The Tower of the Winds

by Elizabeth Hunter

  'You failed me,' Charity said again. ''I only wanted to be myself. Was that so much to ask?'

  Yet Ariadne was to marry a man from Corinth,if Xenia could be believed.

  'I wanted to be someone, but I couldn't even be that, because Loukos must have loved her - and he can't love both of us, can he?'

  Apollo, frozen in stone, continued to ignore her complaint. He was not really like Loukos at all. Loukos had never turned away from her distress, not even when he had first met her at the Tower of the Winds.

  They were starting to shut up the little museum and she turned away from the frieze and went back outside, hoping to see the sun set behind the Erechtheum before she had to go down from the Acropolis. If Loukos was coming, he would have to come soon, she thought. Her longing for him settled like a pain within her as the wind caught and buffeted her in the open space between the two temples.

  When she looked down the western side of the Acropolis, she found herself searching automatically for the Tower of the Winds, and knew it was because she connected it with Loukos; that whenever she saw him she would live again that moment when he had come striding towards her, looking like Apollo come to life. She went round the side of the temple, standing right on the edge of the steep slope that fell to the street below. She put her hand on the Pentelic marble of the temple and climbed up higher still into a perch that

  had been torn from a fallen column. The sun was casting a reddish glow across the whole western sky. It was strangely beautiful, and made more so by some threatening thunder clouds that were coming up from the north. Beyond the horizon, the lightning flashed, but there was no immediate danger from the rain.

  Down there somewhere was an ancient temple that had been converted into a Christian church. It had become known to the local people as St George the Lazy, because they had blamed the saint and not the Turkish overlords for the scarcity of the masses that had been celebrated there. Charity smiled at the thought, but she could not stop herself from thinking of what Loukos was doing for all this time, and the smile died.

  Where was Loukos? She had only a few more minutes and then she would have to go. She shut her eyes and thought about the way Colin had dismissed her marriage as if it were a thing of no account. She owed him one for that, she thought, for it was infinitely precious to her. Yet, in a strange way, she was grateful to him too, for he had made her burningly aware of her pride in being Loukos' wife, and no one could take that away from her.

  She stretched upwards and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the golden evening air.

  'I am Mrs. Loukos Papandreous!'she announced in a loud voice. It seemed she was someone after all.

  She was lifted down from her perch by a pair of strong hands she would have known anywhere. 'Loukos!' she exclaimed, her face alight with pleasure. 'You did come!'

  He smiled. 'So Apollo worked a small miracle for you after all,' he said.

  She shook her head, her eyes shy. 'No, not Apollo,' she denied. 'You did.'

  He gave her a curious glance. 'Have you sorted us out in your mind at last?' he inquired, his voice very gentle.

  'I think so. I know now who I want to be. I want to be

  your wife, Loukos. On any terms, I want to be your wife!'

  He pulled her against him, touching the bruise on the side of her head. 'Agapi mou,I never doubted it. Do you think that I don't know that you love me? After last night, how could I not have known?'

  Charity flushed, and changed the subject. 'Did you find Colin?'

  'I did.'

  The grimness of his tone frightened her. 'Loukos, you didn't hurt him, did you?' ''I did what had to be done.'

  'But you don't know Colin! It wasn't wise to make an enemy of him. If he can get back at you he will, and I couldn't bear that!'

  'Colin and I understand each other very well. There is no need for you to worry yourself about him.' He smiled down at her. 'Women complicate such matters and are far better kept out when men come to an agreement—'

  'You can't persuade me that Colin agreed to anything!'

  'Why not?'

  'D-did he? I thought perhaps you would hit him, and -and he wouldn't be likely to forgive that!'

  Loukos laughed. 'And you were pleased that I should do such a thing for you? Do you now wish to hear all the details so that you can gloat over his downfall?'

  'Not really,' she said. 'Though I haven't nearly such a nice nature as I thought. Loukos, did you hit him?'

  'I did.'

  Her eyes widened. 'But you didn't hurt him? Not reallyhurt him?'

  He touched the bruise on her head again, his lips tightening. 'He has a black eye and a bruise to match yours—'

  'And he didn't even touchyou!' Charity exclaimed, much gratified.

  'Nor will he touch you again!' His hands pressed her closer to him with a strength that would not be denied, just

  as the sun descended beyond the horizon, a great swollen, scarlet ball that sent thick fingers of colour running up the sky towards the coming storm clouds.

  'It was partly my fault,' Charity confessed. ''I never should have asked him to come here in the first place, but he was the only man I knew, and I thought if I were to get married you'd let me have Alexander as my sister wanted. I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, but I didn't know him at all.' She tilted her face impulsively the better to see her husband. 'Was Nikos really a rich man?' she asked him. 'Did he leave it all to Alexander?'

  Loukos looked amused. 'Didn't you know? I thought sometimes that you didn't, but I couldn't imagine Faith having kept quiet about such a thing. Did she never write and tell you of the rich man she had married?'

  Charity shook her head, remembering how the lack of letters had hurt her. 'I told you she wasn't a good correspondent. A few postcards, that was all.' She pulled herself free of his restraining embrace. 'You think that's why I came here in the first place, don't you?' She was a good deal upset and her head was beginning to ache again. ''I thought you at least liked me, but I don't see how you can when you don't even trust me! I didn't know! I didn't!'

  'What I think doesn't matter,' he answered. 'I had to protect Alexandros, whatever I thought.'

  She felt completely beaten. 'We ought to be going,' she said.

  He sighed, looking at her white, miserable face. 'If I thought it, I had no reason to expect anything else, from what Faith had told us about her family. All we knew was that none of you came to see her—'

  'She never asked us to!'

  'I know that now. I have learned much about you, my Charity, but then,when all I knew was that I wanted to kiss you and make love to you, and have you look at me with those wide eyes of yours as though I were indeed a god come

  to court you, I only knew that you were Faith's sister and that she had married Nikos for his money, though she came to love him in time.'

  'I didn't know!' Charity breathed.

  'About your sister?' His brilliant eyes burned into hers, making her forget all about her brief anger with him.

  'What you wanted!'

  'To make love to you? My foolish Charity, I think you might have learned something about me last night too - if you had had your wits about you!' He reached down and kissed her and she could feel his laughter against her lips. I see I shall have to do better tonight! Will you like that? Will you welcome me as ardently as you did—?'

  She cut him off with a quick kiss, hotly embarrassed by his words, dodging away from him, and averting her face from his observant eyes to hide her blushes.

  'What did you do with Colin?' she asked.

  He laughed out loud. ''I think that might have told you something too!' he mocked her, enjoying her discomfiture. 'Colin is waiting for his aeroplane at the airport. A policeman and I saw him personally through the passport control. Technically, he has already left Greece, but just in case there is someone watching him to make sure he does not come back!' He stopped laughing. ''Ido not pretend that it is small-minded to be jealous, Charity. Have I any r
eason to be jealous of Colin Anderson? Did you ever feel for him more than a young girl feels for any man who notices her, when she is still unsure of what it means to be a woman?'

  Charity stared at him, silently shaking her head. 'Are you jealous of me?she asked.

  'You are my woman,' he said roughly. 'Isn't that enough for you?'

  'Yes, of course it is.' But she wished he would speak of loving her as well. She turned her head to see the last of the sunset, shaken by the strength of the longing within her. 'We must go down,' she said aloud. 'They told me they closed at

  sunset.'

  They walked down the zig-zag path together, hand in hand. She had so much, Charity told herself, she was being greedy to want him to put his love into words, especially if he didn't love her. At least he wanted her and liked to make love to her, and, when Ariadne was safely married, perhaps he would forget his earlier love and come to love her too in every way, just as she loved him. She would wait willingly for that day if it took half her life and, in the meantime, she would have more of him than any other woman would ever have - even Ariadne!

  'Are we going home?' she asked him as they reached the foot of the hill, where there are some souvenir stalls, and where the sponge-sellers stand in the daytime.

  'Not yet, my dear. We have some more talking to do before we go home. There are some questions I want to ask you—' he smiled at her nervous start - 'and something I wish to tell you as well.'

  She searched her mind for what he might want to ask her, a puzzled look on her face. 'We could walk home,' she suggested.

  'Oh no, you don't escape as easily as that!' he retorted. 'We will go over to that restaurant over there and order some tea. We will go home only after we have finished our talk. My mother and Electra will be waiting for us at home! There is always somebody else there, and for a little while, I want you all to myself!' He smiled, his eyes more brilliant than ever. 'My mother was very concerned for you, did you know that? She seemed to think that you are afraid of me. Are you, Charity?'

  'Not afraid,' she said quickly. 'A little nervous of you, perhaps.'

  'Because I am Greek and a foreigner to you?' 'N-no,' she stammered. ''I don't know what you expect from me—'

  He frowned. ''I thought I'd made that quite clear!' he

  teased her, but he wasn't laughing at her as she had been afraid he would. 'Perhaps I expect too much of an Englishwoman who considers herself the equal of any man?'

  She tried to laugh with him, but failed miserably. 'I d-don't consider myself your equal,' she managed, setting off down the cobbled road at a great pace.

  'Oh?' He sounded so interested that her spirits failed her. 'Tell me more!'

  'It's-it's obvious!'

  'To me? Or to you?'

  She swallowed. 'To me. You're - you're physically stronger, and you're richer than I am, and - and you expect me to obey you. You toldme so! And anyway, I - I like it that way!'

  He was silent. She cast him a quick glance, wishing that she had held her tongue. The traffic swished past them, holding them prisoner on the edge of the pavement. Loukos put his hand under her elbow and guided her across the busy street at the first opportunity, leading the way through the gate and into the restaurant beyond. The tables were covered with colourful cloths that were matched by the napkins and the bright vases of flowers. A few students were seated at one of the tables, arguing amiably over steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Otherwise the place was deserted.

  'If we sit over there, we can talk without being disturbed,' Loukos suggested, pointing to a table in the far corner. He sat down on the inside seat, so that he could look not only at her but all that was happening behind her, while she, perforce, had only him to look at.

  ''I don't see that there's anything to talk about!' she declared belligerently, afraid of what else he would make her say in an unguarded moment. That was the trouble, she thought. He knew a great deal too much about her, while he remained as_mysterious as ever, and it was all the fault of her stupid tongue! There had been no reason to tell him anything at all!

  He lifted his eyebrows in open mockery, but his expression was very gentle. 'What will you have?' he asked her. 'Tea? Cakes?'

  Charity nodded. She didn't care what she ate. 'What questions do you want to ask me?' she burst out.

  'I want to know what it was that upset you this morning.'

  She blinked. Her mouth felt dry and her tongue at least two sizes too large for her mouth. 'It was silly—' She waited for him to say something, but he went on sitting there, patiently waiting for her to continue. 'You said you had to work!' She cast him an indignant look, but she couldn't keep it up. She didn't feel angry any more. What had she to be indignant about? He had never pretended to her that he loved her. 'I wouldn't have minded if it had been anywhere else, or - or another time! Did you have to kiss Ariadne there,and so soon after last night?'

  'Are you going to be small-minded enough to be jealous after all?'

  'No!'she denied hotly. 'I knew all about Ariadne. But I thought—'

  'Who told you about Ariadne?' he asked severely.

  She bent her head. 'Electra,' she murmured.

  'I think you'd better tell me what she told you,' he insisted. 'I thought we'd managed to keep the whole story away from the family.'

  'Families always know that sort of thing!' Charity declared, feeling a little more brave. 'There's always someone to tell them about it!'

  He grinned, amused. ''I daresay you're right,' he agreed. 'Well, Charity?'

  'She said that Ariadne was your mistress and that you were very much in love with her, but that you wouldn't marry her because—' she coloured fiercely - 'because Greek men don't!' she went on desperately. 'Though if you love someone, really love someone, I don't see why not!' she

  added.

  She found his amusement very disturbing to her composure. 'It's because of an old belief,' he said, 'that if a woman will give herself to a man once without marriage, she may very well do so again. It is not a trait we welcome in our wives!'

  'Oh,' said Charity.

  'What else did Electra tell you?'

  'She said that Ariadne's family were hardly speaking to her. You're not a very forgiving people, are you?'

  Loukos shook his head. 'Our hatreds are as old as Homer, that's why we make such good lovers!' His eyes glimmered with laughter. 'Did you believe Electra?' he asked suddenly.

  'Of course,' she said. 'I'd seen you together, after all.'

  'Then why did you agree to marry me?'

  Her breath caught in the back of her throat. 'You know why!' Charity bit her lip, not looking at him. 'Your mother says Ariadne is to marry some man from Corinth.'

  'Nauplia,' he corrected. 'I suppose she thinks she knows all about it too.' He reached across the table and took Charity's hand in his own, making sure that he had her full attention. 'I'm beginning to understand why you thought my Ariadne, as you called her, had fallen for the wrong god. But I was never in love with her, nor she with me. I wasn't going to tell you. It has caused enough trouble, and why should you be burdened with the knowledge of something that is none of your business?'

  'You don't have to tell me,' she said uncomfortably.