Victor took a sip of his drink as he thought, taking longer to answer than he had intended. When he had awoken this morning, he had never thought the day would have turned out in such a way. In the company of two beautiful women telling each other their respective histories. It’s not as though, no one else had known of what his past was, certainly his closest friends and relatives had known, but to divulge it to two strangers, this was unheard of . . ., and yet, for some obscure reason, he felt comfortable in doing so with them. He was still coming to terms with his emotions – the fact that Isabelle was without a doubt a carbon copy of his first love, was hard to accept, but somewhere deep inside, told him it was possible. He looked deeply into her eyes, in the same way her mother had done to him a few moments earlier, as though searching Carla out. Could it be possible that Isabelle was Carla re-born? As much as Victor believed in reincarnation, he had never thought it truly possible . . ., and yet?

“The only special thing I ever wanted to happen was for me to marry Carla and start a family. As that was no longer an option, I re-entered the army.”

“How long were you with them?” Victoria asked.

“Most of my working life . . ., I progressed through the ranks. I got as far as a Lieutenant Colonel, then due to health reasons, I chose to take early retirement.”

“Nothing too serious, I hope?” Victoria asked, a slight tremor in her voice.

He shook his head and pushed his chair back before standing up. He stepped over to the railing and leaned against it, facing them.

“It was due to an injury I sustained in battle – nothing too serious, but it was the second time in my career I’d been put out of action by a bullet. I didn’t want to push my luck with a possible third one; so, I quit.” He took a deep pull on his drink before continuing. “The trouble was though, having led such an active life, retirement was too boring, so I decided to try my hand at something else. I took up a position as a security consultant for a few more years before retiring completely.”

“Was that in Melbourne?”

“No; actually, it was in Sydney. The company was owned by a fellow soldier whom I’d met in Afghanistan. His recruitment advertisement was aimed at ex-military personnel. It was only when I saw him during the interview that we recognised each other.”

“And you say you don’t believe in coincidences?” Victoria smiled. “Just out of interest, what was the name of the firm?”

“Guardian Angels,” he said in an embarrassed tone, and grimaced when he saw her cringe. “Yes, I know, it does sound corny, but hey, you can’t be too fussy when looking for work at a mature age.”

They remained silent for a while, then a rumbling sound inside his stomach made him realise he was hungry – after all, they had hardly touched their food at the restaurant and it dawned on him, they too must also be in the same position. He instinctively glanced at his watch. It was six-thirty.