the slightest regret? Or shame. Or guilt.
He’d called her selfish for leaving the island. She’d told him she wanted to leave for an exciting job in New York and he’d looked at her with shock and disbelief—and he’d let her walk away.
But if he knew the true reason…That if she’d stayed his family would be ruined. That the old King had threatened everything Nikos loved if she stayed. How could he never have guessed?
He’d never, ever asked. He’d never so much as written. And, when she’d learned of Christa’s birth, she knew the reason why he hadn’t.
Her fingers were clenched into her palms so hard they hurt.
‘Papa,’ Christa said suddenly, as if she’d just realised Nikos was gone. She looked worried.
This wasn’t Christa’s fault. She had no right to let her own misery and confusion spread to this little girl. ‘He’ll be back soon,’ she said gently.
‘Papa.’
‘There’s a little zoo just near here. Do you like animals?’
The little girl considered. ‘Big?’ she asked.
‘Little. Funny animals. Friends.’
‘Friends,’ Christa said and put out a hand for Athena to help her to her feet. She smoothed her dress, tucked a sticky hand into Athena’s and had another lick of her ice cream. ‘Friends.’
There were so many questions…Where to start? An inquisition could be a good way to send Nicky straight back to his mother.
‘Where do you go to school?’ he asked, and then thought, great, very insightful. Not.
‘Over there,’ the little boy told him, pointing south east.
Good. That got him places. ‘Do you like school?’
‘Sometimes. I hafta go to Greek lessons after school, too.’
‘You speak Greek?’
‘Mama does. She makes me.’
He needed time to take that one in.
They walked along. Kicking stones. Nikos suddenly realised…He was kicking stones in front of him. So was Nicky. With his left foot.
‘You’re left-handed?’
‘Mmm,’ Nicky said.
‘Your mama’s right-handed.’
‘Mmm.’
Riveting stuff. Both being left-handed. It meant nothing.
It meant everything.
‘Has your mother told you about Argyros?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Are you a fisherman?’
‘Yes.’
‘I like boats.’
‘Have you been on boats?’
‘Twice. I don’t get seasick. Mama does. This is the place where a Beatle was shot.’
‘Right,’ Nikos said. He gave up. There were too many questions for one small boy to handle.
There were too many questions for him to handle.
They were sitting right where he’d left them, only Christa had replaced her ice cream with a hand puppet. A squirrel.
She wiggled it as they approached, her face lighting up as she saw him.
‘Thena bought…me…squirrel.’ He grinned and swung her up into his arms. No matter what else was happening here, this mustn’t touch her. That had been his mantra for almost ten years and he wasn’t budging now.
‘Thank you,’ he said gravely to Athena.
‘We didn’t get all the way round,’ Nicky said. ‘We caught another buggy. Nikos says John was his favourite Beatle. He was yours too, wasn’t he, Mama?’
‘Yes,’ she said, sounding repressive.
‘Imagine,’ he said softly and watched her wince.
It had been the last night they’d been together. ‘I have to go away,’ she’d said, but she’d sobbed and clung.
He hadn’t understood why she had to leave. She’d completed her university degree by correspondence, far younger than most. Her writing was brilliant. Everyone said so. She could take a job with the local paper and write the novel to end all novels. They’d agreed. She could stand by him in his battle with Giorgos.
That was what they’d planned, but suddenly she was crumpled, broken, sobbing about having to leave.
‘I need to go. I just need to go. Please, Nikos, don’t make it any harder.’
He’d thought it was her writing that was driving her. ‘You’ll come back?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t. Nikos…’
She’d run out of words. He’d been angry, shocked, bewildered.
That night in his family’s boatshed…Their last night. He’d played music by John Lennon on his tinny little sound system.
Imagine…
He thought now: Nicky must have been conceived that night.
No matter. He had to get rid of the white noise. There was only one absolute. ‘You need to come home,’ he told her.
‘No.’
‘Then Demos wins.’ He made an almost superhuman effort to rid himself of his emotional tangle and concentrate on what was important. ‘I need to go home tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I thought I had a week to persuade you, but Demos has already contacted mining companies. He’s acting as if he owns the place. I daren’t stay longer. But it’s your birthright, Athena. And,’ he added, ‘it’s your son’s.’
‘And your…’
‘And my daughter’s,’ he finished for her, harshly. For maybe she was going places he wasn’t ready to go just yet. ‘Our children’s. You must come home.’
‘No.’
‘Think about it,’ he said briefly, harshly. ‘There’s so much happening here I can’t take it in. Whatever’s gone on in the past…’ He glanced at Nicky and felt as if he was on a shifting deck, unsure of his footing, unsure of anything. ‘For now we need to put that aside. If you don’t come home, then some time soon I’ll be back here to…sort what’s mine. But my priority right now has to be the islanders. Thousands of livelihoods, Thena. Princess Athena. They’re your people. You answer to them and not to me. Except…’
He
