Unknown (17 page)

Faced with the one question she was not prepared to answer, Anna crossed to the massive wardrobe which stood against one of the painted walls to hang up her mother’s coat. ‘I think he is still very ambitious,’ she said without turning, ‘but there is a virtue in that, too, and he still has many friends on the island.’

‘And some new ones as well, I understand.’ Helena was pulling out drawers, all beautifully lined with lavender paper. ‘You will put your clothes in here, Dorothy, and then we must have something refreshing to drink. It is almost eleven and Kypros will be on the terrace as the clock strikes the hour. He is a monument of punctuality, as you know!'

She left them with an expansive smile. ‘Come down as soon as you are ready,’ she said.

‘That means at once!’ Anna said, looking across the room into her mother’s anxious sapphire eyes. ‘Are you going to be happy here?’ she asked bluntly. ‘If not, we can decide on the cottage right away.’

‘The cottage will be a lovely bolt-hole,’ Dorothy agreed, ‘but I’ll stay here for a day or two—perhaps even a week. They will be affronted otherwise.’

‘It’s an old-fashioned word, isn’t it? Affronted. I thought it sounded a little bit prim.’

‘Helena is prim, although she pretends to be sophisticated. She has a code of ethics which she hangs on to relentlessly and it sounds as if she would be most unforgiving if anyone went against her will.’

‘Not like you!’ Anna put her arm about her mother’s shoulders. ‘Promise me you won’t stay here for a moment after you feel her welcome is cooling. You won’t have any problems with Papa Masistas, I’m sure, but Nikos’ mother will want to “manage” you from the word go.’

'I'm not easily managed when I don’t want to be,' Dorothy protested with a return of her former spirit, ‘so we’ll keep the cottage in mind. It’s on the far side of the estate, isn’t it?’

‘I think so. Anyway, we can soon find out,' Anna promised, moving towards the door.

They retraced their steps to the floor below to find Nikos and his father waiting on the terrace. Kirie Masistas was a handsome man in his early fifties, big and strong, with the look of the open air about him and a mane of thick, dark hair to match the splendid moustache which adorned his upper lip. It had been trained to curl upwards at each end, giving his whole face an air of distinction, and two very dark eyes looked out at the world with a humour and tolerance which suggested infinite understanding. As soon as he saw his visitors a vast smile revealed two rows of splendid white teeth and he held out both hands in welcome.

‘
Kherete!
We are pleased to see you here, at last, Dorothy Rossides,’ he said. ‘You will stay with us for as long as you please and we will soon restore the colour to your cheeks. Good air and good fresh fruit will soon put you right.’ He kissed Dorothy on both cheeks. ‘It is far too long since you were last with us.’

The warmth of his welcome was quite genuine and some of the tension was eased in Anna’s heart before he turned to her to say, ‘You must be a busy young woman when you have not had time to visit us for so long, but I hope you will come often now. We miss the girls, although they come home for their holidays, but the house is far too quiet nowadays.’

His twin daughters were in school in England, but Anna knew that they would return whenever they could because this was a close-knit household typical of the island and its long tradition of family unity and her mother would be safe under Kypros Masistas’ roof.

Nikos was helping to carry out large jugs of freshly crushed orange and plates of sweetmeats.

‘These used to be your favourites, if I remember rightly,’ he said to Anna.

‘Honey cakes,' she smiled. ‘Home baked and utterly tempting!’

‘Don’t gorge yourself or you won't do justice to your lunch,’ he warned. ‘The kitchens are a hive of industry with everyone trying their best to impress you.’

Anna glanced at her watch. ‘I mustn’t stay too long,’ she said. ‘I really must get back to the hotel.’

'Nikos will take you,’ Helena said, passing the orange- juice she had measured into tall, frosted glasses for their refreshment. ‘There is surely no need to rush off so quickly when we have seen so little of you these past two years.’

Dorothy sat down beside her host who immediately engaged her in animated conversation, mostly about the past, and gradually all the concern faded from her eyes. Kypros Masistas had a sense of humour to match her own and that in itself was encouraging. Anna began to feel glad that they had come.

While her mother was encouraged to rest in one of the cane reclining chairs under the vine pergola she went with Nikos to view the orange-grove, walking with him between the trees as she had done many years ago after the twins’ birthday party in June.

‘It’s all exactly as I remember it,’ she said. ‘This lovely valley with the mountains so near and the scent of blossom everywhere. Will you stay here, Nikos, for the rest of your life?’

‘Where else?’ He had been brought up with a sense of belonging. ‘I’m fourth generation Masistas and it’s expected of me as an only son.’

‘It’s such a rewarding way of life,’ she mused ‘being part of something like this, being—sort of sure of your destiny, I suppose I mean. You couldn’t possibly throw it away for something trivial.’

‘When I was young I wanted to be a fisherman. You know—out in boats all the time, sailing everywhere, but a holiday on Crete cured me of all that.’ He laughed, showing teeth as gleaming as his father’s in an equally engaging smile. ‘We were caught in a storm and I was terrified!’

‘I thought you liked the sea!’

‘1 do, in a decent sized boat, but this was a very small caique which threatened to turn turtle miles from land and I didn’t really enjoy getting wet with all my clothes on!’ He put an arm round her waist, drawing her close. ‘I think I feel safer on dry land. How about you?’

‘Feeling safe?’ She looked up at him. ‘I—I’m grateful because my mother is with you and she will get well quickly here among the mountains. I feel that a great load has been lifted off my mind.’

‘That wasn’t what I meant,’ he said. ‘I wanted to know how you felt about being here all the time—about marrying me.’ Suddenly he had taken her in his arms, kissing her with a passion she had not expected in him. ‘There’s no point in waiting, Anna. There’s room for all of us up here and my family would make you welcome, you know that.’

Shaken, she tried to free herself from his embrace, aware of the heady scent of orange blossom all around them.

‘Nikos, can we not talk about this just now?’ she pleaded. ‘I can’t abandon everything at the villa just to feel “safe” here among the mountains and '

‘And you’re not in love with me? Isn’t that what you are trying to say, Anna, only you can't put it into words because you think it will hurt me? Well, it will, and I'm not going to let it happen,’ he declared. ‘I’m going to wait and wait till you change your mind and you can’t stop me.’

‘Oh, Nikos!’ she said. ‘Why is it all so hard? I like you—I always have—but loving is another thing— something very different. You come on it quite suddenly or you’ve known it all along, but either way everything is changed.’

He drew back, walking a little way ahead of her along the path between the orange trees, picking off a leaf here and there.

‘You know a lot about it, Oh Worldly One!’ he mocked. ‘But what about if it doesn’t work out for you? What if you find that this perfect love of yours isn’t all you expect and it lets you down in the end?’

‘I would—have to come to terms with that,’ she said unsteadily. ‘Perhaps I already have.’

‘Is that a cue for me to wait, silently and patiently, till it is all over?’

She could have told him that it would never be over, that her first love was her love now and always would be, however forlorn, but she had hurt him enough.

‘It’s time we went back,’ she said, turning in the direction of the white farmhouse gleaming through the trees. ‘I’m sorry, Nikos.’

‘Don’t apologise.’ He took her arm. ‘We’ll start again where we left off, but just remember if you are knocked out by the little blind god you can always come to me and I’ll gather up the pieces with sympathy and understanding any time.’

‘You will probably change your mind long before then.’ She tried to smile. ‘Someone else will come along.’

‘Not for me.’ There was an odd conviction in his voice, ‘I know what I want, Anna, and I’ve never been keen on second best. Never been used to it,’ he mused.

Which was true, Anna thought ruefully. He was an only son who had seldom been denied anything within reason by loving parents who thought only of his happiness and he had accepted that all his wishes would be granted until now.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said again. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you, Nikos.’

‘We’ll forget about it,’ he said in a voice so hurt that he might as well have admitted it. ‘I’ll take you back to Limassol after lunch.’

The meal they shared at a table set out on the terrace was an excellent one, There were several kinds of salads and cold meats to suit every taste, and small, sweet cakes served afterwards with their coffee which they drank under the canopy of vines. Kypros Masistas sat well back in his chair, splendidly replete, his smiling eyes embracing everybody.

This is how it should be,' he declared. ‘A full house and a happy one,' He lit a large cigar, tweaked his moustache upwards at both ends, and lay back to contemplate the view they had down the silent valley. Most of what he saw was his. The land is a great satisfaction, Dorothy,’ he continued. ‘It gives back all a man puts into it and more. I’ve developed this valley since I took over from my father ten years ago, but even before that I was thinking about trees. Now you will see that the whole hillside is planted and one day Nikos will plant again.’ He looked proudly at his son. ‘I hope nothing will prevent that,’ he added fervently. ‘No rushing off after false gods. Soon I hope to see him married and settled down in the place where he was born. We have no wish to hurry him, you understand, but if he brings the right girl to the valley we will be greatly relieved.' Looking across the terrace at Anna, he added deliberately, ‘Helena thinks he has already found her.'

There was nothing obtuse about this gallant old man; he said exactly what he felt without hesitation, expecting others to do the same. Helena’s agile brain worked in a different way with much the same result.

‘You must play more tennis, Anna,' she suggested. ‘It is not good to be always cooped up indoors, working all day long. We have two courts here, out of use most of the time since I no longer play, and Nikos could easily bring you up for a game. It is not far to come and it will soon be too uncomfortable to play on the coast—so hot and sticky in the summer—but here, in the mountains, it is always cool.'

‘It’s quite a long drive,' Anna said, ‘but thank you for inviting me. I could come in the pick-up if we are not too busy, although there are tennis courts at the Crescent Beach next door.'

‘Nikos goes there often in his spare time,' Helena acknowledged, a hint of suspicion in her voice, ‘but you will want to visit your mother, also.’

‘I’ll see that she gets here,’ Nikos said as Anna got reluctantly to her feet.

Their goodbyes were said on the terrace with the sleeping house behind them. It was three o’clock and time for her mother’s afternoon rest.

‘We’ll go back by Cedar Valley,’ Nikos suggested as soon as they had left the narrow farm track behind. ‘There is no great hurry and I haven’t had you to myself for five minutes.’

‘Half-an-hour,’ Anna laughed, remembering their walk in the orange grove. ‘You
do
exaggerate.’

He turned the car along the mountain road. ‘It’s a longer way round,’ he admitted, ‘but once we get to Kykko we’ll be off the dust roads and into civilisation again.’

They went down into the beautiful Cedar Valley and up again by the breathtaking switchback road Anna remembered so well. Craggy peaks and lonely, isolated monasteries dominated their view as they wound through the Marathasa so that it was like a journey into the past as far as she was concerned, and Nikos, too, seemed to be silenced by so much grandeur, although he lived and worked among it. There was very little traffic on the road at that time of day, but before they reached the junction, with the Kykko monastery nestling on the mountainside above them, a car came towards them from the direction of Pedhoulas. It was a large car, taking up more of its share of the narrow dirt road they had followed for the past half-hour and Nikos pulled into a convenient passing place.

The car came on, slowly and carefully, the woman driver seemingly unsure of the sudden change of road surface, but it was a big and powerful car which should have given her no trouble at all, a white Mercedes in pristine condition with the sun visors down to protect the eyes.

Anna knew who it was before the two cars drew level.

Lara was at the wheel, her gaze fixed on the road ahead, while beside her sat a distinguished-looking man in a pale grey suit, his grey hair uncovered, his eyes hidden behind heavy, dark glasses as if the glare of the afternoon sun disturbed him. In the back of the car Martha and Susan sat studying a book, too absorbed by what they were reading to look up at passing strangers.

‘Did you see who that was?’ Nikos asked, watching the Mercedes through his wing mirror as it drew away. ‘It was Lara driving with Martha and Susan in the back seat, I wonder who the man in front was.’

‘Her husband.’ Anna had controlled her voice with an effort.

‘Husband?’ Nikos queried, surprised. ‘The general opinion was that she was a widow.’

‘Opinions can be wrong. Lara has brought him here for some reason best known to herself.’

‘Where from?’

‘Rome.’

‘I suppose Andreas knows all about it.’

‘Yes, I think so.’

He considered the position carefully before he said, ‘This will put his nose out of joint. They were always in each other’s company, doing everything together.’ Anna continued to gaze through the windscreen. ‘They worked together,’ she said. ‘Lara and her husband taught Andreas all he knows about the hotel trade and he is grateful, I suppose.’