“Sorrow?”
“You don’t know about the Mitsos curse?”
Eva sat back in her seat and regarded Theo for a long moment. “Was the curse brought on by an unmarried mother?”
Theo shook his head. “No, that was terrible, but not worthy of a curse. This was real. I’m surprised you don’t know about it.”
“No, I don’t know anything about a curse. I don’t know a lot about my mother’s family.”
“Hm.” Theo took the cigarette from the ashtray and brought it to his lips. He took a drag and exhaled. “I remember my grandmother talked about your grandfather a great deal. She loved him like a brother. There was something wrong with the family. All the women were…” Theo stopped for a moment. “All the women had something wrong with them.”
“Well, that’s putting it delicately.”
“I sound like a gossiping old woman, but when Father H told me he had fallen in love with a Mitsos girl I thought-”
“There wasn’t anything wrong with my mother,” Eva said defensively. “I don’t know about the rest of the family as I didn’t meet my Aunt Theresa but-”
“It wasn’t your mother. My grandmother told me about Theresa.”
“I was told she died in a fire.”
“Yes, in an insane asylum.”
Eva stared at him and wasn’t sure how to react to that news. “You can’t be right.”
“It’s true. Ask Father H when we get to Larissa. He remembers Theresa. She was stricken by the evil eye.”
Eva smiled despite the serious nature of the conversation. “I don’t believe in the evil eye.”
“Mock it all you like, but the evil eye exists.”
“Uh huh, and to avoid it, I have to wear a blue eye on me?”
Theo’s bearded face creased into a smile. “You don’t because you have beautiful blue eyes already.”
“That’s a relief,” Eva quipped and had a quiet chuckle. “There was something wrong with my aunt and she was in a hospital. There was a fire and she died. I don’t think it has anything to do with evil eyes or demons or anything like that.”
“If you say so. My grandmother knew your great aunt Erika, and like Theresa, she was in an insane asylum as well. Then again you know how old women gossip, so it may not be the evil eye.”
“Or you just realized you called your sister’s…” Eva stopped and wasn’t sure what to call herself, but decided she wasn’t going to hide her feelings for Zoe from him. “You realized you called your sister’s lover’s family lunatics.”
“It may be that as well.” Theo laughed. Eva sat back and regarded him. There was a slight twitch at the use of ‘lover’ to describe herself in relation to Zoe, but it wasn’t disgust what she saw on his face.
“I like you, Eva. You are very honest. I respect honesty.” He touched her hand. “The way you were described to me, I was thinking you were...um...”
“Cold?” Eva tilted her head and smiled. “Aloof? A bitch? I take it you didn’t get that description from Father Haralambos.”
“Quiet, cold, and aloof were the most common words used. Father H forgot to tell me how beautiful you are,” Theo replied a little bashfully. “Young Dimitri thought you had some spell over Zoe.”
Eva sat back and laughed lightly at the absurdity of it all. “Dimitri would make a great old woman.” The door to the dining cabin opened, and Zoe walked in with her sketchpad in her hand.
“Hullo.” Zoe gave Eva a chaste kiss on the cheek. She also kissed Theo.
“I’m having a severe case of déjà vu.” Eva chuckled.
“Yes, so am I.” Zoe scowled at the nearly full ashtray. She turned to catch the waiter’s eye and beckoned him over. “You still haven’t had breakfast.”
“No, I was talking to Theo. How’s your knee?”
“Feeling better. Evy, you promised me,” Zoe gently scolded, and turned to Theo, who was smirking. “What’s so funny, Theodore?”
“You sound like Mama,” Theo responded with a gentle laugh. He stood up and affectionately ruffled her hair. “Let’s eat because I’m now starving.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Eva looked around the dining car to find they were the only ones in it. Everyone else had got off the train and was having lunch outside, which was a little odd to see. The waiter had come and delivered their lunch making sure everyone had what they ordered. Theo went to wash his hands, which left Eva and Zoe a moment alone.
“Hey.” Zoe bumped Eva’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“I’m a little anxious,” Eva said as she played with her potatoes with her fork.
“About Theo?”
“No. I like Theo.” Eva sighed heavily as she gazed at Zoe. “The closer we get to Larissa, it’s just making me nervous.”
Theo came back to the table and sat down. He smiled at them. “Are you going to play soccer with those potatoes?”
Eva looked up at him and then at Zoe. “I’m not hungry.”
“Aren’t you feeling well?”
“She’s nervous about going to Larissa,” Zoe answered, getting a scowl from Eva. “It’s alright; he’s family.”
“Are you anxious to visit your father?”
“No.” Zoe shook her head. “She’s anxious we get there and then leave.”
“Oh.” Theo nodded. “That’s why you’re staying at Thieri’s cabin?”
“It’s out of town,” Eva explained before she took a sip of water. “Larissa is not my favorite place in the world.”
“No, I would say it wouldn’t be. Father Haralambos told me that you were coming and that you wanted to stay at the cabin, so I finished it.”
“You did what?” Zoe asked.
“I built a bedroom and a little kitchenette. I installed a bigger rain tank. I’ve hooked up a hose where you can get water, and a little burner where you can warm it up. I also built a porch so you won’t get rained on if you sit outside.” Theo smiled. “It’s not fancy but...”
Zoe came round the table and put her arms around his neck. She kissed him on the cheek. “Thieri would have loved that!”
“Not that he ever wanted to finish that cabin.”
“What do you mean?” Zoe asked as she sat back down.
“He loved to build. I think if he had finished the cabin, he would have demolished it and rebuilt it.” Theo chuckled. “You know it belongs to you now, so I didn’t get your permission to finish it.”
“No, it doesn’t belong to me now.” Zoe shook her head. “You’re the oldest so it belongs to you.”
“No,” Theo replied. “I was dead, Zoe. All the property and the fields were transferred to you.”
“No. You were alive. You don’t look dead to me.”
“Yes.” Theo nodded. “Everything belongs to you.”
“Even your house?”
“Yes.” Theo took a bite of the lamb stew. “You could kick me out of my house if you wanted to.”
“Really?” Zoe grinned. “Nah. Does that mean I get Hera?”
“You saw her?”
“Of course,” Zoe replied and then turned to Eva. “I know I promised I wouldn’t ride another motorcycle, but can I ride her?”
Eva and Theo looked at each other and then at Zoe. “No,” they said in unison.
“Why?”
Eva touched Zoe’s hand and scowled. “You promised me. The last thing I need in Larissa is for you to get hurt again.”
“Hurt? When did you get hurt?” Theo asked.
Zoe looked up at the ceiling in frustration. “I have—”
“Had,” Eva corrected.
“Had a motorcycle,” Zoe amended. “Her name is Mabel.”
“Of course it is.” Theo replied. “How did you get hurt?”
“I was in a horrible accident.”
“She got hit by a speeding car and smashed against a tree breaking her leg and injuring her hip.” Eva shook her head. “She promised me that she wasn’t going to ride again.”
“Eva!”
“Eva is right, and Hera is way too big of a motorcycle for you.”
“No, she’s not. I’m bigger than when I last tried to ride her.”
“No, you are the same height.”
“Theodore!” Zoe exclaimed. “You two are just impossible.”
Theo glanced at Eva and smiled. “Yes, we are,” he said, causing Eva to chuckle.
The conversation abruptly ended when the train started to move amidst cheering coming from the main cabins.
“Well, Larissa, here we come.” Theo clasped his hands together and rubbed them. “Now back to that accident.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes. How serious was it?”
“It was serious,” Eva said as she glanced at Zoe. “But we made it through.”
“So everything is alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Zoe waved her hand in dismissal. “I drew a lot because I wasn’t allowed to do anything else.”
“I saw you brought your sketchbook. Can I see?”
Zoe gave the book to Theo. “Oh, this is nice,” Theo said as he looked up from the first couple of artworks. He flipped through them quietly and then stopped. “Well, this is a bit more...um...”
“Oh, no,” Eva said in a panic on seeing Zoe’s face and realizing what Theo may be looking at. “Oh, Zoe, tell me you didn’t...”
“What?” Zoe asked as she got out of her chair and went around to Theo’s side. She looked over his shoulder. “You are horrible.” She slapped him across the back of his head as he snickered at his practical joke.
“It’s not what you think,” Zoe told her relieved partner. “It’s my drawing of the Acropolis and you.”
Theo chuckled as he turned the pages. “Does she have any of those ‘oh no’ drawings of you?” he asked Eva with a twinkle in his green eyes.
“Do you honestly think I would let you see artwork of Eva like that?” Zoe shot Theo a mock glare, which only made him laugh.
“Oh, you are evil.” Eva shook her finger at Theo, who just grinned.
“Artists like drawing naked people.” Theo shrugged. “You remember Mama did one and we hung it up in the living room.”
Eva turned to Zoe with a quizzical expression on her face. “Mama drew me naked on a blanket and hung it up in the living room when I was two years old, which is very different,” Zoe explained, shooting an outraged glare at her brother.
“She had a cute backside.” Theo laughed. “Do you have any of Eva lying naked on a blankey?
Eva shook her head at the antics of the siblings. Theo was teasing Zoe and their banter back and forth made her forget for a moment where they were headed.
“Next stop Larissa in thirty minutes!” the conductor announced as he passed through the dining car.
“Oh, finally!” Theo clapped his hands again. He reached across the table and gently tapped Eva’s hand. “You have another Lambros you can count on.”
“Thank you,” Eva said quietly.
Zoe went over to Theo and put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Teedore.”
Theo looked up at Zoe and laughed. “I haven’t heard that in years!” He looked at Eva to explain. “Zoe took forever to learn to talk. We thought there was something wrong with her because she would barely say two words, but when she was two, she started to talk and then we couldn’t get her to shut up.” He grinned at Zoe. “She couldn’t say Theodore, so it ended up being Teedore for a long time.”
The dining car door opened and Mrs. Muldoon entered. She smiled at the group and approached them. “I thought I would find you here since you weren’t in your cabin.”
Theo pushed his chair back and rose as Mrs. Muldoon approached. “Della, this is Zoe’s brother, Theodore Lambros. Theo, this is Mrs. Della Muldoon. We traveled with her on the ship.” Eva made the introductions in German and then in Greek for Theo.
“Yes, hello.” Theo offered his hand.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Lambros. Would I be able to steal the girls away for a moment?”
Eva translated to Greek.
“Of course,” Theo replied. “I’ll just go and get their luggage,” he added as he nodded to Mrs. Muldoon and left the dining room.
“He’s a charming man,” Mrs. Muldoon said as she watched Theo leave. She turned back to Zoe and asked, “How’s your knee?”
“Oh, fine, sorry for that mad dash out of your cabin.”
“It’s not every day your dead brother comes back to life, right?” Mrs. Muldoon laughed lightly. “Now girls, my trip with you has come to an end. I wanted to say goodbye before we parted and I don’t want to part on bad terms.”
“We don’t want that either,” Zoe answered as she quickly glanced at Eva.
“My job offer is genuine. I do want you to work with me. I want you to think about it. I’m going back to Sydney in two months.” Mrs. Muldoon opened her purse and removed a piece of paper. “Contact me when you get back home.”
“I will,” Zoe replied.
“Eva, I hope you find the answers you need in Germany. Please, give your grandmother a chance.”
“I’ll think about it,” Eva replied graciously.
All three women stood and bid farewell. Eva sighed.
Zoe put her hand on the small of Eva’s back. “This is going to be alright.”
Eva looked down at her feet and clicked her heels three times. “There's no place like home,” she said, and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened one eye to look at a bemused Zoe. “Nope, I’m still here.”
“What?”
“Remember the movie we saw about Dorothy and the yellow brick road?”
“The Wizard of Oz.”
“Hmm, just tapped my shoes and I didn’t go home.” Eva sighed.
“That’s because we are not in the Land of Oz.” Zoe laughed lightly. ”It’s going to be rough, but we will get through this.”
“I know.”
“Larissa in ten minutes!” The conductor’s voice drifted in from the open door.
Zoe put her arm around Eva as they left the dining room car.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Eva sat ramrod straight. She breathed in and out slowly as she tried to calm her out of control thumping heart. She was struggling, and she felt lightheaded and was sweating lightly. It was going to get progressively worse as they neared Larissa. She saw Zoe motion for Theo to leave them alone for a moment, a signal he was quick to obey.
Zoe sat down next to Eva and took her hand. Eva’s hands were shaking. “Hey.”
“I’m not feeling well.”
“I know. Are you cold?”
Eva nodded. “I’m feeling sick and want to throw up.”
“It won’t be long before we get to the cabin and I’ll give you a nice massage and we can both go to sleep.”
“I’m sorry. I’m ruining your time with Theo and—”
“Shh. Stop that. You are not. Theo has plenty of time to catch up with me. He waited ten years, so he can wait a bit more,” Zoe reasoned.
“I think I have defective slippers.”
Zoe looked down at Eva’s feet. “They’re brown. I think you needed them to be red.”
The train stopped, and Eva heard the whistle blare. The sound of her heart was loud to her ears as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright.” She got up, adjusted her black cloak, and brought the hood over her head.
Eva and Zoe exited the cabin and found Theo waiting for them. “I’m right here.” Zoe put her arm around her waist. “You can do this. I’m right here and I have my big burly brother right beside you.”
Eva glanced at Theo, who brought up his arms and flexed his biceps showing his muscles. She smiled, then stood to her full height and kept her head up.
They went down the steps to the train platform. Eva looked around as friends and family greeted the new arrivals. Nothing had changed in five years—the white stonewashed walls were still flakey, and the smell of burnt oranges permeated the station. She hated that
smell. The humidity was already making her shirt cling to her back. How she hated this place. An oppressive weight had settled on her chest that made it difficult to breathe.
“Eva!”
Eva snapped her head up and her face creased into a huge smile on seeing her father headed her way.
“Ah, there they are!” Father Haralambos exclaimed. He embraced Eva and kissed her on the cheek. He turned to Zoe and brought her in for a hug and a kiss. He then patted Theo on the cheek. “You don’t get a hug and a kiss.”
“I always miss out.” Theo bent and kissed the priest’s hand out of respect. “I found her, Father.”
“Yes, you did. That must have been the longest train trip in the history of Greece!”
“We had goats, we had tracks that were broken, and then we had the train that stopped at every stop,” Zoe good-naturedly grumbled.
“How are you?” Eva whispered to her father.
“I’m good, taking care of myself. The nuns are trying to keep me healthy by feeding me too many vegetables, but I’m good,” Father Haralambos replied.
“Oh, no,” Eva whispered to Zoe, who turned to her in alarm.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Eva!”
Eva made a face and sighed. She turned towards the voice and smiled at the petite elderly lady that had called her. “Hello, Mrs. Kalmias.” She couldn’t forget Mrs. Kalmias, who had made her life even more difficult during the war and who had hit her with her cane the last time they had met. Mrs. Kalmias was now more stooped over and fragile looking than Eva remembered. Eva felt sorry for her—she had outlived her husband and her sons, who had died in the war.
“Come down here. I can't even see you all the way up there!” Mrs. Kalmias tugged on Eva's cloak to get her to kneel beside her.
“How are you, Mrs. Kalmias?” Eva smiled.
“I'm old; living hurts. You don't want to hear about growing old, do you?” Mrs. Kalmias patted Eva on the cheek. “I was told you were on this train and I had to be down here when it arrived. It did take a long time, but here you are at last.”
“Yes, it took a very long time.”
“I want to apologize to you.”
Eva was surprised. “Why?”
Mrs. Kalmias sighed. “There are some things that should not have happened and I can’t get them out of my mind. One of those is that I hit you, my dear child. I didn't know you were working with the Resistance. I thought you were the enemy.”
Hidden Truths (Intertwined Souls Series Book 3) Page 22
