O lover, with your skin so white
The purest alabaster
Delicate as the whitest lily that
Only opens its petals at night
The recall was instant, and Shauna was taken back to that day when Demetrios had made love to her and they’d spent their first night together on the St Helena.
She tore open the letter.
Dear Shauna,
For many years I have thought of you and that summer we spent together. Fortune has thrown many arrows in our direction. In one letter it is not possible for me to express all the things that are in my heart, but I would like the chance to try. You will not find me the same man as you knew then, but one thing has never changed, and that is the high regard in which I hold you.
I have never forgotten those precious weeks we spent together and every day I deeply regret not trying harder to find you. Should you ever wish to visit our magical island again, it would give me great joy to see you once more. I have so much I want to say to you.
As ever, I am at your disposal.
Yours,
Demetrios
Shauna traced the lines of his signature, recognizing it still after two decades: the lowercase D rather than an upper-case one, the characteristic curve of the d looped around.
There was something about the letter that seemed inevitable to her now. She had worked so hard to forget, to erase all the traces of the love she had felt. Dan’s love had done much to gently smooth away her anger and sadness, but it was still there, like Roxy had said, locked in that secret place, hidden from everyone, even Dan. Why had she never told him?
Taking Alex into her life had shown her that secrets will always find their way out. Roxy was right, it was time for her to face up to her past. Demetrios wasn’t the only one who needed to explain himself. She owed him an explanation too …
Chapter 24
Ariana watched as her grandmother chopped up the pistachios and walnuts, preparing them for her traditional baklava, which everyone in the household loved. Tonight was Níko’s birthday and it was always a cause for celebration at the taverna. Níko loved to entertain and no one threw a party like he did.
Her grandmother was still a striking woman, but with the death of her husband, Ariana’s beloved Pappous, some of the fire had gone out of her. She suffered with arthritis and Ariana watched her gnarled fingers work the mixture with a spoon.
‘How did you and Grandfather meet?’
‘Oh, he made a play for me, but I didn’t say yes immediately.’ Elana smiled at the memory, ‘He was very passionate in his courting, but my father didn’t want me to marry him.’
‘Why ever not? Wasn’t he already a rich businessman?’
‘He was still a young man with lots to learn … my father wanted me to be happy. He said, “Elana, this man will make his business yours, and you will have to be his boss too.”’
‘What did he mean?’
‘He could see that your grandfather needed someone by his side to be a success. My father just wanted me to have babies and be a good wife, he thought that is what would make a young woman happy.’
‘You were happy, weren’t you?’
‘Of course, and being part of the business suited my talents every bit as much as it suited your grandfather!’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘The only sadness I have, is that we were not blessed with any more children, so your father did not have a brother to share the load.’ Her face grew sad at the memory.
‘Well, Father loves the business, so it worked out all right.’
Elana sighed. ‘I am not sure that is true. He spends more time building boats with Christian down at that boathouse of his than he does managing the business.’
Ariana rested her hand on her chin and said dreamily, ‘Christian.’
Her grandmother tutted at her. ‘Your head is full of romantic dreams. Why must you worry your father so, Ari?’
‘I don’t worry him. He just doesn’t want me hanging around and getting in the way of his precious boats.’
‘That isn’t true. He loves you more than anything else in the world, but you are like your mother: too headstrong.’ Elana spooned out the mixture onto the phyllo pastry and then drizzled sweetened honey syrup over it.
‘It isn’t my fault Papa has always been so dutiful. Not everyone wants to work, work, work.’ She reached over to pick at the gooey mixture.
Her grandmother slapped Ariana’s fingers away.
‘Ouch!’
‘It serves you right. No picking!’ Elana said sharply. ‘Anyway, your father knew what duty meant. He made sacrifices for the good of the family.’
‘Didn’t he ever want to do anything else?’
Her grandmother hesitated before answering. ‘Maybe … once.’
At that moment, Demetrios came into the kitchen and kissed his mother on the cheek. Ariana was still cross with her father and turned her face away as he leaned towards her.
‘Suit yourself.’ He shrugged.
She scowled at him. ‘When these are ready, I am going to take them down and give them to Teresa for the party tonight.’
Demetrios eyed his daughter suspiciously. ‘She will think that you are after something.’
Ariana fluttered her eyes innocently. ‘Who, me?’
Demetrios rolled his eyes. ‘More time-wasting. You should be preparing to take up your place at Oxford in the autumn.’
‘Papa, we have had this conversation a million times: I don’t want to go back to England.’
‘Fine, then go somewhere else – Harvard, the Sorbonne. You must have an education if you are to make your way in life. You have a good brain and you should use it.’
‘What is wrong with life on Ithos? You spend all of your time here now.’
‘There is nothing wrong with life on Ithos, but … I need you by my side running the business when you are old enough.’
‘I don’t want to work in shipping, it’s so boring.’
‘Look at Rupert Murdoch and his daughter – she is as sharp as he is. You will feel differently in a few years.’
‘No, I won’t! You can’t force me!’ she shouted.
‘You should want to do it.’ He had raised his voice now.
‘Well, I’m not going to.’
Elana intervened. ‘Stop this childish argument, both of you. Ari, pack up these pastries and take them to the taverna. Tell Teresa I will see her later.’
Ariana’s eyes flashed defiantly, but she did as she was told. She was sick of being treated like one of her father’s possessions, and she was going to do exactly what she wanted to, whether he liked it or not.
Demetrios sat brooding in his office, sipping at a cognac as he worked out his next step. He knew getting angry with his daughter was a mistake, but her wilfulness enraged him. He checked his post again. Still no reply. Contacting Shauna had been a mistake. He should never have allowed hope to rear its head in his life. Now he felt like a fool. An immature, lovesick teenage boy.
He had received a letter from the office of Isaac Orvitz some weeks ago, acknowledging receipt and confirming that his gift had been passed on, so he knew Shauna had received the book of sonnets. He had hoped that she would remember the poems from their time together, that she would reach out to him as he had reached out to her in sending the letter. He chided himself; of course she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him. He should have tried harder all those years ago – she had probably forgotten who he was.
His mother entered his office. ‘I have been looking for you.’ She seated herself in one of his armchairs. ‘It is early for brandy, no?’
Demetrios ignored her comment and took another sip of the vintage Courvoisier. ‘Ariana has gone down to the harbour,’ she continued. ‘You can’t keep pushing her in this way. You will lose her forever if you don’t stop.’
Demetrios was in no mood for his mother’s lectures. ‘You are hardly in a position to take the moral high ground, Mama.’
Her tone was conciliatory. �
��Maybe not. I realize that I may have pushed you too far in the past.’
‘May have?’
His mother’s eyes flashed with some of her old fire. ‘Family has always come first, we both know that. But I can see that, if Ariana is pushed any more, she will break or do something stupid.’
‘What do you suggest then? Let her waste a good brain on clothes and baubles?’
‘No, but there is another way.’
Her son narrowed his eyes. ‘What are you planning, Mother?’
She waved her hand at him. ‘Don’t give me that look. What you really want is someone to help you with the business?’
Demetrios made a non-committal noise.
‘Listen, Ariana will never want to join you.’ She paused, weighing up her words. ‘You know she has a strong attraction to Christian, don’t you?’
‘Níko’s son? What are you suggesting?’
‘You are preparing him, are you not, to join you? He already works for you and wants to do well in the company?’
‘He is a good boat builder … and he is keen to learn the shipping side of things.’
‘That’s why you have been teaching him the way your father taught you: sending him out on the yacht, making sure he knows how to handle a boat. And he has a good business brain, you have said so a thousand times.’
He nodded. ‘Yes, he is serious-minded and hard-working. He will be an asset to the company. What are you getting at, Mother?’
‘If Ariana and Christian were to make an “alliance”, then she would have what she wanted, and you would be able to keep the business in the family.’
Demetrios regarded his mother in silence; after a moment, he spoke. ‘An old leopard is a leopard nonetheless and this one has not changed its spots.’
She gave him a cool smile. ‘I will take that as a compliment, my son.’
His face remained stony. ‘It wasn’t meant as one.’
‘Demi, you can’t have it both ways. If you want her to go along with your wishes, she needs a little … motivation, shall we say?’
‘I think when it comes to matters of the heart, a father should leave well alone. Ariana is too young, and—’
‘Nonsense, I was only eighteen when I married your father.’
‘I seem to remember you knew what was best for me once, and look where that ended.’
‘Sofía did not know her duty, she was not a good wife.’
‘And I was not a good husband, Mama.’
‘Demi, you are over-dramatizing this. All we will be doing is helping your daughter with her dreams. You must trust a woman’s intuition …’
Grace had found herself slotting into the rhythm of life on Ithos without even realizing it. She had picked up some Greek and while she wasn’t quite speaking like a local, she could chit-chat with the regular customers who came to the taverna.
Tonight, even though it was a Saturday and the busiest day of the week, the taverna would be closed for business. It was Níko’s birthday, and the staff had all been given the day off and invited to the party. Grace, however, liked helping and didn’t mind spending the morning with Teresa in the kitchen getting the food ready.
Níko’s son, Christian, had come by to wish his father a happy birthday. Teresa had immediately put him to work too, checking out a discrepancy in the taverna accounts. Which was why he was sitting at the family table inside the restaurant, munching on one of his mother’s homemade kalitsounia pastries while tapping numbers into a calculator.
Christian had returned to Ithos only a week ago – he was a crew member on one of Demetrios’s yachts. Already, Grace had come to look forward to his occasional visits to the taverna. He was the eldest of Níko’s three children, in his late twenties. Grace didn’t think she had ever seen him let his hair down, but there was a quiet self-possession to him that she admired. Something that she wished she had.
She found herself at the coffee machine studying his features as he knitted his brow in concentration. Unlike most Greeks she had met, he had sandy blond hair. Níko would joke that he had been left at the door of the taverna by the stork, but Teresa told her that her own grandmother had German blood and that was why he didn’t have dark hair like her other children.
Grace was just wishing she could get a little closer to see what colour eyes he had when, almost as if he had heard her thinking, he looked up and caught her eyes with his own. She quickly looked away, blushing. Definitely blue.
When she glanced back again, he was still calmly looking at her, smiling, so she smiled in return. He beckoned her to come over and chat.
‘I’m a bit busy, I don’t want to make Teresa cross.’ Grace tilted her head in apology.
He smiled. ‘I am a valued customer and my mother will not mind if it’s me you’re chatting with.’ He gestured to his mother, pointing at Grace and indicating he wanted to talk to her. Teresa shook her finger at him and made the universal sign-language motion for ‘five minutes only’.
Grace wiped her hands down on her apron and smoothed the stray strands of dark hair from her face; the rest of it was pulled back in a scrunchie.
‘Sit down, Grace. I have a present for you.’ Grace liked the way his tongue rolled around the r in her name. He reached behind him into his back pocket and pulled something out of it with a flourish.
‘My passport – finally!’ She clapped her hands in delight and had to strongly resist the urge to kiss him.
Demetrios had placed some calls shortly after she had arrived, and his contact in the police had phoned him a week later to say that the thieves who’d robbed her had been apprehended on Kythira. She’d thought that her passport would have been sold on the black market, but it turned out one of them had given it to his sister. Demetrios had arranged for Christian to pick it up on her behalf.
‘Oh, thank you, Christian, I can’t believe it has taken so long to get here.’
He blushed. ‘Sorry about that. Demetrios had arranged for me to collect it from police headquarters in Crete, but it turned out someone had sent it to Athens – so local bureaucracy was partly to blame for the delay. But then we took a longer route back to Ithos than we’d originally planned, and by the time I got here I’d completely forgotten I had it.’
‘It doesn’t matter, I’m just so glad to have it back. I must find some way to thank you.’
‘The smile on your face is enough for me.’ Grace found her grin spreading even wider at his words. ‘Now you are free to leave,’ he told her.
‘Oh, I don’t think I can; Teresa says this is the busiest part of summer with all the day-trippers from the other islands. I don’t start university until late September, so I can stay on for another month or so.’
A grin broke across Christian’s face that matched her own. ‘That’s wonderful!’ He checked himself, ‘I mean, it’s wonderful that my parents won’t have to find another waitress at short notice. They are always saying what a help you are,’ he added.
At that moment, there was a commotion at the front of the taverna. The sound of wolf whistles and a honking of horns drifted in from the square. Grace looked out to see a young woman wearing the tiniest pair of denim shorts and a crocheted bikini top with a wide-brimmed sun hat. She was attracting the attention of the local boys as she headed into the restaurant carrying a box filled with baklava; she turned around and blew them a kiss, which was returned with more blaring of horns and good-natured catcalls.
‘Ariana,’ Christian said with a shake of his head, ‘must you always make such an entrance?’
‘Those boys, they are so juvenile … Christian!’ Ariana leaned in and gave him a kiss, lingering a little.
‘Hi, Ariana,’ Grace said. ‘I love your Roman sandals.’
Ariana gave a her a brief glance and looked down at the golden strappy sandals. ‘Oh, these old things.’ She then turned to Christian and proceeded to completely ignore Grace.
Grace had become used to Ariana’s high-handed manner. She was a frequent visitor, especially since Chr
istian had showed up, but Grace thought he seemed to know when Ariana was on the lookout for him and deliberately made himself scarce.
‘I can’t wait for the party tonight, Christian. I’ve brought baklava from Yaya. She and Papa are both coming later.’ She took off her hat, and her straight dark hair spilled out fetchingly across her shoulders.
‘Grace is coming too, aren’t you?’ Christian said, politely bringing Grace into the conversation.
Ariana gave her a dismissive look. ‘Yes, it’s nice that the staff are allowed to come as well as the real guests.’
‘Grace is also a guest, Ari, and a very welcome one.’ He looked at Grace warmly and she couldn’t help but smile back.
‘I’m really looking forward to it.’
Ariana was trying to hide a scowl and failing. She turned her back on Grace and leaned into Christian. ‘You must dance with me, Christian. I’m wearing a special dress for the occasion.’
Christian pulled back from her slightly. ‘I’m not much of dancer, Ariana.’
‘Spoilsport.’ Ariana changed tack. ‘When are you going to take me out in the boat? You always say you will and never do. You must take me out tomorrow, you have a day off, it’s Sunday and Papa never works on a Sunday.’
‘I can’t,’ he answered quickly.
‘Why not?’ Ariana stuck her lip out petulantly.
Grace noticed a split second of hesitation cross his face before he said, ‘I promised to take Grace.’
‘What?’ Grace and Ariana both spoke in unison.
‘Don’t you remember, Grace? I promised to take you out tomorrow, to show you Fengari Bay.’
Grace caught up quickly. ‘Uh, oh yes, that’s right. You did promise me that.’
Ariana couldn’t hide her annoyance. ‘Oh, I see.’
‘We must look after our visitors to the island, Ariana. We are known for our hospitality, are we not?’
A flash of frustration blazed a trail across Ariana’s face, but either because she didn’t want to make a scene in front of Grace, or because she had some other plan in place. She tossed her hair back and said airily, ‘I’m going to see Teresa and give her Yaya’s gift.’ She stood and headed for the kitchen, reminding Christian she would be looking for him later for their dance. She blew him a kiss over her shoulder, managing the feat of glaring at Grace at the same time.
Under a Greek Moon Page 19