Milo sighed with great satisfaction. ‘You didn’t need Aphrodite to make that wish come true. I would have granted it for you.’
One Year Later
The sea was the colour of aquamarines. Alice shielded her eyes as she looked out over the orchard towards it. It was going to be a glorious summer on Kethos. She could smell the thyme and lavender which Milo had planted in the new garden he was creating and the rich lemony scent of the little flower which only grew on Kethos and whose name Alice had forgotten. Still, there was plenty of time to learn it. She wasn’t going anywhere.
She still couldn’t believe what had happened over the course of a single year. Her father’s house had been sold and Stella had paid off her debts and put down a deposit on a little flat in Norwich and had even got herself her first full-time job.
‘It’s so tiny!’ she’d complained when Alice had visited her.
‘Stella, you have two en suite bedrooms, a brand new kitchen and a balcony all to yourself!’ Alice told her, shaking her head in despair. Stella would never be happy and Alice had finally realised that there was nothing she could do to change that. But she could be happy.
‘And I am,’ she said to herself now as she gazed into the silvery green olive trees where Tiana was playing.
It seemed an age since she’d handed in her notice to a perplexed Larry Baxter.
‘Greece?’ he’d said. ‘You’re going to live in Greece?’
Alice had nodded. ‘I’ll send you a postcard!’ she’d told him.
Ben had found out about her plan and had come down to the department to wish her well on her last day. It was a moment laced with awkwardness and Alice had wondered what she’d ever seen in him and she had the feeling that he was thinking exactly the same thing about her.
And then the villa had come up for sale. Alice and Milo couldn’t believe it. The sculptor, Yanni Karalis, had retired. He was ninety-two, after all, and had been persuaded by one of his sons to sell up and move to the mainland.
Mr Karalis’s statues were all sold before Alice and Milo took possession of the property. All apart from one. Alice had made sure that one very special statue was left as part of the deal and she was looking at her right now.
They’d managed to find a sculptor who had done his best to piece back Aphrodite’s broken body and she now stood in a shaded corner of the garden, overseeing the work that they were doing. Alice would plant roses around her one day and make that little corner of the garden fit for a goddess.
She smiled as she remembered that it was because of Aphrodite that she was here right now. The foolish wish she’d made seemed to have been reversed and Alice’s life had returned to normal – if she could call finding her true love and living happily ever after normal.
For a moment, she thought about the wedding ceremony in the tiny white church at the top of the hill and the reception afterwards which had been full of laughter and the most delicious home-cooked food Alice had ever tasted. All of Milo’s brothers had been there and it seemed like the whole of Kethos had turned up too. She’d never been made to feel so at home in her life and she had Aphrodite to thank for that. If it hadn’t been for the statue, she would never have returned to Kethos.
‘Hello, beautiful,’ Milo said, appearing on the terrace with two glasses of homemade lemonade.
Alice had stopped telling Milo that she wasn’t beautiful because she really believed him now and it wasn’t because the sun had banished her pale face and limbs or because it had highlighted her hair – it was because she was in love and love, she realised, had made her truly beautiful.
He handed her a glass of lemonade and they watched as Tiana clambered up one of the olive trees in the orchard.
‘Careful!’ Milo shouted, and they looked on helplessly as Tiana’s grip suddenly loosened and she fell from one of the lower branches with a great thud.
Alice sprang out of her chair in an instant but Milo’s hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. ‘Wait a moment,’ he told her.
‘Tiana?’ Alice called. ‘Are you all right?’
Tiana got up from the dusty ground and brushed herself down. ‘It’s okay!’ she shouted back. ‘I’m fine!’
Alice breathed a sigh of relief.
‘You’ve got to learn to relax,’ Milo told Alice, kissing the top of her head.
‘If our child is going to be half as energetic as Tiana, I doubt I’ll ever relax again!’ Alice said with a laugh.
Milo placed a hand on her belly. ‘How is he?’ he asked.
‘Milo! It might not be a he at all. It might be a little she.’
He shook his head. ‘It’s a boy. I can feel it!’
She smiled at his certainty. ‘You’re going to be so disappointed if it’s a girl.’
‘How can you say that? I’d love a little girl. In fact, we’re going to have lots of little girls too but this is a little boy!’
‘How many children are you planning, exactly?’ Alice asked. ‘I mean, I’ve already got the barn conversions under way for the holiday lets and—’
‘Alice, I don’t want you working so hard. Not if we’re going to have three boys and three girls to take care of.’ He grinned at her as her eyes doubled in size. ‘Well, let’s just take it one at a time,’ he said, bending down to kiss her.
Alice smiled in contentment. She was living on a beautiful island with the man she loved and they were going to make a family together.
She really couldn’t wish for anything more.
Acknowledgements
To the fabulous support team I’m so lucky to have: Deborah Wright, Caroline Mackworth Praed, Ruth Saberton, Bridget, Gael and to my husband, Roy, who puts up with so much when I’m writing a novel!
To the lovely Leah Fleming and Allie Spencer for tips about Greece.
Thanks also to Wendy Holden, Fiona Dunbar, Brin and Helen, Andrea Jones, Annette Green, David Smith, Caroline Hogg and the team at Avon.
Special thanks to Alexandra Galani for letting me use her name - again!
Thanks also to the fantastic team in Norwich: Simon and Lisa Ludkin, Roger and Anne Betts, Jane McInnes and Vicky Green and Robert Welton at Jarrold’s.
And to my dear readers and friends on Twitter and Facebook who send me such lovely messages – you’re amazing!
About the Author
Victoria Connelly was brought up in Norfolk and studied English literature at Worcester University before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire. After getting married in a medieval castle and living in London for eleven years, she moved to rural Suffolk with her artist husband and ever-increasing family of animals. She has had three novels published in Germany – the first of which was made into a film.
To find out more about Victoria Connelly please visit www.victoriaconnelly.com
Also by Victoria Connelly
A Weekend with Mr Darcy
The Perfect Hero
The Runaway Actress
Published by Avon an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2013
Copyright © Victoria Connelly 2013
Cover photographs © Getty Images & Trevillion
Cover design © Lucy Stephens 2013
Victoria Connelly asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Wish You Were Here Page 28