Chapter 52
52
THE GREEK DYNAMO, KASSIOPI HARBOUR
‘That tin of tuna was dated 2001,’ Molly said, trying to dry her hair with a tea towel.
‘Tinned food does not go out of date,’ Christos answered as he put the bowl on the floor of the boat.
They were not eating the food, Armeena was. And after the boat had been cleared and cleaned a bit, it had taken quite a bit of rummaging in the bags set to be discarded to find something for Armeena to eat and anything to dry themselves with. He wasn’t sure the tea towel was doing much for Molly’s hair. There had to be a proper towel somewhere…
‘I think you’ll find it does,’ she said, her hair still dripping.
‘Well, she does not complain,’ Christos said.
‘Whoa!’ Molly said, holding on to the table as the boat rocked.
‘You should be sitting down,’ he admonished. ‘I want to take a look at your leg.’
‘Maybe we should have run to Virginia’s instead of coming on the boat. We’re now on the sea that’s raging.’ She sat down on the banquette.
‘But we are tied tight,’ he reminded her. ‘The boat is going nowhere.’ He came across to her, then sat down, a wooden box in his hands.
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
‘I am hoping it is still the first aid kit. I am sure it is all out of date but?—’
‘I don’t think bandages can go out of date. Not like tuna.’ She smiled. ‘But, you know, it’s OK. It’s just a scratch really.’
‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘Well, it will need to be sterilised and if there is nothing in this box you know what that means.’
‘I know, I know, the one thing that cures all and never goes out of date. Ouzo.’
He opened the box as the boat rocked again and then he sighed. There wasn’t much in there at all. A few plasters, the wrappers of which were already peeling, safety pins and one bandage that didn’t look too bad. He didn’t know why he had expected anything less from Vaggelis. There were some pieces of paper in the bottom too. Receipts most likely.
‘Is that a boat ticket?’ Molly asked, fingers already reaching for the box.
‘Rubbish,’ Christos said, sighing. ‘Like everything in this boat.’ His hair dripped water down his face and he wiped it with the sleeve of his already soaking shirt.
Molly plucked the ticket up and read the destination. ‘It says Paxos. My mum has one exactly the same with that same date on it.’
He sighed, and while she was distracted he got the bottle of ouzo, wet the bandage and pressed it to Molly’s leg.
‘Ow! Some warning might have been nice. Ugh, it stings!’
‘If I had given you a warning it would have been worse.’
Molly sighed. ‘Why do you think they both kept the boat tickets all this time? But then never kept in touch properly?’
‘Because it meant something to them both,’ Christos said with a shrug. ‘But I am perhaps not the one you should be asking.’
As he held Molly’s leg steady and attempted to make sure her wound was clean, and all those feelings he had for her began to slow-burn their way through him, he knew he had to tell her the truth.
‘Why didn’t you answer my phone calls earlier?’ Molly asked.
He nodded, tried to get his words straight in his head. ‘I am sorry I did not call you back, I just… had many things happening.’
‘Yeah,’ Molly said. ‘Me too. But, Christos, there was something really important I had to tell you and?—’
‘Molly, can I please speak first?’ he asked, voice breaking a little.
‘OK,’ she agreed.
How should he begin? He took a deep breath as she moved her leg, taking it off the seating and back down to the floor.
‘So… remember I saw that photo of my mother in Athens at Maria’s house.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I asked her about it and then I remembered where I had seen that blue scarf before, the one she was wearing in the photo.’
‘O-K.’
‘Molly, it was… Vaggelis’s scarf,’ he stated, like the sentence was the key to unlock a secret door.
‘Right,’ Molly said.
She was looking right at him, for a second bewildered and then very slowly he could see her mind putting pieces into place like it was a smashed plate being put back together.
‘Molly,’ he whispered. ‘Vaggelis… is my father too.’
His heart thudded hard, like it might be the very last beat it ever took as he delivered that news. It could not get any worse for them. He had no idea how they were going to go forward or how awkward and uncomfortable it was going to be now they were… siblings.
‘Oh, Christos,’ Molly said, reaching for his hands and holding them tight. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘I know,’ he said, exhaling. ‘I do not know what to say and I do not know what to feel and…’ And he knew he did not want to feel the way he felt with Molly holding his hands when their affection for each other had to change.
‘And it’s a shock,’ Molly said. ‘A huge shock. For you and… does Magdalena know?’
He nodded. ‘She says it does not change anything between us but, you know, maybe it will, maybe it won’t.’ He shook his head as the boat rocked again, the wind throwing rain against the portholes.
‘It will take time,’ Molly told him. ‘Everything takes time, to adjust to, especially when you’ve got used to the foundations you thought you had, and then you realise what you’ve been holding on to wasn’t quite what you thought it was.’
‘Yeah,’ he said, looking into her eyes, eyes that made his insides react as furiously as the storm. ‘You are right.’ He should let go of her hands, because his thoughts and feelings were not platonic. And they had to be!
‘But it will be OK, Christos. I can promise you that.’
OK . He didn’t want OK. He had been doing more than ‘OK’ with his business, but he had thought, finally, his personal life, his emotional capability was more than he could have hoped for. And now it all had to end. He let go of her hands, stood up.
‘You are cold,’ he stated. ‘There has to be something here you can put on.’ He began to rummage in the bags again, looking for something, maybe a jumper, or maybe searching was just a distraction.
‘I’m OK,’ Molly said, standing too. ‘And there really is something I need to tell you.’
‘To be honest with you, Molly, if it is going to be something that turns everything upside down all over again I say that we leave that for the storm.’ He sighed, pulling an old-fashioned heavy iron out of a bag.
‘But what if it turns everything upside down again in a better way?’ she asked, moving closer to him.
‘Right now, I do not know if that is possible,’ he said, sighing. He put the iron on the table and pulled a blanket from the bag.
‘But, what if I could guarantee that it would be possible?’
He shook his head, shaking out the blanket which didn’t look like it should be something to be completely discarded. ‘I do not think anything can come with that kind of promise.’
‘Well,’ Molly stated. ‘If you really meant what you said to me when we were visiting Vaggelis’s new olive tree then I can 100 per cent guarantee things will be upside down in a positive way.’
He didn’t believe it. He looked at her then, held her gaze, wished things were oh-so different.
‘Then tell me,’ he said. ‘Whatever you think will make the world better.’
She stepped up close to him, put her hands over his, both holding the blanket now. He couldn’t bear her touch. It felt wrong. Forbidden. ‘Molly, please, I cannot do this right now because?—’
‘Christos, listen?—’
‘I can’t have you touch me,’ he stated, voice raw as he tried to let her go. ‘Please. Stop.’
‘No,’ Molly said, her fingers interlocked with his. ‘Because… we don’t need to stop any more.’
‘Molly—’ So many emotions were doing battle with him now.
‘Vaggelis might be your father,’ Molly said to him. ‘But… he’s not mine.’
The weight of her words hit him harder than the next gust of wind that rocked the boat and had them falling into one another. He wrapped his arm around her, drew her into him to brace her against the motion and then…
‘What?’ Had he heard right? Had she said what he thought she had?
‘I want to tell you everything, Christos. I will tell you everything,’ she said, looking up at him as he held her tight against the motion of the boat. ‘But, for now, for me, that fact is the single most important thing.’
He barely dared to breathe, worried that if he did it would somehow rewind time or change what she had said.
‘We’re not related,’ Molly told him. ‘We’re not related at all and?—’
He didn’t let her finish her sentence, he stole it with his mouth, pressing his to hers, pulling her and the blanket into him until they morphed into the same entity. He wanted to feel her skin on his, wanted to get so close to her that there was nothing to separate them. But then he withdrew, gazed at her, his thumb grazing her cheekbone.
‘You are certain?’ he asked, voice trembling as outside the thunder roared. ‘There is no doubt.’
She was shaking now, perhaps from the cold of the rain on her skin, maybe because of the tension, but she nodded. ‘There is no doubt. I promise.’
It was all the clarification he needed to pick her up and carry her over to the cushioned seating, kissing her all the way.