Chapter 50
A cough from behind alerted us to the fact that we were not alone. We both turned towards the noise.
Katrina was stood a few feet away.
‘Demi, can you give me a minute with Michelle?’
He looked at me for affirmation that it would be OK and I nodded.
‘I’ll wait at the top of the path for you both.’
Katrina took his place beside me on the rock and we both watched him walk away before she spoke.
‘You’re a lucky lady, Michelle,’ she said. ‘He adores you.’
My eyes widened with surprise at what she was saying. It was nice of her to share.
‘He is the best man I’ve ever met.’ To be honest, she sounded like she was head over heels in love with him. I wasn’t quite sure what was coming next.
‘I wish Makis was more like him. I fell in love with Makis when I was a young girl and I can’t explain why it was him but you can’t help who you fall in love with. Makis is a charmer.’
‘Yeah, you can say that again,’ I scoffed.
‘It didn’t seem to matter what he did, I could never stop loving him.
At first when I found out I was pregnant, I thought that everything would be OK.
I was an older mother, thirty-eight when I found out I was expecting.
I knew I’d already put my life on hold for him for many years and even though he was shocked at first to hear the news, I thought it would work itself out.
I believed every word he said when he told me he loved me and was building a life for us away from the island – that he’d send for me and Athena when he was ready.
Every single time. He didn’t want me to tell her that he was her father until he’d got everything sorted out.
Eventually, I discovered that he had women all over the place, but I’d have never believed it at first.’
I had no idea how she knew this and while I was dying to ask how, it was her business. Maybe in the not too distant future she’d let me know, but it was a question for another time. There were already enough revelations coming out.
‘I was a fool, Michelle.’
‘Or maybe he’s a very good liar.’
‘He is, but I cannot understand why I only saw it recently. Still, I waited for him. For my fairy tale to come true. He made so many promises and I believed him. I wished nothing more for my little girl to know who her father really was. For him to change. For me to be the one to change him. But it was not to be. Only now, I see him for what he really is.’
I didn’t really know what to say. I had no words of wisdom for her.
‘There was always something with Makis. He always wanted what Demetri had. All his life. Their mama told me once that he used to take all of Demetri’s toys and destroy them.
That man had some serious issues and it took me a very long time to realise that he only made a play for me because of the friendship we had.
Makis was a very strange man now I look back.
I just don’t know why I could never see it at the time. ’
‘Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing, Katrina,’ I replied.
‘Now, Demetri.’ She smiled, clearly extremely fond of him.
‘He really is a good man; the big brother I never had. We never really told Athena that he was her father, she just assumed he was, as did everyone else on the island. She called him Papa as soon as she could speak; in fact, it was her first word, and we just never corrected her. There was the family resemblance that helped us there. And Demetri thought he was protecting me, because he knew I didn’t want people to think of how stupid I’d been to believe Makis.
But eventually I made Demetri come to England and follow his dream.
It wasn’t fair for him to be tied to me; to us.
I couldn’t stop him having a life of his own.
‘He adores you, Michelle. He missed you so much while he was in Amarissa. Constantly moping around. And I could see the love in his eyes when he saw you in the village square. I knew who you were just from the look on his face. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us for all of this. He spoke to me about how wonderful you are and I hope that one day, when this mess is all behind us, you and I can be friends. I hope you can both move past this and be together. He has no need to be in Greece now. He is free to come back to you.’
‘But what about Athena?’
‘She’ll be fine. She’s resilient. It’s time that we told her that Makis is her father.
She’s met Makis a few times over the years and has commented that she looks like him.
She also asked why I used to stare at him all the time.
’ Katrina laughed softly. ‘But things have changed recently. My eyes have been opened and I need to live my life now too. It’s time for us all to move forward and make some significance changes. ’
I turned to see Demetri talking to a man at the end of the path and saw Katrina’s expression change.
‘Who is that?’ I asked.
‘Andreas. He’s my… well, my good friend.’ Her eyes softened.
‘Maybe a little more than a friend?’ I asked.
‘I hope so. One day soon.’ She smiled, the emotion obvious in her eyes.
I took her hand. ‘Thank you for coming to speak to me. I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions.’
She shook her head. ‘No apology needed. Anyone would have done the same thing.’
She stood and pulled me towards her as the sun went down, embracing me gently.
‘Tomorrow is the start of a brand new day,’ she whispered. ‘For all of us. I’ve wasted so much of my life on Makis and it stops here. We have one life to live and it’s time we started to live it.’