by Anne Hampson
I'd like to hear the story from you, though. Tell me about it, Doneus tell me every little thing."
His arms were about her waist and for a moment he seemed only to be able to look at her upturned face, eager and smiling.
He seemed a little dazed by the fact that she really was in his arms, even while his expression was one of thankfulness and gratitude and a joy equalling Julie's own.
"Let's sit down," he said, and led her to a shady arbour beside an ornamental pool bright with water-lilies and other aquatic plants. Jason followed, and sat on his haunches assuming a neglected look.
"The story begins when my second brother was lost. Mother was so ill with grief I thought I would lose her." Doneus spoke so quietly that she could only just catch his words.
"She became fully convinced that the sea would take me too.
But then this uncle died and as Mother refused to touch a penny of what he'd left I spent it on acquiring an education, as I mentioned to you. What I did not mention was that sufficient money remained to enable me to buy a small sponge business from a merchant who was retiring. From then on I was most fortunate; I began making investments which proved to be successful. I then looked round for some other business - the sponge trade is declining, as you know - and like a miracle a Greek who owned three small ships invited me to go into partnership with him. This was seven years ago. We made a great deal of money," he ended, sliding his arm around her and bringing his hand up to caress her cheek.
"You then bought the castle?"
"I hadn't thought of such a big place, and in fact I was quite content with the house I'd had built." He stopped and smiled.
"Michalis's house," he added, and Julie remembered how completely at home he had seemed in it. "However, Santa Elena was to be sold very cheaply and when I heard that a millionaire hotel owner was negotiating for the purchase I lost no time in buying it myself. Much as we need money on this island I wasn't having an hotel here. Also, I had wanted, as a boy, to renovate it, because I'd always loved it." He smiled at her and touched her lips with his. "You'll come to love it too, Julie."
"I love it already ... and the owner," she added, her words muffled as she pressed her face into his chest.
"Bless my mother! " he exclaimed fervently, and after a little while he went on to finish his story, the story she had already heard so disjointedly from his mother. "These English friends of
mine left the magazine and just about the time I saw your picture in it Mother was unwell and I insisted she come here to be looked after properly.
She used to see me looking at the photograph and naturally asked me who the girl was. She's quick, Julie, and knew at once that I had fallen in love with the girl portrayed there. She asked me to pronounce your name, which I did, not realizing she would remember that old story, which, naturally, I had related to her on coming back here from England. I had also told her of my foolish words spoken to your uncle, spoken by a mere boy rent with grief over the loss of that young girl.
I hate to think about my threat now, but at the time I was distraught, not knowing how I was to convey the news to her parents, who had given her into my trust." He glanced apologetically at Julie, but she said, "It was understandable, Doneus." She did not add that, had he not made that threat, she and he would not be sitting here now.
"I had to go to Athens on business soon afterwards and Mother took it into her head to go to England and say I sent her - well, you know all that," he said, and continued, "I was furious with her, because of her venturing so far alone for one thing, and for another I considered it most wicked of her to frighten you, and I also said she had wasted her time. I just couldn't conceive why she had done it, but she was so placid, convinced that you would come here."
"Perhaps it was because I was so distressed by what she revealed to me."
Doneus made no comment for the moment and Julie went on, her voice edged with humour, "When I saw her today she said that her one object was to get me to Kalymnos. Once here I would be bound to fall in love with you on sight and immediately there would be a happy ending. She couldn't believe that I hadn't fallen in love with you at once because, she stated, her son was so beautiful that I should have been quite unable to resist him." Her eyes were twinkling with mirth, but Doneus was frowning.
"What a description! What strange adjectives women do use.
Wherever had she heard it, I wonder?"
"Actually she described you as omorphos - which I surmised meant something like beautiful in form'." He laughed then.
"It sounds as if you had quite a struggle with Mother," he said.
"We managed very well. I do know a few Greek words, remember."
Doneus ignored that, continuing once again with his narrative.
"I myself never thought for one moment that you would come and was astounded on receiving your letter. Mother, on the other hand, was not in the least surprised, saying you were a good girl and that as she had given you my address it was only to be expected that you would write." Julie was unconsciously rubbing her cheek against his breast and, smiling, he lifted her face and kissed her tenderly on the lips.
"The very fact that you intended making an investigation convinced me that you were a very sweet girl, and I just couldn't bring myself to write back and tell you to forget the whole thing. I had to see you in the flesh, just once, so that I could have a memory to treasure always -"
He stopped, deep concern on his dark handsome face. "Darling, what have I said to make you cry?"
She raised misty eyes to his and he flicked a tear from her cheek, forgetful of his soiled hands.
"You make me cry - you're so wonderful, and I'm so lucky. I don't know what I've done to deserve anyone like you '
Doneus became stern.
"A smile, if you please! And no more nonsense about my being wonderful. The smile! "
She obliged, but caught her lower lip between her teeth, fighting the emotion that filled her.
"If you only wanted to see me once then why did you threaten me, and come to the cathedral? I couldn't believe it because you seemed far too honourable, as I told you once before."
He smiled faintly.
"I believe I had been honourable in all my dealings until the day I saw you. You excelled even the photograph and I knew I couldn't let you go out of my life without a fight. Mother had paved the way and I took up where she left off because the longing for you was stronger than my honour. Yet all the while I knew I was fighting a losing battle. The whole situation was preposterous, as you yourself maintained, and when you left the island I truly believed it was goodbye."
"I saw you on the quay," she commented reminiscently, finding a resting place for her head against his breast. "You waved to me - and - and I wondered..if you'd been there, watching the ship all the time."
"I had, my love," he admitted, and she told him of the strange feeling she had experienced. "In what way, darling?" he then asked.
"It was something - fatalistic, I think."
He thought about this, but made no comment.
"I waved goodbye, a most sad goodbye, Julie, as I never expected to see you again. But I couldn't rest; even my work became neglected - I do a great amount of work at home, as you've noticed," he added, and she thought about those papers, which had always puzzled her. "After fighting with my conscience I decided to make one final effort to win you. If only by some miracle I could get you to marry me I'd strive and strive to win your love -"
"And how you did strive," she interrupted, deep regret in her tone. "How blind I've been, and how obstinate .."
"We've both been obstinate," he returned gently. "My pride was out of place, for one thing."
Julie admitted that her own pride had been out of place too, then asked him to finish his story.
"It was this hope that I could make you love me that decided me to go to the cathedral. I meant to exploit the situation, taking you completely by surprise and influencing you by the sheer urgency of the situation, so that
you wouldn't be able to think clearly. I traded on your concern for the girl Alastair was going to marry, and I even threw in the bit about your being able to return to England for five months of the year, hoping it might act as an incentive - help to sway you, as it were, although I hoped to win your love long before Easter came around. It was the thought of those five months which swayed you in the end, wasn't it, Julie?" She nodded and he continued, "To my utter amazement luck was with me. You couldn't think clearly and in your panic you made the promise." He stopped and Julie saw the swift throb of a nerve in the scar.
"I certainly did panic," she said at length and with feeling. "And yet I could think of one thing, and that was that your behaviour seemed to be totally out of character."
He nodded in agreement, but said, smiling tenderly at her, "I make no excuses, Julie. Desperate situations require desperate measures. I was fighting for the most important thing in my life, and that was to have you for my own."
Tears pricked her eyes again, but she blinked them back, recalling her impression, first at the cottage, then at the
cathedral, that Doneus had been unsure of himself. Had any man fought so desperately for a woman? Supposing he had not fought ... ?
"At the cathedral," she murmured, half afraid to voice the question, "would you have gone away if I'd refused to listen?"
She knew he would, but just had to hear him say it - she was inviting torture, she thought as she waited for him to speak.
"It was my last desperate throw and had you gone into church and left me standing there I'd have come home."
He turned her face towards him. "You know I never intended carrying out that threat."
"Yes." But she shuddered and, aware of the reason, he put his arms right around her, holding her in a strong protective embrace. "It's all so clear now, but I've been so baffled - and frustrated. All the island knew, didn't they?"
"Not all the island," he returned with some amusement. "I did tell Michalis and Tracy a little. I had to on account of their being such good friends of mine. I also told other friends, whom you will soon meet. We do have a social life, giving parties and that sort of thing -"
"Like the American owners of the castle," she couldn't help saying, and Doneus laughed.
"Sorry, sweetheart, but it was a case of the old adage about the tangled web we weave when once eve indulge in deceit."
"Were Michalis and Tracy trying to frighten me that first night?" inquired Julie at length, and her husband nodded.
"We all were. I felt that, if you should happen to be afraid, then you must surely question the reason for that fear. And I hoped you'd discover that it was born of love," he ended simply.
"It was love, I see that now," she returned, distressed as memory flooded in and she recalled how deeply he was hurt by her words about pity. "The other people," she then said hastily.
"They must have known something, because always I received curious and amused glances - at first, mainly, not after they had become used to me."
"I'd let it be known that I did not wish you to regard me as anything but a spongediver -"
"So that I'd fall in love with a poor man," she interrupted. "That was the reason, wasn't it?"
"That wasn't my original intention, darling, but when you -" He broke off and would have changed the subject, but Julie finished for him,
"- was so proud and arrogant you wanted to teach me a lesson."
"Not exactly. I was piqued by the fact that you considered me so far beneath you. It was sheer obstinacy on my part that made me want you to fall in love with a poor spongediver. There were occasions when I came near to revealing the truth, but by then I felt that had I done so, and you had come to love me, I'd never have known whether it was entirely for myself."
"You would," she argued, "because I'd have proved it to you."
He smiled and said, "I know that now, Julie, but I didn't know it at that time." He paused, watching Jason in the shrubbery, chasing something alive. He darted about after it, his coat gleaming golden in the sunshine. Presently Doneus returned his attention to Julie, saying, "That night when you came to me I hoped that it was more than just a physical desire for me; I had felt for some time that I was winning my fight and so decided you would never come to me for that reason alone, and while I did not dare hope your love was strong, I did hope that the seed of love had been sown and was there for me to nurture. I had already said you would soon know all, if you remember?"
"Yes, I remember. Doneus, I've been so blind, and I'd have continued like that if it hadn't been for your mother." Julie pondered on those occasions when he had told her to leave, and concluded that, feeling she could give him nothing but pity, he had decided to release her.
He was silent a long while before saying, "Julie, do you fully realize just how much we both owe to Mother?" It was as if he had just discovered the whole and once again his emotion was revealed by the movement beneath the scar.
Julie merely nodded in answer to his question, and lifting her hand, she gently touched the scar, asking him how he came by it.
"I was diving, carrying a boulder to increase the speed of my descent. The draught caught me and I twisted - divers have certain tricks for combating the draught," he explained, "but they're not always lucky. As I said, I felt it, and twisted, at the same time releasing the boulder, which somehow caught my neck and I received a nasty gash."
Julie swallowed something hard and tight in her throat, trembling at her own thoughts. Casting them aside, she said, "Your mother's coming to live with us. She's so thrilled at having a daughter as well as a son."
"You actually persuaded her?"
"She means to consult the saints first, but I'm pretty sure they'll respond as good saints should."
Doneus laughed, and Jason, who was now standing close to him, lifted a paw. Taking it, Doneus gave it a shake.
"My poor neglected pal! Blame your mistress; she's demanding all my attention."
Jason barked and wagged his tail as if to reassure his master that he did not really mind, so long as they didn't forget him altogether. He went to Julie and she bent to stroke his head, her eyes catching the laden barrow, neglected on the path.
"I've taken you from your gardening too," she remarked.
"Do you like gardening?"
"I've never done any."
"It's a wonderful hobby. We'll do it together from now on."
She smiled happily. Wherever her husband happened to be there she would also be.
"The other gardeners - you employ only spongedivers?"
"Ex-sponge-divers, yes."
"This fund," she murmered. "It's yours, isn't it?"
"Originally it was started by a sponge-merchant and several of us contributed to it. I took over when he died." He hesitated.
"You want to contribute?"
"Very much. You'll let me now? I do understand why you refused before," she added.
"I won't say no to any contribution you care to make, Julie, for we have many needy people on this island."
"Yes, I know, and not only the spongedivers. Although there is some trade, isn't there? I notice some tiny three-wheeled vehicles running about whenever I go into a town."
"The islanders trade among themselves, but as you know the money originally comes mainly from the sponge fleet." He glanced at his watch. "Darling, it's time we ate."
They stood up and Doneus slid his arm round her waist. "Come, I'll introduce you to the staff. They're all wives of disabled spongedivers and live with their husbands in another part of the castle. They'll all be glad to know the owners are to be in residence."
Together they strolled towards the south entrance of the castle, both deep in thought. Julie went over in her mind all that had been said between them, and she felt suddenly awed on
realizing how numerous were the twists of fate which had brought her and her husband together.
She stopped, looking up at him with deep wonderment on her face.
Doneus looked inquiringly
at her and she said, "Fate ... it's so strange, Doneus."
He nodded gravely.
"Most strange, my darling. And it's something from which none of us can escape, no matter how hard we might try." His arm tightened lovingly round her waist and they began to walk on again, past lawns and borders, ablaze with exotic flowers and shrubs. Away to the west the tiny island floated like a jewel on the smooth bright sea and to the east rose the mountains of Kalymnos, golden and naked against the sapphire sky.
"Fate brought us together," Julie murmured, "and I'll never, never want to escape."
Doneus stopped, turning her round to face him, and as their eyes met he said fervently, "I'll never let you," and once again she knew the power of him, his ardour and his strength as his lips claimed hers. "You're mine - my life, my heart, my woman, Julie - and I mean that in the nicest sense."
She smiled happily, pressing close as they walked on towards the castle. Why shouldn't he call her his woman? After all, he was her man.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
