Her mother got up and took a booklet from the magazine rack next to Tom’s wooden armchair in the kitchen.
‘Well, it seems it’s not just me who doesn’t say a thing.’ It was a brochure on Greek holidays that Eléni had taken when she’d visited Get Away Travel for the first time. ‘Planning something?’ Cassia’s face was blotchy. ‘When were you going to tell us?’
Eléni’s face and neck reddened. ‘Where did you get that?’
‘Too much time on my hands. When I stripped your bed, I spotted the corner peeping out from under it.’ She held up the brochure. ‘Oh, look. The page on Kefalonia has been turned down.’
Eléni didn’t like the sarcasm in her mother’s voice. She was desperate not to rise to the bait. She’d planned to tell them in a calm manner, but her mother had just scuppered it. Her father began to clear away the crockery and pile it near the sink.
Eléni went upstairs to fetch the books, brochures and the all-important map.
They all sat around the table. Her mother’s face was like thunder.
Eléni spread the map over the table.
‘When I found out you were not my real parents, I was angry you hadn’t told me and said some awful things. I’m sorry. I do understand why you took me away from the island. I’ll always be grateful for that. Since then, I’ve been trying to find out everything about the island and what happened. The more I read, the more I understood why you did what you did.’ She reached across and squeezed her mother’s hand. ’You will always be my parents. Always.’
Cassia’s eyes had welled with unshed tears. ‘We couldn’t leave you. You had no one... or so we thought. We really believed that.’
‘I’ve been spending time in the library and reading about the earthquake. I think I found you in one photo, Mamá. Talking to a reporter. Remember the article appealing for people who may have seen a child who looks like me? It means I have an uncle who looked for me, doesn’t it? So you see, I have to go to Kefalonia and see if I can find my uncle. He may have children, so I could have cousins too. It won’t mean I love you both or Bron any less.’
‘Loads of people go travelling these days. I want to go after uni.’Thank you, sister dear.‘I think it’s exciting. Especially if I can join you after A levels.’
Eléni proceeded to tell them about how she was going to get to Kefalonia and the hotel she’d booked into. ‘I think it wasArgostoli where Baba brought me out from the house. So I chose a place there.’
Her mother nodded, but didn’t comment.
‘Please say something, Mamá. Just think of me going travelling. I’ll be back, I promise.’
‘I don’t want you to go. Go to another Greek island if you have to travel, but when we left Kefalonia to come here I vowed I’d never return. I didn’t even go back to see my mother when she was dying or go to her funeral.’ Cassia’s voice cracked with emotion.
She stood and dashed from the room.
‘Leave her. She’ll come round. She’ll have to,’ said Tom.
‘I don’t understand why she’s so against me going. I know it was wrong to keep all the planning to myself, but I didn’t want to upset her until I knew I was definitely going. I knew she’d be like this.’
‘Yes, whyisMamá so upset? It’s been almost twenty years since she left. Eléni is a grown woman.’ Bronwen was as puzzled as Eléni.
Their father sighed. ‘She’s afraid. Afraid, if you find your uncle, he will want to make up for all the years he hasn’t had you in his life. For all we know, you may be the sole blood relative he has left. He could put pressure on you to stay. When he came looking for you, your mother didn’t even tellmeuntil the day you found the letter and confronted us about not being your birth parents. In her eyes, we broke the law by taking you. Her way of dealing with it is to shut out anything to do with her homeland.’
Cassia entered the kitchen, her eyes red-rimmed. ‘Sorry. I just wish you’d told me what you were planning. I think it’s a mistake, but, as your baba and sister say, you’re a grown woman. I don’t want your heart to be broken if you can’t find your uncle or, worse still, he rejects you because of what me and your father did. Now, who wants some jam roly-poly?’
Eyebrows were raised and looks were exchanged by everyone around the table as Cassia poured the custard into a serving jug and spooned out dishes of their favourite pudding. The subject was closed... for now.
Chapter Forty-Two
Four weeks later
Early-morning light poured into Eléni’s bedroom. Opening her eyes, her stomach knotted again as it had done repeatedly during the last few days.This is it!I’m returning to the place of my birth.The day she’d been planning and waiting for had arrived. She’d hardly slept a wink. Her mind whirled with thoughts of what was ahead. It was just going to be Eléni and her father going to the airport. Bronwen had said her goodbyes the night before because of their very early start.
‘You will send loads of postcards, won’t you?’ she said. ‘Let me know what the local talent’s like.’ The two girls laughed.
Eléni realised how much she was going to miss her sister.
There was a knock at the door. ‘Can I come in,agápi mou? I thought you’d like a cup of tea.’
‘Oh, thank you.’ She sat up and took the cup from her mother.You haven’t slept much either, have you, Mamá?‘You shouldn’t have got up at this ungodly hour.’
