Pascal gently pushed their bedroom door open and peeped in to see if Rosie had fallen asleep with the book she was reading resting on her breast. In fact, she was anxiously awaiting his arrival. How could she sleep with such upheavals happening to her, hitherto smoothly sailing life. She had planned many events to celebrate the arrival of her brother in law amidst them. Having a Roman Catholic Priest in her home would have boosted her standing in the society. However, in just few weeks since the arrival of Father Francis, all her plans for achieving an upward boost to her family's prestige had fallen apart. She had planned to work for the Church to run a mental health clinic since their kids could manage their routines on their own independent of her supervision and she had some free time. She wanted Dr. Pascal Mendez to begin cultivating relationship with the powerful and wealthy folks she had planned to bring in on that project. All that planning had to be put in a cold storage for now.
To add to that issue, she had to deal with â"? not quite presentable father in law staying with them, not just for that night, but possibly for good. She had not made any efforts to discuss anything about Frankie Mendez with her husband without knowing Frank's intentions. As a cautious mental health professional, she yielded to her instincts â"? wait until Pascue broaches the subject on his own; it would be advantageous to her when he reveals his feelings about the issue. That night, she remained wide awake way past her usual bed time waiting for him to enter the bedroom. Burdened with the family problems, keeping his worries so within himself is not a good thing to do. "He could not, or should not handle all this by himself! He must seek help." She thought and that night he came to her with the intentions of doing just that.
"I am glad you are not asleep yet," Pascue addressed her shutting the door behind.
"Just couldn't sleep with thinking about you're dealing with the situation all by yourself and I am not in the loop. It made me bit anxious that's all." Rosie replied.
He simply nodded his head and went to the bathroom to get ready for the bed. Rosie felt bit discouraged with that and began her retreat in her shell.
"I am not sure now whether to take initiative and make him spill the beans or just wait until he is ready!" She began evaluating the strategy that had formed by her subconscious mind. Not having any hint or a clue of his state of mind, she could do nothing but act like she was sinking in the deep sleep, before he came out of the bathroom.
Seeing her eyes shut, he addressed her in a gentle voice:
"Rosie, don't go to sleep yet, if you can; I must discuss some important maters with you that can't wait till tomorrow. I have a full schedule tomorrow and this is very important to let go onto another time."
Hearing the urgency in his utterance, Rosie not only opened her eyes but sat up instantly.
"Oh my God! Anything happened? I mean is Francis okay? He wasn't acting normal you know."
She suspected her brother in law got into some sort of troubles in the market where he has been hanging out with his stepbrothers.
"No; that is not our worry at this moment; he should be fine wherever he is spending night. He's used to doing that. I am referring to the immediate future of our family; I mean mine and my siblings' future to be precise, which of course will have some adverse effect on all of us."
Hearing that, Rosie in a totally lost state of mind, couldn't imagine what that event might be, that caused her usually strong and steady man act like he was in a panic situation. With eyes wide open, she searched for a clue on his visage and finding nothing but a seriously distressed man standing near her, she too began to panic. Naturally, that led to thinking of some terrible event, something like accidental death, has happened to either Alice, Emanuel or to both. She suppressed that line of thinking and waited to let him tell her the whole story and said,
"Well! What is it?"
"I need to bring you in on a terrible family secret that I kept buried deep in my heart since my mother's death in Rome. You were there with me and may remember that at the last hour of her life, mother had asked me to come in her room alone. She did not ask me to take any pledge of secrecy but left it up to my conscience to deal with that secrete. I did not divulge it to you because of its gravity and I needed time to hash it out the moral obligations thoroughly and understand the physical consequences on our lives, completely. I was going to wait for a while before burdening you with the knowledge of my ancestry. But this sudden appearance of Francis and Mr. Mendez has changed the equation drastically."

She did not like the prologue. It sounded like a yarn full of riddles and fictitious events.
"This has more mystery to solve, than to elicit any useful information for anyone to comprehend and determine the importance or the purpose," she thought. Again she said nothing but waited for him to continue.

With the mother's revelation and immediate death that followed, Pascue's mind had become numb at that time; partly with grief and also with anger towards the mother. However, at that time they were at a foreign place and also because of the presences of his step father, the Count, he had pushed that subject out of his mind. When other two siblings arrived, he found the courage deserting him. Instead of sharing the secret with his wife and siblings, he had rationalized the handling of this affair in his own way. 'Pragmatism is a good excuse for not sharing that secrete with anyone' he then had concluded.
"It serves nobody's interest and it makes sense not to dump more grief on my siblings," he thought and besides that, it hadn't sunk in him, how their inheritance was going to change legally.

Although the property of considerable value in Goa was willed to all three children by his mother, he felt uneasy as they were not the descendants of Mendez family, however at that time it was a non-issue because the sole legitimate owner, Frank Mendez had disappeared from the earth and after considerable time had elapsed, the sailor in question, was legally declared as a ' presumably dead' person. The court in Goa had settled the estate to his wife Miriam and all other claimants were denied the ownership rights. Everything looked in order then but the unexpected arrival of Mr. Frank Mendez from his watery grave (as was assumed then) on the scene, had changed entire legal rights scenario.

In Pascue's mind another personal fear had risen. During their courtship and after the wedding he had drawn a bit exaggerated picture about his grandfather and the considerable landholdings in front of Rosie. Based on that history, his wife had cultivated a great pride in him and his Goan family. She talked about it at places where she felt it added to her prestige and impressed the local friends. Her onerous belief that the Mendez clan was actually landed gentry from the Old Portuguese world got enhanced with the arrival of Francis Mendez, a Priest in the family. It meant something much more valuable to her than to Dr. Pascal Mendez.

However, when her father in law, Mr. Frank, with a weather beaten sailor's visage showed up at her door after a decade since she got married, and that grandiose image, which she had built in her mind of a Seafaring Captain with a white silky, flowing beard and a Mariner's Gold embroidered Peak cap, had crumbled. To add to that, Francis was not behaving like a Monsignor but acting like a mentally disturbed loose cannon ball, to give a small jolt to her overall sense of being part of a historical family who ruled the Portugal's Indian Colony.

Fortunately at that moment Frank was not put on a display in the country club or any other venues of social gatherings and she, now could skillfully avoid such occasions and do the damage control by not taking her eccentric brother in law out with her again. With that 'topsy- turvy 'mindset she waited to hear rest of the story that had a potential to set few seismic tremors, if not a full scale earthquake. She waited anxiously to face that eventuality.

While in the bathroom Pascue had evaluated his options. He had two options. So far Frank Mendez had not made even a cursory inquiry about his ancestral land or the estate, as if he did not want to do anything with his past. Let the old dog lay sleeping would be a wise choice indeed. It would be the most sensible one, and first option: Not to reveal the truth and wait for the old man really go to meet his maker in few years that means tell as little as needed to Rosie also and let her enjoy her illusions about the Mendez legacy.

The second option would require bring everyone on one page as far as the Goan property goes and avoid the guilt and fear of later exposures etc. But doing that had the practical consequences. They probably would have to share the estate with Frank's two Brazilian sons now and get it over with the problem once for all, unless they raise objections to equal sharing arrangements. This too could be done without revealing the true identities of Pascue and his sibling to the Mr.Mendez and his real family in Brazil. After all Frank never knew who was impregnating his wife just before he came home on a long shore leave every two years.

The estate was worth millions of dollars and all would get substantial amounts if it would be developed as a sea side resort. Since Miriam got married and left for Europe with the Duke. Emanuel had been managing the farm and the mansion, which is now converted into a Bed & Breakfast inn, was generating quite a handsome income. Emanuel with his family had been living in India all this time and could claim the property under the Indian Tenancy Reform Law that gave land holdings to the cultivators, when the real owners were the absentee landlords.

Apart from that, Emanuel had built their own wealth but additional millions wouldn't hurt anyone. This is where Pascue was stuck with the battle between the morality and the practical pragmatism. He knew by his past experiences that Rosie had lot more practical solutions up her sleeves than he could muster. Based on those qualities he admired in her, he made up his mind to bring her in not only pick one of the options for him but also to plan and execute it expeditiously.
Pascue organized his thoughts and began narrating the story of what Marian confessed to him and the priest in the room who came to perform the last rites. Without giving names, any historic details of their birth, and their early life in Goa, he told his wife the essence of that secret:
" Rosie darling, listen carefully what I am going to tell you. Alice and Emanuel and I, we three siblings are illegitimate children of Miriam and we do not know the name or whereabouts of our biological father. In essence, we have no rights to the Menendez family name or fortune."
When he ended the narrative with head bow down, seeing the tears rolling down on his cheeks she reached out to him with open arms. He lowered his head in her embrace and wept silently.
In spite of her tendency to plunge into the material world of upward bound Brazilian society, she had a kind heart and a sweet nature of a loving woman who prided in her clinical professionalism and carried a commitment to the faith in the Savior's guidance and love for the humanity. She loved her husband and his family ardently and sincerely. Now he had opened his heart to her and her motherly instinct had taken over her mind. With tenderness and in a loving voice she whispered in his ears:

"What difference does it make to us? I fell in love with you when I knew only your name; I married you when I knew only where you were going with your education. Since then I carried two precious childrenâ"? yours and mine, without knowing who your father was. What difference it is making now that I will never know who my father in law is or was? Let this not be a burden on your soul that your mother did not introduce you to your real father. Let us forgive her. We do not know her circumstances to judge her. May be her husband was a carrier of STD as many sailors do. Let us leave this behind and keep it berried with her and move forward with our lives. We have two gifts from God to nurture, guide and prepare them to their full potentials. We have work to do; let this not slow us down or impair us in any way. I love you for who you are; a great care giver, wonderful father and a fantastic lover of mine for my life. Let us sleep now and we will regroup tomorrow when we are free to decide what to do with our guest, Mr. Mendez."
With that speech, she made him to postpone his plans of making her the captain of his ship. Soon they fell asleep to carry on the life they had planned together when they got married.