sofia,’ she said. Augi dropped Dan’s hand and stepped forward, reaching out her hands.
The tension in the woman’s face melted away. ‘Yes.’
Augi pulled the other woman towards her and held her for a few moments.
‘Sofia,’ she whispered. ‘It’s really you?’
She nodded. ‘I was barely more than a teenager when you last saw me.’
‘And hadn’t yet grown,’ she said faintly. ‘You have Georgio’s eyes.’ The name cracked as she spoke it — the first time in years.
She turned to Dan. ‘This is my sister-in-law, Sofia.’ Then back to Sofia. ‘And this is my good friend Daniel.’
Dan shot her a look at the word friend, but recovered quickly and shook Sofia’s hand.
They all sat down, except Augi.
‘First,’ she said, standing rigid, ‘I need to apologise. I didn’t recognise you. You took me by surprise.’
‘That’s understandable,’ Sofia said gently. ‘We haven’t seen each other in a very long time.’ She patted the chair beside her. ‘Please, don’t be worried. I come in peace.’ She shot her a warm smile.
It reassured Augi, and she sat down, glancing around the table at Dan and Sofia.
Dan took the cue. ‘It’s come as a bit of a shock to Augustini.’
The smile faded and Sofia nodded with a serious expression.
‘Of course.’
‘How did you find me?’ asked Augi.
‘My husband works in IT and was able to figure out your approximate location from the IP address and the attachment in your signature. From there it was a question of asking around, checking social media. That kind of thing.’
‘Right,’ said Augi. ‘Of course. These days it would be impossible to disappear as I did ten years ago.’
‘Ah, you didn’t want to be found, did you? We tried, my parents and I, over the years.’
‘Your parents?’ asked Augi in disbelief. Her parents-in-law had been part of the reason she’d disappeared, unable to take their blame, when she blamed herself already.
‘I came to Australia first to see if I could trace you. My parents were anxious to find you after… what happened. We thought you might have moved there after…’
