‘There’s no way we’re going to catch up with your father now, even at top speed. The Titan is going at full blast. Have you called him?’
‘No, my mobile’s charging at the moment.’
‘Here, use mine.’
Theo handed his mobile to me, and I tapped in Pa Salt’s number. It immediately went to voicemail and I left my father a message explaining the situation and asking him to call me back as soon as possible.
‘Looks like your father’s running away from you,’ Theo teased me. ‘Maybe he doesn’t want to be seen just now. Anyway, I’ll radio Andy to find out his exact location and we’ll go straight to meet him instead.’
My confusion must have shown on my face, because Theo took me in his arms and gave me a hug.
‘Really, darling, I was only joking. Remember it’s just an open radio line and the Titan may well have missed the messages. I’ve certainly been known to do that. You should have just called him on his mobile to begin with.’
‘Yes.’ I agreed. But as we sailed at a far more leisurely pace towards Delos to rendezvous with Theo’s friend, I knew from my many hours of sailing with Pa that he insisted on the radio being on at all times, with Hans, his skipper, always alert for any messages for the Titan.
And in retrospect, I remember how unsettled I’d felt for the rest of the afternoon. Perhaps it had been a premonition of what was to come.
And so I awoke in Theo’s arms the following morning in the beautiful deserted bay of Macheres, my heart heavy at the thought of heading back to Naxos later that afternoon. Theo had already talked about his plans to prepare for the race that would start in a few days and it seemed our halcyon time together was almost over, at least for now.
As I came to from my reverie, lying naked on the sun deck next to him, I had to force my mind to reboot outside the wonderful cocoon that was Theo and me. My phone was still charging from the day before and I made to get up and retrieve it.
‘Where are you going?’ Theo’s hand held me fast.
‘To get my phone. I really should listen to my messages.’
‘Come straight back, won’t you?’
I did and then he reached for me and ordered me to put the phone down for a little while longer. Suffice to say, it was another hour before I switched it on.
I knew there would probably be some messages from friends and family. But as I manoeuvred Theo’s hand gently from my belly so as not to wake him, I noticed that I had an unusually large number of texts. And a number of voicemail alerts.
All the text messages were from my sisters.
Ally, please call as soon as you can. Love Maia.
Ally, CeCe here. We’re all trying to get hold of you. Can you call Ma or one of us immediately?
Darling Ally, it’s Tiggy. We don’t know where you are, but we must speak to you.
And Electra’s text sent shudders of terror through me: Ally, oh my God! Isn’t it awful? Can you believe it? Flying home from LA now.
I stood up and walked to the prow of the yacht. It was obvious that something dreadful had happened. My hands trembled as I dialled my voicemail and waited to hear what it was that had prompted my sisters to contact me with such universal urgency.
And as I listened to the most recent message first, I knew.
‘Hi, this is CeCe again. Everyone else seems to be too scared to tell you, but we need you home urgently. Ally, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but Pa Salt has died. Sorry . . . sorry . . . Please call as soon as you can.’
CeCe had probably thought she’d ended the call before she had, as there was a sudden loud sob before the beep of the next message sounded.
I stared unseeingly into the distance, thinking of how I’d seen the Titan through the binoculars only yesterday. There must be some mistake, I comforted myself, but then I listened to the next voicemail from Marina, my mother in all but blood, asking me to contact her urgently too, and the same again from Maia, Tiggy and Electra . . .
‘Oh my God, oh my God . . .’
I held on to the railing for support, my mobile slipping out of my hand and landing with a thump on the deck. I bent my head forwards as all the blood seemed to drain from me and I thought I might faint. Breathing heavily, I collapsed onto the deck and buried my head in my hands.
‘It can’t be true, it can’t be true . . .’ I moaned.
‘Sweetheart, what on earth is it?’ Theo, still naked, appeared beside me, crouching down and tipping my chin up to him. ‘What’s happened?’
I could only point at my dropped mobile.
‘Bad news?’ he asked as he picked it up, concern written across his face.
I nodded.
‘Ally, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Let’s get you into the shade and find you a glass of water.’
With my mobile still in his hand, he half-lifted me from the deck and helped me down and onto a leather bench inside. I remember wondering randomly if I was always destined to be seen by him as helpless.
He hastily donned a pair of shorts and fetched me one of his T-shirts, gently helping my unresponsive body into it, then he armed me with a large brandy and a glass of water. My hands were shaking so much that I had to ask him to dial my voicemail so I could listen to the rest of my messages. I choked and spluttered as I swallowed the brandy, but it warmed my stomach and helped calm me.
‘Here you go.’ He handed me my mobile and I numbly re-listened to CeCe’s message and all the rest, including three from Maia and one from Marina, then the unfamiliar voice of Georg Hoffman, who I vaguely remembered was Pa’s lawyer. And a further five blank voicemails where the caller had obviously not known what to say and had rung off.
Theo’s eyes never left my face as I placed my mobile on the seat next to me.
‘Pa Salt is dead,’ I whispered quietly, and stared into space for a long time after that.
‘Oh God! How?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Are you absolutely sure?’
‘Yes! CeCe was the only one brave enough to actually say the words. But I still don’t understand how it’s possible . . . it was only yesterday when we saw Pa’s boat.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t offer an explanation for that, my darling. Here, the best thing you can do is ring home immediately,’ he said, sliding my mobile back to me across the seat.
‘I . . . can’t.’
‘I understand. Would you like me to do it? If you give me the number, I—’
‘NO!’ I shouted at him. ‘No, I just need to get home. Now!’ I stood up then, looking around me helplessly and then up to the skies, as if a helicopter might appear overhead and carry me to the place I so urgently needed to be.
‘Listen, let me go on the internet and then make a few calls. Back in a bit.’
Theo disappeared up to the bridge as I sat, catatonic with shock.
My father . . . Pa Salt . . . dead?! I let out an outraged laugh at the ridiculousness of the idea. He was indestructible, omnipotent, alive . . .
‘Please, no!’ I shivered suddenly and felt my hands and feet tingling as though I was in the snowy Alps, rather than on a boat in the Aegean sun.
‘Okay,’ Theo said as he returned from the bridge. ‘You’ll miss the two forty flight from Naxos to Athens, so we’re going to have to get there by boat. There’s a flight from Athens to Geneva first thing tomorrow morning. I’ve booked you on it as there were only a few seats left.’
‘So I can’t get home today?’
‘Ally, it’s already one thirty, and it’s a long way to Athens by boat, let alone flying to Geneva. I reckon if we do top speed most of the way, with a stop at Naxos for fuel, we can make it into the harbour by sunset tonight. Even I don’t fancy taking this into a port as crowded as Piraeus in the dark.’
‘Of course,’ I replied dully, wondering how on earth I would cope with the endless in-between hours of the journey home.
‘Right, I’ll go and start her up,’ Theo said. ‘Want to come and sit with me?’
‘In a while.’
Five minutes later, as I heard the rhythmic hydraulic clank of the anchor being raised and the soft hum of the engines purring into life, I stood up and walked to the stern, where I leant on the railings. I watched as we began to move away from the island, which I’d thought of last night as Nirvana but now would always be the place where I’d heard about my father’s death. As the boat began to pick up speed, I felt nauseated with shock and guilt. For the past few days, I’d been totally and utterly selfish. I had thought only of me, and my happiness at finding Theo.
And while I had been making love, lying with Theo’s arms around me, my father had been lying somewhere dying. How could I ever forgive myself for that?
Theo was as good as his word, and we arrived at Piraeus harbour in Athens at sunset. During the agonising journey, I lay across his lap on the bridge, as one of his hands gently stroked my hair and the other steered us safely across a choppy sea. Once in our berth, Theo went down to the galley and prepared some pasta, which he then spoon-fed me as if I was a child.
‘Coming down to sleep?’ he asked me and I could see he was exhausted from the concentration of the past few hours. ‘We have to be up at four tomorrow to make your flight.’
I agreed, knowing he’d insist on staying up with me if I refused to go to bed. Steeling myself for a long, sleepless night, I let Theo lead me below, where he helped me into bed and wrapped his warm arms around me, cradling me to him.
‘If it’s any consolation, Ally, I love you. I don’t just “think” I do any more, I know.’
I stared into the darkness and, having not shed a tear since the news, I found my eyes suddenly wet.
‘And I promise I’m not just saying it to make you feel better. I’d have told you tonight anyway,’ he added.
‘I love you too,’ I whispered.
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, if you mean it, I’m more pleased than if I’d won this year’s Fastnet Race. Now, try to sleep.’
And surprisingly, held fast by Theo and his admission of love, I did.
The following morning, as the taxi crawled through the Athens traffic, heavy even at sunrise, I saw Theo surreptitiously checking his watch. It was usually me in control of such things, monitoring the time for others, but at that moment, I was glad he was taking charge.
I checked in with forty minutes to spare, just as the desk was closing.
‘Ally, darling, tell me, are you sure you’re going to be okay?’ Theo frowned. ‘And are you positive you don’t want me to come to Geneva with you?’
‘Really, I’ll be fine,’ I said as I walked towards departures.
‘Listen, if there’s anything I can do, please let me know.’
We’d reached the end of the queue waiting to go through security as it wove snake-like between the barriers. I turned to Theo. ‘Thank you, for everything. You’ve been amazing.’
‘I really haven’t, Ally, and listen’ – he pulled me back towards him urgently – ‘just remember I love you.’
‘I will,’ I whispered, managing a wan smile.
‘And any time you don’t feel brave, just call or text me.’
‘I promise.’
‘And by the way,’ he said as he released me from his arms, ‘I’ll totally understand if you can’t sail in the regatta, given the circumstances.’
‘I’ll let you know as soon as possible.’
‘We’ll lose without you.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘You’re the best crewman I’ve got. Goodbye, my darling.’
‘Bye.’
I joined the queue and was subsumed into the mass of trudging humanity. As I was about to dump my rucksack in a tray for X-ray, I turned back.
He was still there.
‘I love you,’ he mouthed. And with a kiss and a wave, he left.
As I waited in the departure lounge, and the surreal bubble of love that had encased me for the past few days burst abruptly, my stomach began to churn with dreadful trepidation at what I must face. I pulled out my mobile and called Christian, the young skipper of our family’s speedboat, who would transport me from Geneva and along the lake to my childhood home. I left a message asking him to collect me at ten o’clock from the pontoon. I also asked him to say nothing to Ma or my sisters about my arrival, telling him I would contact them myself.
But as I boarded the plane and willed myself to make the call, I found that I couldn’t do it. The dreadful prospect of another few hours alone, with the truth having been confirmed over the phone by one of my family, prohibited it. The plane began taxiing along the runway, and as we left the ground, flying up into the sunrise over Athens, I leant my hot cheek against the cool window as panic began to assail me. To distract myself, I glanced unseeingly at the front page of an International Herald Tribune that I’d been handed by the cabin attendant. I was about to put it aside when a headline caught my eye.
‘BILLIONAIRE TYCOON’S BODY WASHED UP ON GREEK ISLAND’
There was a photograph of a vaguely familiar face, with a caption beneath it.
‘Kreeg Eszu found dead on Aegean beach.’
I stared at the headline in shock. Theo had told me it was his boat, the Olympus, which had been so close to Pa Salt’s in the bay off Delos . . .
Letting the newspaper slip to the floor, I stared miserably out of the window. I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand anything anymore . . .
Nearly three hours later, as the plane began its descent into Geneva airport, my heart started beating so fast that I could barely catch my breath. I was going home, which normally engendered a feeling of happiness and excitement because the person I loved most in the world would be there to welcome me with open arms into our own magical world. But this time, I knew he would not be there to greet me. And never would be again.
4
‘Would you like to drive, Mademoiselle Ally?’ Christian indicated my usual seat in front of the wheel where I would sit and speed us across the still, calm waters of Lake Geneva.
‘Not today, Christian,’ I said and he nodded at me sombrely, his expression confirming that everything I knew already was true. He started the engine, and I slumped onto one of the seats at the back, my head hanging miserably, unable to look anywhere but down as I remembered how Pa Salt had sat me on his knee as a tiny child and let me steer for the first time. Now, just minutes away from not only having to face reality, but also having to acknowledge the fact that I’d failed to pick up my family’s messages or respond to them, I wondered how any god could take me from the heights of joy to the abject despair I felt as we approached Atlantis.
From the lake, everything beyond the immaculate hedges that shielded the house from view looked as it always had. Surely, I prayed as Christian eased us into the jetty and I climbed out and moored the boat securely to the bollard, there’d been some mistake? Pa would be here to greet me any moment, he had to be here . . .
Within a few seconds, I saw CeCe and Star approaching across the lawns. Then Tiggy appeared, and I heard her shout something through the open front door of the house as she hurried to catch up with her two older sisters. I began to run up the lawn to meet them, but my knees went weak with dread and I drew to a halt as I read their shared expressions.
Ally, I entreated myself, you’re the leader here, you have to pull yourself together . . .
‘Ally! Oh Ally, we’re all so glad you’re here!’ Tiggy reached me first as I stood immobile on the grass, trying to appear calm. She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. ‘We’ve been waiting for you to come for days!’
CeCe was the next to reach me, then Star – her shadow – who remained silent but joined Tiggy in our mutual embrace.
Eventually, I pulled away, noticing the tears in my sisters’ eyes, and we walked up to Atlantis together in silence.
Seeing the house, I was struck by another pang of loss. Pa Salt had called this our private kingdom. Dating back to the eighteenth century, it even looked like a fairy
-tale castle, with its four turrets and pink-painted exterior. Cocooned on its private peninsula and surrounded by magnificent gardens, I’d always felt safe here – but already it felt empty without Pa Salt.
As we arrived on the terrace, Maia, my eldest sister, emerged from the Pavilion that sat to the side of the main house. I could see her lovely features were marked by pain, but they lightened into relief as she saw me.
‘Ally!’ she breathed, as she rushed to greet me.
‘Maia,’ I said as she clasped her arms around me, ‘isn’t it absolutely awful?’
‘Yes, just ghastly. But how did you hear? We’ve been trying to contact you for the last two days.’
‘Shall we go inside?’ I asked the assembled company. ‘And then I’ll explain.’
While my other sisters crowded around me as we walked into the house, Maia lagged behind. Even though she was the eldest and the one they looked to individually if they had an emotional problem, as a group, it was me who always took command. And I knew she was letting me do so now.
Ma was already waiting for us in the entrance hall and enveloped me in a warm, silent embrace. I let myself sink into the comfort of her arms and clutched her tightly to me. I was relieved when she suggested we all head into the kitchen – it had been a long journey and I was desperate for some coffee.
As Claudia, our housekeeper, prepared a large cafetière, Electra sidled into the room, her long, dark limbs managing to look effortlessly elegant in shorts and a T-shirt.
‘Ally.’ She greeted me quietly, and close up I could see how weary she looked, as if someone had burst her and drained the fire out of her incredible amber eyes. She gave me a brief hug and squeezed my shoulder.
I looked at each one of my sisters, thinking how rare it was these days that we were all gathered together. And as I thought of the reason, my heart jumped into my throat. Although I must eventually hear what had happened to Pa, I knew I had to tell them first where I’d been, what I’d seen there and why it had taken me so long to come home.
The Storm Sister Page 4