"Eva, your nurse has a name," Father Haralambos gently scolded. "She does a lot of good in looking after you."
Eva looked up at the ornate ceiling and sighed. "Nurse Edith," she amended and gazed back at Father Haralambos with a smile. They shared a quiet laugh. The last six months had been both a comforting and an increased joyous time for Eva. She had found a friend in a hostile village. Her well-guarded friendship with Father Haralambos had given her some respite from the hate.
"What is the matter with Nurse Edith?"
Eva giggled. "Other than her unrequited love for my father?"
"I don’t think it’s unrequited."
"Father!"
"Ah, didn’t you know the village priest knows everything that happens in a village? The confessional gives me more than enough gossip." Father Haralambos smiled. "Now what is the matter with Nurse Edith?"
"She was asking Sergeant Franz about my visits here and how long I’m staying."
Father Haralambos nodded as he stroked his beard, lost in thought. "It’s interesting that she asked the young man who has a crush on you."
"Pardon?"
Father Haralambos chuckled. "My dear, have you not seen how that young boy’s face lights up when you are around?"
"Um—no."
Father Haralambos nodded. "Take it from me—the boy has a crush on you."
"Just what I need."
"It’s not a bad thing. You are only a few years older than him. Now how do you know that Nurse Edith asked him?"
"He told me. He said she was asking how long I’m in the church and why he didn’t come in with me. She also wanted him to tell her if I was speaking to anyone outside."
"Do you think she suspects?"
Eva looked up at the crucified Christ for a moment. "I don’t know. I think she will continue to snoop around. I didn’t call her Nurse Gestapo to be mean. She is like the Gestapo."
"This is going into a dangerous phase."
"I can handle it."
"No, Eva, you cannot handle this on your own. I know you are very brave and you have given quite a number of people a chance at escaping. We have to be even more careful now."
"Are you saying I should stop?"
"No, of course not, but you can’t be seen coming to the church as frequently as you have been. Even the villagers have noticed."
Eva gave Father Haralambos a wry smile. "The villagers notice if I sneeze and then they know that I’ve caught a cold long before I do."
A quiet chuckle echoed in the room as Father Haralambos nodded. "You have made an impression on the village." He looked at Eva with a worried expression on his face. "My job is to protect you."
"No. Your job is to protect those poor souls."
"I’m sorry," Father Haralambos said and looked down at his black robes before he turned his attention back to Eva. "Since when did you become the village priest?"
"Father!"
"Eva Muller, my job is to protect you and to protect them." My job is to know when you are in danger."
"I’m not in danger. Nurse Edith is just being a little gossipy."
"No, your dear nurse has your father’s ear and that means he will hear her suspicions and act upon them," Father Haralambos said. He took Eva’s hand and held it.
"So what do we do?"
Father Haralambos sat motionless for a long moment as he stared at the painting of Daniel. "You haven’t hired a maid, have you?"
"No. I don’t want any of the villagers to get anywhere near me."
Father Haralambos looked at Eva with a knowing smile. "Someone from the village already has."
Eva frowned for a moment trying to discern what Father Haralambos was talking about when it finally dawned on her. Her face creased into a smile. "I don’t count you as part of the village."
"No? Do I live somewhere else?"
"You know what I mean." Eva gently tapped Father Haralambos’ arm. "A maid will see all of me."
"Unless she was blind in one eye, yes, she would."
Eva couldn’t help but shake her head. "You don’t understand."
"I understand. I do. We all have scars, little one. Some of our scars are visible and some are invisible. The invisible ones are the worst," Father Haralambos gently said as he put his arm around Eva. "What those demonic people did to you is horrible but you can’t let them win."
"The visible ones are just as bad."
"I’m sure they are, but we have a problem here that will become extremely dangerous. You have to get a maid."
"What good will a maid be to me?"
"A maid can go to church without rousing suspicion."
"You want me to hire someone in the Resistance?" Eva asked incredulously. "Do you realize that those people want to kill me?"
"No, they don’t. The Resistance doesn’t want to kill you. If that was the case, they would have killed you twelve months ago."
"Wonderful," Eva replied as she let her head fall back against the back of the chair. "Do you have someone in mind?"
"I may have. The less you have to do with me and the church, the less suspicious Nurse Edith will be. You need to start on your journey to Athena’s Bluff."
"I’ve been there already."
"You have?"
Eva nodded. "Yes, I went last week."
"That was not nice, Evy, to do that."
"I know but I had this idea in my head…" Eva stopped when she realized she had said too much. One look at Father Haralambos told her he understood the reason she had gone to the outlook just out of town. "You don’t have to say it."
"But I will."
"I know. God knows."
"God knows," Father Haralambos agreed as he gently tipped Eva’s face toward him. "He knows, but taking your own life is a sin."
"I didn’t."
"I know. You’re still here to talk to me!" Father Haralambos replied, making Eva smile. "You are making a difference and saving lives. One day, you will see, your goodness and loving kindness will be rewarded."
"I’m not after a reward. I just want my life to end."
"For someone who wants to end their life, you are reaching out and helping others. That’s a little different to someone who just doesn’t care. No." Father Haralambos shook his head. "Your life has value and meaning. You are loved—"
"By one person, you." Eva gently poked Father Haralambos in the chest.
Father Haralambos took Eva’s hand from in front of his chest and kissed it. "No, dear child, there is one far more important than me that loves you. God loves you. There is no one more important than that. No matter what the world does, God loves you."
"It always feels I’m alone."
"But you’re not. He always sends someone to help you, to guide you. He sent me and I know He will send others. You are never alone when you have God’s love."
Eva bowed her head. "A nun befriended me in Aiden and she said the same thing."
"Oh?"
"Sister Abigail. She was this tiny thing and old. She was feisty too, and told the lamest jokes I’ve ever heard." Eva laughed at the memory of the old woman who had comforted her so much when she needed it the most. "She told me that when I needed God, He was always there."
"He is there. He sent Sister Abigail and now He sent me. God knows what you require."
"Hm, if you say so."
"Indeed. Now you must go back to Athena’s Bluff and make that a priority."
"The maid will bring the identity papers to you?"
"That is what I had in mind," Father Haralambos replied as he put the forged identity papers Eva had given him in the drawer of his desk. "I will arrange for you to meet your new maid and then she will come to you at the house."
"If I must have a maid, then alright."
"Good. Now when you were here the other day, you said you wanted to ask me something?"
Eva ran her hand through her dark hair and wondered if it was the right time to ask; there was no harm in asking. "I don’t know if you can help me with this."
"Why don’t you ask me and then will both know."
"You’re the village priest and like you said, you know what happens in the village."
"I do. Sometimes I wish I were deaf," Father Haralambos joked, making Eva feel a little less uncomfortable. "We are friends. You can ask me."
"Major Hans Muller is not my father."
"He’s not?"
"No, he’s my stepfather."
"I see."
"I don’t know who my real father is. My mother and this man were courting and they were intimate."
"Yes, you are the living proof of it."
Eva’s eyebrows rose. "You are not a typical priest."
"I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you. So your mother and this mysterious man courted, were intimate and then what?"
"Then I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to him. Mama was from this village. I think my stepfather chose to be stationed in Larissa in a sick, twisted way of proving something. Or maybe he just thought he would hurt me or maybe it was just luck."
"He is a very strange fellow."
"Sadistic bastard--" Eva put her hand over her mouth when she realized she had sworn in front of the priest and in a church. "I’m sorry, Father."
"It’s perfectly alright on this occasion, since he is a sadistic bastard."
"You know everyone in the village. You would have been here when my mother was here."
"What’s your mother’s name?" Father Haralambos got up from his seat and stood in front of a bookcase.
"Her name was Daphne. Her parents were Eva Theresa and Petros Mitsos."
Father Haralambos stared at the ground. Eva watched him as he twisted the gold cross that hung down his chest. After a long moment, he looked up and smiled.
"Let me tell you a story." Father Haralambos smiled when Eva groaned in frustration.
"Do you have to tell me one of your stories now? Can we talk about this question?"
"Yes. Have patience little one." Father Haralambos sat back down. "A very long time ago, a sheepherder fell in love with a young woman, much younger than himself. As is customary, the woman’s family had already picked out a husband for her. The young woman, as things go, didn’t want to listen to tradition. Her heart fell in love with the sheepherder, even though he was older and a very poor sheepherder at that. Her father was against this union, so they called a halt to it, much to the deep and aching sadness of this sheepherder and the young woman. There was a slight problem. She was pregnant with his child."
"You are talking about my mother, aren’t you?"
"Indeed." Father Haralambos hesitated. "Daphne was sent away before anyone learned she was with child. It was a miracle of sorts, because it’s hard to keep a secret in such a small village as this. Her father wasn’t going to allow them to marry, so he sent his daughter away from the village and away from the sheepherder. I don’t know where he sent her, and I don’t know what happened to her."
"That doesn’t tell me who my father is."
"Ah, but I haven’t finished the story yet." Father Haralambos looked into Eva’s eager blue eyes and softly said, "The sheepherder lost his one true love, or so he thought, and decided that no other would, or could, replace her in his heart. A little melodramatic perhaps, but he loved her so." He cleared his throat and said, "So the sheepherder decided to enter the priesthood..."
Father Haralambos watched as the realization surfaced on Eva’s face. "You! You’re my father?" The shock was evident in her voice, although her eyes were bright with excitement at the news.
"I am your father," Father Haralambos answered and smiled. "And you are my daughter. You are more beautiful than I had imagined."
"You are my father?" Eva repeated as she put her hand over her mouth and stared at Father Haralambos. "Why didn’t you run off with my mother?"
"I was a poor sheepherder. Where would I go? Petros Mitsos was a war hero, a revered man in the village."
"Do you think my father knows about you?"
"I doubt it," Father Haralambos replied with surety. "I almost blurted out your mother’s name when I first saw you."
"You knew I was your daughter?"
Father Haralambos closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them again to see Eva’s eyes gaze back at him. "You are the spitting image of your mother. There is no denying who you are, Evy. When I saw you for the first time, I knew who you were."
"You didn’t say anything."
"What was I supposed to say? ‘Hello, I’m your real father and not that fool that is standing next to you.’ Is that what I was supposed to say?"
Eva shook her head. "You have known who I am for the last twelve months."
"Yes, but I didn’t know if you knew that Hans Muller was not your father," Father Haralambos reasoned. "There were times when I wanted to say something but I held back. The time was not right."
"I wasted two years."
"No, you didn’t waste them. You and I became friends and God has answered my many prayers. He does give you what you desire at the appropriate time." Father Haralambos crossed himself and then brought the cross up to his lips and kissed it.
They looked at each other for a moment before Father Haralambos took Eva into his arms and held her against him as he kissed her tenderly on the top of her head.
Chapter Thirteen
"Zoe! Zoe! Zoe!"
"I’m here, Klim," Zoe called out from the other side of the cabin, where she was skinning the rabbit she had caught. She heard running footsteps and a dark haired boy hurtled around the side of the cabin and came to a screeching halt, his shoes skidding on the rocks.
"Zoe!" Klim bellowed as he tried to catch his breath.
"I can hear you. Don’t yell."
"Apostolos wants to see you."
"That man won’t take no for an answer," Zoe muttered under her breath as she placed the skinned rabbit aside. "What does Apostolos want?"
"It’s important."
"How important is it?"
Klim sighed deeply and pulled Zoe’s shirtsleeve. "Zoe," he whispered and was cut short by Zoe’s raised eyebrow.
"Why are you whispering? We are alone up here unless you think the trees are collaborators."
Klim scanned the trees and turned back to Zoe. "It’s about the collaborator."
"Are you absolutely sure Apostolos said collaborator?"
"Yes."
Without a word, Zoe went back into the cabin. She picked up the sack she used as a makeshift bag and also her gun. She closed the door to the cabin and hurriedly walked down the track. Klim quickly followed.
They did not speak as Klim led Zoe to the designated location just a little way out of town to the north. Leaving Larissa and following the road, Zoe’s mind turned to Stavros, who had promised he would take care of her, a promise he would now never be able to keep owing to the traitor amongst the Resistance. Zoe wanted to know who it was that had betrayed them. Now she was going to find out and demand justice—justice for her cousin and the others that he had betrayed.
Klim walked hurriedly along the path and through dense bush land until they came to a cave, one of the many caves that littered Larissa’s hills and were last used during the war of Liberation from the Turks.
"Zoe, you’re here. I wasn’t sure if you were going to be at the farm or at Athena’s Bluff," Apostolos said. "Come with me."
Zoe didn’t have a chance to ask questions. She just followed Apostolos through the cave and onto the other side, to an area dense with bush land. In the middle of a cluster of trees was a clearing.
"Let’s sit for a minute."
Zoe wasn’t in the mood to talk but she reluctantly sat down on a fallen log. Apostolos sat beside her.
"I want you to know that I feel your pain. Stavros was like a brother to me and his betrayal cuts me to the bone." Apostolos reached out and took Zoe’s hand. "What I am about to tell you will not be easy."
"What is it?"
"We know who the traitor is."
> "Klim told me that you did. Who is it?"
Apostolos remained quiet for a moment and glanced to the two men who had walked out of the cave. He shook his head and they went back inside.
"Vassili Petrakis," Apostolos quietly said as he cast a worried look at Zoe. She stared at the ground for a long moment. "Zo—"
"I want justice."
"I know you do and we will mete out justice but—"
Zoe shook her head. "I want justice by my hand."
"No. No, Zoe. No, never."
"You are not listening to me. I’m not asking you. I’m telling you."
"It’s too much of a burden to bear. I cannot allow you to do this."
"I’m not new to the Resistance. My father told me to be brave and to do what is right. I know what he meant; I didn’t at the time but I do now."
"I know." Apostolos covered Zoe’s much smaller hand with his own. "I was with your father and he was courageous and strong but he would never want me to give you this heavy burden to bear."
"My father isn’t here," Zoe quietly responded. "I am here. Blood for blood, an eye for an eye."
Zoe and Apostolos looked at each other before a noise made them look up. Father Haralambos came out of the cave and slowly made his way towards them. With a slight nod, Apostolos got up and walked away, leaving the priest and Zoe alone.
"Does Apostolos think you will change my mind?"
"I don’t know what you have decided. I came to give the last rites."
"You are going to give the last rites to a collaborator?"
"We are all God’s children. Vassili made a mistake. He will pay for that mistake but it’s not my job to be his judge."
"Pah!" Zoe picked up a stone and threw it against the cave wall, where it bounced.
"What have you decided?"
Zoe took Father Haralambos’ bible. "The Bible says, an eye for an eye, a life for a life."
"An eye for an eye? Is that what you want to do? You want to exact vengeance?"
"Blood for blood," Zoe replied. "Vassili was Stavros’ cousin. He betrayed his own cousin. He is my family. It is my job."
"You have been through enough—"
"Who do I give this job to, Father? Apostolos? He has been through a lot as well. We all have. None of us knew that we were going to be in a war but here we are. Who do you want me to give it to if not me?"
In The Blood Of The Greeks (Intertwined Souls Series Book 1) Page 10
