Daughter of the Winds

by Jo Bunt

  I half-stumbled out of the car and slammed the car door harder than I needed to. The force of the action shot spears of burning pain through my shoulder. I waved as much as I could while keeping my elbow tight to my side as George drove away. I caught Yaiyai’s deep black eyes on my face and just as I expected to see her spit at the soil, she nodded at me. From her that was tantamount to a warm embrace. Perhaps she was starting to forgive my fellow countrymen or, at the very least, starting to tolerate my presence here.

  I rolled my shoulders slightly to ease the tension but instead was rewarded for my thoughtfulness with a crunching sound in my neck. I was about to walk around the side of the house when the front door flung open. Antheia was on top of me instantly, smothering me in her arms. She took my face in both her large, soft hands and kissed the top of my head. Saying something in Greek she beamed at me and led me into the house by the hand.

  “I will bring you food, yes? Tonight is celebration, I cook special meal. You do not need to come back up to the house tonight though.” She winked at me.

  I didn’t have the energy to argue with her so I simply nodded. I followed her into the kitchen where heavenly smells were pervading the air. When the flood of saliva into my mouth threatened to drown me I realised just how hungry I was. Even so, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to keep my eyes open long enough to eat a thing.

  “Is she here now?” Antheia asked me.

  “Who?” I asked, dreading the answer.

  “Anna.”

  I glanced around the room for effect more than anything. I already knew she wasn’t here.

  “Sorry. No.”

  Antheia waved her pudgy hand through the air.

  “Pfft! No matter. She will be back. Now go.” She handed me a single red rose.

  “For me?” I asked stupidly. She laughed a loud braying laugh.

  “Yes. Yes. You go.”

  My heart sank. Was this Stefanos again?

  I noticed a card gift label attached to the spiky stem and read it with a certain amount of trepidation.

  My heart missed a beat. It read simply, “I love you.” I knew that stocky confident script anywhere.

  Walking in a daze, I stepped through the back door into the courtyard. On the side of the well was another red rose. “Because of the way you smile at me in the mornings.” I wasn’t really sure that I’d been doing much of that recently. At the top of the stone steps there was another rose. As I bent to pick it up I saw a rose on each of the three stone steps going down beneath it. “Because of your dirty laugh!” “Because of the way you support me in my career.” “Because of the way you dance in the kitchen when you think that no one is looking.” “Because of the way you cry at romantic films.” “Because you are an amazing lover.” This one made me blush, even though I was on my own in the mid-afternoon sun.

  I stepped down the stone steps, my weakened legs threatening to give out beneath me. Another rose, and another, signposted their way towards the shack. “Because you thought the Elgin Marbles were actually small round stones.” All right, was he ever going to let me forget that one?

  As I neared the cottage, I thought I could smell him. That heady scent on his skin, half musky, half citrus. I was sure that I could feel the thrum of his heartbeat rising in time with my own. I imagined him sitting outside with the sun glinting off the copper strands in his hair, but when I cornered the building there was no one there. My heart sank a little. What if he wasn’t here? He did say that he was too busy to come and we hadn’t parted on the best of terms.

  Even if this was only a delivery from Interflora, at least it showed that he was thinking of me. I tried to console myself with this thought as I spotted a final red rose on what passed for a doorstep. The final note was “Because of the way you feel in my arms.” I pushed open the door with my shaking hand and stood for a moment peering into the comparatively dark room, trying to make some sense of it. As my eyes adjusted I saw, sitting in the bed with a rose between his teeth, Dom.

  It is no exaggeration to say that he took my breath away. My heart boomed inside my chest and my nerves came to life all at once. He was sitting back against the pillows completely naked from the waist up. It was difficult to tell from the way the sheet was across his lap, but I had a sneaky feeling that he was naked from the waist down too. He was broad shouldered with a small splattering of hair around each nipple and that fine line of hair that trailed down the centre of his torso towards his groin. He was naturally tanned and his skin glowed like it had been kissed repeatedly by an adoring sun.

  I knew from experience that he tasted as good as he looked; his skin was a warm caramel, smooth and soft. I stood on the threshold of the shack drinking him in. The air was electrically charged around him. This room had never felt like it had any energy in it before. Without Dom it had felt drab and sparse but seeing him there in my bed, the room was suddenly brighter and more alive. The atmosphere was thicker and ebbed and flowed between the two of us in caressing waves.

  His eyes of the deepest blue were reflecting a light that wasn’t there. They twinkled like they were moving, as if I could see the thoughts behind his eyes taking formation and trying to communicate with mine. He moved to take the rose out of his mouth and the spell that had rooted me to the spot was broken. It took all my strength not to run and jump on him. I kicked off my shoes and within three strides I was by his side and on the bed.

  His dark eyebrows sloped together as he noticed my bruises and he opened his mouth to speak. Before any sound could come out I knelt and placed my mouth against his. He tried gently to push me back to speak to me but I clung on and he gave up without a fight. From my kneeling position I was slightly higher than him and he had to turn his handsome face up to me as I kissed him. My hair fell across his face and I held the palms of my hands against his strong jaw.

  Our tongues explored each other’s mouths tentatively, like it was our first kiss. He closed his eyes and leant into the kiss but I kept my eyes open, scarcely believing that he was here in front of me. I pulled away from the kiss and looked at his face. He kept his eyes closed for a moment longer and his lips still parted like he was still living the kiss. When he finally opened his eyes he was smiling.

  “Hello,” he said.

  I laughed gently. “Well, hello there.”

  He sat upright then and took my head in his hands and pulled me towards him. He balled his fists in my hair and kissed me harder this time, sucking on my lower lip. I held on to his wrists as he kissed me, not wanting to quite let go of myself completely.

  “Wait,” I said.

  “What’s wrong, darling?” He let go of my head then and took my hands in his. I smoothed my thumbs over his knuckles. Such strong hands.

  “I’ve not been fair to you, I...”

  “Hold on. Is this going to be an apology?” he mocked.

  I half smiled, half glared at him then.

  “Maybe.”

  “Then can it wait until later? I need to give it my full attention and, if I’m completely honest, my mind is elsewhere right now.” He pulled my hands then so that I fell on top of him. “Now, where were we?”

  Epilogue

  Dom and I stayed on the island for three more weeks. Mum flew out to join us and I gave her all of the things I’d rescued from her flat. She sobbed when she saw the watch. It was the last thing her parents had ever given her and showed that her mother had been thinking about her after all. She wished she’d forgiven her before she’d died.

  I reintroduced her to Eddie. That was an awkward day, but they soon got to talking and she asked him to take her to see their son’s grave. I think it’s too much to hope that they will get back together again but who knows what the future will hold? They also went out for dinner with Betty and Bernie, some old friends from back in the day. Bernie had retired back to England after the war but they still came for a holiday in Cyprus once a year to stay with Eddie. Mum cried when she saw Betty and they promised they would never lose touch again. />
  I only saw Anna once more. I followed her against the strong breeze which I now realised was always present when she was there. She took me to a steep hill on the outskirts of a deserted village. She bobbed ahead of me with her plaits swinging behind her, smiling as she led me to a dried-up well. The same blinding light that had saved my life in Varosha exploded through the remote hillside and I shielded my face. When I glanced back in her direction Anna was gone. I never saw her sweet smile again.

  It took three days before we could get someone to come and investigate the well. When they did, they found six bodies. All the bodies had bullet wounds to the head. They laid the yellowed bones out on white sheets under a tent. One body was a lot smaller than the rest. A young girl.

  Antheia has given samples of her DNA and we’re waiting now for confirmation of the identity of the bodies. We know that Anna and her mother are among those bones. Antheia has asked us to stay for the funeral but it might be months and possibly years before the bones are formally identified and then released to the family.

  Dom and I are heading back to England to face whatever the future might hold for us. He is treating me like I am made of glass. He won’t let me lift a thing. You see, I’ve been feeling sick for the last week; it seems that we are smuggling a passenger home with us. I feel sure that it is a girl, and if it is, she will be named after the girl who saved my life: Anemone, ‘Daughter of the winds’.

  THE END

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to everyone who gave me their time and their memories in order to add colour to this novel. It would have been much paler without you.

  Steff@edit-my-book did a great job of editing and proofreading and I shall be forever grateful. Andy Cameron of Karate Graphics, local Rock God and all round great guy, thank you for the book cover design.

  Credit should be given to my boys Alex and Danny for keeping out of the way (and not squabbling) for just long enough for me to put the finishing touches to this, my debut novel.

  Finally, James, my wonderful husband who has been amazingly supportive throughout this project and been far more patient than I deserved. Without him I wouldn’t have had the confidence to follow my dreams to Varosha.

  About the author.

  Jo Bunt was born in Cyprus the year following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. After a career in Recruitment Consultancy in the City of London she turned her hand to motherhood and writing. She is still working hard to perfect both.

  She now lives in Derbyshire with her husband and twin boys.

  Daughter of the Winds is Jo’s first novel. ‘Eye of the Beholder’, her second novel will be published on Kindle in September 2014.