‘There is more?’
Eléni nodded and pointed at her chest.
Cassia brought out some drawings that had been placed between two pieces of card to prevent them from creasing. They were Eléni’s drawings Cassia had labelled. He held them up one by one for everyone to see. Cassia watched his face as he held up the final one — it was of her and Tom on either side of Eléni, all holding hands. She remembered the effect it had had on her when she’d seen it for the first time. One happy family. Tom was clearly affected by it too.
Eugenia gave Maia a little box to hand to Tom. ‘I helped Mamá make these for you.’ Inside were some little oval biscuits, smelling of orange, spices and honey. They were topped with nuts.
‘Maia, these look so good.’
The little girl smiled.
Eugenia explained. ‘They’remelomakaronaand it is traditional to give them as gifts at Christmas. Mind, I had to make sure Maia didn’t eat them all.’
‘Thank you, girls. I’ll always remember this Christmas. Shall I go next? There are two special gifts for two special little girls in here.’ Eléni and Maia clapped their hands as Tom put his hand in a bag and pulled out two identical parcels.
‘Efcharistó,’ said Maia.
Eléni pointed at Tom, then back at herself and then clapped. ‘To...’
Tom smiled and hugged them both.
Eugenia looked shocked. ‘When has that happened?’ she whispered to Cassia.
‘It’s all down to Tom.’ Her eyes shone as she saw her sister’s mutual delight.
‘You’ll need some help from your mamás to help you get started,’ he said.
Everyone watched as Eléni and Maia tore off the wrapping paper.
‘It’s a picture of a girl!’ Maia held up a pack of cardboard sheets, on which were pictures of children surrounded by different styles of clothes.
Eléni clapped, her eyes wide with delight. ‘To...’ she said again.
‘They’re paper dolls. We used to have these, didn’t we?Efcharistó,Tom, they’re going to love playing with these.’
‘Yes.Efcharistó,Tom. Come here, girls.’ Maia and Eléni stood by Eugenia, and Maia handed her pack to her mother, who took out the sheets of dolls with care. ‘I’ll help you cut out the dolls and see this dotted line. We bend it back so the dolls can stand. Then we’ll cut out the clothes, and see these little tags — we fold those back and then you can choose which clothes you’d like to dress your dolly in.’
‘Can we do it now?’ said Maia, excitedly. By her side, Eléni nodded in agreement.
Eugenia went to find pairs of scissors while the girls got their sheets of dolls ready.
‘You men don’t mind while we do this, do you? They’ll be so engrossed in dressing their new dolls, we won’t be disturbed. Thank you. It was such a good idea.’
Michaíl poured Tom an ouzo. ‘Do you want some water with it? Or do you want it as it comes, like a true Kefalonian.’ He laughed as he added water at Tom’s request, watching the liquid turn milky. ‘Let’s leave them to it.’
Cassia wondered how Michaíl would have spent his Christmas if she and Eléni had not been staying with him. All she knew about him was that his wife had died and he’d been a staunch partisan. He’d never mentioned any family, and she didn’t want to pry.
Eugenia returned and handed a pair of scissors to her sister. They cut out the dolls and then the selection of clothes, while both little girls watched intently.
‘We must be careful not to cut across the tags,’ said Cassia. ‘You’ll need those when you come to dress the dollies.’
‘There. That’s the first one done.’ Eugenia held up a doll and proceeded to show them how to add the clothes.
The rest of the afternoon was spent talking while the girls played with their dolls. More ouzo was drunk and Eugenia made coffee before bringing out more melomakarona.‘We couldn’t let Tom have them all, could we?’
They all laughed.
‘I don’t know how you’ve managed all of this with the shortages, Eugenia.’ Michaíl savoured his pastry.
