My Big Fat Christmas Wedding

by Samantha Tonge

  Henrik looked at his watch and wiped his mouth with a napkin. ‘Time to go. Better not miss my plane.’ He leant over and kissed me on the cheek. Niko walked him to the front window where Henrik called out goodbye. Cue shuffling feet as Georgios, Sophia and Grandma hurried into the room. After several minutes of kisses and back-slaps, he shot me a grin, before opening the door.

  ‘By the way, what were you doing near the butcher’s?’ Niko asked him and shrugged.

  Henrik tightened his designer scarf, as everyone else headed back to the kitchen.

  ‘I wanted to buy Olivia an ornament from Demetrios’ pottery, before flying back. She loves wildlife.’ He pulled on leather gloves. ‘I won’t have time now. If fact, I’m already running late.’ Henrik opened the door. Those slate eyes crinkled at the corners for a second as he gazed at me and then his expression became serious. ‘Perhaps you can bring one over if you come to our engagement party?’ He stared at me intently before striding out onto the street.

  The door banged behind him. I cleared my throat and concentrated really hard on a piece of chewing gum walked into the floor – must remove that later.

  ‘Party?’ said Niko. He sat down on the chair opposite and lifted my foot off it and onto his knee.

  Heat surged into my cheeks. ‘Yes. On Friday the twenty-second of December. For his and Olivia’s engagement.’

  ‘This December?’ said Niko and burst out laughing. ‘That’s not much notice.’ He relaxed back into the chair and with his thumb, massaged my ankle. ‘Why didn’t you mention it?’

  ‘There didn’t seem much point – I mean, there’s no way we can go, right?’ My voice sounded flat.

  ‘Pippa?’ Niko’s thumb stopped. ‘You can’t have seriously considered it? We have so much to do that weekend – Christmas preparations, wedding plans, and now market goods to get ready for the fair.’

  ‘But there are still three weeks to go.’ I sat up straight. ‘If we flew out on the Friday, and came back Saturday, we wouldn’t miss much time. Sophia and Grandma have already organised most things to do with our big day, down to the last detail,’ I rambled and leant forward to grab Niko’s hand. ‘It could be such fun! We aren’t going on honeymoon so—’

  He shook his head. ‘Are you crazy? London will be busier than an ants’ nest at that time of year.’

  ‘In a good way.’ My grip tightened around his fingers. ‘Niko, you’ve never been there – I could give you a speed-tour. You’d love the Christmas lights down Oxford Street and the huge tree in Trafalgar Square. The London Eye looks so pretty at night and—’

  ‘Eye?’ he said, his eyes narrowing, for some reason.

  ‘It’s a big wheel, like one of those fairground rides. From the top you can see the whole of the London skyline.’ Okay, babbling more than ever now.

  Niko slid out from under my leg and pulled away his hand. He stood up to clear our coffee cups. ‘No, Pippa. Why don’t we visit London in a year or two instead, when we can afford such a treat and—’

  ‘A year or two?’ I put my foot back on the floor. ‘And what’s all this, you saying “no, Pippa”? Is that what it’s going to be like when we’re married? Because I can tell you now—’

  Niko put down the cups and with the speed of a tuna fish (they are super-fast, apparently), knelt by my side. ‘Pippa? We argue?’ He ran a thumb under my eye. ‘And how can you think that of me? If anything, you the boss!’

  I managed a small smile.

  ‘But can’t you see? This idea is mad. Why you so keen?’

  I bit my thumbnail. How could I explain? I just needed a break. A day or two in London.

  Niko shrugged. ‘You know me. Everything I need is here in Taxos. Aunt Alexis offered to take me to Florida once but I didn’t want to miss the summer fun here with my friends – or with you.’

  I gave another small smile. ‘Fair enough. But I’m not you.’

  Niko’s mocha eyes warmed. ‘Okay. Let’s make a plan. Try to get out there next year. If business improves, as we expect.’

  My shoulders sank.

  ‘It’s probably too late to book tickets anyway. That’ll be one of the busiest weekends of the year.’

  ‘Henrik has contacts in the airline business, due to all his travel. He said he could sort something out and there are my savings – surely you can’t object at using them to pay for me returning to my home, just for a couple of days?’

  His face went rigid. ‘You know how I feel about that.’

  I snorted and stood up, testing my foot. ‘Yes, and those feelings blind you from the real occasions when you should take help. Me paying for our flights doesn’t make you any less of a man.’

  A muscle flinched in his cheek. ‘I never thought my manhood was in question. Yet your common sense is. We’re saving hard to move out of my parents’ home – you would rather fritter money away on a trivial trip, when one day we might need it for an emergency? These are precarious economic times. What if one of us falls ill? Or your parents do and you have to fly back to England?’

  I lifted my arms in the air. ‘You’d never want me to touch my savings anyway, you’re so determined to manage off money from fishing and the teashop. That makes you almost as bad as stubborn Yanis, throwing me out for doing some washing up.’

  ‘Pippa!’ he hissed and my stomach twisted. All right – perhaps that was unfair but I was too far gone to stop now. All my recent feelings, the tiny twinges of boredom I’d been feeling, suddenly magnified.

  ‘I miss London. There, I’ve said it – you were right. The buzz of the city. Brainstorming finance meetings. The choice of restaurants. The cosmopolitan feel of the people living there.’ My voice broke. ‘I just want to go back for this party. Is that too much to ask? The last few months have been a huge lifestyle change for me, whereas you’ve just teetered on as usual.’

  Niko’s jaw fell open. He stopped pacing around. ‘So, does this come back to me not being intelligent enough for you? That comment you made, earlier in the summer, when you pretended not to like me any more because you thought I was going to marry another girl?’

  ‘No! And I can’t believe you’ve mentioned that again. I explained those comments.’ My voice went all high and shaky. ‘How could you guilt-trip me about that?’

  ‘Because I saw how your eyes shone when you and Henrik discussed global marketisation on Saturday night, and hedge funds, whatever they are…’

  ‘Well, perhaps I do miss that mathematical stimulus. I’ve studied hard all my life – you can’t expect my desires and needs to change within a matter of months. It’s like having asked you to sit behind a desk for the autumn, instead of riding waves.’ My lips pursed. ‘And if I want to go to London for a couple of days, I bloody well will.’

  ‘Fine! I’m not stopping you. Pardon me for thinking we were a team.’

  Grandma came in, wiping wet hands on her floral apron. ‘Children – what is going on?’ She looked at both of us. ‘Niko – go help your mother. She wants to move the tables around in the teashop to make room for a couple more. Trade today was not bad. The Christmas weeks should be a little busier.’

  Niko’s mouth also set in a firm line and he folded his arms firmly across his chest. ‘No offence, Grandma, but this is between me and Pippa. We are grown adults now and—’

  ‘Grown-ups don’t argue like teenagers.’ She tutted. ‘Now do as your doting grandma says, otherwise the kindling of this argument will burst into flames. I have crushed some garlic into almond oil, to rub onto Pippa’s ankle.’

  ‘She might prefer the painkiller gel from the chemist upstairs,’ he muttered and left the room. Annoyingly, I couldn’t help thinking how his anger made him look super-hot.

  Grandma shot him a fiery stare. It reminded me of the look she’d given us, years ago, when we’d dressed Apollo the cat up in a blue and white shirt outfit made out of a flag.

  ‘Sit,’ she said to me and all of a sudden I felt like a young girl again.

  ‘Honestly, it’s better
now,’ I said, as a whiff of garlic hit my nostrils. My mouth clamped shut and she gave me one of those stares. She raised my foot onto her knees, gently pulled off the sock and massaged in the pungent oil. My shoulders relaxed. Dear Iris. However ferocious she occasionally looked, she could never hide her big heart.

  ‘You and Niko…’ she said, as usual getting straight to the point. ‘What is the problem? Until recent weeks you two were as cosy together as a whelk and its shell.’

  ‘Oh…nothing,’ I said, and suddenly took a huge interest in my watch strap. ‘December… the wedding…Christmas… It’s a stressful month, that’s all.’

  ‘I know, my sweet. Over recent weeks, we all notice small disagreements between the two of you, but…’ Grandma stopped rubbing my ankle and looked up for a moment, a curl of wispy white hair unfurling from under her scarf. ‘Pippa. It is me. Open up. What’s really upsetting you both? Everyone here argue about money. In these times, at this expensive time of year, let alone with a wedding, that is normal. But I sense there is something else.’ A warm smile crossed her wrinkled cheeks, revealing the gap in her teeth. ‘Tell me the truth. I help you sort it out.’

  I stopped fiddling with my watch and sighed. ‘Okay, it’s just that Henrik has invited us to London for his engagement party. It’s on the twenty-second of December.’

  Grandma stared at me and I waited for her to list all the logical reasons not to go. Instead she stayed silent and finally glanced down at my foot and once again rubbed in oil.

  ‘You keen to go and Niko not?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, glad she wasn’t looking at me. For some reason my cheeks flushed.

  ‘You miss the pollution, the noisy cars, the rude city people?’ she said, in a teasing voice.

  ‘Of course not but London, at Christmas…it’s special, with late-night shopping, Christmas menus, fairy lights…the posh stores selling rich puddings and fancy crackers…with ice-skating rinks set up and open markets emanating mulled wine…’

  ‘We have the ice rink set up in Kos Town – our island has also moved into the twenty-first century, you know.’

  ‘Of course! I didn’t mean… It’s just…’

  ‘Just not the same, huh? You still adapting to life here?’

  ‘Exactly. Why can’t Niko understand that?’

  ‘Perhaps…perhaps he’s worried that…’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Tell me, Pippa. Do you simply fancy a change from sleepy Taxos or…’ She rocked her head. ‘You must be curious to meet this Olivia, no?’

  Curious? Understatement of the millennium. Was she blonde like Henrik’s girlfriend before me or perhaps her hair had ginger tints like mine? Could she bake? Did she mind Henrik insisting on ironing his underwear and socks? When they made love did she like that thing he did with… Oops, guilty – another overshare.

  ‘Olivia?’ I said, in the jolliest voice I could muster. ‘Um, I hadn’t really thought about her. I’m sure she’s very nice.’

  Grandma nodded, as if understanding something but not telling me what it was.

  ‘I think you should go. To make sure that…getting married is a big thing. A trip to London, it will confirm for you one way or another whether you have made the right choice between—’

  ‘England and Greece?’ I said quickly, wondering if she was implying anything else.

  Grandma stared me straight in the eyes. ‘Exactly.’

  An unspoken dialogue took place between us, interrupted only by Niko entering the room. He wiped his arm across his brow and his shirt lifted out of his trousers, revealing the shadow of his abdominal V muscle.

  ‘Phew. Tables moved,’ he said. ‘Teashop reorganised. Mama now makes coffee.’

  Grandma stood up, handed my sock to Niko and he sat down in her place.

  ‘I fetch us some of those pistachio scones left over from yesterday,’ she murmured and left.

  Gently Niko pushed the sock onto my foot and then tickled my toes.

  ‘Sorry for being a stubborn old mule,’ he said softly, and ran his hand a little way up my leg, inside my jeans. Tingles ran higher, making me wish we were closer, skin upon skin.

  ‘Maybe, later on, I can make it up to you,’ he whispered.

  I reached over and ran my fingers across his determined jaw line. He leant forward and ever so gently kissed my top lip. When he pulled away, his strong hands had curled around my fingers.

  ‘Of course I come to London with you. My Pippa has lived here for four months now. It is only right that you should want to see your old home and we can’t afford a honeymoon. Like you hinted, in a small way, this visit could make up for that. I…I’m sorry for being unreasonable.’

  My chest tightened. Truth be told, it was me being unfair. The trip would use up money we might need one day, plus that weekend was probably the most inconvenient one of the year for us to just disappear. But it was no good, I just couldn’t let my head rule my heart on this matter and gave Niko a big hug.

  ‘In any case, ‘he continued, ‘talking to Papa, just now, made me think…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We owe Henrik a favour. He stood up to Yanis for us – if he wants you and me to attend his party, then I pay the favour back.’ His chin lifted.

  ‘So, will c u on the 22nd’ I texted to Henrik that evening, as I sat in the empty teashop.

  Moments later he messaged back, just as a bat swooped low across the front window.

  ‘U r coming? Great. In that case, Pips, l’ll have something very important to discuss with you. Til then.’

  Chapter Six

  10: have sex with boyfriend

  No joke. I once flat-shared with an auditor who wrote this on her daily to-do list. She accidentally left the piece of paper out on the kitchen unit – cue red faces and rambling conversation between us for a few minutes. Poor man. Fancy being considered a chore. Don’t get me wrong, with a background in studying mathematics, of working logically, hands-up, I’m a List Person too. But that? Plus, to rank him under putting out the dustbins? No! A step too far.

  My stomach tingled as images of Niko embracing me under a palm tree or behind a rock came to mind. Scheduling his moments of passion would be impossible. Instead I stuck to listing less emotional things. For the umpteenth time I gazed at the checklists in front of me as I sat in Pippa’s Pantry, in front of a coffee and breakfast muesli scone filled with yogurt and local cherry preserve. You see, today was Friday the twenty-second. Niko and I flew out to London in precisely three hours. I’d written down errands for my return, late tomorrow night, regarding Christmas, the fair, our wedding, my parents’ arrival in Kos a couple of days before the ceremony and…

  What a buzz. Having to multi-task to a tight schedule gave me the adrenaline rush I’d lived off in London. Our flight back to Greece tomorrow didn’t leave until tea time, and I intended to get up early and make the most of my day back in England. I’d buy a top-notch Christmas pudding for Grandma and some fancy perfume for Sophia. Bald Georgios would appreciate a stylish tweed flat cap and fashionable Pandora anything to do with the Duchess of Cambridge.

  Plus sight-seeing was a must and I wanted to show Niko the skyline I loved – Big Ben, The Shard, Canary Wharf and the Thames river…

  My heart pumped as I gazed out into the dark street. The next week would be the busiest ever. I glanced at one of the pieces of paper on the table listing the festive scones I would bake for the fair:

  Clove and orange filled with brandy whipped cream

  Cranberry and white chocolate

  Stuffing (sage and onion with chopped walnuts)

  Marzipan and dried fruit (Stollen)

  Port-infused, drizzled with dark chocolate

  Glittery baubles – using the Dellis’ lime, blueberry and apricot jam

  Mmm, I could almost smell the enticing aromas and hear Greek carols playing in the background on Christmas Day…

  ‘Pippa!’

  …Sophia would be in one of her ouzo moods, after just one glass. Niko and Georgios would inv
ite Demetrios and Cosmo over in the evening for a competitive game of cards. Whereas Grandma would read everyone’s coffee cups and forecast a super New Year.

  ‘Pippa!’

  I looked up. Niko hung in the doorway, his lean frame at an angle that made his body beg to be hugged.

  ‘What were you dreaming of, my juicy little fig?’ he said huskily and walked over, eyes gleaming. ‘This morning?’

  Heat radiated through my limbs as I recalled him whispering to me in Greek. And those kisses he trailed across my hips, so gently, as if someone was tickling my skin with a garland of tinsel. I touched my throat, impatient for us to be in our London hotel room. Don’t get me wrong, it was decent of Sophia and Georgios to let me sleep in Niko’s bedroom. I just hoped they never heard, I mean imagine if…honestly, roll on renting our own place! We could have lived in Mum and Dad’s villa, if it hadn’t been for some ongoing problems with the drains. Dirty water sometimes backed up the toilet and occasionally the taps didn’t work.

  ‘We leave in half an hour for the airport,’ he said. ‘Uncle Christos just rang – he’ll drive us as he has a shift there anyway. You have packed? Don’t forget the pottery flamingo we bought for Olivia and—’

  I stood up and saluted him. ‘Yes, officer. Everything is in order.’

  His arms slipped around my waist. ‘Mmm, you want me to order you around a little more? How about in bed, tonight, I instruct you to…’

  Okay. I can’t divulge what Niko said, but it resulted in a hot flush and the longest of kisses.

  Sophia walked in. A smile lit up her heart-shaped face and she placed her hands on her hips.

  ‘Ayyyy, this place will be quiet without you two youngsters. Now hurry up! It is almost half past seven.’

  Niko and I grinned at each other as she left. He ran a hand down my straight hair and brushed a finger across my cheek.

  ‘Where are your waves and freckles?’ He glanced down me. ‘And I’ve never seen this posh trouser suit before.’

  ‘I just thought I’d smarten up for London,’ I said brightly and avoided his eye.

  ‘Mmm, nice – it gives me an extra challenge, to unsmarten you later.’