by Lexie James
Patrick watched him silently, waiting, and topped his glass up again; maybe I should have brought out two bottles, he thought ruefully.
Finally Christos spoke. “When did her mother die?”
“My wife? Seven years ago tomorrow, this event commemorates both her life and her death.”
Christos sat up straight; could this be his first step towards building his bridges? A way to show her that he wanted to be a part of this life that was hers, maybe if she could begin to accept that, then he could convince her that they had a second chance of a life together. His first act of atonement to make amends for the terrible things he had said to her. A step towards showing her, by his actions, how sorry he was, even if she wouldn’t listen to him she would have to see what he was doing.
After all she couldn’t possibly ignore him all weekend.
Having made his decision, he turned to face Patrick and asked him. “What would you want me to do?”
Patrick grinned at him in the darkness. “Oh nothing much, a bit of this, and a bit of that. Carry tables, chairs, set them up, help build the stage, for example. Help with the fireworks. Emme worries most about them fireworks, she’s never trusted me to go anywhere near them alone without Daniels supervision. Now he’s not here and it will fall to me to deal with the display all by myself. How are you at lighting fuses?”
“I don’t know I’ve never done anything like that before.” Christos looked out into the gloom again and shrugged his shoulders. “How difficult can it be? Whatever you want me to do, I’ll gladly do it. But don’t tell her I’m going to help you, please. Just let her see.”
Patrick clapped him on the shoulder. “You help me and leave my daughter’s reactions for me to deal with. After all I’ve been dealing with her all these years. I’d best go in. Shall I leave you the bottle?”
Christos took it absentmindedly from Patrick, filling his glass again, before returning to his contemplation of the gloom. Patrick waited a moment, in case he spoke again, but as he didn’t he turned and began to walk back to the house. The nearer he got to the house, the more pleased he became with himself, and by the time he relieved Sophia at the desk, he was grinning broadly.
She scanned his face for clues, as his grin appeared to include her.
“You would not be expecting me to say anything to you, now would you?” he enquired sweetly. “Not when, it’s so obvious that you’ve got secrets that you’re not sharing with me. You do what you need to do, and I’ll do what I need to do, and perhaps the two needs will add together and produce, well, goodness knows, maybe something right.”
Sophia sighed and started to answer him, but Patrick held up his hand and shook his head.
“Go, before that young man walks in here and sees the both of us talking.”
Sophia smiled uncertainly and reluctantly returned to the dining room. She was immediately accosted by Maria and Adrienne, both beside themselves with worry.
Casting her eyes around to make sure nobody else could hear, she filled them in on what Emme had told her Christos had said to her. Then, disclosed, that Emme had sent Christos packing. He’d gone outside and Patrick had followed him to talk to him.
Maria was furious. “How could he have said those things to her? What on earth was he thinking about? What has happened to my boy?”
Sophia replied tersely. “From everything that Emme told me, I gather he believes the children were fathered by another man.”
Adrienne drew in a sharp breath. “My goodness, I never even considered that as a possibility. I mean I assumed he would look at them, recognise how much they are a combination of him and Emme, then work out their ages and realise he had fathered them.”
Sophia grimaced. “Well that didn’t happen, but then you were thinking logical, and love has nothing to do with logic. He saw them and somehow he automatically assumed that she had betrayed him, and in no uncertain terms he told her what he thought of her. He is not the most forgiving man is he when he is angry?”
She waited for a response but as none was forthcoming she continued. “However I believe it is patently obvious that they are still in love with each other. Nothing else could explain why there was such an explosion of anger between the two of them. Now all we have to do is to get them to recognise their true feelings for each other.”
“But how on earth are we going to do that?” Adrienne enquired.
They sat in silence, all racking their brains until Sophia broke the silence. “I suggest we deal with the situation like this. First of all I am going to make sure we sit together again for breakfast. Once we are all settled and the orders taken, you, Maria are going to ask me how the events of this weekend have evolved. I am going to make very sure in telling you the story that I tell it all, so that he will realise he is the children’s’ father. The rest will be up to him, because at this moment in time she is so angry with him that I don’t believe she will let him get anywhere near her. It’s going to take a miracle to get her to listen to anything he’s got to say. You think Christos can get angry, well he has nothing on her. As much as anything else, she believes she’s fighting to protect her children from him, and from being hurt by his rejection of them.”
Maria looked as if she was about to cry, biting her lip she told them. “He’d better sort it out because you know what? If he doesn’t do that I am going to make his life a living hell, I will never stop interfering in every single little aspect of his life.”
Sophia looked at her with understanding. However, even if he sorted everything out immediately, there was still no chance that Maria would ever stop interfering. Maria saw the look in her eye and correctly interpreted what it meant; she put her chin up defiantly, refusing to be goaded into attempting to reply.
She was not quite sure who would retire the victor.
Christos meanwhile had finally decided to return the bottle of whisky to Patrick and try and clear his head a little. As he climbed up the steps slowly he stopped in shock, as one of Patrick’s comments finally hit home.
She had born her children with no father around.
Why hadn’t she stayed with the man?
Why had she left him to bring up her children alone?
Was it his fault that she hadn’t made that relationship work? Had he broken her heart or had she found that, like him, no-one else would do. Or was it because his actions had taught her that no man was trustworthy, in which case why on earth would she have slept with another man?
He had so many unanswered questions, how was he ever going to get to the bottom of it all?
Shit, he thought, what a mess I created by not telling her all those years ago that I loved her to distraction. If I had only had the courage to do that, then none of this would have happened.
I’ve been all sorts of fool and it will take a miracle to settle this.
He paused on the stair, as a glimmer of hope began to raise its head. At least there was no other man around and just maybe it was because her reason was the same as his, she had never forgotten him.
He climbed the stairs, buoyed by hope.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Adrienne slept fitfully, her unconscious mind severely troubled by the mayhem her actions had caused to everyone. Finally she dragged herself out of bed despondently and got dressed. Christos knocked on her door just as she was finishing.
He smiled politely, avoiding her eyes as he asked her. “Shall we go down to breakfast?
She looked at him uncertainly, thinking about speaking to him, and noting the dark circles under his eyes. She wondered how much sleep he had had, and began to open her mouth to apologise for her part in all that occurred, when she recalled how Sophia had said she was going to handle everything. It would come better from her; after all she knew more of both sides of the story than anyone else did.
“Yes. Did you sleep well?”
“Fine,” He glanced at her briefly. “Let’s go down.” He had looked at her for only a moment but it was enough for her to see the pain lurking
there in his eyes; despite what Sophia had said, she knew she had to say something. Uncertainly she reached out to touch his arm as she spoke.
“Christos I’m so sorry.”
He stood still and looked into her face. “Sorry, for what?”
Shamefaced she told him. “For all of this, for what happened last night, for everything, for bringing you here to this place and not telling you why I really wanted you to come.”
Christos stood rooted to the spot as he considered the implication of her apology, turning slowly to face her he asked her quietly.
“What exactly do you mean? Not telling me why you really wanted me to come here?”
Adrienne began to feel a little sick; she was really beginning to regret saying anything, it would have been more sensible to leave it up to Sophia. But somewhere, at the back of her mind, was the whisper of a thought that at some stage he would realise that she had brought him here under false pretences. It would be better for her if she was honest.
Haltingly she began to explain. “I don’t expect you to remember, but a long time ago, not long after your father died, I found you very drunk one evening. I thought it was grief from your father’s death that was making you behave like that, but then you told me about a beautiful girl who you had fallen in love with, and how you had lost her. You told me her name, and described her to me in such detail. I could tell how much she meant to you. Afterwards, when I watched you failing to build relationships with the women your mother introduced you too, I began to wonder if you were still pining for that girl. I believed you had never forgotten her, and I suppose, over the years, while I’ve been scouting out new businesses, I have also been, sort of, looking out for her.”
Christos’s eyes narrowed as he realised that she had achieved the one thing that, if he was honest with himself, he should have done for himself many years ago. She had had more determination and courage than he had had. He looked at Adrienne standing in front of him, looking both wretched and guilty, in equal measure. Sighing deeply he considered her actions, and with a slight smile, he questioned her.
“So we didn’t come here to make an offer on this property, and we didn’t come here because you fancied the owner. We came here because you believed you had found my ‘lost love’?”
From his expression Adrienne couldn’t quite decide if this was the calm before the storm, she decided to battle on regardless. “Yes, I believed I had finally found her, and I truly believed you needed to see each other. Though actually...” She continued, growing more confident with each word she spoke. “I did, I do, actually think her father is rather gorgeous, and I think he likes me. And don’t you dare tell me that I am too old to be thinking such things, I am not in my dotage yet, and I am still capable of...”
She stopped, patently horrified, by what she had, very nearly, inadvertently said.
There was a glimmer of a smile in Christos’s eye for a fraction of a moment as he listened to her final comment, which faded abruptly, as he considered the first part of her sentence.
Dryly he replied to the last part of her speech first. “I know you’re not old, you just like to pretend you are, every now and again.” Sighing he placed a companionable arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug.
“Thank you, I owe you an enormous debt, for achieving what I had found impossible to do. For the rest though, I’m not sure, if it was a good idea.” Bleakly he told her. “Do you know I was so sure she would have stayed true to me, at least for a little while, but that didn’t happen, did it? Let’s go down and eat, I,” He ran his hand though his hair distractedly. “I said some things I shouldn’t have said, now I shall have to try and make amends for my mistakes the best I can. Her father explained to me how important this weekend is to them all, I will behave.”
Resolutely he began to march over to the door, when, with his hand on the door handle he suddenly whipped around to her, anger on his face.
“Don’t tell me you planned this with Sophia and my mother.”
Horror stricken she stuttered. “Good God no! Of course I didn’t! I had absolutely no idea they were going to be here. If I had known, I would have tried to make them stay away.”
He grinned, “You would have too, wouldn’t you?”
“Well I’m not that idiotic you know.” She glared at him, ready for battle.
He threw up his hands in mock defeat. “Okay, okay, but they do know now, don’t they? About her?”
Silently she nodded.
He sighed resignedly. “Oh well, there’s not a lot I can do about that now. Let’s get downstairs and try and greet the day with some semblance of pride.”
True to her word, Sophia had arranged that yet again, they were sat with Sophia and Maria. In silence they all looked at the breakfast menu.
“Can I take your order?” Christos looked up quickly, but it wasn’t Chrissie, his eyes scanned the room quickly searching for her, until he spied her at the other end of the dining room.
“Is there a problem sir?” The waitress, Morag asked.
“No there isn’t, yes actually there is. I thought she was our waitress, the young girl over there.” He queried, trying to sound unconcerned and failing miserably, part of him was furious with himself for even mentioning it, but on a different level he thought perhaps he was trying to heal his wounds by adding a large dose of salts to them.
Then again, if he wanted to win Emme back, he had to not only accept the children but spend time with them, get to know them.
Morag grinned down at him. “Ah well, I was working in the kitchens last night, so Chrissie took my tables for me as well as her own, she’s a bright girl that one. But now I’m not needed in there anymore, so I can be here then, which is, in my opinion, a much better to place to be. Too hot in the kitchens for me, and I do love to be able to chat to my customers. So here I am then, your own special waitress, for this most important weekend.”
“Right, well, thanks very much for clearing up that query for me.” Christos buried his head in his menu, ordering after everyone else. For a while they ate in silence until Sophia kicked Maria gently on the leg to start the conversation.
Raising her voice slightly to ensure Christos was listening she began. “Sophia, you have never really explained to me, why this weekend is so important to you.”
Sophia sipped her tea. “Didn’t I? I thought I had. This charity event commemorates the life and death of Patrick’s wife. Daniel is Patrick’s best friend; we actually had a double date the first time they went out together. That was such a wonderful evening, we could tell Patrick was hooked and Hannah, well her face just shone with love. It’s impossible to explain how close they were, so I won’t even try. When Emme was born, she was the icing on the cake; they were both so engrossed in her. I’ve never seen a child that was so content with her mother, they never argued about anything not even when she was a teenager. Hannah died seven years ago today.”
“How sad that must be, to lose someone you love so much.” Adrienne interjected quietly.
Sophia continued oblivious to Adrienne’s interruption. “Many of the people here today have been friends of theirs for years; they come to stay on this special weekend to support and help them. Patrick and the grandchildren cope better each year but Emme. Well, the problem is that she blames herself for her mother’s death, and the depth of that feeling seems to get worse each year. In her eyes, she has robbed her father of his wife and her children of a grandmother.”
“But that’s truly awful, why would she think that?” Maria sounded just as upset as she looked.
Sophia looked around to make sure that no-one else but those sitting around her at the table could hear what she was about to say.
“Emme fell in love with someone at college, but he didn’t seem to feel the same way as she did. So she came home and discussed it with her mother, and Hannah told her that some boys needed a gentle push to make them realise what they feel. She bought her a new dress for her graduation ball, and Emme got ready here
with Hannah no doubt giving her all sorts of advice. We were here that weekend, and I can still see Patrick driving her of so proudly, why she looked like a fairy-tale princess, so full of high hopes that she was going to win her prince. She came back the next day absolutely hysterical, nobody could get any sense out of her; she shut herself in her room, and cried for weeks. When she realised she was pregnant, she went into a deep depression, and it was all Hannah could do to get her to eat for the sake of the baby. Hannah and Patrick despaired for her, and then when the scan showed it was twins, they looked upon it as a blessing. They thought she would be so tied up with trying to be a good mother that she would forget all about the boy who had caused all this trouble. Just as Emme finally settled down, Hannah was diagnosed with cancer. Emme blamed the stress she had caused Hannah over her pregnancy, as the reason why she then got cancer.”
Maria was genuinely shocked. “But she can’t blame herself for that, cancer is indiscriminate, it’s nobody’s fault when it strikes.”
“You try telling that to Emme. We’ve all tried, but no-one has ever succeeded.” Sophia replied sadly.
Christos had been listening to Sophia’s story, recognising his own part and his gut reeling again with the shame for all that he had done and said. His mind had returned to the night of the graduation ball and a smile touched his eyes as he remembered how she had looked, a fairy-tale princess? That description didn’t even begin to do justice to the way she had looked that night, and it wasn’t how he had thought of her when he had seen her.
If he understood everything that Sophia was saying, it meant that Lindy must have come straight back here, after she had seen him in the canteen that morning. According to Sophia’s story, she had stayed in her room afterwards; she hadn’t flown to another man’s bed. What she had done was fly away from him, and everything that had happened that night and the following morning.