everyone.’
‘Yes, of course you are, and telling our sisters can’t have been easy. I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to help you.’
‘Well, at least the fact that you’re here now means we can meet with Georg Hoffman and begin to move on.’
‘Oh yes,’ I said, checking my watch, ‘I forgot to say that Ma has asked us to be up at the house in an hour. He’s due here any minute, but he wants to have a chat with
her first apparently. So,’ I sighed, ‘can I please have another glass of wine while we wait?’
5
At seven o’clock, Maia and I walked up to the house to meet with Georg Hoffman. Our sisters had already been waiting a while on the terrace, enjoying the evening sun, but
tense with impatience. Electra, as usual, was covering her nervousness by making sarcastic comments about Pa Salt’s flair for drama and mystery, when Marina finally arrived with Georg. I saw
he was tall, grey-haired and dressed immaculately in a dark grey suit – the epitome of a successful Swiss lawyer.
‘Sorry to keep you so long, girls, there was something I had to organise,’ the lawyer said. ‘My condolences to you all.’ He shook each of our hands in turn. ‘May I
sit down?’
Maia indicated the chair next to her and as Georg sat down, I sensed his tension as he twisted his expensive but discreet watch around his wrist. Marina excused herself and went into the house
to leave us alone with him.
‘Well, girls,’ he began. ‘I am so very sorry that the first time I meet you in person is under such tragic circumstances. But of course, I feel as though I know each of you
very well through your father, and firstly I must tell you that he loved you all very much.’ I watched as genuine emotion crossed his features. ‘Not only that, but he was passionately
proud of who you have all become. I spoke to him just before he . . . left us, and he wanted me to tell all of you this.’
He looked at each of us kindly in turn, before turning to the file in front of him. ‘The first thing to do is to get the finances out of the way and reassure all of you that you will be
provided for, at some level, for the rest of your lives. However, your father was adamant that you should not live like lazy princesses, so you will all receive an income which will be enough to
keep the wolf from the door, but never allow you to live your lives in luxury. That part, as he stressed to me, is what you must all earn yourselves, just as he did. However, your father’s
estate is held in trust for all of you and he has given me the honour of managing it for him. It will be down to my discretion to give you further financial help if you come to me with a
proposition or a problem.’
None of us said anything as we listened intently.
‘This house is also part of the trust, and Claudia and Marina have both agreed that they are happy to stay on and take care of it. On the day of the last sister’s death, the trust
will be dissolved and Atlantis can be sold and the proceeds divided between any children you all may have. If there are none, then the money will go to a charity of your father’s choice.
Personally,’ Georg commented, finally laying aside his lawyerly formality, ‘I think what your father has done is most clever: making sure the house is here for the rest of your lives,
so you know you have a safe place to return to. But of course, your father’s ultimate wish is for all of you to fly away and forge your own destinies.’
All of us sisters exchanged glances, wondering what kind of changes this would bring about for us. For me, I supposed, my financial future at least would not be affected. I had always been
independent and worked hard for everything I had. As for my destiny . . . I thought of Theo and what I hoped we would continue to share together.
‘Now,’ said Georg, snapping me out of my thoughts, ‘there is one further thing that your father has left you, and I must ask you all to come with me. Please, this
‘Yes, of course you are, and telling our sisters can’t have been easy. I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to help you.’
‘Well, at least the fact that you’re here now means we can meet with Georg Hoffman and begin to move on.’
‘Oh yes,’ I said, checking my watch, ‘I forgot to say that Ma has asked us to be up at the house in an hour. He’s due here any minute, but he wants to have a chat with
her first apparently. So,’ I sighed, ‘can I please have another glass of wine while we wait?’
5
At seven o’clock, Maia and I walked up to the house to meet with Georg Hoffman. Our sisters had already been waiting a while on the terrace, enjoying the evening sun, but
tense with impatience. Electra, as usual, was covering her nervousness by making sarcastic comments about Pa Salt’s flair for drama and mystery, when Marina finally arrived with Georg. I saw
he was tall, grey-haired and dressed immaculately in a dark grey suit – the epitome of a successful Swiss lawyer.
‘Sorry to keep you so long, girls, there was something I had to organise,’ the lawyer said. ‘My condolences to you all.’ He shook each of our hands in turn. ‘May I
sit down?’
Maia indicated the chair next to her and as Georg sat down, I sensed his tension as he twisted his expensive but discreet watch around his wrist. Marina excused herself and went into the house
to leave us alone with him.
‘Well, girls,’ he began. ‘I am so very sorry that the first time I meet you in person is under such tragic circumstances. But of course, I feel as though I know each of you
very well through your father, and firstly I must tell you that he loved you all very much.’ I watched as genuine emotion crossed his features. ‘Not only that, but he was passionately
proud of who you have all become. I spoke to him just before he . . . left us, and he wanted me to tell all of you this.’
He looked at each of us kindly in turn, before turning to the file in front of him. ‘The first thing to do is to get the finances out of the way and reassure all of you that you will be
provided for, at some level, for the rest of your lives. However, your father was adamant that you should not live like lazy princesses, so you will all receive an income which will be enough to
keep the wolf from the door, but never allow you to live your lives in luxury. That part, as he stressed to me, is what you must all earn yourselves, just as he did. However, your father’s
estate is held in trust for all of you and he has given me the honour of managing it for him. It will be down to my discretion to give you further financial help if you come to me with a
proposition or a problem.’
None of us said anything as we listened intently.
‘This house is also part of the trust, and Claudia and Marina have both agreed that they are happy to stay on and take care of it. On the day of the last sister’s death, the trust
will be dissolved and Atlantis can be sold and the proceeds divided between any children you all may have. If there are none, then the money will go to a charity of your father’s choice.
Personally,’ Georg commented, finally laying aside his lawyerly formality, ‘I think what your father has done is most clever: making sure the house is here for the rest of your lives,
so you know you have a safe place to return to. But of course, your father’s ultimate wish is for all of you to fly away and forge your own destinies.’
All of us sisters exchanged glances, wondering what kind of changes this would bring about for us. For me, I supposed, my financial future at least would not be affected. I had always been
independent and worked hard for everything I had. As for my destiny . . . I thought of Theo and what I hoped we would continue to share together.
‘Now,’ said Georg, snapping me out of my thoughts, ‘there is one further thing that your father has left you, and I must ask you all to come with me. Please, this
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