Epilogue
WAVE BAR, KASSIOPI HARBOUR, CORFU
The next summer
‘Look at the size of it! I’ve never seen one so big!’ Angeliki exclaimed.
‘You are making me self-conscious! Is it too big?’
‘I don’t think anything can be too big, right?’ Siobhan said with a dirty laugh.
‘If you want my opinion I think it’s the perfect size,’ Janette said. ‘It’s not too big. It’s not too small?—’
‘It is definitely not too small,’ Angeliki said with a tut. ‘Any bigger and there will not be any space left for the rest of us.’
‘Don’t listen to any of them,’ Molly said softly, putting a hand on Magdalena’s pregnant belly. ‘You’ve seen the doctor, everything is progressing as it should, the scans were perfect?—’
‘You have been drinking every day the special tea I gave you?’ Maria asked almost like a threat.
‘Of course,’ Magdalena answered.
‘You haven’t, have you?’ Molly whispered to her.
‘Not a drop,’ Magdalena whispered back. ‘It smells like rotten horta . I can only imagine the taste.’
Molly laughed. They were back in Corfu. Her, her mum and Siobhan had flown over from the UK just like they had twelve months ago. Although so much had changed since then… But not this beautiful place. Sitting at the bar right by the water, the sunlight dappling the sea, it was still the warm, welcoming, relaxed hub it had been when Molly had left it.
‘Are we sure it’s not twins?’ Siobhan asked, sipping her cocktail.
‘ Stamata ! Stop! That is what Spiros asked me! But I have the scan. There is one baby,’ Magdalena stated.
‘Sometimes they hide though. That’s what I read,’ Siobhan said. ‘One baby tucks itself around?—’
‘And that’s quite enough of that,’ Janette said as her phone buzzed and she checked the screen. ‘Oh, Angeliki, that’s the guests from the apartment saying they’ve checked out. Do you want me to do the changeover?’
‘No, Janetto, we will do this together. Come, we will go now and I will show you the new towels I am buying. Dark grey, very soft, do not show the dirt like white ones.’
Molly smiled as her mum and Angeliki got up from their seats and bandied together to leave the group. They were joint owners of Vaggelis’s apartment now and were renting it out for the summer season. Both Molly and Christos had decided that they could be smart about their inheritance, do good. Angeliki and Janette both had a life interest in the apartment, took the takings jointly from the rental and when they were no longer around, the ownership would revert back to Molly and Christos.
‘Bye!’ Magdalena called, waving a hand, the two women too deep in chat to pay any attention. ‘Honestly, you know they are planning to make a fortune from this rental. Last week they had a TikTok influencer stay and do this dance on the balcony and the video went viral, they’re booked solid now until the end of October.’
‘I know,’ Molly said. ‘I can’t get that stupid song out of my head.’
Magdalena looked at her watch and then out to sea. ‘Spiros and Christos should be back by now.’
‘And I’m so hungry!’ Siobhan complained.
‘Me too,’ Magdalena agreed. ‘And I am eating for two people.’
‘Or maybe three,’ Siobhan added.
This was a big day for Magdalena, Molly knew that. Spiros was set to take over the hands-on elements of the running of The Greek Dynamo Boat Tours. It wasn’t a nightclub on the waves but the boat had been extensively renovated and passed all its inspections and was now taking tourists to the neighbouring islands of Erikousa, Mathraki and Othonoi and there was a weekly trip to Paxos. What differentiated the trips from other providers in the area was the spirit of Vaggelis. Along with facts about the area, travellers were treated to funny family stories about the man, which everyone had provided an anecdote to, and there were games involving tricks Vaggelis used to perform. They already had excellent reviews on Trip Advisor, but Molly knew Magdalena was worried about Spiros having this weight of responsibility on top of being a new father very soon, and being Angeliki’s son-in-law even sooner.
‘I see the boat!’ Molly announced, getting out of her seat. ‘It’s coming.’
‘Right,’ Siobhan said. ‘Let’s order then.’
‘Listen, you guys stay here and I will go and meet them and make sure they hurry up.’
‘If they are too long I might give birth,’ Magdalena said, sighing and rubbing her belly.
‘I’m sure they’d make it to catch the second one popping out,’ Siobhan teased.
Molly pushed her chair back in and rushed along the road.
* * *
Christos could see her running towards their new berth, past Wave Bar and Limani, at the very end of the harbour, where he had seen countless large yachts pull in every summer. And it felt right. It had been a sentimental decision to keep the boat, but he and Molly had agreed that behind that sentimental basis they were both entrepreneurs, it had to be business savvy. Everything was paying its way. Almost everything. The olive tree needed a few more years to provide anything like enough olives to make money. And the red truck. Well, it still drove, but they had given it to Old Theo and at Christmas he had dressed up like Santa Claus and driven it alongside the Dotto train in Acharavi giving children a ride.
Molly was waving madly as they came to dock like they had been out on a naval mission and away for months but, the way he knew her now, he sensed there was something she wanted to tell him. And that always made him excited.
‘Is everything OK?’ Spiros called from the captain’s seat.
‘Spiro, my sister is pregnant, she’s not dying and you checked your phone every minute while you were telling me Vaggelis’s story about the jellyfish,’ Christos shouted back.
‘But I did not make a mistake in the story, right?’
‘Magdalena is fine, Spiro. But hungry. And Angeliki and my mum have gone to do a changeover at the apartment.’
Christos shook his head as he jumped from the vessel and began to secure the boat. ‘They are more obsessed with business than we are.’
‘I’m not obsessed with business,’ Molly objected. ‘Mr Four Gyms.’
‘Four and a half,’ he replied with a smirk.
She gasped. ‘You’re back in negotiations with the dance company?’
‘We both want that great space,’ Christos said. ‘I offered a compromise I think they are going to go for. And, you know, where are all those parents going to go when their children do dance classes? Straight into my gym.’
He stood up and she was smiling at him, deep pride in her expression. That’s when the love he felt for her burned differently. He’d never had anyone feel that way about him before. She supported him wholly. The way he supported her.
‘I’ve missed you,’ she whispered, slipping her arms around his waist.
‘You saw me this morning.’
‘I’m saying it for all the times I couldn’t see you in the morning.’
‘O-K, everything is done with the boat,’ Spiros said, third-wheeling into their space. ‘I am going to order food for Magdalena and the baby. You can tell me how I did with the tour later. Let me have one beer first.’ He patted Christos on the back and then was gone, heading towards Wave Bar.
‘So,’ Christos said, eyes locking with hers.
‘So?’
‘So, you need to tell me something. It’s been a year now, Molly, I can tell.’
‘No secrets between us any more,’ she said, sighing.
‘I do not think we ever had any secrets between us. Just other people’s we did not even know about.’ He gently pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘So, tell me what it is.’
‘OK,’ Molly said, grinning. ‘Or shall I make you guess?’
He knew what it was. He knew exactly what it was because of the way she was behaving. She was bubbling with excitement under that beautiful surface and he had never had any doubt that this was going to come off. She had worked so hard. She had the connections now. It had only been a matter of time.
‘You got Seffora,’ he stated.
Molly gasped. ‘How did you know?!’
‘You wanted it. You pitched for it. Freya Johnson is on your team. You were always going to make it happen.’
‘I’m so happy I could burst! They emailed this morning and then Freya called and screamed down the phone, like literally screamed, and you would think with all her amazing achievements that Mollify getting on the shelves in a big worldwide beauty chain wouldn’t be top news for her but there was a lot of screaming.’
‘It’s amazing news and I am so proud of you, Molly.’ He hugged her tight. ‘But, you know, I am proud of you every single day for everything you do. I mean, Seffora today, getting Armeena to stop attacking Mrs Mixahalou’s flowers tomorrow maybe.’
‘At least she has stopped attacking people.’
And there were still four people responsible for the cat in equal shares…
He kissed her. ‘Then this lunch is now a celebration. We should?—’
‘Wait… that’s not the only thing,’ Molly said, holding on to his hand. ‘You do remember what I said about Seffora, don’t you?’
Of course he remembered. It was three months ago, he had come back from visiting her in the UK and Molly had flown to Athens with him for only the third time, such was the hectic nature of her business. He had taken her to one of his favourite rooftop restaurants in the Plaka District with an amazing view of the Acropolis and she had held his hand and made a promise that if the Seffora deal came through she would move to Athens on a permanent basis.
‘I remember,’ he whispered.
‘Well,’ Molly said. ‘I’m not going to move to Athens because of the Seffora deal.’
And just like that his bubble burst and a sinking feeling replaced the euphoria he had been tampering down, like champagne waiting for someone to release the cork and the special occasion never arriving.
She kissed him then, gently, a little teasingly as the sea breeze moved her hair. ‘I didn’t need the Seffora deal to make my decision, Christo. With you, it’s where I’m meant to be. And that’s by far the best gift Vaggelis gave me.’
There was no holding back the exhilaration now as he put his arms around her, feeling such pure happiness fill every part of him.
‘ Mazi ,’ he whispered.
‘ Ne ,’ she answered. ‘ Mazi . Panta .’
Together. Always.
* * *