Nights of Rain and Stars

by Maeve Binchy

  I dreamed the other night that your son came back. Right into the harbor in a boat with an outboard engine. It could happen, couldn’t it?

  Love, David

  “When should we go back to the real world?” Elsa asked after days spent wandering around the hills and coves of Kalatriada.

  “Do you mean back to Aghia Anna or points further west?” Thomas had picked wildflowers for her and was busy making them into a posy with a length of string.

  “I suppose Aghia Anna, as a base camp,” Elsa said.

  They had been living a strange life here, totally disconnected from the real world. They had gone shopping in the markets and bought cheese for their lunch on the hills. There was a bookshop where they had found some English books. Thomas had asked a potter to make a plate with his mother’s name on it.

  Because they hadn’t really packed for such an extended visit, they bought a couple of extra garments at stalls on the market day. Thomas looked splendid in his colorful Greek shirt. Elsa had bought him a pair of elegant cream-colored trousers in a desperate attempt to get him to abandon the three-quarter-length shorts with all the pockets, which he seemed to love.

  “Orea,” Ireni said when she saw him dressed up.

  “Yes indeed, he is beautiful,” Elsa agreed.

  “I miss my shorts,” Thomas grumbled.

  “You’re the only one that does then, they’re quite terrible, Thomas.”

  “Oh, Elsa, indulge me. Let me wear them, they’re familiar, like a comfort blanket. Please,” he begged.

  “A blanket would be more elegant,” Elsa said. “Hey, I’m talking like a wife. This will never do. Wear what you like.” She laughed at him.

  “Will we row back to Aghia Anna tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Yes. It’s not as if it were good-bye, we can still be together there,” Elsa said, as if to console herself.

  “Of course we can, we’re in no hurry to go anywhere,” Thomas said.

  Maria told Vonni that they were back from Kalatriada; she had just seen them returning the rowboat at the harbor. “The American looks very well, he doesn’t wear those foolish trousers anymore,” she said approvingly.

  “Well, thanks be to the Divine Lord for that,” Vonni said devoutly. “The Divine Lord, helped and ably assisted, I’d say, by a very bright young German woman.” Vonni watched as they kissed each other good-bye, Elsa heading for the Anna Beach, Thomas for the town. They looked relaxed and at ease with each other.

  The trip had obviously been a success.

  “Heigh ho, Maria. Pa-may, let’s go. Lots of three-point turns today, and where better than up in the square? I got a message that I have to go to see Takis, the lawyer. He has a message for me apparently.”

  “What about?”

  “I have no idea. It’s hardly a court summons, I’ve been well behaved now for a couple of decades. But we’ll find out.”

  Vonni was giving nothing away. Maria had no idea that Vonni had been up half the night wondering if the message had anything to do with Stavros—either Stavros—husband or son.

  Elsa sat in the Anna Beach with her big organizer diary beside her. For the first time in months she looked up contacts back in Germany, people who worked in the media. The desk clerk brought her a sheaf of faxes plus four telephone message slips. The last fax said that Dieter would come out in two weeks’ time to find her. Elsa calmly ripped all the faxes in half without reading them and threw them into the wastepaper basket, along with the telephone messages. Then she went to where she could log on and get e-mail, and began to work.

  Her first e-mail was to Dieter:

  I have written a long letter explaining why I am not coming back. Come out to Greece if you like, Dieter, but I will be gone away. It will be a wasted journey. Elsa

  “Andy, am I disturbing you? It’s Thomas.”

  “No way. We’re down in Sedona today, another canyon, it’s real pretty here, Thomas.”

  Thomas could hear Bill calling out excitedly. “Is that Dad? Can I talk to him?”

  “Sure, Bill, he called to talk to you. Take the phone and go off to have a real good chat with him.”

  “Dad? Is it really you?”

  “Nobody else, Bill, just me.”

  “Dad, if you could just see this place. We’ve had a great time here, the colors keep changing all the time. And Gran’s got all these friends, old, old people, she calls them ‘the girls.’ And I said they were girls with wrinkly faces and they all laughed!”

  “I bet they did.”

  “What have you been doing, Dad?”

  “I went to a little village, tiny little place, real old-fashioned. One day I’ll take you there.”

  “Will you, Dad?”

  “I try never to say things I don’t mean, Bill. One day I’ll have a holiday with you on this island.”

  “Was it lonely for you in this little village all by yourself?” Bill asked.

  “Um, no, not lonely, no.”

  “So you don’t miss us or anything?” the boy asked, sounding disappointed.

  “Oh, I do, Bill, I miss you every single day. And do you know what I’m going to do about it?”

  “No.”

  “I’m going to come back there in ten days and we’ll have a great time.”

  “Dad, that’s fantastic. How long are you coming back for?”

  “For good,” he said.

  And as he heard the boy, who would always be his son, shouting out, “Mom, Andy, Dad’s coming home! In ten days’ time! And he’s going to stay forever,” Thomas felt the tears falling down his face.

  “Takis! How are you?”

  “I’m fine, Vonni, and you?”

  “I’m keeping a slightly beady eye on Maria, in case she plows through us and knocks down your office.”

  “Let’s watch her from inside the office, we won’t be directly in the line of fire,” he said, leading her in. “Do you know what I want to talk to you about?”

  “No, Takis, not a clue,” Vonni said.

  “Can you guess?”

  “Is it something about Stavros?” she asked hesitantly.

  “No, not at all,” he said, surprised.

  “Well, then you’ll have to tell me, Takis,” she said. The light had gone out of her face.

  Takis spoke quickly. “It’s about Nikolas; you know, Nikolas who died last week.”

  “Ah, yes, poor Nikolas.” Vonni looked slightly worried. “There surely couldn’t be any trouble, any inquiry about giving him the morphine. Dr. Leros was aware of everything and cooperated all the way.”

  “He left you everything.”

  “But he didn’t have anything to leave!” Vonni said, wide-eyed.

  “He had enough. He came in here six months ago and made a proper will. Left it all to you. His little house, his furniture, his savings.”

  “Well, imagine him thinking of doing that!” Vonni was stunned. “I suppose we should give the house to his neighbors, they have a lot of children, they could do with more space. I could sort of clear it out for them.”

  “You haven’t asked about his savings,” Takis the lawyer said.

  “Sure, poor Nikolas didn’t have any savings to speak of,” Vonni said.

  “He left you over a hundred thousand Euro,” Takis said.

  Vonni looked at him in amazement. “That can’t be, Takis, the man had nothing, he lived in a hovel.”

  “He had it all in the bank, some of it in shares, some in cash. I had to wait until it was totaled before I told you.”

  “But where on earth did he get that amount of money?”

  “Family, apparently.”

  “But why in the name of God didn’t he use it to give himself some comfort?” She was angry with the dead man for denying himself what he could have had.

  “Oh, Vonni, don’t talk to me about families, the most extraordinary institution ever invented. Somebody insulted somebody somewhere along the line. Don’t ask me because I don’t know. But it meant that Nikolas didn’t touch
the money. So now it’s all yours.”

  She said nothing.

  “And rightly so, Vonni. No one deserves it more than you, you looked after him in a way no one else could have.”

  She sat very still, looking ahead of her.

  “What will you do, will you travel, go back and visit them in Ireland?”

  She sat saying nothing.

  Takis wasn’t used to Vonni being like this.

  “Of course you don’t have to make any decisions yet. I’ll arrange all the transfers when you’ve had time to think about things and feel like giving me instructions.”

  “I feel like doing it now, Takis, if that’s all right.”

  “Certainly.” He sat down opposite her, his face to the window, looking onto the square.

  “Tell me first, is that madwoman Maria obstructing traffic or anything?”

  “No, she’s fine, she’s doing rather big loopy turns but she’s fine, everything is steering well clear of her,” Takis said, pulling a pad of paper toward him to write down the instructions.

  “I don’t intend to touch any of that money. Just leave it where it is. I will, as I said, give the little house to the family next door, but I would like them to think it came directly from Nikolas. And I want to make a will.”

  “Very sensible, Vonni,” Takis said in a low voice. He didn’t think it was sensible at all but it was none of his business.

  “And I would like to leave everything, my craft shop, my apartment and this legacy from Nikolas to my son, Stavros.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You heard me, Takis.”

  “But you haven’t seen him in years, he never came back to you despite all your pleas.”

  “Are you going to make this will for me, Takis, or do I have to go and find another lawyer?”

  “I’ll have it drawn up by tomorrow at this time. I’ll have two people here to witness your signature.”

  “Thank you, and I presume this is all just between us?”

  “It is, Vonni. Just between the two of us.”

  “Right. Now I’ll go save Aghia Anna from Maria,” she said.

  She walked out shakily, Takis noticed as he stood at the door and watched her.

  Maria came running over. “I understand it now, you turn the wheel exactly the wrong way to what you think. In the opposite direction!” she cried triumphantly.

  “Whatever you say, Maria.”

  “And what did Takis want?” she asked.

  “To help me make my will,” said Vonni.

  “I missed you,” Thomas said to Elsa when she came up the whitewashed steps to his apartment.

  “And I you. The lazy days of Kalatriada are no more.” She kissed him lightly and walked into the sitting room. “That’s beautiful.” She pointed to a little vase of wildflowers.

  “I’d love to say that I went out and gathered them for you on the hills but actually Vonni left them there. She also left a note: ‘Welcome back to you both.’ ” He passed her the little card.

  “So she knows then?” Elsa said.

  “I expect she knew before we did,” Thomas said ruefully.

  “I wonder what she thinks.”

  “Well, look at the flowers! In a way that’s like a seal of approval, isn’t it?” Thomas said.

  “That’s true, and of course it does also mean we’ve signed up for her own kind of messy complicated lifestyle,” Elsa agreed.

  “Messy?”

  “Well, look at us! They say the secret of the universe is timing. We timed things spectacularly badly, didn’t we? You going in one direction and me going in the other!”

  Thomas reached for her hand. “We’ll work it out,” he promised.

  “I know,” she said, but she sounded doubtful.

  “Honestly, we’ll work it out together,” Thomas said.

  “We will,” said Elsa, this time with great conviction.

  Dublin

  My dear Vonni,

  Thank you so much for the letter. I got so homesick for Aghia Anna when I read it. I was right to come back here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ache for the sunshine and the lemon trees and all the marvelous people I met out there.

  The ward sister here, Carmel, is horrific, she used to be a mate of ours but all power corrupts. She thinks I should be punished for having left the hospital and is dreaming up ways. Barbara and I have a terrific flat; we are having a housewarming party on Saturday, so wish us luck. Mam and Dad have been great; Shane’s name is never mentioned, it’s as if he had become a family secret never to be spoken of. Which is probably for the best. They’ve decided to have a much simpler silver wedding, no place cards and all that bullshit. Which is a great relief. I telephoned David and he was a bit grim. It was the day of his father’s award. He just hates being back. But he’ll stay there until his father dies.

  Fancy Thomas and Elsa being an item! I never saw that coming. But it’s perfect! Loads of love to all pals.

  Fiona

  East Midlands

  Dear Vonni,

  You are wonderful, telling me all the things I want to hear. I’m so pleased about Maria’s progress. Imagine her driving alone all the way to Kalatriada!

  That’s wonderful news about Thomas going home, but what about Thomas and Elsa? How will they manage to sort it out?

  I am too close to it to write and tell you in any balanced way about my father’s award ceremony. It was a truly awful day. Worse than I had feared because my father looked so frail and my mother so ludicrously proud, and everyone there, businessmen of every type, just worshiped the God of money and profit.

  I will write when it’s less raw, but it was awful. My father made a speech where he announced that I was to be head of his company from next January. Everyone clapped and I had to look so pleased. But I did hate it, Vonni, and I know it’s just self-pity of a high order, but I feel my life is over at twenty-eight. I know you’ll say something positive to keep me going. I think of you so often, and in a dream life I wish that you were my mother and Andreas my father. I’d never let either of you down. It’s just so hard in my own family.

  Love from a disgustingly morose,

  David

  The days went by. Elsa spent a lot of time at the Anna Beach working on e-mail.

  “Who on earth are you writing to?” Thomas asked her.

  “I’m examining the job situation,” she said crisply.

  “But I thought you weren’t going back to Germany.” He was anxious.

  “It’s hard to accept, but there are other countries.” She laughed.

  Thomas spent those hours beside her at another computer. He was in touch with the university. If he did come back early, could he have access to his rooms on campus? All these things had to be worked out.

  It was two days before Thomas would leave for Athens.

  “I want you to come up to Andreas’s tonight for dinner,” Elsa said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

  “Is that the right place to talk?” Thomas wondered “We always seem to be part of a huge crowd up there.”

  “No, I’ll see that we have a quiet table,” she promised.

  She wore a simple white cotton dress and had a flower clipped in her hair.

  “You look lovely and so dressed up. I’m so pleased I wore my smart new Kalatriada pants,” he said when he saw her.

  “I got this dress today to impress you and I have a taxi to take us to the restaurant. How about that for style?”

  They went up the winding road to Andreas’s taverna, pointing out places to each other and watching the starry sky unfold out over the sea.

  They were indeed given a little table for two, right at the edge of the courtyard, with an uninterrupted view.

  Little Rina served them. Andreas was indoors. Georgi, Vonni, and Dr. Leros were with him in there too. They all waved. They would talk to Thomas and Elsa later. When it was time for the second coffee.

  “I need to talk to you about my looking for a job,” she said.

&n
bsp; “Yes. I didn’t ask too much.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because even though you said there are other countries, I was afraid you would be offered a big position back there in Germany. And I suppose, to be honest, I was afraid you might meet Dieter again and . . . and . . .” He rushed on with the speech before she could say anything. “I’ve been just working out how soon you can come out to see me, and then I’ll come and see you. I can’t bear to let you go now that I’ve found you. Maybe I’m mad to risk losing you by going back to Bill.”

  “I got a job, Thomas.”

  “Where?” he asked in a very shaky voice.

  “I’m almost afraid to tell you.”

  “Then it is Germany,” he said with a defeated face.

  “No.”

  “Where, Elsa? No games, I beg you.”

  “Based in Los Angeles but roaming up and down the West Coast. A weekly column for a big magazine—interviews, politics, features. Whatever I can come up with, really.” She looked at him anxiously for a reaction.

  “Where did you say?” he asked, dumbfounded.

  “California,” she said nervously. “Is it too soon, too much of an assumption? I mean, I just couldn’t bear to lose you . . . but if you think . . .”

  A slow smile began to broaden across his face. “Oh, Elsa, darling, isn’t that wonderful!” he began.

  “I don’t have to live with you or anything, I don’t want to crowd you out, but I thought we could be together a lot . . . You see, I know that we haven’t been together long, but now I couldn’t exist without you.”

  Thomas stood up and went to her side of the table. He pulled her to her feet and kissed her. He didn’t care about the other guests.