One Greek Summer Wedding

Chapter 52

Akis stood outside the tumbledown one-storey building with its tiled roof that looked like someone had just shaken out the pieces as though they were flakes of breakfast cereal. There was nothing but the light of the moon here and one barely working terrace lamp showing the menagerie of his grandmother’s things. Glass flagons, plastic chairs, cushions, a bird cage that had never been occupied…

It was the early hours of the morning now and he had been too scared to text his sister since the helicopter had taken off and he had told her he was on his way. Would he be too late?

He guessed that standing around soaking in these childhood memories in the half-dark wasn’t helping anyone.

‘You should go in.’

Cara had come with him, like she’d promised. When the helicopter had touched down a little over a couple of kilometres away, there were two cars waiting. One had taken Margot and Horatio who knew where and the other had brought them here.

‘I know,’ he replied. ‘I just need a moment.’

She moved closer, stood right next to him and reached for his hand. She interlocked their fingers and rubbed gently over the empty space where his little finger used to be. It was a small gesture but it meant everything.

Suddenly the door of the house burst open and there was his mother, looking like he had never seen her before. She was completely devoid of make-up, her hair untamed and a bundle of dark curls, and she was wearing an old towelling dressing gown.

‘Mama,’ Akis said before he had even realised it, as if he needed clarification it was really her.

‘Oh, Aki!’ his mother gasped, her distress obvious.

‘Go,’ Cara said, letting go of his hand. ‘I’ll wait right here.’

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and headed across the scrub towards the house. The fact his mother was here, had been inside her childhood home she hated so much, spoke volumes for the severity of the situation. And if that didn’t get the message across then the tear tracks across her cheeks definitely did.

He put his arms around his mother and drew her close. Immediately she began to sob.

‘I… just want her to shout at me or something,’ Sofia said, her words muffled against his shoulder. ‘Even the donkey knows things are not right. It is sitting down in the kitchen, on a chair.’

‘It is OK,’ Akis said, trying to be strong.

‘She has asked for you,’ Sofia said, finally letting him go and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

‘She is speaking? That is good,’ Akis said, suddenly realising he had been holding his breath.

‘She was speaking,’ Sofia said pointedly. ‘The doctor said there is nothing he can do. That it will just happen… when it happens.’

He still couldn’t comprehend it. He knew that Irini hadn’t been well, but he should have insisted she took it seriously. He should have taken it more seriously.

‘Are Anastasia and Cosmos inside? And Bampás?’

‘No,’ Sofia said. ‘Cosmos was crying so loudly no one could hear the priest. Anastasia has been here all day, I sent her back to the house with Cosmos. Your father is looking after Wren, Jackie and Kelly, most probably with ouzo.’

‘So, you have been here alone?’ Akis asked.

‘As I said, the donkey is in the kitchen.’ Sofia sniffed.

‘Come on,’ Akis said, leading the way.

He had never seen his grandmother look so frail. It was like all the life force had been drained from her, leaving her skin translucent and paper-thin. Her cheeks were hollowed out, her mouth an ‘O’ shape that was struggling with the in and out of breath.

‘Mama, Akis is here,’ Sofia said, sitting down on a pile of newspapers that covered the bedside chair.

‘Mama, why don’t you move the papers?’

‘No,’ Sofia answered. ‘They have always been there. The same set of six. Since I was small.’

Akis drew closer to his grandmother and took hold of her hand. ‘Yiayia, I am here.’

‘The doctor says that she can hear us. Pappa Spiros said that God can also hear us and that we should pray for a miracle.’ Sofia sighed. ‘I know that this is the beginning. The very start of the curse.’

Akis bit his lip. ‘It cannot be the curse, Mama.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because Yiayia is not a Diakos.’

‘But I am a Diakos. Her daughter. And we know from the stories that it is indiscriminate.’

Irini’s breathing suddenly quickened and Akis held onto her hand, looking for a sign of improvement or, perhaps, deterioration.

‘Aki,’ Irini rasped.

‘Yiayia, I am here.’

She opened her eyes then, looking at Akis like she could see inside to the depths of him. Sofia let out a gasp.

‘Where… is… Pig?’ Irini asked.

‘He is in the kitchen.’

‘Is he… sitting on… a chair?’

‘Yes,’ Sofia answered. ‘How do you know?’

Akis watched Irini turn her head then, looking to his mother, her eyebrows showing surprise at her presence.

‘Sofia? You are… inside the house.’

‘Yes, of course I am inside the house. Why would you say such a stupid thing?’

‘Because… you have not been inside this house since… your father passed away.’

‘That’s not true,’ Sofia said, scrunching up her face and shaking her head.

‘The second of June… twenty years ago,’ Irini continued.

‘She is delirious,’ Sofia said bitterly.

‘Mama,’ Akis said. ‘Please, think about what you are saying.’

‘I must be dying,’ Irini said, very matter of fact.

‘No,’ Akis said straight away. ‘You are not.’

‘Then why has Pappa Spiros been speaking to me… for what feels like two weeks? And Cosmos was here, crying like a baby. And Anastasia… she needs to be out finding herself a new girlfriend. She has not been as happy as she was when she was with Trinity.’

‘Mama, you are not well. You do not know what you are saying,’ Sofia said.

‘I… do know what I am saying. I always know what I am saying. It is the rest of this family who have the problems,’ Irini continued, moving a little like she was in discomfort.

‘Let me help you,’ Akis offered, letting go of her hand to assist with adjusting her pillows.

‘No one talks about what matters,’ Irini continued. ‘They speak around the important things like it is a dance of words.’

‘You need to rest, Mama,’ Sofia insisted.

‘I can rest when I am dead. I am sure it will be very soon.’ She began to cough and it was raspy and weak. ‘But… for now… while I still have breath in my lungs, I need to make sure that things change.’

‘Mama—’

‘Quiet, Sofia! For once in your life… you will listen to me!’

The words were determined and there was a little fire in the delivery. But wasn’t that what sometimes happened when people were close to the end? They rallied, provided some calm before the storm. Except it seemed like his grandmother had no intention of keeping the moment on an even keel.

‘I blame myself,’ Irini continued. ‘For your syndrome of perfection.’

‘I do not know what you mean,’ Sofia scoffed. ‘I have no such thing.’

‘I should not have let you go to that college. I should have said no to the scholarship. I should have realised that you mixing with people who have a warped sense of reality was only going to make things worse. But, when you returned, I thought it would just be a phase. That you had seen part of the rest of the world and now you would come back and realise what really matters in life.’ Irini drew in a long slow breath that looked like it was taking much strength. ‘But instead you were worse. You distanced yourself from me, your father, from everything we believed in, you married Thanasis so you could bully him, you had children so you could control them and now look where we are! You raise a boy who is terrified of his own shadow because he is afraid that whatever he does will not be good enough for you, you raise a girl who is only really happy when she is rebelling against you and you raise this boy here for a life in the church like you are punishing him for saving his brother and losing his chance of a career playing his beautiful piano!’

The atmosphere in the room thickened and Akis didn’t know what to say. Although his grandmother didn’t usually pull punches, he had never been aware of her being so brutally honest to his mother before. And what was even more surprising was Sofia seemed unable to make a defence for herself.

‘Do you know what I was planning to do?’ Irini continued. ‘Lie to you.’ She didn’t wait for any response. ‘Thanasis and I were ageing paper, with Pig’s help, detailing an ancient spell that the family could perform to counteract the Diakos curse.’

‘What?’ Sofia and Akis said together.

‘I thought that if you could believe in the Diakos curse, you could just as easily believe in an antidote to it if it was convincing enough.’

‘Mama! I cannot believe you would think to do that!’ Sofia exclaimed, standing up. ‘And you would involve my husband! When we are in the middle of wedding preparations! And everything is up in the air!’

‘The only thing that is up in the air, Sofia, is your expectations of everyone! Cosmos must have the biggest wedding Corfu has ever seen! Anastasia must have a boyfriend not a girlfriend! Akis must become a priest or everyone will die! All of these are misconceptions and they are like kites taking off with you pulling the strings!’

‘I do not want to hear any more!’ Sofia said, beginning to pace the room. ‘And now you do not sound so close to death!’

‘It is time, Sofia, to know that superficial things, superficial people, they do not last. The happiness you get from them arrives as quickly as it leaves. Family, they are not mood boards to align with your ideals, they are individuals born with freedom in their hearts and unique spirits driving their souls.’ Irini took another deep breath. ‘I decide now that you should not need a trick to get you to realise that curse or no curse, no one should be put in a position where they have to make forced decisions because of someone else’s fear. And even worse when that person has spread their own personal fear into the minds of everyone else.’

Akis swallowed, the weight of his grandmother’s words hanging heavy in the air of the bedroom. The silence elongated, the only sound Irini’s breathing and the haunting hoot of the scops owl. And then Sofia fled to the door, rushing out of the bedroom. Akis could hear the sound of Pig braying as the front door slammed.

‘Aki,’ Irini said, her voice sounding weak again. ‘Hold my hand and promise me you will not become a priest.’

‘Yiayia,’ Akis said, taking her hand in his and sitting on the edge of her bed.

‘Did you not hear anything I just said? You have me waste my breaths and not take it in?’

‘No, I did. Of course, I did but?—’

‘Then.’ Irini squeezed his hand. ‘You should know that you have already sacrificed too much for this family. It is time for that to end.’

Akis took a breath, not really knowing how to respond.

‘Promise me,’ Irini said. ‘Please, Aki.’

He nodded. ‘OK, Yiayia. I promise.’

‘Good,’ Irini said, her mouth forming a smile. ‘Then now, I am ready to die.’

And, with that said, she closed her eyes.