by Anne Mather
Dallas clenched her fists. ‘Oh, Jane! ’
‘Yes. So I’m to have a very exciting time. Paula called. She’s taking me for a drive this afternoon, so I guess I shall have to content myself with charming the peasants!’
Dallas sighed, ‘Don’t take this to heart, Jane.’
Jane shrugged. ‘I won’t. It’s hardening me up a bit, though. I can’t help that. Did you know Alexander Stavros left this morning?’
‘I knew he was going, yes,’ said Dallas cautiously.
‘Well, he’s gone. And Nikos has gone with him. So you’re deserted too. We’ll have to comfort one another.’
Dallas half smiled. ‘Perhaps it’s just as well,’ she murmured, and walked into the chalet slowly.
As she showered before lunch she came to a decision. She and Jane would continue to live in the chalet, but in future they would not go over to the house for meals. They could manage perfectly well on their own, and then no one need concern themselves on their behalf. After all, neither Madame Stavros or Natalia appeared to want them there, so they would not be missed, and as Nikos was away it was a golden opportunity to create a precedent. It might be cowardly, she thought, but it might save a
little of their self respect. She refused to consider what Alexander might say on his return.
Thoughts of Alexander she had firmly banished from her mind all day, and last night exhaustion had claimed her in sleep before her mind could begin working its own destruction. But now, in the shower, she allowed herself to remember every second of their last meeting with a kind of tortured anguish. There was so much to remember, and her face grew hot as she recalled the way he had held her in his arms and kissed her, if that savage attack on her emotions could only be called ‘kissing’. She shivered, in spite of the heat; she had known he would make love expertly, just as he did everything else.
The meal arrangements were accepted without question by everyone except Paula, who told Dallas that Alexander would be furious when he found out.
‘You’re doing exactly as my mother wants,’ she said hotly. ‘She is letting her stupid dignity overcome her natural politeness. I’m sorry.’
Dallas smiled. ‘Don’t worry, Paula. We would rather avoid too much contact with the family. It causes less friction this way, really it does.’
Paula made a helpless gesture, and gave up. She could not force the girls to do as she wanted.
Dallas got to know Minerva Stavros quite well in the days that followed. As her husband was away a lot, a fact that Dallas noted with pleasure, she turned to the younger girl for companionship, and Dallas listened to her confidences with mixed feelings. Without being aware of it, Minerva was involving her ever more deeply in the affairs of the Stavros family. When Paul Stavros was around, Minerva was tongue-tied and awkward, and Dallas didn’t like the way Paul tried to catch her eyes with his whenever they were alone together.
She thought he was trying to be flirtatious, and she didn’t like it at all.
Paula was a frequent visitor to the chalet, and despite his mother’s attitude, Andrea came too, whenever he could.
This pleased Jane, so Dallas could not object. She supposed her sister was having rather a difficult time, all things considered.
Paula took Dallas and Jane all over the island, and one evening when Andrea was keeping Jane company they went down to the taverna in the village.
They seated themselves outside, at one of the pretty tables with umbrella awnings, and Paula ordered Santa Helena, a light wine that Dallas found quite enjoyable. After they had both lit cigarettes, Paula said:
‘Truthfully, Dallas, how well do you know Alex now?’
Dallas felt the hot colour surge into her cheeks. ‘Well, I ... I guess I know him like any employee knows an employer.’
Paula didn’t notice her flushed cheeks. ‘Yes. Do you like him?’
‘Oh, I haven’t really thought about it,’ Dallas prevaricated. Paula nodded. ‘I suppose it’s not the sort of thing you would do,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘A lot of women would have taken the opportunity to try to get to know him better. I think he gets sick of cloying females.’
Dallas did not reply, not knowing quite what to say.
Paula drew deeply on her cigarette. ‘Alex has not been particularly happy since his disastrous marriage,’ she said, surprisingly.
Dallas looked up. ‘Disastrous marriage?’ she repeated.
‘Of course,’ Paula frowned. ‘Naturally, you wouldn’t know anything about that.’
‘I ... I understood that Mr. Stavros’s wife died of leukaemia.’ ‘So she did. After being terribly ill for about seven months. But before her illness, Anna lived quite a different kind of life. Oh, I know she’s dead, and one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but honestly, Dallas, she was a ... a ... Pig! ’
Dallas looked out across the rippling waves of the harbour. ‘I don’t think you ought to talk to me about this,’ she murmured softly.
‘Why? It’s no secret. Anna liked men, it’s as simple as that. She badly wanted Alex, so she tricked him into marriage, despite the fact that he was already engaged to another girl, and had been so for several years. When he found out he had been tricked he was furious, as any man would have been in the same circumstances, particularly as his feelings towards Anna had been the usual fleeting passion of a man for a beautiful woman. A woman, moreover, who threw herself at his head. He had no real love for her, but for the sake of the family he stayed with her. After two years, when Paris was only a baby, she wanted to leave the island, to go and live in Athens. He refused, So she went alone, and you can guess what happened.’ Paula twisted her nose. ‘It was disgusting! Not that Alex seemed to care particularly. He just buried himself in his work, and if any woman came along I guess he treated them exactly as they would wish to be treated. Later, when Anna got bored, she came back to the island. Minerva Yannides and my brother Paul had only been married a year at the time, and Minerva had just miscarried. I don’t know whether Paul wanted it to happen or not, but he had a violent affair with Anna. Alex didn’t care for himself, but when Minerva was being hurt, also . . .’ Paula sighed ‘Anyway, Alex used his influence to send Paul away on a project he had interested himself in in South America, and Anna was forced to return to Athens in his absence.’ She chewed the side of her cheek with suppressed annoyance. ‘When Anna developed leukaemia, Alex did everything he could for her. He bought the services of the finest specialists in the world. But it was to no avail She was incurable, and protesting to the last, she died.’ Paula stubbed her cigarette out savagely. ‘I would willingly have strangled her myself,’ she choked on the words, and lifted her wine with trembling fingers.
‘I’m sorry.’ Dallas felt hopelessly inadequate to comfort the other girl.
Paula managed a slight smile. ‘I’m sorry, too, but whenever I think about what happened I feel so angry . . .’ She bit her lip. ‘Helen has never married.’
‘Helen?’ Dallas frowned uncomprehendingly.
‘Oh, of course, Helen Neroulos. She was Alex’s fiancee, the
girl he should have married when he married Anna.’
‘I see.’ Dallas felt a strange pain in the pit of her stomach.
‘Yes. She has been away for a long time. After the engagement was broken, she trained as a doctor and has been working for the last twelve years in Africa. She’s quite a woman! ’
‘She must be,’ said Dallas, sipping her drink. ‘Do you think she will ever come back?’
‘Oh, yes. During the last month her parents have heard that she plans to come home very shortly. She needs a long holiday, and as the islands have such an idyllic climate, where else would she come but home?’
‘Where else?’ echoed Dallas softly.
‘Mother is enormously pleased, of course,’ went on Paula. ‘For years she has wanted to see Alex satisfactorily settled. Now she hopes her wishes may be fulfilled.’
‘You mean she hopes your brother may now marry this Helen?’
&n
bsp; ‘Of course. After all, Helen is not a child any longer. She’s thirty-six, two years younger than Alex, and quite old enough to know her own mind.’
Dallas did a swift mental calculation. ‘Your brother must have been very young when he married Anna.’
‘Yes, he was. Nineteen, in fact. I was only five years old at the time.’ She sighed. ‘This business with your sister and Paris must have reminded him very strongly of that earlier situation. After all, even you must be able to see the similarities.’
‘Yes, I can,’ said Dallas, inwardly remembering Alexander’s understanding of the circumstances, and how he had attempted to lift all sense of burdening from her and Jane’s shoulders. It could not have been easy for him, not when his own marriage had turned out so disastrously as Paula had said. After all, he could quite easily have seen Jane as another Anna, taking the only line to gain what she wanted. Dallas sighed. She didn’t want to think of Alexander Stavros like this; she didn’t want to feel compassion for him; she wanted to hate him for his arrogance, and for the way he had treated her
only a few days ago. But instead she found herself weakening, and wishing most desperately he would return to the island very soon so that she might act a little more tolerantly towards him.
But at this she was again forced to halt herself. It was no good getting close to him. If he once got under her guard, she would be powerless to resist him, and she didn’t want to become just another woman to fall stupidly in love with him.
Paula was looking at her strangely. ‘Dallas,’ she murmured softly, ‘you haven’t fallen in love with my brother, have you?’ Dallas’s eyes were wide as she stared at the older girl. ‘No,’ she said violently. ‘No, no, of course I haven’t! ’
Paula looked rather sceptical as she studied Dallas’s suddenly pale cheeks. ‘Well, be sure you don’t,’ she said quietly. ‘It would be no good, you know. Alex is not likely to marry anyone except maybe Helen, if he can be manoeuvred into doing so by Mother. And anything else would be fatal for someone like you. You’re too nice, too sweet and gentle and loving. You couldn’t stand anything less than complete possession, could you?’
‘No.’ Dallas shook her head, and then gave a short laugh. ‘Oh, Paula,’ she said, with enforced gaiety, ‘this is ridiculous, talking like this! Let’s talk about you instead. When is this fiance of yours going to turn up? I’m dying to meet him.’
Dallas was aware she was being too effusive, and that it was doubtful that Paula was deceived, even for a moment, but she could not help herself. Somehow she had to shut out all thoughts of Alexander Stavros before they threatened to destroy her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was three weeks before Alexander Stavros returned to Lexandros. During that time both Jane and Dallas managed to achieve a kind of easy acceptance of their situation on the island. Madame Stavros was well pleased that their presence did not interfere in any way with her own arrangements, and both girls were content to remain living a life apart, which had assumed the proportions of a holiday now that they were not required to dress every evening for dinner. Jane was still inclined to grumble sometimes about their hostess, but usually the warmth and colour, the sunshine and the atmosphere of the island worked their own magic, and she spent hours down on the beach below the villa just sunbathing, while Dallas was away teaching the twins.
A week after their arrival on the island, Georges Palamas, Paula’s fiance, arrived. He was a tall blond giant of a man, who good-naturedly treated Dallas and Jane in the same friendly way as he treated Natalia, and often during the late afternoon, when the hours for siesta were over, he would arrive with Paula in the car, to drive down to the cove of Aphrodite. This was a rock-enclosed basin of water, ideal for skin-diving or water-skiing, and although Jane couldn’t join in their activities, she didn’t seem to mind watching when Georges offered to teach Dallas to water-ski.
The days passed by placidly. Dallas had, with some difficulty, thrust all thoughts of Alexander Stavros to the back of her mind, and in his absence she could almost laugh at the absurdity of her preoccupation with him. After all, it was obvious that he had only been amusing himself with her because she had dared to treat him differently than most other women did, and maybe her attitude had got under his skin. At any rate, she would make sure that nothing like that ever happened again.
Andrea visited them frequently and when he was around Jane brightened considerably. Once, when they were having an evening drink before going to bed, Jane said:
‘Andrea has no money, you know,’ quite thoughtfully.
Dallas stared at her ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, I mean, he’s not heir to any actual fortune, or anything like that. He will go to England in September to start his university training. When he gets his degree, he hopes to become a civil engineer. He would like to work in South America.’
‘Oh, I see,’ Dallas nodded, wondering what else Andrea had told Jane. ‘You like him very much, don’t you?’
Jane smiled. ‘Yes, I do. He’s not like Paris, at least only in looks. He’s a much gentler person altogether, and he makes me feel like a real person, not just a stupid teenage girl who’s been silly enough to get herself into trouble. I wish he had come to England, not Paris.’
‘And if he did, how would you have met him?’ asked Dallas softly.
‘I don’t know,’ Jane sighed. ‘I sometimes wonder whether it was ordained that I should well ... well ... become pregnant, so that we could both come here. I mean, after the baby is born, I’ll be a free woman again, won’t I?’
Dallas shrugged, lighting a cigarette. ‘And the baby?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll let Alexander Stavros have it after all.’ Jane looked dejected. ‘What would you do?’
Dallas shook her head. ‘That’s a question I can’t answer. But if I were you I would wait until the baby is born before you start making any rash decisions.’
Jane looked pensive, and did not mention the baby again that evening.
One afternoon late in May, when Jane was down on the beach with Andrea, Paula, and Georges, Dallas was surprised when she received an invitation for afternoon tea at the main villa. She had been marking some lesson books of the twins on the patio, relaxing lazily with a cigarette and a glass of iced lime juice which Yanni had brought for her. Reluctantly she went into the chalet, changed into a short pink Crimplene shift and added a coral lipstick to her lips. Already she was tanned a gold brown, and with her colouring it was very attractive. Her hair was coiled into a roll on top of her head, and without taking simply ages there was little she could do to that. So she contented herself by combing the sides into place, becoming annoyed when several tendrils refused to be disciplined, and curled about her ears.
At last she had to leave them, and walked quickly through the trees to the villa with a feeling of suppressed nervousness. She couldn’t imagine why she was being summarily summoned like this, and she could only assume she was going to receive a form of reproval from Madame Stavros.
The white-coated manservant showed her into a small sewing-room which opened off the wide hallway. This was one of the smaller rooms in the villa, but even so its proportions were sufficient to dwarf the normal dimensions of any living-room Dallas was used to. The floor was bright with Bokhara rugs of various hues, while the furniture was highly polished mahogany set about with vases of the flowers that grew in abundance in the gardens. Madame Stavros was seated on a Regency striped couch, a small table with a tray of tea in front of her. She smiled welcomingly at Dallas’s entrance, and said: ‘Ah, my dear, you have come. Tell me, do you take milk and sugar?’
Dallas advanced awkwardly into the room, and seated herself on a low chair nearby which Madame Stavros indicated with a flick of her hand.
‘Milk only,’ she said quickly, and accepted the wafer-thin china cup and saucer. Madame Stavros offered her a dish of sweetmeats, known as loukoumi or glyko, which Dallas had learned were a common accompaniment to refreshments in Gre
ek houses. But she refused anything to eat, still wondering nervously what all this was about.
Madame Stavros helped herself to a Turkish delight from the nearby dish, and then looked thoughtfully at Dallas.
‘How are you settling down here?’ she asked casually.
Dallas shrugged her shoulders. ‘Very well, thank you, Madame.’
‘Good, good.’ Madame Stavros nodded her head approvingly. ‘You seem to have captured the hearts of Eloise and Estelle. My son tells me that they look forward to your visits with much pleasure.’
‘Thank you.’ Dallas sipped her tea. Was this why she had been brought here? For small talk?
‘Yes. This is good, to have an occupation which one enjoys. Few women find their vocation in life. The girl who was to have married my eldest son became a doctor. She is a glowing example of the way one can overcome unhappiness with the application of the mind to other things.’
‘Oh yes.’ Dallas refrained from mentioning that Paula had told her about Helen Neroulos.
‘Yes.’ Madame Stavros poured herself more tea. ‘You will be wondering why I mention this young woman’s name, no doubt. It was not without purpose. Helen ... Helen Neroulos, that is ... will be returning to the island with my son when he comes home, tomorrow.’
Tomorrow! Dallas felt her nerves tauten.
‘Yes.’ Dallas managed the word. Even yet she could not understand the purpose of this conversation.
‘Yes. If you are concerned as to why I should be telling you all this, I will get to the point.’ Madame Stavros bit her lower lip thoughtfully. ‘Miss Collins, Dallas! You are not a child, a creature of fancies, one might say. You appear to be a perfectly well-balanced young woman.’ She halted, and sighed. ‘This is rather difficult for me, my dear, but the fact of the matter is this: it has been apparent from the beginning of your relationship with my eldest son that he has taken upon himself the responsibility not only for your sister but also for you yourself. ’