by Sara Alexi
‘But I am asking you.’ Themis speaks slowly and deliberately, as if it is a threat. ‘Give me three days.’
Michelle’s fingernails dig into her palms, her arms shaking. How dare he? Richard thought he had that sort of power over her. She had overheard him telling her boss, Sir Sloughlow QC, in the barristers’ bar that he would only need a couple of days to bring her thinking in line with something Sloughlow was proposing. Sloughlow had guffawed and muttered something about women.
‘Mr Themis, you have had twenty-four years to say all you have to say to Dino. I have known him a couple of days. I somehow think that if you had anything worthwhile to say to him, you would have said it already. I, on the other hand, have a whole world of new experiences that I could share with him. It is neither up to you nor me to decide who Dino wants to listen to, or indeed what he wants to do with his life. It is his basic human right to make his own choices, for better or worse. It is not about finding out who he is—it is about deciding who he wants to be.’ She bristles and unconsciously raises her hand to grasp her lapel but finds she is wearing a t-shirt and so grips the neckline instead.
Dino’s mouth drops open at the tone of her delivery.
She turns to him. ‘Dino, I care for you; I care for you deeply. But you must go, away from him,’ she throws a scornful look at Themis, ‘and away from me, too. You are young. Your life is ahead of you. Go! Go and make your own mistakes. Don’t let him bully you into reliving his or stay with me to relieve me of mine.’ Michelle says the words in a clipped tone. Her vision begins to swim; she would rather lose him than hold him back like his father is doing.
‘Dino, come, we will talk.’ Themis takes a step towards him, his hand outstretched in a friendly gesture. Juliet steps in his way and Michelle turns on him. She is ready to tear him limb from limb.
‘Ha!’ Themis shouts. ‘You need women to protect you! You are not ready, my son, to be a man. Come. Come home, we will talk. If you do not want to return to England, we can still talk. Come.’ Themis lowers his voice to sound reasonable.
‘Why, Baba. Why do you do this?’ Dino implores.
‘I promised your Mama. I promised her the day we were married that I would protect you from the world. That was my promise as your father.’ He holds his chin high.
‘You promised what, exactly? What did you think you had promised?’
Themis’ eyes open wide. He studies Dino’s face. Michelle and Juliet both turn to look at Dino, too. The tone of his last question says that there is something hidden behind his words.
‘What?’ Themis suddenly seems unsure. Michelle feels that they have all suddenly stepped onto ice. It is going to crack somewhere, but who is going under? They are all looking from one to another, except Dino, whose gaze is fixed on his father.
‘You know what I think?’ Dino’s hands have released their grip on the back of the chair and become fists; his knuckles gain no colour.
‘I think you promised to yourself that I would not become the brother you hated!’
Michelle frowns. Juliet looks from one person to the next, sensing a missing a piece.
Themis’ face drains white.
‘I think you hated him because he made her joyful, he made her happy. Not constantly, but when he had a mind to, he made her feel light. She loved him. She never loved you. You hated him for selfish reasons.’
‘You know about him, who he was?’ There is a tremor in Themis’ voice.
Michelle and Juliet look to one another, mystified by what they are witnessing.
‘I know. He is my blood father. I have known since I was old enough to know.’
Both Michelle and Juliet gasp.
‘Who told you?’ His voice is small, his shoulders droop.
‘Mama. She told me. She told me all about him as I grew up. She told me tales about him just like she told tales about grandfather and his goats. Some I believed, some I did not. But she never wanted me to be ashamed of him.’
‘Why did she not tell me she told you?’ Themis seems to be talking to himself.
‘Why? You need to ask? Look at you, coming here to someone else’s house and shouting at me, giving no respect to anyone around you. She made me promise I would never tell you that I knew. She did that for you as my father and because she didn’t want a fight, but you give me no reason to keep that promise. You are no father to me.’ Dino unclenches his fist.
‘I gave her respect. At least she deserved it.’ Themis replies, his voice losing strength.
‘You wanted to keep her in an ivory tower, but she escaped by walking in the countryside, picking her herbs and flowers with me.’
Themis’s head dropped and he looked at the ground. ‘She disliked me?’
‘No, she did not hate you, she hated no one, but she loved life and you did not offer that. You offered her a house and safety for her and me—if she didn’t tell the secret you wanted to keep. She feared you would throw her out, so when I was old enough, I said we should go, but she stayed for me and I stayed for her.’
Themis begins to sob.
Michelle steps to Dino and puts her hand on his arm and gently shakes her head. The distress is too much to witness.
But Themis is not spent. He raises his head and finds strength.
‘You see, you are like your father—you cannot keep your promises, you cannot take the responsibility of a job in England, and so you come back to Greece. But here there is the army. Your father ran away from the army, and your mother never saw him again. You are just like him. You do not have the guts to take orders, but you cannot run. Now the borders are secure, that gate is closed. You will have to hide—hide in our house, on our land.’
Dino gently pulls his arm from Michelle’s grasp and steps towards his Baba. He draws a slip of paper from his back pocket. Themis focuses on the white paper.
‘This is from the army. It is the number I call requesting to do my service. I have called them.’
Themis’ mouth drops opens. Then he closes it to swallow. He looks suddenly old. Dino turns to Michelle.
‘Michelle I will do the army—as you say it is the law—and then I will be free.’
Michelle tries to keep control. Her vision blurs, she swallows several times. He is going to do it for her, but she doesn’t want him to go anywhere. She feels Juliet behind her, her hand on her shoulder. Dino’s eyes are on his father. He unclenches his fist and walks rigidly, straight past Themis to the gate. He holds it open and indicates Themis should leave.
Dino ignores the old man’s hesitation, his wish for a last word.
They all watch as his hunched figure becomes smaller as he drags his way down the lane until he turns the corner and is lost from sight.
Dino is the first to move. He turns to Michelle.
‘You know I have to go, don’t you?’
‘Of course you must go; to do otherwise would be ridiculous.’ She smiles, he takes her hands. ‘I didn’t know you had rung them though.’
‘I haven’t yet. I will do it now.’ He takes out his mobile and wanders into the garden, making his call while looking over the rows and rows of oranges trees that merge into a mass of green.
‘Could anyone else use a drink?’ Juliet asks and marches indoors.
Chapter 22
Saturday / Sunday
‘You OK?’ Juliet asks Michelle in the cool of the kitchen, taking a plastic bottle of red wine from the fridge. One of the cats jumps up onto the draining board and Juliet hisses at it, chasing it off.
‘Not really.’ Michelle leans against the table.
‘Well, it’s been a dramatic entrance. You turn up with a man half your age who has clearly become more than a friend, and then his dad, who isn’t his dad, turns up for a showdown. Anything you want to tell me?’
‘We just hooked up as friends, but after we fell down the cliff face, something changed.’
‘Ah, you mean you got Stockholm Syndrome … I thought I heard a bit of that in your voice when you rang me from the hos
pital.’ Juliet pours two big glasses. ‘Will he want any?’ She taps a third empty glass with the bottle.
Michelle shrugs. ‘It’s not Stockholm Syndrome; that’s when you side with someone who captures you.’
‘Exactly.’ Juliet laughs.
‘Plonker.’ Michelle smiles and they touch glasses before they drink.
Juliet drinks heartily before putting her glass down.
‘So, what’s the deal? You in love?’
‘She’d better be.’ Dino comes in from the garden. ‘I go into the army on Monday to make her proud.’
‘Please—no! Don’t go for me, go for yourself.’ Michelle puts her own glass down, her smile gone.
Dino laughs but doesn’t say anything.
‘Dino?’
‘Relax, the die was cast when I re-entered the country, wasn’t it? Having done homeless, I know for sure that I do not want to be homeless and on the run until I am too old to be eligible for the armed forces.’ He is grinning. ‘Go on, say you are pleased I stood up to him.’
‘Homeless?’ Juliet asks, but her voice is unheard.
‘I’m thinking I don’t know you.’ Michelle faces him. ‘First you drop the bombshell that he isn’t your father anyway, and now you drop the second bombshell that you have already made the decision to fulfil your army obligation. In all honesty, it sounds like you’ve already mapped out your path and I was just a distraction along the way.’ Michelle turns her head away from Juliet, who looks at her over the top of her glass before gliding noiselessly out of the back door.
It all suddenly seems too fragile, their knowledge of each other, the strength of their feelings, her feelings—no—his feelings. Has she really just been a distraction? The proposal of marriage; was it just a game, a jest? She is glad she never answered him.
‘Michelle.’ His arms slip around her waist. She knows what is coming, his eyes looking straight into hers, the closeness of him, a rushing in her ears. She closes her eyes and the world recedes, life coursing through her veins, her senses heightened, shivers down her spine. Her hips move in turn, she can feel him against her.
Drawing away, he gives her a lingering look.
‘OK, Dino, so you do something to me, but I am a big girl and I will get over it if you tell me I was just a distraction.’
The laughter in his eyes reaches his lips. ‘Yes, Michelle, you are just a distraction!’ Her stomach drops out of existence, leaving nothing but an empty hole. She tries to wriggle from his arms.
‘Oi! Stop it! I am kidding.’ Dino holds her tighter.
Michelle stops still and looks at him.
‘I love you, Michelle. I want to marry you.’ He lets go of her and drops to one knee. ‘Marry me?’
“Oh, am I interrupting something?’ Juliet smirks as she comes in, her glass empty.
Michelle can feel her cheeks grow warm.
Juliet doesn’t wait to fill her glass, she just grabs the bottle and leaves again.
‘Get up, Dino.’ Michelle hisses.
‘That’s no answer.’
‘Get up and I will give you an answer.’
‘I am up, so what is your answer?’ His arms are round her waist again.
‘My answer is: go do the army, do it by yourself, take leave with the friends you make in your barracks, or wherever you stay, and if you ask me again when you are out the other side, I will take you seriously.’
‘There’s no pleasing you, is there? If you think I am playing with you, you are offended; if you think I am serious, you treat me as if I don’t know my own mind.’
‘That sounds like Michelle.’ Juliet is back, she takes a hat from a hook by the back door. ‘What?’ Juliet says to them both as they stare at her. ‘It’s hot. I need a hat.’ She leaves.
‘She’s right about me, isn’t she?’ Michelle asks.
Dino nods. He runs his hand through his hair, brushing his fringe sideways. He is still smiling, so hard to offend. He makes her feel as if life is just an adventure, that it should be lived for fun. The idea sticks in her guts. The prospect fills her with fear, the invitation to let go of the grip she permanently has on her life. What will hold it together if she relaxes?
‘So, do I have to wait for my answer?’ He picks up the empty glass and looks around for the wine and then looks to the back door through which the sun is streaming.
‘I still have a job in London.’
‘Excuses, excuses. Think about it then, because I am serious.’ He takes her hand. ‘Come on, let’s go track that bottle of wine down before it has all gone.’
Dino is lying in the hammock sleeping in the shade in the afternoon’s heat.
Juliet tugs at Michelle’s sleeve, and they stand and walk around into the back garden. The temperature has not dropped, even though evening is drawing in. They had all fallen asleep in the heat, but a cat jumping on Juliet’s stomach had woken her, and she kicked her legs out in response, making firm contact with Michelle’s knee. Michelle had been asleep on the sofa next to her, head lolling back, mouth open, arms across her chest, until her rude awakening.
Outside the garden looks abundant with growth.
‘So what’s this with Dino then? Was he on one knee, or was he on one knee?’ Juliet giggles.
‘He was on one knee.’ Michelle sighs.
‘You have smitten him. Was he being serious?’
‘He said he was.’
‘What fun! Did you answer him?’
Michelle shakes her head.
‘Oh, good for you, keep him dangling.’
Michelle stiffens. ‘I am not keeping him dangling.’
Juliet smiles kindly.
‘Do you know who this mystery dad is then?’ Michelle asks.
‘I have heard the rumours, but I always thought it was just gossip.’
‘So who was he?’
‘Well, the rumours have him as a bit of a flirt, really good looking and charming, but by the time he was eighteen he had broken all the girls’ hearts, except one—Dino’s mother. Themis had feelings towards her too, they say, but she did not return them. Anyway, in the first version I heard, the brothers had a big argument, and in retaliation, the elder brother began to flirt with this girl.’
‘Bit of a mean trick.’
‘Maybe, but in the way I heard it, she never thought much of Themis anyway.’
‘I can see him as a stalker.’
‘Well, maybe not to that degree, but I know what you mean.’
‘So they got together then?’
‘Well, I understand that the elder brother, sorry I don’t know his name, played with this girl, led her on, did “the deed” and left her pregnant, and then dropped her.’
‘Doesn’t sound like a good start. I wonder if Dino knows all this?’
Juliet shrugs. ‘He will know his mother’s version, I suppose.’
‘So then what happened?’ Michelle asks.
‘Ah well, this is where I’ve heard at least two versions. One has Dino’s real father being called up to do his military service; the other has Themis calling the authorities to say his brother intended to avoid the military service. Whichever it was, the army is meant to have come to escort him to the barracks. It sounds very unlikely to me. If they did that for every person who didn’t want to serve, the whole army would spend its time hunting people down. It makes the whole thing hard to believe.’
‘That might be why Dino doesn’t want to do his service, though.’ Michelle voices her thoughts out loud.
‘Doesn’t he? Well, like father like son then, because his real dad is meant to have run away, left the country out through Bulgaria and was last heard of in Romania where the revolution was going on at the time.’
‘So he is dead then?’
‘Who knows? But what I heard is that Themis pressured Dino’s mum to marry him for the sake of the child needing a father. That and the fact that she would be an outcast as a single mum, and so she married him.’
‘But, to be honest, I always thought it
was just village gossip. This all happened down on the island, so it’s not as if it is first-hand from anybody.’
‘Rumours or not, it must have been very difficult for Dino growing up with all that around him.’
‘To be honest, I think his mum dying would have been worse. The gossip there is that she killed herself. Did he say?’
‘No!’
‘Poisoned herself because she couldn’t stand Themis any longer, but I find that one hard to believe. What mother would leave behind a fourteen-year-old boy to fend for himself? No, I think that is just idle people with nothing better to think about.’
‘Like you.’
Juliet turns to face her sharply, relieved to find Michelle is smiling.
‘I just thought you should know everything.’ Juliet defends herself.
‘It’s good to see you,’ Michelle says.
‘It’s good to see you too,’ Juliet answers.
‘It doesn’t feel like it has only been a couple of months.’
‘I know. You’ve been out here three times in less than six months. Has work taken the hint yet?’
Michelle is distracted by the flowers Juliet has planted around the pond.
‘Don’t talk to me about work.’
‘Why? What now?’ Juliet bends and deadheads a flower, throwing it over the fence into the orchard.
‘Actually, I wanted to talk to you about work. That was part of my reason for offering to attend this meeting.’
‘Go on then.’
‘But so much has changed since then. Not with work, more with … well, the way I think, I guess.’
There is a plop and Michelle watches ripples growing from a point in the pond. ‘Was that a frog?’
‘Yes. They’re really lovely. You know they really like being handled.’
Michelle pulls a face.
The bedroom is cool. Juliet’s computer sits on a desk in front of a window that overlooks the whole of the back garden. She can see Juliet with her broad-brimmed hat, strolling from plant to tree, nipping here, snapping there, a cat following her.
