“My, don’t we all look nice. I think we’re going to a wedding,” Stella said as she walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She was wearing a bright pink dress with a bright yellow hat that made Eva’s eyes hurt.
“Ooh, I like what you are wearing,” Tessa said to Eva and gently poked her. Tessa’s outfit was a little more subdued than Stella’s—black lace, a hot pink drop waist, and long lace sleeves.
Thomas and Theo, dressed in their Sunday best suits, were sitting on the sofa. They looked uncomfortable but presentable.
“Alright, are we set?” Stella clapped her hands and led the way through the door.
“I know you’re nervous.” Eva looked at Zoe with a gentle smile as they went outside. “How are you?”
“Good. You?”
“Almost as good as you,” Eva replied with a lopsided grin. “I’m invited to the wedding of the Resistance leader during the war, in a town where I was part of the occupying force.”
“You weren’t the occupying force.”
“No, just the Butcher’s daughter. More importantly, I’m worried about you.”
“I went past the field the first day, Evy. I’m fine.”
“You would tell me if you weren’t, right?”
“Of course. Now can we get to the car? Because Theo is giving us his hurry-up-we-haven’t-got-all-year look.”
“Ah, yes, the famous Lambros patience.”
“It’s a gift.” Zoe giggled as she helped Eva into the car.
Father Haralambos smiled at Thanasi and Althea before him. He led them around a small table three times to signify their oath to preserve their marriage bond forever. “May you love each other, take care of each other, and have God in your lives,” Father Haralambos said.
He lifted the white crowns that signified that the newlyweds would receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and would be the founders of a new generation that would live their lives to the glory of God off their heads, and gave them a smile.
“I now pronounce you man and wife.” Father Haralambos' deep voice boomed.
The assembled wedding guests broke out in a cheer as Thanasi kissed his new bride. He looked very handsome in his black suit. Althea wore a beautiful wedding gown of ivory white and looked radiant as she gazed up at him.
Eva had enjoyed her first Greek Orthodox wedding, and she was quite intrigued by the white crowns that had been placed on the groom and the bride. They reminded her of the laurel wreaths that the athletes from the ancient Olympic Games wore after they won. She looked around the congregation and sighed when she saw a familiar face coming towards her.
“Eva!” Mrs. Kalmias said.
Eva smiled at the petite elderly lady. “Hello again, Mrs. Kalmias.”
“Goodness me, what happened to you?” Mrs. Kalmias asked on seeing Eva’s cane.
“I slipped and hurt my back.”
“Hmm, tall girls like you…that would cause quite some damage.”
“It did, to the floor.” Eva smiled. Mrs. Kalmias looked puzzled for a moment, and then burst out laughing. “I’m already on the mend.”
“That’s good.” Mrs. Kalmias reached into her bag. “At the train station I promised to give you this photo.”
Eva took the photograph and a smiled at her mother’s face. A young Daphne Mitsos was standing next to another teenage girl, their arms around each other.
Zoe leaned into Eva for a look at the photograph. “Wow. You look so much like your mama, even the dimpled chin. No wonder Father H recognized you. If I didn’t know better, I would have said this was you.”
“I lost the photo of her and I didn’t have any other.” Eva smiled at Tessa, who put her arm around her and looked at the photo.
Eva looked at Mrs. Kalmias, who was giving Tessa a very perplexed look.
Mrs. Kalmias’ eyes widened and she tapped Tessa with her cane. “Young Tessa Mitsos. Goodness me.”
“Hello, Yiayia Kalmias.” Tessa smiled.
“My sweet Lord Jesus. Tessa. You’re alive,” Mrs. Kalmias exclaimed as she tugged on Tessa’s dress. “What happened to your knee?”
“I fell down,” Tessa admitted.
Mrs. Kalmias laughed. “Was it the cow again?”
Tessa smirked and shook her head. “No, a horse.”
Mrs. Kalmias chuckled. “Well, you take care of that knee. Are those terrible demonic visions all gone now?”
“Yes, Yiayia, they are all gone. I’m much better.”
“Oh, I’m so glad. We were all so worried about you. I told your mama that someone had given you the evil eye. I knew it—such terrible people. Your mama said you had died in a fire.”
“It was the wrong person, Yiayia. I’m sure Mama must have told you.”
“Probably, but my memory is like an old rusty bucket with holes.” Mrs. Kalmias chuckled. “Come by the house and we can talk. I’ve got to greet the new couple.” She turned and walked to the bride and groom.
“She is a character,” Eva stated, watching Mrs. Kalmias greet Thanasi with the same tugging motion, until he went down on his haunches to speak to her.
“Zoe!”
“Oh, God, please, take me now.” Zoe groaned.
Eva suppressed a giggle as Zoe’s cousin, Maria, bounded towards them. She couldn’t quite believe that the two were related. Whilst Zoe was redheaded and green eyed, Maria’s hair was dark blonde, and she had hazel-colored eyes.
“Zoika!” Maria grabbed Zoe into a hug. Zoe made a face at Eva over Maria’s shoulder. “I thought you had died.”
“No, I’m very much alive,” Zoe said.
“Yes, I can see that. Weren’t you at the cabin?”
“No, we went to the farm and stayed with Aunty Stella.”
“Crazy Aunty Stella? Really?” Maria noticed Tessa. “Who are you?”
“I’m Eva’s Aunt Theresa,” Tessa said.
“Oh. You’re Greek.”
“Yes.” Tessa nodded. “So is Eva.”
“I don’t understand. Her aunty is Greek, but she’s German.”
“Maria, she’s standing right next to you,” Zoe pointed out.
Eva turned around, unable to suppress her grin. She had to compose herself before she faced Maria. Zoe was glaring at her cousin.
“Can she speak Greek?” Maria whispered.
“She speaks Greek, German, Italian, and English,” Zoe explained.
Maria looked at Eva, who smiled at her. “Hello.”
“Hello, Marika.” Eva lowered her voice a decibel, exaggerating her German accent. She stood to her full height and looked down at Maria, who was much shorter than Zoe. “I think I need to have a bit of a walk,” Eva said in German to Zoe.
“My name is not Marika,” Maria replied slowly, enunciating every word. “It’s Maria.”
“Ja, Marika.” Eva patted her on the head and walked away.
“She does know my name is not Marika, right?”
Zoe wasn’t sure whom to look at—Eva, who was walking away, or her irritating cousin. “What?”
“Your friend, who just called me Marika. Aren’t you paying attention? Speaking of your friend, why did you leave Larissa with her? Wasn’t she the enemy?”
“What were you doing during the war?”
“You know what I was doing, silly. I was in America.”
“Safe and sound.” Zoe tried to keep the bitter tone out of her voice. “Eva was here, helping the Resistance while you were playing with your dolls and having play tea parties.”
“We can talk about that later. Papa says that there are some really nice boys here that would be perfect for you. Do you remember Kiriakos? Well, he is here, and Papa was saying that he—”
Zoe put her hand over Maria’s mouth. “Stop talking.”
“Why?”
“I’m already engaged,” Zoe replied.
“You are? To who?”
Zoe turned Maria around. “Do you see that tall, dark, very handsome man over there?” she said as her eyes were glued to Eva, who was leanin
g on her cane talking to Tommy.
“Wow. Who is that?”
“Thomas Lambros.”
“Huh? You’re going to marry our cousin? Do we have a cousin that gorgeous?”
Zoe sighed. “No, he’s not our cousin.”
“But he is a Lambros.”
“Yes. Steigler-Lambros.” Zoe decided to embellish just a little since she didn’t want to tell Maria the whole story.
“What a funny name. Is that German?”
“Yes, he’s half German.”
“When are you getting married?”
“Next week in Germany.”
“Why there? Why not here?”
“He’s a Catholic and he doesn’t want to convert.” Zoe feigned exasperation with the decision, and Maria looked at her sympathetically.
Tommy put his arm around Eva. “Are they related? They look like brother and sister.”
“They’re cousins.”
“Does he have any brothers?”
“No. Just one of him.”
“What a shame. I’ll let Papa know of your upcoming wedding. I’m sure he will want to give you away.”
“Oh, how kind.” Zoe forced herself to smile at Maria. “My brother Theo is giving me away.”
“Oh, that’s right, he didn’t die. We have to get together and talk about wedding dresses, but now I have to go and see my boy. Did I tell you I’m also getting married? You should meet him. He is such a gorgeous boy.” Maria gave Zoe a kiss on the cheek and bounded away, leaving Zoe open mouthed.
“Oh, dear god, thank goodness that is over,” Zoe muttered.
A light misty rain began to fall. Zoe stepped under one of the large awnings that covered a large part of the plaza for the wedding. She looked around at the guests who were chatting amicably and smiled. Familiar faces smiled back at her and waved when they caught her eye. She walked a little down the cobblestone street in search for Eva and stopped dead. Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw Eva on the edge of the plaza leaning on her cane. Eva was looking out at the field with a faraway expression on her face, which was half covered by the cloak’s hood.
A firecracker exploded above Zoe causing her to fall back against the pole holding one of the awnings up. She felt her chest ache and her knees felt rubbery. Lightening streaked across the horizon as the rain fell. That dreaded cloak was transporting Zoe back in time. She needed to sit down or she would collapse.
She felt as if she was back on that horrendous day. The noise from the party faded into the background. She shook her head, which began to throb. The heavy pelting rain that had soaked her and the sound of German soldiers sloshing through the mud would stay with her forever.
Her gaze fell on the field and she could almost see the new commander in that gray-and-black uniform she despised so much, the crowds parting for him.
Another firecracker went off and Zoe jumped. Another gunshot, another death. Major Hans Muller striding through the villagers brandishing his gun, stamping his authority of the terrified villagers.
Eva stood in an almost identical stance to the first time Zoe had seen her in the field. She leaned on the cane and half turned. Zoe could see the strong profile through the rain as her heart ached at the vision before her.
This time there was no Henry to hold an umbrella for Eva as he had done in 1942. Eva was standing alone on a blood soaked field.
Zoe stared at the angular face she knew so well. On that fateful day the gloom made it difficult to see, and Eva’s face had been barely visible under the hood of her cloak.
The major had stepped in front of Zoe and her mother and looked at them. Helena put her arms around Zoe and held on tight. All Zoe could feel was the sound of the beating of her heart and the look of utter hatred in the man’s eyes. She could see the tall woman’s gaze turn towards her. Sky blue eyes met her stare for a long moment. Ice. Cold. The woman turned away and stared off into the distance, devoid of any emotion.
Zoe wanted to hide her face from this madness. She held tight to her mother and closed her eyes, hoping against hope. But will alone could not stifle the sound of the gun popping so close that she felt the bullet pass when it exploded.
She felt her mother’s arms release their grasp and she opened her eyes to see her mama slump to the ground. A dark crimson stain spread across her chest. The madness continued around her as she held her dying mother to her chest, the blood mixing with the mud, caking her legs. Oh, dear God, Mama!
Zoe was oblivious to everyone but her mother, but in that instant between life and death, her purpose in life was crystallized. She looked down at her mother’s face and rocked her back and forth.
“I promise I will kill them. I will,” she said, over and over.
Nothing else had meaning any more. She was going to exact her revenge for her mother’s death and kill the woman that laughed as her mother lay dying.
“I promise you, Mama, I will kill them. I promise,” Zoe kept repeating as her mother’s life ended.
Zoe took a shuddering breath and felt a presence. She glanced back to find Tessa, who put a protective arm around her waist.
“I want you to turn around and walk with me,” Tessa said.
“I can’t.” Zoe’s voice wavered.
“Yes, you can, sweetheart.” Tessa took Zoe’s hand and led her away from the crowd and into a small alley away from the noise that afforded them some cover from the rain and privacy. She used her cane to pull two overturned boxes to her. She gently pushed Zoe down onto one of the boxes. “Look at me.”
Zoe opened her eyes and gazed into Tessa’s light gray eyes.
“I want you to breathe; that’s all you have to do,” Tessa said.
“I have to go to Eva.” Zoe’s voice broke as she bent over, covered her face with her hands, and sobbed.
Tessa took her in her arms and let her cry against her chest. “It’s all right, Zoe, let it out, it’s all right.” She gently rubbed her back.
Zoe’s sobs diminished to sniffles and the occasional body-shaking hiccup.
Tessa brushed away Zoe’s tears and looked into her eyes with concern. “You were due for a good cry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.”
“It’s just…”
“I know,” Tessa said quietly. “You were back to when your mama was killed.”
“How did you know?” Zoe looked up at Tessa and sniffed back the tears that threatened to spill again.
“It’s only natural. This is where she lost her life; of course you would have memories of that day.”
“I couldn’t do anything to save her. Nothing.”
“Did you think you could do something to stop what happened?”
Zoe took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Muller told us to keep our eyes on the ground. That’s what he was yelling. Keep your eyes on the ground.”
“You didn’t?”
Zoe shook her head. “No. I was too inquisitive, too stupid. I looked up.”
“At Eva.”
“Yes. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I knew she was the butcher’s daughter, but I didn’t know why she was there. She showed no emotion, nothing. She looked like she was made of stone.” Zoe held onto Tessa’s hand and took a deep sigh. “I thought she was indifferent to the suffering before her. My mama used to say that you can see a person’s soul through their eyes. When I looked into Eva’s eyes that day, they were just dead. I stared at her and I just couldn’t see compassion or horror. Nothing.”
“You looked at Eva. Do you think that’s why Muller shot your mother?”
“Yes.”
Tessa pulled Zoe to her and kissed her tenderly. “No, that isn’t what happened.”
“Yes, it is, Tessa, it is.”
“No, sweetheart, it’s not. There was no rhyme or reason for Muller’s butchery. He didn’t choose your mama because you looked up. He didn’t care.”
“But I looked up…”
“Yes, you did, and so did everyone else.
Others were running for their lives. Some were shot, others were not. It was random acts of senseless violence. Did Eva look at anyone else?”
“Yes.”
“Did they get shot?” Tessa asked gently. “Who did she look at?”
“She looked towards Mrs. Kalmias. Muller had just shot Alexandra. Eva wasn’t really looking at Alexandra, but at the blood-stained dirt instead.”
“You had nothing to do with your mama’s death. You didn’t cause it by looking up when you were told not to. You didn’t cause it by staring at Muller’s daughter.”
“Why then? Why did my mama have to die?”
“The Bible says that ‘time and unforeseen circumstances befall us all.’ It was just that.”
“God abandoned me and I hate Him for it. I won’t ever forgive or forget. Eva believes, but I don’t. Not anymore.”
“It’s not God’s fault, Zoe. It’s just life.”
“I think it’s His fault. Mama said that the saints would protect us, but no saints protected us. Mama died because God wanted her to? That’s what we used to hear in church. The baby died because God wanted the baby in heaven. That’s rubbish. Why would God want to take someone so loved here on earth so they can be in heaven? That doesn’t make sense,” Zoe said bitterly. “He doesn’t need them up there, but I needed my mama here and he took her.”
“It’s not a case of God wanting them. It was their time. It was destined to be.”
“Does that mean if we had been there minutes before or minutes after we could have changed history?”
“Yes, possibly, maybe. I don’t know. Death is senseless. You had no control over it. You can’t control what others do. How were you going to control what Muller was going to do?”
“I couldn’t. I should have killed that bastard when he came looking for Eva.”
“You didn’t kill him.”
“No, but I should have. I should have smashed his head like a pumpkin with that fireplace poker instead of giving it to Eva.”
“What would that have achieved?”
“Justice.”
“Isn’t he dead now? Hasn’t justice been served?” Tessa asked as she took Zoe’s hand. “It was not your job to mete out justice.”
“Vengeance and justice.”
Awakenings (Intertwined Souls Series Book 4) Page 13
