by Angel Sefer
In the study, they asked her to sit down and close her eyes. She did and heard them fussing around for a while. She was getting impatient, when they finally asked her to open her eyes. Her breath got caught in her throat… Martha was holding up the most beautiful gown, she had even seen in her life. It was made out of fine silk and had a loose skirt full of ruffles. It was white and had flowers embroidered all over the bosom and the bottom of the skirt. The dress was sleeveless, and was accompanied by a beautiful pair of gloves that came up to the elbows. The shoes were also white and had the same flower pattern on them.
Helena couldn’t believe her eyes. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.
Sophie admitted they’d been working on the dress for a long time. They wanted to keep it as a surprise until the night of the dance, but then again, they were afraid it might need some last minute alterations.
Helena couldn’t wait to try it on. The material felt so nice on her skin. It was light as a feather, and it showed off her curves. Her skin was a little suntanned by now, and it showed nicely next to the white of the dress."
"It would be nice if we pulled your hair up and put white flowers on it," Sophie said.
"There’s no need to go to so much trouble," Helena complained.
"Helena, this dance is for you, and it’s no trouble at all. Anyway, we just want to show you off," Sophie said, trying to give a lighter tone to her voice. "The whole town will be there. There’re even people coming from Athens, and some of them come to the island only on rare occasions. Dimitris' mother will be here tomorrow, as well. She hasn’t been to the island since her husband's death a few years ago."
Helena was overwhelmed by all this. Her family must be very important, she thought, for everybody to be coming to this dance in her honor. She was anxious and a little scared. Deep down inside, she was very shy, and wasn’t looking forward to being surrounded by so many strangers. The fact that Dimitris' mother was going to be there also made things even worse.
"Don't worry, sweetie! They'll love you," Sophie reassured her.
"I just didn't think it was going to be such a big deal," Helena confessed.
"A lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time, for one reason or another," Martha said, and immediately stopped, when her eyes met Sophie's.
A warning bell went off somewhere inside Helena’s head. There seemed to be more to tomorrow's dance than everybody was willing to admit.
She stared at Sophie, but her aunt avoided her inquiring look, and started fussing with the dress. Helena kept quiet for the rest of the time, until they were finished with the fitting. When Martha picked up the dress and left the room, Helena turned to her aunt again.
"I know what you’re thinking," Sophie said. "However, I’m not the one you should turn to for answers."
Helena walked out of the room without another word. She knew she had to find Dimitris. She had to talk to him.
She walked to the veranda, but he wasn’t there. She walked around the house searching for him, but still, he was nowhere to be found. She knew his car was there, so he couldn’t be far.
She went back outside and walked down the steps to the garden. Going to the edge of the cliff, she looked over towards the beach. He wasn’t there either.
Then she remembered the gazebo he had taken her to. She started walking towards there, preparing in her mind what she was going to say to him. He was at the gazebo, and Helena had a feeling he was waiting for her. She took a deep breath and walked up to him.
"Dimitris," she started and was upset to hear her voice trembling.
"Helena," he interrupted her. "There’s a lot we need to talk about. I need to prepare you for tomorrow… You see, everybody expects us to announce our engagement tomorrow and…"
"What?" Helena exploded. "What are you talking about?"
"Helena, I explained to you how people think and what they expect from us, and I can’t change that."
"You mean you’re going along with this? What about love? Aren’t two people who are getting married supposed to be in love with each other?” she asked him, holding her breath, hoping he would tell her he was in love with her.
However, he didn’t say anything. He just remained silent. He’s probably in love with Stella, Helena thought bitterly. No matter her outrageous behavior and his anger outbursts every time, deep down inside, he was probably in love with her.
Well, that settles it, Helena decided. If he’s not in love with me, I can’t go through with this marriage.
She turned her gaze towards the water. "What are we going to do?" she whispered, talking to herself. "Someone has to explain to everyone this marriage is impossible. I’m going back to England in a few days. I wasn’t planning on staying on the island anyway. I just came for a visit. Why did Aunt Sophie let this go on?"
"Don't blame your aunt. She has nothing to do with this. This was arranged a long time ago. If you had stayed away, then everybody would know but never talk about it, as a forbidden subject. However, you came back and got everyone talking. Besides, we’re staying at the house together."
"Together? Sophie and Martha are there, too."
"That doesn’t make any difference," Dimitris said.
Helena sat down on the bench, crossing her hands on her lap. She had never in her life been in a situation like this before. Her life back in England was so simple and boring—yes, boring. However, ever since she came to the island, her life had turned upside down. She felt out of breath.
"I know how much you hate the idea of getting married to me," Dimitris said coldly, “but I don’t stay around that much anyway. I spend most of my time in Athens. Besides, this way the house comes back to your family, where it belongs."
Helena stared at him lost. She hadn’t heard a word he was saying. She could get up and leave, and everything would be over. What did she care what these people were going to think? She could go back to England, and all this would seem like a dream. However, she did care. Something deep down inside kept her captive on this land. She felt she belonged here… with him…
She finally realized Dimitris was still talking to her. He was saying something about the business. She glanced at him, and he suddenly stopped.
"You haven’t heard a word I was saying," he said.
Helena didn’t bother to deny it.
"It’s all up to you," he continued. "I'll do whatever you want me to do."
She couldn’t shame her family and leave, but at the same time, she couldn’t stay, either. What was she going to do? She needed time, but the dance was tomorrow.
All of a sudden, she realized what Dimitris was talking about.
"What did you say about the house?" she asked.
He looked at her, surprised.
"I said it would come back to you and your family, and of course, half of the business, too."
The house and the family business will come back to us, Helena thought and was instantly surprised by her thoughts. Was she really considering this marriage? This was absurd. It would be nice, though, for her family to get back everything that once belonged to them. They were doing all right now, but it was due to the generosity of Dimitris.
Suddenly, another thought crossed her mind. What would happen to Sophie and Thomas if she refused and left the island? Would Dimitris still be as generous if she shamed him like this? Sophie would be okay, she decided, since she was engaged to be married to Michael. Thomas, though, would be devastated if Dimitris threw him out of the business. What would he do? Where would he go? He would have to depend on his rich wife to survive.
For some reason, however, she didn’t believe Dimitris was capable of doing something like that. Then again, right now, everybody knew their families were supposed to be united by marriage. What if after she had left, people started gossiping about her family? In this part of the world, dignity and pride were very important.
After all, like Dimitris said, he will be gone most of the time, she thought. Staying on the island a
nd being with her only relatives was something Helena wanted very much. Am I seriously considering this? she wondered. Yes, she was thinking of staying and marrying him. Who knows, after a while, he might learn to love her, too…
Dimitris must have read the answer in her eyes, because he reached in his pocket and drew out a small, black velvet box. Helena stared at the box for a moment which felt like an eternity. He slowly opened the box, and she saw the most exquisite ring she had ever seen. It was a huge diamond, surrounded by sparkling sapphires, bonded in white gold.
"Dimitris, it’s absolutely beautiful," she whispered.
Without a word, he raised her left hand and placed the ring on her finger. She stared at it, speechless.
"This ring has been in my family for generations," he said. "Now it’s yours."
"I can't accept this," she mumbled.
"Why not?" he asked her, concerned.
"It’s too expensive."
"Nothing is too expensive for my wife. Anyway, it’s a tradition for the new bride in our family to wear it. It has been passed down from generation to generation. My great-grandfather brought it to my great- grandmother from the Orient. It was said he had it made for the lady of his heart."
Helena kept on staring at the ring. She thought of all the brides in the Nikolaou family who had worn this ring. She felt like a fake. She had no business wearing that ring. This was supposed to be a token of love and devotion. She tried to take it off her finger, but Dimitris took her hand in his.
"It looks so beautiful on you," he said. "The sapphires match your eyes."
Helena didn’t say a word. She was wondering if this was a dream, and she was suddenly going to wake up and find herself in her single bed in her little apartment back in London.
Dimitris just stood there holding her hands, which were shaking.
"We'd better go inside," he said a moment later. "You seem to be cold."
Helena didn’t reply to that. She didn’t want to admit her shaking had nothing to do with the weather. She silently followed him to the house.
***
Sotiris remained hidden, watching them. Then, as usual, he took out his cell phone to report to her. This wasn’t good… he knew she would be furious...
“Well?” she asked abruptly, picking up the phone.
“He gave her something…” Sotiris hesitated.
“What do you mean?”
Sotiris could hear the anxiety in her voice.
“I think it was a ring…” he mumbled.
“A what?” she barked so loud that he instinctively had to yank the phone from his ear. Holding the phone at arm’s length, he could still hear her yelling.
“You stupid idiot!” she was screaming now.
“Why are you upset with me?” he dared to mumble.
“Because you should have taken care of her by now. You had your chance at the ship and later on, at the road the other night… not to mention that stupid attempt in Athens. You shouldn’t have let it go this far.”
“But you told me to watch and keep my distance…”
“At first, yes,” she cut him off. “I was hoping she’d leave, and there wouldn’t be any need for further action… We needed to keep a low profile… But afterwards, you should have warned me things were getting serious. Instead, you told me they seemed to be avoiding each other… You said she was hanging around with that idiot, Alex, and then her boyfriend showed up from England,” she went on, yelling. “What the hell is that little bitch doing? Is she screwing all three of them at the same time?”
Sotiris remained silent. He knew better than to try to say anything when she was so upset. At the same time, he was afraid of what was coming… He knew she would want to take action… and, unfortunately, he would have to be the one to do it…
***
When Dimitris and Helena went inside, she went straight to her room. She wanted to be alone. She sat on her bed and stared at the ring on her finger. It was so beautiful, and the diamond was huge. It must have cost a fortune, she thought, and all of a sudden, she felt worried wearing something so expensive. Then again, she didn’t want to take it off, either. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever owned.
She glanced at the painting on the wall. “Look at that, Grandma,” she whispered. “I’ve always dreamed about this moment, when the love of my life would ask me to marry him and give me a ring. However, it wasn’t exactly this way in my dream… and he didn’t exactly ask me to marry him. He simply stated the fact that our marriage was arranged, and everybody expects us to honor this arrangement.”
She lay back on her bed and closed her eyes. “Oh, how I wish he loved me the way I love him…”
***
Dimitris was furious with himself. He couldn’t believe he tried to influence Helena’s decision to marry him by telling her this way the house will return to her. Am I so desperate? he wondered. Do I love her so much that I would use anything to make her agree to marry me? And what if she finds out the house belonged to her all along? Then again, how could she find out about that? She couldn’t… not unless Asimina tells her… and Asimina is missing...
Dimitris ran his fingers through his hair. This whole thing with Asimina had him really upset. He’d been in close contact with the police chief and knew there were no leads so far. As a matter of fact, the police chief had confessed to him, he had no expectations of finding the old lady alive—either kidnapped or gone on her own, she was probably dead by now.
He walked outside and to the edge of the veranda, staring at the sea turning dark red as the sun was setting. I’ll talk to her, he decided. I’ll confess everything to her. I don’t want her to make a decision based on lies. As soon as this mess with Asimina is cleared, and I finally get some answers from my attorneys and accountants, I’ll talk to her about everything… about the trust fund, her father’s life insurance, as well as the clause which prevents the house from been transferred to anyone besides Angelo’s children. I want her… and I want her to want me, too… I don’t want her to marry me for getting back the house, or part of the business, or for any other reason… I won’t be able to live with that.
***
Being lost in her thoughts, Helena lost track of time. She was brought back to reality by a soft knock on the door. She answered, and her aunt came in.
"You feel like talking?" she asked, tenderly.
Helena sat up in bed and nodded. Sophie came and sat down next to her. Her eyes fell on the ring on Helena's finger, and her face lit up.
"Helena, this is beautiful. Oh! I’m so excited for you!"
"Aunt Sophie, I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing. Everything happened so fast."
"Sweetie, don't worry about anything. Dimitris is a wonderful man, and he’ll take care of you."
"But this is just it. Everything is about honor, tradition, and fulfilling a promise. Marriage is supposed to be about love…" Helena said, bitterly.
"He’ll learn to love you just as much as you love him."
Helena looked at her surprised. "Does it show that bad?" she asked.
"I don't know if the others can tell, but I can read you like an open book. As for Dimitris, he’s very strong-headed and proud. However, he would never do anything to harm you or shame the family. He will be a devoted husband."
"Even if he doesn't love me?" Helena asked.
"How can he not love with you?" Sophie said. "He can’t help it… eventually he will fall in love with you."
"Not if he’s already in love with someone else," Helena said bitterly.
Sophie looked at her surprised. "What are you talking about? Did Dimitris tell you he’s in love with someone else?"
"Not in so many words, but I know it," Helena said.
"Sweetie, don’t jump to conclusions, where Dimitris is concerned. He’ll surprise you, every time."
Helena lay back in bed, and raised her left hand to admire the ring. "It feels kind of loose," she said. "I’m afraid I might lose it."
"D
on't worry, it’s perfect. If it’s loose on your left hand, it will be perfect on your right when you get married."
Helena gave her an inquiring look, and then she remembered that Greeks wear their engagement rings on the left hand, but they switch it to the right after they’re married. She could still remember asking her mother why she was wearing her wedding ring on the right hand.
She took the ring off and tried it on her right hand. It fit perfectly.
"See! What did I tell you?" Sophie said. "I'll let you rest now," she continued and got up. "You need your beauty sleep for tomorrow."
Thinking about tomorrow, Helena shivered.
"You’ll do just great. Don’t worry," Sophie said, and left her alone.
Helena thought it was going to take her forever to go to sleep after everything that had happened that day. However, she fell asleep the moment she hit the pillow.
Chapter Fifteen
HELENA WOKE UP when Martha came in the room and pulled the curtains.
"Wake up, sleepy head!" she said. "Today’s your big day."
"What time is it?" Helena asked and stretched lazily in bed.
"Almost noon!" Martha replied.
Helena sat straight up. Noon! She had a million things to do. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" she asked, jumping out of bed.
"You needed all the sleep you could get. Tonight’s going to be a late night."
Helena went to the French doors, opened them, and walked outside on the balcony. She took a deep breath and let her eyes wander over the beautiful scenery. It would be wonderful to wake up every morning to this breathtaking sight. She really loved this place.
When she went back inside, Martha had left.
Helena peered at the breakfast tray Martha had left for her—fresh baked bread, butter, marmalade, and a glass of milk—and felt really hungry.
She finished her breakfast quickly, put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and ran downstairs. There was a lot of commotion going on. She heard voices from the veranda, and she walked outside. Sophie was there, talking to an older lady who was dressed in black and had her hair pulled on top of her head.
