Chapter 55
55
VAGGELIS’S SERVICE, KASSIOPI HARBOUR
Everyone was wearing blue. It seemed exactly right to do that when it was a colour Vaggelis had loved so much. And, as everyone gathered around the memorial and the priest recited some litany, Christos had never felt sadder. Even though Vaggelis had been gone for forty days now, his death had been accepted as fact when he had thought the man was his godfather. Now he knew he was his father it put a completely different slant on it and he would be lying if he said he didn’t have regrets.
‘Are you OK?’ Molly whispered, linking their hands.
‘I will be better when the priest stops talking.’
‘But won’t that mean it will be your turn?’ Molly asked him.
He nodded. It was true. Despite saying he wasn’t going to speak at the service he had agreed to say a few words about Vaggelis after the religious formalities were over. He had prepared something on paper, the ramblings of someone who didn’t really want to wear his heart on his sleeve in front of this large gathering – more than they had really been expecting.
‘You’re going to be fine,’ Molly said softly. ‘I promise.’
‘I know,’ Christos answered. ‘I am going to be fine because it will be only a few minutes and then I can come back to this spot and hold your hand again and we can talk about what we are going to do with an apartment, a boat, an olive tree, a truck and bits of a cat.’
Molly shook her head.
‘Do not shake your head, Molly,’ he said warningly. ‘I told you this last night.’
Last night she had been so excited, euphoric for everything that was suddenly happening in her life. She had met Freya Johnson. She had met Freya Johnson’s husband – much to Siobhan’s absolute envy – and she had met all three of Freya Johnson’s children who were a unique mix of cute and crazy and super-polite. She had also been introduced to three of Freya’s favourite cameras – Claude, who she had said was quite old now, Magnum and the newest one she had brought to Greece, Derulo – so named because it made every photo dance. Freya had listened to her talk more about Mollify, tried some of the samples – as well as all the loukoumades – and although there was nothing signed, no commitment to be a brand ambassador, Molly just felt that something in her life had shifted, that nothing but positivity was coming her way now and she had no doubt that Freya was going to love the make-up, that she was aligned with the company’s ethos and she was exactly the right person to take this forward with. And then, she had told Christos all about it over the most divine pork cheeks at Porto Nuovo, where they had first met, where she had found out that she had been left portions of all Vaggelis’s things.
‘It’s not right that I take a share in Vaggelis’s things, Christos,’ Molly whispered. ‘I haven’t changed my mind about that.’
‘Molly,’ he said. ‘That is what Vaggelis wanted. You cannot go against his wishes.’
‘That is what Vaggelis wanted when he thought I was his daughter,’ she said firmly but hopefully not loud enough for anyone to hear over the priest.
‘I do not believe it was only that. He loved your mother. Why else would he keep boat tickets and photographs all this time?’
‘But he loved your mother too,’ Molly whispered. ‘Clearly.’
Christos sighed. ‘So? That only means that Vaggelis had a big heart and that is something no one who knew him would deny.’
‘I’ve made my decision,’ Molly said.
Yes, she needed the money that new businesses or the sale of the assets would provide to launch Mollify, but she was just going to have to research Crowdfunding again or look for another way because taking what she didn’t feel would have been destined for her if Vaggelis had known the truth wasn’t what she wanted.
‘Well, we will see about that,’ Christos answered.
‘Christos, I?—’
‘No more talking now,’ he interrupted. ‘I have to do talking up there in a very short time.’
He was right. This wasn’t the time or the place to have this battle. This moment was all about his father and saying the last goodbye.
Christos stepped forward and took his place next to the priest, mouth dry, sun in his eyes, perspiration at the base of his neck. It was one speech, a few words, he could do this. And then his eyes met Magdalena’s and, through her tears, she gave him the type of encouraging smile he had tried to give her when she was younger, struggling with her schoolwork or still unable to tie her shoelaces tight enough. His little sister now supporting him when he needed it most…
‘Thank you, everyone, for being here today to remember my…’ He paused. He should say ‘godfather’, that was what everyone knew Vaggelis to be. But, making a false declaration at his final service just didn’t feel right.
‘…to remember a great man. A man who was a friend to everyone in our community. A man who would give whatever he had to anyone who needed it or, in fact give whatever he had to anyone who didn’t even ask for it. I am, of course, talking about his advice which he gave more freely than anything else. Because Vaggelis was an authority on every subject that exists.’
This line drew laughter from the gathered crowd and knowing nods and smiles.
‘Vaggelis Vlachos knew everything . The best way to fish. The right and only way to cook meat on a barbecue. The exact temperature to chill beer. How to run government better than Mitsotakis…’
More laughter and it was easing his tension. He took a breath. ‘He made people laugh and he made people smile and I do not know one person who ever had anything bad to say about this larger-than-life charismatic man who… treated me like his son.’
That felt right to say here and now, and it was the absolute truth. Vaggelis, even if he hadn’t known that Christos was his offspring, had treated him as such every day of his life. He had been the one Christos looked up to, asked for help from, felt comfortable and safe with. He found his mother’s eyes then, spilling tears for someone she had cared for far more than Christos had ever known. There was so much healing to be done amongst them but perhaps now everything was out in the open they could really begin.
‘So, let us take this opportunity to give thanks for Vaggelis and all the special memories I know you’re going to have of him, just like me and my family have. And let this afternoon and the Kassiopi panegyri tonight be a celebration of his life with all the drinking and the dancing and the lamb-eating he loved so much.’ He put his hand to his heart. ‘Rest well, Vaggeli. Safe journey.’
And with those words imparted to everyone around the harbourside, Christos took a shot glass from the full table just in front of him and raised it to the bright blue sky. ‘ Yammas !’