Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Maddie and Sofia were waiting for her when she walked back into the hotel, their worried little faces at odds with everyone else in the bar.
She joined their table, and the waiter was at her side in a moment.
‘Three brandies please.’
Charlotte sat back in the chair and reached for their hands.
‘It’s done.’
They waited in silence, hands entwined, until the arrival of the drinks. Charlotte lifted her glass towards the others.
‘Yamas!’
The Yamas! in response was decidedly muted, and she could see that Sofia especially was desperate to know the outcome of her talk with Doug.
Charlotte took a good swipe at the brandy before she spoke.
She wasn’t sure how her news would be received by Maddie, given she was voluntarily calling time on her husband, but it was too late to worry now.
‘It’s over. I’m getting a divorce.’
Sofia punched the air.
‘Yessss!’
Maddie put her finger to her lips.
‘Calm down, Sof. The end of a marriage isn’t usually something to be celebrated.’
‘It is in this case.’
Maddie turned to Charlotte.
‘How are you feeling, love?’
‘Everything under the sun. Sad, relieved, exhausted, you name it, I’m feeling it. But the overwhelming emotion is relief, so I know deep down I’ve down the right thing.’
‘Good for you. It can’t have been easy.’
‘Weirdly, when it came down to it, it was surprisingly easy. I shocked myself at how quickly I knew it was over once I’d spent a few minutes with him.’
Charlotte waited a beat for her racing heart to calm.
‘I wasn’t sure up until that point if I’d really have the strength to end things for good, but all the anger and hurt bubbled up inside me and came pouring out like a once dormant volcano. I suddenly knew what I had to do, for my own sake, no one else’s.’
Sofia gave her friend a thumbs up, earning herself a frown from Maddie, who threw her brandy back in one.
‘Shall we get out of here? There’s a fantastic ice cream place up one of the back streets that I’ve been meaning to try. It has a smoked hazelnut flavour that all the reviews rave about. It will give us all a walk, too.’
‘That sounds lovely. I’m a bit talked out to be honest. It will be nice to think about something else.’ Charlotte turned to the others and stifled a yawn. ‘Thank you both for being here for me. I think I’ll be up for an early night tonight.’
‘That suits me.’ Maddie nudged Sofia. ‘Especially as I’ve been volunteered to meet scary Greek momma in the morning.’
‘I’ll pick you up here at ten.’ Sofia grinned. ‘I’m not planning on an early night. I’ve only got three left with Adonis.’
After checking in on Charlotte the next morning, Maddie left her friend to have a long lie-in, turning the sign on her door to Do Not Disturb.
While having a leisurely breakfast alone, she couldn’t resist opening her emails yet again, but there was still nothing from her son.
It had only been just over a day, but it didn’t bode well.
The sound of a car outside told her that Sofia had arrived. She put down her coffee cup and brushed the crumbs off her navy linen shift dress. It was the best she could do in the circumstances.
The driver opened the car door to reveal Sofia looking the very image of a visiting European princess, dress and make-up immaculate.
It was completely over the top for a visit to an old woman in Maddie’s eyes, but she was wise enough not to mention it.
Even at a quick glance, she could see Sofia was strung taut as a wire.
‘You’re ten minutes early! I’ve only just finished my coffee.’
‘Well, you can never be too sure with the traffic.’
‘Okaay. And you’re feeling OK about today?’
A big nerve was twitching in Sofia’s forehead.
‘Perfectly calm. How’s Char?’
‘I’ve left her to sleep.’
‘Good. It’s what she needs.’
She’d quite like to go back to bed too. There’d already been an unsettling moment with Aphrodite, the attractive receptionist who seemed to hang on Adonis’s every word, as she prepared to leave the hotel.
Normally Adonis was with her, but he was already up and in his office. As she’d approached the desk, the woman had looked left and right to check no one was around and beckoned her over.
‘Your car is waiting, madam.’
‘Thank you.’
As she turned to walk away again, she clearly heard the whispered words, ‘he will never be yours.’
When she turned back again, the woman’s face was the picture of innocence, a false smile plastered on her lips.
She wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of querying her words, even though her first reaction was to punch her.
There was no proof she’d said it, which the woman had made damn sure of.
It would sound pathetic reporting it to Adonis, and as if she cared too much.
She gave the woman a glacial stare before walking out.
She wasn’t about to mention it to Maddie either. They had enough to deal with as it was.
They pulled up at a traditional white house, with old oil cans filled with red geraniums all round the perimeter.
For a moment, it reminded Sofia of the steps up to Giannis, the paddleboard instructor’s flat, and she swallowed hard.
It was important she made a good impression here, and that evening had hardly been perfect.
But she wasn’t going to take it as a bad omen, yet.
An elderly woman appeared at the door, with another woman behind her that Sofia recognised as Lydia, Adonis’s sister. She was glad she’d brought reinforcements too. Not that it was a battle, but it was nice to have Maddie with her.
It was Lydia who stepped forward first to welcome them and invite them to come through for coffee in the garden.
‘My mother speaks very little English, so Adonis asked me to come along to help, so you can communicate.’
Sofia could feel the mother’s eyes on her the whole time.
They were about the same height, but the older woman was all in black, still in mourning for her long-dead husband.
The black against the white made them look a little like pieces on a chessboard.
Let the games begin was the phrase that came to mind.
Sofia smiled a big smile in the woman’s direction but got very little in return.
A smile wasn’t exactly difficult to translate. She pointed at her chest.
‘Sofia, hero poli.’
The woman pointed at her own chest.
‘Cassandra.’
There was no pleased to meet you too. She had a vague memory from school that Cassandra was the Greek goddess who foresaw terrible things. And from the look on her face, Sofia’s relationship with Adonis was one of them. She’d just have to grin and bear it. A quick coffee and they’d be gone again.
Out in the garden, they were directed towards some spectacular bushes bursting with yellow flowers.
Not being a gardener, Sofia hung back slightly and left the others to it.
She’d killed more house plants than she’d had hot dinners.
Thank goodness Maddie was asking Lydia and Cassandra plenty of green-fingered questions, and at one point she even detected a hint of a smile on Cassandra’s face. But it didn’t last.
Once the coffee was brought out with some biscuits introduced by Lydia as melomakarona, and apparently full of orange, cinnamon and cloves, Sofia took the chance to moan in delight at their taste, which earned a surprised glance from Maddie.
Normally, she’d never dream of eating biscuits, but needs must. There wasn’t a flicker from Cassandra, just the same eagle-eyed stare.
Even Lydia must have been feeling the strain, as she dropped her spoon on the ground and had to go inside for a new one.
When she returned, Sofia ate another biscuit to try to win some brownie points, but when she checked to see if Cassandra approved, she was stunned to see tears in the old woman’s eyes.
‘Aftí eínai megáli.’ It came out of her mouth in a whisper. ‘óchi paidiá ya ton ádoni mou.’
‘Mamá!’
‘óchi paidiá!’
The second óchi paidiá! was a definite shout.
Sofia had learnt enough Greek on her visits to know the words, megáli, old, óchi, no and paidiá, children.
It was pretty obvious what his mother was saying. She was too old to give Adonis any children.
‘I’m so sorry.’ Lydia’s face was red. ‘I must apologise for my mother’s rudeness.’
‘It’s nothing.’ Sofia tried to smile. On top of being a foreigner, she was also past her childbearing years and not of the Greek Orthodox religion. Pretty much a full hand for Cassandra. The old woman was openly crying now, and Lydia passed her a handkerchief.
‘Stop it, Mamá. Stamáta!’
Lydia turned back to her.
‘I know you understand what she has said to you, and it is not acceptable. But you must understand that Adonis is her first born and Mamá is from a different generation and very religious. Adonis is the clever one and has always been a workaholic. But all these years she has prayed that he would find a nice Greek girl and settle down.’
Sofia nodded. She prayed herself that Maddie would be able to keep quiet at this attack on her. Her friend losing it wouldn’t help either.
‘She is just a little shocked at his choice, when there are many women here on the island who would love to take your place.’
Aphrodite the receptionist would be at the head of the queue, no doubt.
They were welcome to him, if this is what they’d have to put up with, was Sofia’s first thought, but she tried to look at it from his mother’s point of view.
It was certainly a big wake-up call. Her decision to keep things casual with Adonis was looking like the right one.
‘I don’t want to upset your mother any further, so maybe it is better if we go. I will call for the car.’
‘Thank you. I will take her inside for a rest.’
But as soon as Lydia tried to help her mother up out of the chair, she moaned and slipped out of her daughter’s arms, falling to the floor on her side.
‘Mads! Help her.’