poor, poor baby. How could she die? She was too young to die. Ah, my beautiful Damaris. My precious baby girl,” she said, leaning over and sobbing.
Sara was totally taken aback. This was not the reaction she had expected.
Sara looked away. “I’m sorry this is unexpected news.”
“Unexpected? I never thought to hear from her again. But at least I had the consolation of knowing she was happy in England. I have missed her every day since she left.”
Sara whipped around and stared at her. “She was not happy. My father deserted us weeks after I was born. Mum had no skills for work, she’d been raised as a pampered daughter of a wealthy family. Do you know she scrubbed floors because that was a skill she could quickly acquire? We had the help of friends, handouts, Mum used to call them. They seared her soul. She hated that.” But not as much as she hated the thought of returning to her parents’ home and admitting she’d been wrong.
“I didn’t know,” Eleani whispered, “The one time we tried to contact her, she refused. Her father said to leave her to her life. We did the best we could. Now she’s gone. I’ll never see her again.”
Eleani covered her face and cried.
Sara frowned. This was not going the way she thought it would. It distressed her to see anyone so distraught. Awkwardly she patted her shoulder, wishing now that she’d just left the letter on a table to be discovered.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, staring across the garden toward the sea, seeing in her mind the small, old apartment she and her mother had shared until Sara had begun earning enough money to help pay for a better place. She saw her mother’s looks fade as poor nutrition and the stress of her life wore away her youth and health.
She glanced around the beautifully landscaped setting. The money used for just one season of gardening would have changed her mother’s life drastically. She felt numb. She missed her mother. She wasn’t sure bringing the letter had been wise, now that the deed was done.
What had her mother written? To take care of Sara? She had said she wanted to make sure her daughter was taken care of.
Sara was a grown woman with an excellent career ahead of her. She didn’t need someone to take her in at this stage of her life.
She heard the steps and turned to watch as Nikos stormed toward her.
“What the hell have you done to my grandmother?” he asked in a low growl.
CHAPTER NINE
SARA watched him approach. She could almost feel the waves of suspicion pouring off him.
She rose and faced him. “I was asked to deliver a letter and I did.”
“Eleani, what is it?” Nikos asked, sitting beside the woman and drawing her into his arms. He rubbed her back, glaring at Sara.
“What was in the letter?”
“I don’t know. It was sealed.”
“Who is it from?”
“My mother.”
Nikos frowned, saying soothing words to Eleani.
“I’m Sara Andropolous, Eleani’s grandchild.”
The statement stopped Nikos cold. He stared for a long moment. Giving way to anger, he bit out an epithet. His gentle hands soothed his grandmother.
“I didn’t know she had a child, much less a grandchild,” he said a minute later.
“My mother ran off to get married when she was eighteen. Her parents cut her off because she chose to find her own husband. I find the entire situation sordid and inexcusable.”
He swung back at that. “You find it inexcusable. What about lying and cheating to gain access to my grandparents’ home? Wreaking who knows what havoc? I find that inexcusable!”
“I never lied to you nor cheated. I was hired to work in the kitchen at the resort. I used my skill and experience, which would be hard to cheat with. You’re the one who allowed me to work on the Cassandra. You’re the one who insisted I stay on board when you came to your family’s island. You are the one who introduced me to them the other day.”
“Stop it, both of you. I can hear your voices from the house.” Spiros rounded the corner and took in the scene. “Eleani, my love, what is wrong?” He immediately went to his wife. In the confusion of Eleani telling her side and Nikos telling what he knew, Sara spun around to leave.
Guessing her intent, Nikos moved swiftly to her side.
“You can’t waltz in here and cause this uproar and think you get to leave without further explanation.”
“What further explanation do you need? I gave her the letter. There’s nothing more,” Sara said, starting to feel again. She wanted to weep, knowing she’d damaged whatever had been building between Nikos and herself. Still, honor had demanded she carry out her mother’s last wish. Which she had—at a personal loss. Now she just wanted to leave. She felt nothing but resignation and regret.
Spiros sat beside his wife. Eleani had stopped crying and leaned against him tiredly. His face was set in anger. His eyes flashed when he looked at Sara. Saying nothing, he reached for a handkerchief to dry Eleani’s eyes.
“I would like an explanation, young lady,” he said sternly.
At that, Eleani looked up and saw Sara and Nikos.
Sara felt a spurt of anger. “Didn’t your wife tell you she had a daughter in England? She was my mother. Before she died Mum asked me to deliver a letter to her mother. I’ve done just that.”
“I know about Damaris,” Spiros said slowly. “It saddens me to learn she is dead. We had hoped at some time she’d return to Greece to see Eleani.”
Sara frowned. This didn’t make sense.
“She couldn’t come home. Her parents had told her if she left she would not be welcome to return,” she said. “How could you? She was a teenager, sheltered and protected. Her one fling ended disastrously, but did her parents come to her aid? Did they forgive a youthful indiscretion and take her back home to help? No! Her father said he would disown her. How true that was.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Eleani said sadly. She struggled to sit up.
“Now you wait until your mother is dead and come to disturb my wife?” Spiros asked.
“My mother asked only that I deliver a letter she wrote to her mother. I never knew the details of the letter. I do know she refused to return home until she was too sick to make the trip. As soon as I can get off this island, I plan to get as far away from here as I can. I’m sorry to have been the cause of such upset.”
Eleani began crying again. “Don’t go,” she said forlornly.
“Where would you go?” Spiros asked.
“London, where I belong. Away from people like all of you.”
