‘Ah, thank goodness, praise the Lord.’ She crossed herself three times, resting a weathered hand on her chest. ‘I didn’t know what I’d do.’ She sniffed and wiped a tear away, smoothing hair that was pulled into a tight, grey bun.
Daphne waited, observing the wiry-framed woman she’d known all her life. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘Ah, my sweet.’ She came towards her and took Daphne’s hand. ‘Condolences, my dear. Your beloved Pappou has died. Life to you. May we remember him.’
Daphne’s first reaction was relief that it wasn’t something worse; her grandfather had been unwell for as long as she could remember. Poor old Pappou, with his lopsided face, tear-leaking eyes and sluggish drawl that mangled words. She was always impressed that he’d been born in the last year of the nineteenth century. So he was seventy-seven. It was sad, but not a disaster. However, no words came, as if she was hollowed out and struck dumb. Kyria Lemonia embraced her and then held her at arm’s length. ‘He was an honourable man.’
Daphne wondered how she could keep Ralph out of this, but the chill of planning how to explain what she and her lover were doing on Aegina was quickly supplanted by a hot rush of guilt at her heartlessness.
‘You must sit down. You’ve gone pale. Let’s go inside.’ The bird-like old woman put her arm around Daphne and led her through to the kitchen, helping her to a chair. Ralph stood up, but despite his best efforts it was apparent that kyria Lemonia was nonplussed to find a half-naked man taking breakfast with young Daphnoula.
‘Kalimera,’ she said without a smile.
‘Good morning,’ he replied.
‘And your other friend? Is she here?’ she said in Greek.
Daphne suspected that everyone on Aegina already knew there wasn’t another person with them – this was a small island. ‘No. My friend Jane had to go. This is my uncle.’ She turned to Ralph. ‘My grandfather died.’
‘Oh!’ He stood rooted, awkward, unable to come to her. ‘I’m so sorry.’ By now, Daphne was crying. He knows we’re in deep shit, she thought, as he looked at her, trying to understand. How will we work this one out?
‘Now, my Daphne, you need to call your mama. She tried to ring the house but there was no answer. She’s so worried. I have a number in France here.’ Kyria Lemonia produced a scrap of paper with a laboriously long number and ‘ΕΛΛΗ’ in blue biro capitals. Her eyes were flitting round the kitchen as if the bizarre presence of a bare-chested man at the table implied there might be a stowaway in the cupboard. Daphne went into the hall to the small table where the phone was kept, sat on the hard chair by its side and dialled.
‘Ah, Daphne, thank God!’ It was Ellie. Her voice was thick. ‘My darling, I…’ The line crackled and hissed. ‘…Just left in his sleep. Very peaceful. But still, such a shock. Maro found him this morning when she went to make his coffee.’ Her mother’s voice rose in pitch, unable to prevent tears. Then she gave a loud sniff and continued. ‘She said he looks very handsome like in the old days. Yiayia is on her way back from Crete and I’ll fly out later today. Ed’s trying to get a ticket from Germany. The funeral will be tomorrow, in Athens. Ah, Daphnoula, at least you’ll be able to come.’
The line cut just as Ellie began asking her daughter a question. ‘Daphne, why…’ Ralph was leaning against the doorway, observing her, while kyria Lemonia was making herself busy in the kitchen, soaping cups in the marble sink. The gap in the conversation with Ellie was like a mischievous offering from the gods.
‘Quick. What do we say?’ she asked him, hopelessly incapable of creating a good excuse. ‘How do I explain that you didn’t go straight to Pelion? Shit.’
‘Shit, fuck, bugger, cunt,’ he whispered, biting his lip, mustering ideas. ‘I suppose we’ll say we left England earlier than we thought and…’ He paused, extemporising. ‘And you… you wanted to show me Aegina – just for one night. We’ll say we arrived in Athens yesterday and that we’d arranged that I’d drop you off with the cousins on Poros today or tomorrow – it was only going to be the day after that anyway. They’ll never focus on the dates, given what’s happened. What do you…?’
The telephone’s brash trill broke into his words. ‘OK? Don’t panic. Nobody’s going to worry about us. They trust me. This is a sideshow now – the attention is elsewhere. It’s all fine.’
‘Daphne, why are you at Yiayia’s house?’ Her mother’s voice was sterner. ‘And where is Ralph? Has he gone to Pelion? Are you there alone with Jane?’
‘Uh, well, we thought… No, not alone. I wanted to show Ralph Aegina. I mean, he is here now and we… we were going to take the boat to Poros today or tomorrow and then he’s going to Pelion.’ She paused and changed tack. ‘How is Yiayia?’
‘She’s a very strong woman. She’ll be OK. But Daphnoula, you should have told someone. I was so worried about how to find you.’
‘How did you know I was here?’ Daphne regretted the question immediately.
‘When Yiayia called me from Crete she said she didn’t know if you were there but she rang kyria Lemonia. Are there other people there too?’
‘No, just Ralph.’
‘So you’ve seen kyria Lemonia?’
‘She just came round. And she’d already left us some galaktoboureko and made up the beds.’ Daphne also regretted the word beds, but Ellie didn’t ask about sleeping arrangements.
‘OK, my sweet. Will you go back to Athens by tonight? We’ll all gather in Maroussi at Yiayia’s house. Athena and the girls are already on the boat. The funeral will probably be tomorrow morning or early afternoon, but we’re waiting to hear from the priest. OK, agapi mou?’ Daphne began to cry again, mostly because her mother was being so kind, calling her ‘My love’ and not cornering her with the flagrant irregularities in her story.
After she’d rung off, she and Ralph moved into the shadows at the end of the hall and he took her in his arms. She closed her eyes, feeling like a baby against its mother’s breast. Their experiment to create a miniature, private version of paradise was over. What had seemed an idyll, as contained as an island, was invaded on every side. They heard kyria Lemonia’s footsteps in the kitchen and broke apart.
‘You need to eat something,’ Ralph said in a public voice. ‘This is a shock to the system.’
Daphne felt sick and exhausted. There was a bloody sheet in the bathtub upstairs. It was like being caught in a net, caught in the act.
‘We’re going to leave later today, kyria Lemonia. I’ll put the key under the stone again, shall I? Thanks for coming round. I need to go and pack now.’ Daphne didn’t care if she sounded abrupt. This awful scene needed to be terminated. She wanted to go home, to get under the duvet in her cool, orange-tinged, Putney bedroom and forget all this.
‘Fucking shit,’ she said as soon as the interloper had left.
‘Bloody, bastard, bollocks, pools of poxy piss,’ he responded, the hint of a smile emerging as he looked into her eyes.
She managed to turn the bloodstain a faint beige colour and hung the sheet over some chairs on the loggia – it would dry quickly and then she would fling all the used sheets and towels in a pile. From the upstairs landing she heard Ralph call Nina and stood still to listen.
‘Yes, darling… Yes, Aegina, at Ellie’s mother’s house… No, but we’re leaving now because Ellie’s father died in the night… Tomorrow, in Athens… Yes, because we were able to leave earlier than we thought… Yes, yesterday. Sorry, but it was chaotic, I was exhausted, you know… In the end, I had to take her to Poros, so Aegina’s on the way…’ He laughed and replied, ‘Well you know what teenagers are like…’