by Mandy Baggot
‘Whatever is on your mind,’ Dimitri said, ‘we can talk about it.’
‘We can?’ Michalis asked. It wasn’t like his father to offer counsel. That had always been his mother’s job. Dimitri was nothing if not traditional in his ways. The bread winner, well, the meat seller who provides financial support. Lola had always given emotionally and spiritually.
‘You were the one who stopped talking, Michalis,’ Dimitri told him. ‘I never wanted to stop listening.’
The words were potent and it was the kick he needed. He gave a nod and slipped the beads into the pocket of his jeans. ‘OK.’
‘You want me to come with you?’ Dimitri asked, much softer now.
He shook his head. ‘No, Papa, I will be OK.’ Michalis smiled at his father. ‘Thank you.’
Fifty-Eight
Villa Psomi, Sortilas
‘Has anyone given birth in an egg chair before?’ Gavin asked Lucie as Maria screamed and they observed things from the business end. Damocles was alternating between holding his wife’s hand and steadying the egg chair when Maria was pushing instead of trying to get something therapeutic from the swinging sensation.
‘I don’t know,’ Lucie breathed. ‘Probably not… and we don’t have time to google it, right now.’
They had pulled the chair into the shade before Maria had settled into labouring, but it still felt warmer than a greenhouse set next to Venus. Lucie had on the too-big gloves from Michalis’s surgery, but they were sweaty and slippery and she was considering ditching them. The last thing she wanted was for the babies to come flying out and for her to drop them because of these inadequate floppy fingers.
‘What’s happening? You’ve propped me where I can see mostly her authentic Greek dress and only a whiff of the bearded clam!’
It was The Other Sharon Osbourne shouting via FaceTime. Lucie used her elbow to readjust the position of Gavin’s phone that was balancing between the rim of a terracotta planter, filled with a fragrant mint plant, and a stack of classic novels Melina had pulled from the shelves of the lower living room when shouted at to do so by Gavin.
‘Is that better?’ Lucie asked Sharon, before sending a reassuring smile to Maria. ‘You’re doing so so well.’
‘Looks like she’s fully patulous to me! I can see hair… that is the baby’s hair, isn’t it?’
‘Another one is coming! I want to push!’ Maria screeched mid-swing.
‘Don’t let her push!’ Sharon’s voice yelled. ‘She shouldn’t push until she gets the really strong urge that she needs to push. She can’t be pushing if it’s just to get it over with.’
‘I want to get it over with! It hurts!’ Maria screamed as Damocles whispered platitudes in her ear.
‘Drink this!’ Melina said, holding out a small vial of creamy liquid with a tiny cork in the top of it.
‘What is that?’ Lucie asked. She was pretty sure that Maria ingesting anything right now was a bad idea.
‘It is a simple… potion,’ Melina answered, pulling out the cork and re-offering it to the patient.
‘Well,’ Lucie began. ‘Whatever it is you can’t give it to her now. She’s about to deliver babies!’
‘And this will ensure that they are anointed with the life-preserving spirit of Sortilas and are birthed with all the health benefits.’
Lucie eyed up the tiny test-tube Melina was holding carefully like it contained tears of a dragon. Did this teeny amount of liquid really give all the health benefits? What on earth was in it? And why wasn’t it being added to cereals already?
‘I… do not want to wait! I want to push!’ Maria demanded, eyes large and full of fire now.
‘But, Maria, this man is a doctor and we should…’ Damocles began, clamping the egg chair still as Maria braced her back into the cushions, dragging her knees up into her chest.
‘Who’s a doctor?’ Sharon’s voice bellowed into proceedings again. ‘If you have a doctor there why was I summoned?’
‘Shut up, Sharon!’ Gavin demanded, hands in a very delicate position. ‘I knew I should have brought my head torch instead of the golf balls.’
Lucie winced, then turned her focus back to their gasping patient. This was putting her right off the idea of having children. It looked agonising. Perhaps she should drink the test-tube, unless… ‘That’s not more goat pee, is it?’
‘No!’ Melina insisted. ‘It is—’
‘Ya.’
Lucie turned around at the sound of Michalis’s voice. He was here. Finally, he was here! And he looked ready to help them, an apron over his clothes, his sleeves pulled up over his elbows, hands looking scrubbed. She opened her mouth to say something but Melina beat her to it…
‘There is a complication with the babies. No one is saying anything apart from a loud woman on a little screen who tells Maria not to push. I suggest the elixir you gave to everyone last year.’ Melina brandished the test-tube.
Michalis looked at the vial and then his eyes found Lucie. The magic formula. He had hoped he could avoid talking about that and he certainly did not expect to be faced with it here amid the labour.
‘I said that Maria should have nothing to drink while she’s in the middle of a delivery of twins,’ Lucie answered.
‘And you are right,’ he stated. ‘Let us see how you are getting on, Maria.’
He kept his voice calm and even, the way he always did with patients before he knew the extent of their issues. There was no reason to be fearful until there was something to be fearful of.
‘I am wishing I had not let Damocles anywhere near me nine months ago! Arrrrgggghhh!’
‘Why is she in this chair?’ Michalis wanted to know as he started to make his examination.
‘Don’t look at me,’ Gavin said, taking a step back. ‘It was where she wanted to be. And as there’s no birthing suite provided in Villa Psomi and there are tortoises all over the house, we thought out in the open, in the shade, with no near neighbours to overlook proceedings, was the best thing.’
‘We wanted to keep Maria comfortable,’ Lucie added. ‘I tried to call you. I sent several text messages saying how urgent it was.’
And he had thrown away the old SIM card, delayed his arrival by questioning his competence, not been here for her when she needed him most. ‘I am here now.’ He looked at Maria. ‘Maria, keep taking slow, steady breaths, OK? Try to control the breath. Damocles, you will help her. I want you to inhale a long, slow breath, to hold it for a second and then I want you to blow it out and make it sound like… the coffee machine at the cafeneon.’
‘The new one or the old one?’ Melina asked.
‘They have a new one?’
Michalis turned at the sound of his sister’s voice now. ‘Nyx, what are you doing here?’
‘I have made drinks for everyone and I have experience. I once helped cut a baby from a sheep. So I am here, with my knives, if I am needed.’
‘Damocles! I do not want the babies cut out by the butcher!’
‘No one is cutting anything,’ Michalis reassured softly. ‘Apart from the cord when both your babies are safely born.’
He swallowed. He had got in trouble when he had made promises he couldn’t keep before. But there was a difference between a promise and giving his patient the optimism she needed to get her through what came next.
‘OK, Maria,’ Michalis said. ‘I am going to touch your stomach now.’
‘Let’s do the coffee breathing,’ Damocles suggested to his wife.
‘Can someone end the video call now?’ Sharon’s voice screeched.
*
Tears were flowing down Lucie’s face now as she looked at new mother, emotional father and two beautifully perfect boys she and Gavin had helped ease into the world. The newborns were both squawking like angry hungry birds, mouths eager to latch onto something Maria was a little too exhausted to immediately offer. All of them were well. They had successfully delivered twins while the mother sat in an egg chair overlooking the glistening water and t
he mountain range of another country.
‘I’m going to get that mystery bottle of booze right now and do not even try to stop me,’ Gavin said, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his arm.
‘I’m not stopping you,’ Lucie answered with a sniff.
The birth had been the most frightening yet compelling event she had ever witnessed. But it had also been beautiful, and Michalis had been so composed, so sure and definite in his actions, so in control of how it had all played out.
‘I am also not stopping you,’ Nyx said. ‘I will come to help.’
With Melina fussing around Maria, Damocles and the babies, Lucie was left with just Michalis.
‘I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t arrived,’ she told him.
‘You would have delivered the babies,’ he told her. ‘You did most of the hard work here, not me.’
‘That’s not true,’ Lucie said at once. It had been Michalis’s steady hands ensuring safe passage for the babies’ heads and then the rest of their squirming bodies, one a whole fifteen minutes after the other. He had been amazing.
‘Lucie, people always think that the babies are the most important things in a birth,’ he told her. ‘But the babies, they cannot do anything. They are there. That is all. The most important person is the mother. She and nature have to do all the work. And you helped her, keeping her calm, encouraging her, saying all the correct things.’
‘Gavin sang two verses of Cher’s “Just Like Jesse James”.’
‘And that was neither calming nor encouraging,’ Michalis said with a smile. ‘Maria looked to you for advice. You helped her control her breathing and her pushing and—’
‘And now I know exactly what the coffee machine at the cafeneon sounds like.’
‘Unless they really have a new one,’ Michalis said. ‘You may never experience the exact sound but, trust me, Damocles had it so right.’
Lucie let out a breath of relief that even took herself by surprise. ‘This place… it’s crazy. Earlier I was tangled up in the latest version of my no-wedding wedding dress and now I’ve helped to bring two new little boys into the world.’
‘What do you want me to say?’ Michalis asked. ‘This is Greece.’
Lucie smiled. ‘Well, Dr Andino, what I’d really like you to tell me is what is in that test-tube Melina was trying to get Maria to drink.’
Michalis sighed. ‘I think that will have to be something we talk about at another time.’
Well, that was mysterious…
‘And there is…’ Michalis began again. ‘There is something else that I need to speak with you about.’
‘Oh?’ His tone was serious and she started to worry that their holiday romance was going to end up being postcard-sized rather than the at least C5-sized notebook she had hoped for.
‘Here we are! Still no idea what it is but Nyx has tried to tell me it’s made from trees!’
Gavin was back on the terrace holding the neck of the large glass bottle in the fist of his right hand.
‘It is made from trees!’ Nyx insisted. ‘It is mastika.’
‘I’m going to call it tree juice,’ Gavin replied.
‘Why are there tortoises in your house?’ Nyx wanted to know.
‘I don’t know,’ Gavin admitted. ‘There was nothing about them in the email information I was sent. And they eat for England. One of them – the biggest one – brazenly picked grapes off my plate this morning.’
‘Oh, Gavin,’ Nyx exclaimed with a laugh. ‘You do know we have wild tortoises in Corfu, no? They must have come in from the garden.’
‘What?!’ Gavin said, taking the top off the bottle. ‘You mean… they’re not pets?’
‘They are invading your home. You must remove them. I will help you.’
‘You won’t cook them, will you?’ he asked. ‘Because, although they’re annoying, I couldn’t condone that.’
‘I should clean up,’ Michalis said, indicating the carnage around them. ‘I will get some things from the surgery.’
Lucie nodded and as she watched him head away from the terrace, she couldn’t help feeling that something was about to change between them.
Fifty-Nine
Syki Bay
‘I’m really not sure this is a good idea,’ Lucie began. ‘My balance is all about not eating too many biscuits from the ward share tin rather than, you know, actual balancing.’
Michalis smiled at her as she put her feet on the paddleboard and immediately her bikini-clad frame began to wobble, even though the fiberglass was anchored on the pebble beach. Today had been a good day. Earlier he had helped Maria, Damocles and the new twins to get settled at home and now, this evening, the road in and out of Sortilas was finally able to be passed by full-sized cars and minibuses. Meat was on its way to the Andino Butcher’s shop and the news had put a smile back on Melina’s face for five minutes… until she started shouting on the phone to coordinate the delivery of a stage. Perhaps while all was harmonious in the village, he should have left it there, called it a win and given himself some breathing space, but he knew Lucie wasn’t going to be on the island for much longer and he wanted to settle himself with the truth… and share that with her, no matter how things might turn out for them. So, he had put his paddleboard on the roof of his car and driven them down the mountain to this beautiful little cove nestled below the road between Perithia and Kassiopi.
‘I will teach you,’ Michalis told her. ‘But first we have to get the board into the water.’
‘Is it deep here?’ Lucie asked. ‘It looks deep.’
‘It is peaceful,’ Michalis said. ‘That is why I like it.’
He took a second to let his eyes rest on the water ahead of them, then track over to the right and the rocks and greenery sheltering the bay.
‘We could just sit on the beach,’ Lucie said. ‘Or swim.’
He looked back to her then, a smile growing on his lips. ‘You are scared to try this?’
‘No!’ Lucie said immediately. ‘Of course I’m not scared. I have helped to deliver babies and… I’ve ridden a banana and survived several trips with Miltos at the wheel of the go-kart car and I’ve been a human pin cushion while I’ve been literally mummified with lace.’
‘Then this will be easy,’ Michalis reassured. ‘OK, the first thing you have to do is strap yourself to the board.’ He bent down and fastened the Velcro around her ankle.
‘Is that so we don’t lose the board? Or so I don’t get swept out to sea?’ Lucie asked.
‘No one is getting lost today,’ he told her. Except that might not be true. It would depend on how Lucie reacted when he told her exactly what had happened in Thessaloniki. It might be that he ended up being cast adrift from her.
‘OK,’ she answered, shrugging as if she was readying herself for an Olympic event. ‘OK, I’m listening. What do I do next?’
‘OK, so we are going to pick up the board, there, by the handle and we are going to take it into the water.’
He helped Lucie to turn the board up on its rail then let her put her grip around the handle and lift it up.
‘How long have you been doing this?’ Lucie wanted to know.
‘A long time,’ he answered. ‘Before half the world was trying to do it… and dogs. There are a lot of dogs doing it on the internet.’ He paused before continuing as the water rose up around knees then quickly reached mid-thigh. ‘I was perhaps eight. I did not have a real board like this. I had a bodyboard and no paddle, just a long stick of bamboo.’
‘So, you’re basically a professional,’ Lucie said shaking her head. ‘Born into it.’
‘No,’ he breathed. ‘I still fall off sometimes.’
‘Oh, great! There really is no hope for me!’
Despite the drama in her reply she was laughing and it was then it really struck Michalis exactly how much he would miss her if this was going to be the conclusion of what they had begun together.
‘OK,’ he said gently. ‘So, put your k
nees up on the board, one each side.’
‘You said that like it’s as easy as getting out of bed.’
Her body was up close to his now, the board bobbing alongside them. He took a moment to revel in having her next to him. ‘It is easier than getting out of bed when you are there in the room wearing nothing but my shirt.’
He felt himself blush. Perhaps it had been wrong to say that now when he knew what he had to tell her. But before he could think any more about it, she had planted a kiss on his lips. She tasted of salt water and sunshine and he indulged in the sensation in case it never came again.
He watched her grab the board and hoist herself onto it. ‘Good!’ he told her.
‘God, I’m on it! Look at me! Ha!’ Lucie said.
‘OK,’ Michalis said. ‘Now, here, you take the paddle.’
‘OK, alright, that feels slightly less secure now,’ Lucie answered, wavering a little and trying to maintain equilibrium.
‘You are doing great,’ Michalis reassured her. ‘Now, take a few strokes.’
‘Are we still talking about paddleboarding?’ She grinned at him and then shrieked as she almost toppled to her left. ‘Sorry, mind out of the sexy now. Concentrating. This isn’t so bad.’
‘You are on your knees,’ Michalis reminded her.
‘I’m only a beginner. Just because you have a black belt in this doesn’t mean you get to showboat.’
‘Want to try standing up?’
‘Well…’
‘The answer of course is “yes”,’ Michalis said with a smile. The water was deeper now so he needed to swim a little. ‘So, put the oar down across the board. Then put both your hands around it and keep a balance.’
‘Help,’ Lucie breathed. ‘I don’t think this is going to work.’
Her everything was shaking and she hadn’t realised just how incredibly weak her core was. How could standing up straight be so difficult? Granted, she was on the water, but still, she was young and she could hold her own on the dancefloor with Gavin. She willed her limbs to comply but as she drew her feet up from behind her the board began to gain momentum in its sideways motion and she could feel herself begin to panic.