Eugenia smiled. ‘That’s good news. I know how much you’ve missed him since he went back to his ship.’
‘This will be the last time we see him. He’s being posted to another ship, goodness knows where.’ She heard the catch in her voice. ‘Do you think people will celebrate Christmas this year? I’d like him to see how we do things here in Kefalonia, but it doesn’t seem right with all the suffering elsewhere on the island.’
Eugenia looked at her daughter. ‘I know what you mean, but I think we should try. Even if it’s just for the little ones. We can all cut back, can’t we? Come and look at this.’
She beckoned Cassia to follow her into the living room, where she brought out a bag of fabrics. Inside were two cloth dolls with beautifully embroidered clothes.
‘They are not finished. One for Maia and one for Eléni. They cost me nothing.’
Cassia was touched by the fact that her sister included Eléni. ‘They’re beautiful. They’re going to love them.Efcharistó.’
‘Quick! Hand it here, she’s coming in.’ Maia arrived in the room just as her mother managed to hide the bag away.
‘I’ve come to ask you a big favour. Michaíl is out of wood for the fire. I don’t suppose you could let us have some, could you,parakaló? Just until we can get some money to buy from the farm on the way here. He wants to go out into the woods behind Fiscardo and cut some down himself, but he’s too old to be doing that. Once I can sell some of my spanakopita and people are buying some tablecloths and duchess sets again, we can buy more wood. This is the worst winter I’ve known — the house is freezing. And I worry about him and Eléni.’
Eugenia agreed to help and offered to take Cassia back to Fiscardo before it got dark. The two sisters sat and talked. Georgios’s name never came up in the conversation. Instead, they talked about what preparations would be needed for Christmas. Jointly, they decided to revert to sharing the stall and split the money made.
‘I don’t know how I would manage without my sister,’ said Cassia. ‘I’ve been feeling guilty about reacting the way I did. It’s natural you need the stall now you and Maia are back on your own.’ She leaned across and patted her sister’s arm. ‘I am genuinely sorry about Georgios leaving, you know.’
‘Even though you were proved right?’ Eugenia smiled at her.
Chapter Fourteen
Over the next two weeks, Cassia worked harder than ever. Sharing the market stall with Eugenia, she cooked during the day and made small, inexpensive embroidered items for the local inhabitants of Fiscardo to buy as Christmas gifts. The money earned meant Michaíl could restock the logs, and she could start to collect the ingredients for the traditional Christmas treats she was looking forward to making. As it got closer to the first of December, she looked out to sea every day, hoping each ferry arriving would be the one reuniting her and Eléni with Tom. It got closer to 6 December, but there was still no sign of him. She worried he would miss the lighting of the boats in the bay. Even though it would be much more subdued than normal, the people of Fiscardo had decided the feast day should still be celebrated in some way.
It wasn’t Tom who arrived at the taverna early one morning, but Eugenia holding Maia’s hand. She’d parked the truck on the quayside.
‘Can you and Eléni come outside? I’ve got someone there I think you’d like to see.’
Cassia ran upstairs to wake Eléni and get them both dressed. She looked out of the bedroom window. The truck was empty and the only person she could see was Eugenia herself walking back to her vehicle.Where was Maia? And who was looking after her?
‘Ready?’
Eléni nodded and held her arms wide, as if to ask what was going on. Michaíl, coming out of his bedroom, asked the same thing.
‘I don’t know myself. It was Eugenia hammering on the door. I’ll tell you later.’
Cassia and Eléni walked towards the truck. She could still only see her sister.
‘Kaliméra, Kýria Makris.’
The voice she had been longing to hear! She spun around and Tom Beynon walked up behind her. Eléni ran towards him and jumped up into his arms. Placing the little girl back on the ground, he embraced Cassia. Her heartbeat raced. She’d told herself she wouldn’t cry when she saw him but tears spilled over, trickling down her cheeks.
‘I didn’t know when you’d be arriving,’ she said. ‘And how come Eugenia brought you here?’
Eugenia got out of the driver’s seat. Together with little Maia, who got out of the back of the truck, she joined them. ‘Did you enjoy your surprise? Mine wasn’t a surprise, more of a shock. A banging on the door after we’d gone to bed last night.’
Of course. It dawned on Cassia. Eugenia’s house was where he knew she and Eléni had last been living. It was where he’d addressed his letter.
‘I’m sorry if I scared you. I thought if I asked to sleep on your sofa last night, I could work out lodgings in Fiscardo today. I didn’t realise how late it was.’
Cassia couldn’t stop smiling. She had so much to tell her Welsh hero.
* * *
‘At six o’clock tonight, the boats will be lit for the first time.’ Cassia nodded her head towards the quayside. ‘I can’t wait for you to see them in the dark.’ She and Tom were sitting outside Taverna Zervaswhile Eléni played inside with the doll dressed in Maltese costume that he’d brought for her. Michaíl had offered to look after her while they talked. He’d winked at Cassia and whispered, ‘I think he wants you to himself.’
She explained to Tom about the long-held tradition of decorating boats as part of the Greek Christmas activities and how she wasn’t sure if it would be done this year.
