‘Selfish? I’m selfish?’ Stella said, her face reddening and her eyes blazing with indignation at being scolded.
‘Yes – you! You think it’s fine to spend money that isn’t yours on things you don’t need and then you expect somebody else to tidy up the mess. Well, the world doesn’t work that way and the quicker you learn that, the better, and I won’t always be around to sort things out for you!’
‘Alice – I—’
‘And don’t try to sweet-talk me, or flatter me or make me feel guilty about something because that isn’t going to work again. I’ve had enough, Stella.’
Stella’s mouth dropped open but – for once in her life – she didn’t have a smart comeback nor did she break down in tears, and Alice used the moment to leave the house and get as far away from her as was possible.
Chapter 34
Milo was pacing up and down the harbour, wondering what to do. It felt like he’d paced the whole of Greece in his anxiety over Tiana but he just couldn’t keep still whilst she was missing. He’d been in and out of every shop on the harbour front, asking if they had seen her. One woman had taken her time in replying, her eyes scanning the ceiling. Milo had waited, his heart thudding in his chest, and then she’d given him a look as if to say he was completely mad and that, of course, she hadn’t seen a little girl.
He asked the row of fishermen who seemed to live on the harbour wall but they never saw anything that wasn’t directly under their nose or under the water.
When he found himself at the bus stop, he decided it was best if he got himself home and be there if that was where Tiana was making her way back to. He was just fishing around in his pockets for some change when he saw her. It was a girl with long dark hair on the other side of the street. She was looking in a shop window with her back to him. Milo tried not to get excited. After all, most of the girls in Greece had long dark hair.
‘Tiana?’ At first, her name came out as a whisper but then the dark-haired girl turned around and he saw that it was his dark-haired girl.
‘TIANA!’ he cried, her name carrying above a sea of tourists between them. She turned and saw him and he breathed a sigh of relief, tears filling his eyes as she smiled and began to run towards him.
‘Milo!’ she shouted, her feet flying over the pavement.
Milo’s arms opened wide as she crashed into him. ‘Oh my God, Tiana! I was so worried about you.’ He stroked her long hair and breathed in the scent of her in relief. ‘I’ve been looking all over Athens for you. I didn’t know where you were!’
‘I was here,’ she said. ‘Well, I’ve been here a little while.’
‘I’ve never been so worried in my life!’
‘But I was fine,’ she said. ‘You shouldn’t worry so much. I can look after myself.’
He cupped her face in his hands and looked down at her. ‘Yes, well I can see that now but what if something had gone wrong?’ he asked. ‘What if you’d taken a wrong turn down a street or somebody had abducted you or you’d fallen into the sea?’
She laughed. ‘But I didn’t!’
Her calmness suddenly angered him. ‘You mustn’t ever do anything like that again.’
Her smile vanished. ‘But I thought you’d worry if I stayed with Georgio and Sonya. I thought you wanted me to live with you.’
‘I do! But you should have stayed where you were. I would have come to collect you.’
‘I didn’t want to stay there. It didn’t feel right.’
‘But you were safe there, Tiana.’ He saw the sadness in her eyes and suddenly felt terrible at having shouted at her. She was safe now and that was all that mattered so he hugged her to him again. ‘How did you get back, anyway?’
Tiana looked a little uneasy for a moment. ‘I took some money,’ she said. ‘But I’ll pay it back!’
‘Where did you get money from?’
‘Sonya’s handbag.’
Milo laughed. ‘I think she’ll forgive you.’
‘But I ran out of money here so I couldn’t get the bus home.’
‘So, what were you planning to do, then?’ Milo asked, trying to sound serious.
‘I guessed you’d come looking for me so I thought I’d wait around here for a bit.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘Yes,’ she said philosophically. ‘I knew you’d be here sooner or later.’
‘You did, did you?’ he said, getting her in a gentle headlock in the crook of his arm.
‘Owww!’ she cried but she was laughing at the same time.
‘Knew I’d come for you, eh? Knew I’d bail you out of any trouble you managed to get yourself into?’ He ruffled her hair and then kissed the top of her head. ‘Come on, let’s get back to the bus stop and get you home.’
They walked hand in hand.
‘I guess I won’t be going to school today,’ Tiana suddenly said.
‘I guess not,’ Milo said.
‘It was really horrible when they took me. I screamed all the way to the boat and then cried for the whole journey too.’
Milo smiled with pride but he didn’t think it wise to praise her for such behaviour even though he secretly applauded it. They were going to have to build some sort of ongoing relationship with Georgio and Sonya, after all.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ Milo said after a moment, ‘and I was wondering if you might like to spend more time with Georgio and Sonya.’
Tiana stared at him with bewilderment in her eyes. ‘What do you mean? I thought you didn’t want me to live with them. I thought you said—’
‘I don’t want you to live with them!’ Milo said. ‘I’m not talking about you moving to Athens. I’m just thinking you could stay there every now and again – like a little holiday.’ He knew he wasn’t selling the idea very well because his heart really wasn’t in it but he had to think about Georgio and Sonya and he remembered the fear he’d seen in their faces when they’d thought something might have happened to Tiana. ‘You’ve got your own room there and everything, and they love you, Tiana! They really want to spend more time with you.’
Tiana’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Do I have to?’
‘No, you don’t have to but it would be really kind if you did.’
She looked thoughtful for a moment as if weighing up all the pros and all the cons and then she nodded solemnly.
‘Good girl,’ he said, ruffling her hair. ‘Now, I’d better give Georgio and Sonya a call and let them know you’re okay and it would be very nice indeed if you spoke to them too.’
‘But what would I say?’ she asked.
‘That you’re sorry.’
‘Do I have to?’
‘No, but it would be very nice if you did that too,’ Milo said, his eyebrows raised as he awaited her response.
‘Oh, all right then.’
‘Good girl,’ he said and he ruffled her hair once more for good measure.
* * *
It was a strange feeling to be going back to Greece, Alice thought as she stared out of the plane at the wispy white clouds that threaded by her window in eerie skeins. She couldn’t help feeling a deep sadness when she thought about all that had happened since her last trip there. She felt like a different person now. For a start, she was an orphan. That was probably being a bit overly dramatic at the age of twenty-eight, she thought, but she couldn’t help it. She no longer had a mother or a father and the thought made her intensely sad.
Arriving in Athens, Alice thought about a conversation she’d had with Milo. He’d lost both his parents some years ago. He’d mentioned it briefly – as if it didn’t matter – but she’d seen the sadness in his eyes and she’d wanted to know more.
She shook her head. This trip wasn’t about Milo. She wasn’t going to think about him or their unfinished conversations. It didn’t matter what he thought about his parents because he wasn’t a part of her life. The only part he might play in it was to help her undo this wish which was his fault in the first place. If he hadn’t told her about that silly s
tatue, none of this would have happened. She’d have left the villa that day in blissful ignorance as plain old Alice Archer and would be living quietly at home, and Bruce, Wilfred, Larry, Mr Montague and Ben would never have batted an eyelid at her.
Leaving the airport in a taxi, Alice looked at the streets which led up to the Parthenon and wondered if she’d have time to visit it on her trip. She’d booked five nights because there’d been a deal on and she thought she could probably do with some time away from work and home, some time to call her own. However, thinking about the Parthenon, it probably wasn’t a good idea. There were no doubt dozens of statues of gods and goddesses up there amongst the ruins and Alice didn’t want to be tempted by any of them. Heaven only knew what would happen if she had a close encounter with Zeus or Athena.
She couldn’t afford to book the villa she’d stayed in with her sister and she couldn’t find any other places available on the island at such short notice. Holiday season was in full swing and Kethos was fully booked. So she made do with a room in a characterless hotel on the mainland just outside Athens and near enough to the ferry crossing to get her over to Kethos with the least fuss possible.
Arriving at the hotel after giving an amorous taxi driver the brush-off, she dumped her suitcase and walked across to her second-floor window. She could see the sea if she stood up on tiptoe and craned her neck. She tried to imagine the little heart-shaped island of Kethos beyond the indigo waves. What would Milo be doing, she wondered? How many children would he be tucking into bed that night? And would he be making more with his beautiful Greek wife who had no idea about his romantic liaisons with tourists?
As Alice gazed out across the little patch of visible sea, she only hoped that she could get over to Kethos and back again without running into Milo the married man.
Chapter 35
The next morning was business as usual for Milo and Tiana. She got ready for school and he got ready for work. The only difference was that Milo was going to work on an ancient moped that a neighbour had lent him. It really was a terrible vehicle and Milo would probably have got more speed out of a mule but, until he replaced his old moped, he didn’t have much choice.
All that morning, he couldn’t take his eyes off Tiana. She sat like a little miracle in the middle of their kitchen, the sunlight flooding through the window and making her skin glow.
He’d packed her lunch as he always did, checked that she had all her books and had written a note to the teacher explaining why she’d been absent the day before and why she hadn’t had time to do her homework.
‘She won’t believe us,’ Tiana said.
‘Probably not,’ Milo agreed.
Now, riding the ancient moped to work, he thought about the conversation he’d had with his brother the night before. Georgio called after ten when he was sure Tiana had gone to bed.
‘Is she all right?’ he’d asked anxiously.
‘Well, she’s not crying herself to sleep if that’s what you’re worried about.’
‘There’s no need to be so cruel.’
Milo had sighed. There was still a part of him that wanted to punish Georgio for what he’d done but another part of him – the gentler part – wanted to sort things out between them all. He might not be able to understand why his brother had acted the way he had but knew that it was because he loved Tiana, and he told him his idea about her spending more time in Athens with them.
‘Are you serious?’ Georgio said.
‘If you promise to take good care of her and not emigrate or something.’
There’d been a pause. ‘You can trust us. We won’t do anything like that again. Sonya’s really shaken up. She didn’t – we didn’t – realise how much she loved her home.’
‘She’s an islander, Georgio, like me,’ Milo said and he heard his brother exhale slowly.
‘I can see that now.’
‘She’ll never leave,’ Milo told him.
‘I’ll never try to force her to.’
There’d been a silence that was neither awkward nor uncomfortable. It was as if the two brothers were letting something settle between them and, when they said good night, it was understood that what had passed would not be spoken of again. Apologies had been accepted and punishments received.
Now, turning off the main road towards the Villa Argenti, Milo was glad that it was all behind them. He’d known things had been building up for some time but hadn’t known which direction they would take.
Lander was there by the gate when Milo arrived. ‘You all right?’ his colleague asked him, giving him the once-over.
‘I think I’ll survive,’ Milo said, getting off the moped and taking his helmet off.
Lander peered closely at his face. ‘You been to the hospital for that cut?’
‘What cut?’
‘The one below your hairline.’
Milo’s hand flew up to his head and felt the scab that was forming there. ‘It’s nothing.’
‘You’re limping too,’ Lander pointed out as Milo walked into the garden.
‘I’m fine. I just want a nice quiet day without any incidents,’ he said and he disappeared into the garden to enjoy the solitude before the first of the tourists arrived.
Alice had never seen such bright water in her life. At once, she remembered Milo saying that the sea was ‘six shades of blue’ but she was sure she could see far more than that and it dazzled her eyes. There was clear aquamarine, dancing turquoise, there was indigo and navy, sapphire and lavender and so many shades in between.
Her fingers clenched the railings as she looked down into the water, marvelling at the foamy white wake behind the ferry which widened like a gigantic tail over the thousands of shades of blue and green. It would be easy to believe in mermaids on such a day or even believe that the mighty Poseidon lived in the watery depths, his trident ready and waiting to capture any unsuspecting tourist. And hadn’t Aphrodite been born from out of the sea? Alice remembered reading about a god having his unmentionables cut off and flung into the sea and the goddess of love rising up out of it.
Alice shook her head. Why was she always thinking about gods and goddesses? It was far more likely that there’d be nothing but jellyfish and the occasional flip-flop in the water below but she couldn’t shake the notion that if her statue of Aphrodite had had the power to grant wishes then what else was true from the world of myths and legends? Were there winged horses flying around the Greek mountains? Had Medusa been real? Alice felt so confused with it all but decided to dismiss the mythical beings for now and focus on getting herself to the Villa Argenti.
She walked to the front of the boat and watched as they approached Kethos. The familiar sight of the harbour made her feel nervous all of a sudden with its rows of white buildings and brightly-painted shutters. As they got closer, she could see the little row of fishermen on the harbour wall and could well believe that they’d been sitting there without moving since she’d last seen them.
Narrowly avoiding being proposed to by an Italian tourist who was quickly dragged away by his furious girlfriend, Alice walked to the bus stop and waited for the island bus to take her to her destination. There were about a dozen or so other holiday-makers standing in line that morning and she guessed that a fair few of them would be accompanying her to the villa.
The bus ride felt like something from a dream – a half-remembered thing that she thought she’d never encounter again and she couldn’t help but let a little part of her float back to that first week on Kethos when everything had been so beautiful and she’d been falling in love with Milo.
She looked out of the window as the bus turned a corner and the earth fell away towards the sea. There were gasps from the other tourists who had never seen the view before and Alice couldn’t help feeling just a little bit territorial because this was her special place.
Getting off at the Villa Argenti, Alice sighed at the number of people who accompanied her down the long sweep of driveway. Didn’t they have anywhere else to
go? Must they all be here today? She’d be lucky if she got a private moment with Aphrodite at all, especially if everybody knew about the wish. They’d be queuing up for hours to place their hands on her magical body.
Alice decided to make her way towards the Goddess Garden straightaway in an attempt to beat the crowds. She wanted to get this over and done with as quickly as possible.
The garden was quite different from when she had last seen it. Everything seemed so much bigger and greener and there were flowers in dazzlingly exotic colours and a border filled with old-fashioned roses in pinks and creams. A part of her wanted to linger and take it all in but she was too anxious to deal with business first and so directed her gaze straight ahead.
Her feet crunched along the gravel towards the Goddess Garden and she saw a few familiar faces. There was Demeter with her sheaf of wheat and there was Artemis with her hounds. Alice stopped. One of the hounds had a large crack around his neck and there was something amiss with Athena too – she’d lost an arm. How on earth had that happened, she wondered?
Alice walked on towards the sheltered corner of the garden that was home to Aphrodite. Red roses were in bloom around her feet and Alice took in a deep breath of relief that she was finally there. She’d made it and she was going to change things back to the way they had been before she’d made the wish. Everything was going to be all right.
But, as she looked up into the beautiful, serene face of the goddess, she knew that something was wrong. There was something about her face that didn’t look right. It was her and yet it wasn’t her. Alice blinked and tilted her head to one side as if that might make a difference but it didn’t. It wasn’t her, was it? It wasn’t the same statue. She knew it was Aphrodite – a representation of her, at least – but it wasn’t her Aphrodite.
She looked around the garden as if somebody was playing a trick on her. What was going on? She couldn’t ask anything of this statue, could she? That wouldn’t work. This Aphrodite was an imposter. She had no right being in the garden. And what about Artemis’s hound and Athena and her missing arm? Something had happened here and Alice’s mind raced as she realised what it might mean for her.
Wish You Were Here Page 23