The Choices We Made

by Lexie James

  Maria looked shocked, “He made love to her and then just walked away? She was a virgin? What was he thinking? He’s been brought up a good Italian boy, to understand honour and chivalry, he knows better than to behave like that! There were bets on whether or not he would sleep with her? I am ashamed of him, and, why, tell me, didn’t he run after her straight away? He should have brought her straight home to me and married her.”

  Adrienne looked at her. “I suppose it’s a boy thing and he couldn’t lose face in front of the others, you know what young men are like; and then afterwards, well, he couldn’t find her.”

  Maria looked about to cry. “Well he should have tried harder. I still don’t understand why you saw this and not me. I am his mother I should have known. I have failed him.”

  Adrienne smiled apologetically at her. “No Maria you haven’t, at the beginning I saw it because I was not as affected by Mikolas’ death as you were, after all, he’s not my son. And remember he told me what he did when he was drunk, sober he would never have bared his heart to anyone of us. And I am totally convinced that he carries a torch for her because let’s face, it in all these years, he‘s never warmed to any of the girls he has been involved in. I become surer of that each time he comes into the office, and regales me with the antics of the latest girl. And I mean all the antics, almost as if he’s reciting some film he’s seen rather than something he has participated in. I believe his heart was lost long ago and that’s why they mean nothing to him.”

  “So if you are not here to look over this hotel as a potential new investment.” Maria paused finally assimilating all the information Adrienne had just revealed.

  Comprehension dawned on her face, her son’s heart had been trampled on and broken, and that was why she could not persuade him to marry any of the women she had found for him. Her eyes narrowed angrily.

  “Then the reason you are here is because of this story you’ve just told us isn’t it? It’s because this girl is here isn’t she? The girl that broke my boy’s heart is here. Just wait till I get my hands on her, she’ll be sorry she was ever born.”

  Adrienne interrupted her. “Wow! Maria, stop right there! I just told you what your son did to her. And I think you will find that it was his actions that did most of the heart breaking; and he damn well knows it! Yes I know his heart was broken too but I think you will find that the memory of what he once had, what he once did, and what he lost, is why he tears himself apart all the time and why he won’t commit to anybody else.”

  Sophia had stayed silent throughout their conversation, remembering, reviewing, and concentrating on Adrienne’s story. Slowly she pieced it together with the rest of the story that she knew so well. Everything began to fall into place and she remembered Emme’s return from college in floods of tears. Emme had steadfastly refused to tell Patrick the boy’s name no matter how much he had ranted at her. He had wanted revenge for the hurt his daughter had suffered and that was before they had known she was pregnant!

  She closed her eyes for a moment, my God she realised, the children, they were born nine months later, and they are Christos’s children. Opening her eyes she looked at Adrienne.

  She blinked back a tear, and then slowly she began to retell the tale from Emme’s point of view.

  “When she returned from college she wouldn’t speak to anyone, she wouldn’t eat; she just sat in her room, day after day, crying. When she found out she was pregnant Patrick was already to ride out and shoot the boy who had broken his little girl’s heart, but she refused to name him. Hannah encouraged her to eat for her babies’ sake, and by the time the children were born she appeared to have buried the hurt. She concentrated on the business of bringing up two children single handed. There were times though when I have seen such sadness in her eyes that I thought my heart would break. Over the years Patrick has tried to introduce her to prospective men that he approves of. She sweetly declines to have anything to do with any of them. Since the day she came home from college she has only seemed half alive. When Hannah died she became stronger and she would lay down her life for her children, but even now that inner glow that she had as a child has gone.”

  Maria swallowed. “This story is about Daniel’s goddaughter? She came back from college pregnant? Christos has children? Those children are my grandchildren?”

  Sophia sympathetically squeezed her arm.

  “Well it certainly looks like you have. Now I think about it, she was adamant on the names for the twins; Christabel and Michael Christos. I’ve been so used to seeing them as her children that I didn’t look to see anyone else in them. Wait I have Daniel’s boasting book here, he’s been taking pictures of the twins ever since they were born.”

  Together they looked at the photographs of the children, Maria began to cry softly.

  “He looks like Christos did at that age.” She pointed to a picture of a rather determined toddler, heading for a piece of chocolate high on a table.

  Adrienne gave her a hug. “I’m so sorry this must be such a shock for you, I thought about telling you. But I was so afraid it might be difficult enough bringing them together, without anyone else getting in the way.”

  Marie turned and glared at her. “Do you mean to tell me that you think I might make the situation more difficult?”

  Solemnly Adrienne and Sophia looked at each other and as a silent message passed between them they turned to Maria and nodded in unison.

  “Well really! I could almost believe you both think that I am an interfering mother.”

  She tried to stare them down but neither Adrienne nor Sophia could look her straight in the eye, after all they both agreed wholeheartedly with her and she knew it.

  She sighed. “Alright I am prepared to concede that I might at times overstep the mark and interfere; sometimes.”

  She stopped and glared as both women’s shoulders surreptitiously began to twitch.

  “Maybe, just maybe, okay maybe it’s more than sometimes. I know I do, and I will agree with you, but for goodness sake! I have grandchildren that are already nearly grown and I have not been involved in any of their growing up! And I have a son who should be shot for failing to ensure that he kept his girlfriend beside him so I could see them grow up.”

  Adrienne spoke deliberately. “Listen to me, he has no idea about the real reason we are here; and in fact I would be surprised if he has any recollection of telling me about her. I think when he sees her, he’s either going to fall at her feet, or look at the children and hate her for not telling him about them. Either way it is not going to be easy for me and even harder for you both to deal with his emotions. And that’s without thinking how hard it is going to be for her, for her children, and for her father.”

  Sophia sighed, “You’re right she was distraught through her pregnancy and then again when Hannah died but she has developed a hard veneer over the years, god knows she’s had to. When I’ve asked her if she didn’t think the children could do with their father around, she said some quite uncharitable things about men.”

  Maria looked shocked but Sophia grinned unrepentant.

  “Her father’s a hot headed Irishman who prides himself on speaking his mind, she is his daughter.”

  Whilst they had been talking Adrienne had been considering the situation.

  “We will have to make the best of this situation. Oh no Maria, I’ve just thought you didn’t book in here as Maria Cervantes did you? When she sees Christos she will find it hard enough and if she then looks at the names on the guest list and realises that his mother is here, well I’m not sure that she could cope with that all at once.”

  Sophia answered on her behalf. “No she didn’t. But that was because I didn’t want her to unnerve either the staff or Patrick.”

  Adrienne sighed in relief. “Well then, let’s be thankful for small mercies. Personally, I would prefer to bump into you both downstairs, then see if we can lie enough to convince Patrick that we don’t know each other. Christos is going to be mad as hel
l when he sees you are here Maria. Perhaps you had better not stand too close to him; he looks so much like you. Patrick has already told me my son does not look anything like me, I don’t want him to query the likeness between the two of you.”

  “So let me understand the situation. We are going to pretend we don’t know each other, are we?” Maria clarified.

  “In front of Patrick and his family I think that’s a very good idea Maria.” Adrienne confirmed. “We need to make sure that Christos does not know you are here until it is too late for him to run away. If he knew before we went downstairs that you were here, he would drive away before we’d even eaten. He spent half the drive here congratulating himself that he had got out of meeting the new girl you had lined up for him to meet this weekend.”

  “What new girl?” Sophia asked frostily.

  Maria pulled a face, “Katherine, her parents are business acquaintances of ours and she runs the European side of their business. I haven’t seen them since Stephanos died, then I ran into Susan at my art class, we got talking then realised we both had unmarried children. We thought they would have something in common. I forgot to tell him I’d changed my mind and cancelled the weekend because I was coming here to keep you company Sophia. I suppose it’s lucky I didn’t speak to him because he would have asked me where we were going, and I’d have told him.”

  Sophia gaped at her in amazement. “I’m sorry, did I hear that right? You were attending an art class?”

  Miffed Maria pulled a face. “Well why shouldn’t I? I happen to like art and I have to find something to do to fill my days with.”

  Sophia smiled slowly, “Well I’m not sure what to say, if I hadn’t heard you say it with your own lips I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  She realised she had interrupted Adrienne and turned to her apologetically. “Forgive me for jumping in but that little revelation surprised me somewhat.”

  She grinned and mimed ‘a lot’ which provoked a loud sniff from Maria.

  Adrienne ignored them both and resumed as if the last few sentences hadn’t been spoken at all.

  “Let’s be thankful then that you didn’t get to tell him what you were doing this weekend. Now you are both going to forget what I have told you, aren’t you? And you, Sophia, you are going to text me once you have settled at a table in the dining room. Then, and only then, will we come down to dine. Is there any chance that you could make sure you are seated far enough away from the door so that he won’t be able to see you, until it’s too late?”

  Sophia nodded in agreement.

  Briskly Adrienne stood up, hoping against hope, that she had managed to rescue what had seemed, at the outset, an almost impossible situation.

  “Right then I’ll be of. I can’t wait to see ‘my sons’ face, when we walk into the dining room and he sees his own mother sitting there large as life. And just when he’d finished congratulating himself upon avoiding any chance of seeing you this weekend.”

  Finally finding something to lighten her mood Adrienne walked back to her room with a smile hovering on her lips. Just as she reached it, Maria’s indignant face sprung into her mind and she chortled with glee. Her hand on the doorknob, just as quickly she sobered, as she realised Maria was struggling to fill her time with displacement activities, when all she really wanted to do was fill her time with her son’s family.

  Christos, Emme and the children were not the only ones who would be affected by the outcome of this weekend.

  Squaring her shoulders she entered her room, prepared to do battle for the hearts of two people she was convinced, belonged to each other.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Adrienne entered her room quietly and showered. Putting on a dressing gown she put her phone beside her on the dressing room and began to apply her makeup, but her hand shook so nervously that she had to redo her liner because it looked exactly like wonky tramlines.

  “Nervous?” Christos’s voice spoke from the doorway of his adjoining room. “I’m sorry, I did knock, didn’t you hear?”

  She dropped her mascara wand on the floor as she turned to face him and he moved forward quickly to rescue it, just as she bent down for it.

  “You are nervous.” He declared. “I’m sorry if I have teased you, I had no idea he meant that much to you. After all you’ve only known him for a short time.”

  He gently held her by her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes, smiling as he told her. “You are still gorgeous and desirable; and you could knock the socks of someone half your age. If he likes you half as much as you obviously like him, well, I hope he has the courage to do something about it. Unrequited love is awfully hard to live with.”

  His eyes glazed, looking off into nowhere and the tone of his voice had changed as his voiced sounded melancholy.

  “Thank you.” Her mouth was so dry she could hardly speak. ”I’ll be ready soon; I’ve brought a couple of outfits with me. Would you just give me a few moments to decide which one I would like to wear?”

  He dropped his hands and strolled back into his room. “Of course, just shout when you are ready to go.”

  Adrienne felt like the worst kind of villain, especially as he was being so very understanding towards her. She glanced nervously at her phone, willing the text to arrive. She played with her hair and makeup, before giving up and going over to the wardrobe to choose an outfit. If that blasted phone doesn’t bleep soon, she thought crossly, I am going to have to start pretending I can’t decide what to wear. I shall have to keep changing between different outfits and look like a real idiot.

  She was struggling with her zip when the text finally came; she raced to the phone, read it, and deleted it as he put his head around the door.

  “Is everything all right?” he asked.

  “Fine, thanks, it’s just that when we left I couldn’t find Duchess, you know how I worry about her, she’s getting so old now, one day I know she’ll just take herself of and die. Anywhere Kate promised she’d look for her and she has just texted to say she found her curled up in her wash basket. So I can stop worrying. Could you do up my dress please?” And she turned away from him, embarrassed that she had managed to lie so easily, and afraid her face might give her away.

  “I didn’t realise your cat was missing, you never said anything.”

  “Well now, that is because you were in a filthy mood, and hardly spoke to me for half the journey, therefore I felt, as a sensible employee, it was in my best interests to let you stew in whatever you were stewing in!” She replied.

  He glared for a second then burst into laughter before sketching a bow to her. Together they walked down the stairs.

  Patrick was standing at the bottom of the stairs with an admiring look on his face as he watched her coming towards him.

  “Adrienne, how lovely you look this evening. Let me show you to your table, then perhaps, later on, you might do me the honour of having a drink with me.”

  She smiled nervously at him, very aware that by the end of the evening he would probably want to kill her. Her took her smile as acceptance and led them into the room. She was so intent on looking for Emme, that it took her a moment before she registered Christos’s sharp intake of breath.

  “What the hell is she doing her?” He hissed into her ear, as Patrick began to lead them over to Sophia and Maria.

  With a dramatic flourish Patrick pulled out a chair for Adrienne. “Now I hope you don’t mind, but everybody else here this weekend has been attending this event for years. So I thought it might be nice for you to get to know some of them. With that in mind I’ve sat you with one of my oldest friends for supper. Adrienne, you did say you would help on a stall, and they could definitely do with a hand as they have hundreds of boxes of books for them to arrange. Sophia, let me introduce Adrienne and her son Chris to you. They have offered to help on a stall tomorrow, and you have a great deal to organise with your stall.”

  He grinned at Sophia. “I promised you I would find you some extra help.”

&n
bsp; He turned to Adrienne. “Sophia and her husband are my oldest friends, and they have been helping us with this event ever since we first began it. Although he can’t be here, Sophia has brought one of her oldest friends with her. She has been so gracious as to honour us with her company and time. Now please sit down make yourself comfortable. Make friends, enjoy your meal, and I will see you later Adrienne.”

  He winked at her as he handed her a serviette, before moving on to speak to his guests at the next table.

  Christos’s face looked like murder as he glowered, first at his mother, then at his godmother, and finally, after he sat down, at Adrienne.

  Looking at the menu he smiled, but it only reached his mouth, his eyes were icy as they speared the women sitting at the table with him. If anyone was watching it would look as if he was engaged in small talk, which was not however, what anyone sitting at the table thought.

  He directed his first question at Sophia.

  “So he is one of your oldest friends is he? Isn’t that’s nice.” He leant across the table and hissed. “Then why have I never met him? After all, I believe I am your only godson, or are you ashamed of me?”

  Under pretence of showing him the wine menu, she retorted. “Don’t be so ridiculous Christos. For someone with above average intelligence, you can really say the most melodramatic, stupidest things. Just because you are my godson, does not mean that you know everything about me, nor have I introduced you to everyone in my life. For your information, Patrick was Daniels best friend from schooldays; and Daniel is godfather to Patrick’s daughter.”

  Christos’s heart sank as he considered the ramifications of what that comment might mean. His eyes raked contemptuously over all three women looking at him.