‘When will we be there?’ Lily whined. Stella dropped back to walk beside her daughter and Amelia. Both girls’ heads were bowed. Their moods had taken a nosedive.
‘Not long now, I’m sure,’ she reassured, but really, she had no idea. Maybe a mile meant something different in Crete. Maybe they’d be walking for hours. Perhaps this whole trip was a terrible mistake and they shouldn’t have come.
The donkey track curved right then left and on they trudged without speaking. The silence was broken at last by a cry from Katerina.
‘This is it! We’ve arrived!’
She’d come to a sudden halt and was pointing ahead. Everybody stopped and stared too. The gravelly track petered out a few feet hence and became a rough sandy path, lined with gnarled old olive trees.
At the very end was a set of tall, shiny black metal gates and behind them loomed an imposing building made of the same grey-beige stone as Eleni’s cottage.
Now the goal was in sight, the group’s pace quickened. Even Hector started to hurry, picking up one end of Stella’s case without being asked when she struggled to drag it across the sand.
Soon, Katerina was pulling a big bunch of keys from her trouser pocket and placing it in a large black lock. The metal gates were very heavy. Undaunted, she turned round, bent almost double, and used all the strength in her back and legs to force them open.
‘This way,’ she said firmly when Amelia and Lily started to wander across the gravel courtyard in the wrong direction. ‘Stay with me or you’ll get lost.’
The villa did indeed look like the sort of place where you could easily lose your way. The main part was a tall rectangular tower, with an archway in the middle leading to the front door. On either side were two lower, two-storey sections, with windows upstairs and down.
It was an old building that seemed to have been lovingly renovated. There were no cracks or gaps in the stonework and the sky-blue shutters and front door looked freshly painted. Giant terracotta pots in the courtyard had been carefully filled with interesting-shaped palms and colourful blooms.
Stella was about to ask about the history of the place, but Katerina got in first.
‘Sections dates back to 1462,’ she said. ‘It was built by the Venetians, but has been much modified since. The current owners have taken care to bring it up to date while retaining most of its original charm.’
Louise cocked her head to one side, her interest piqued.
‘Who are the current owners?’
Stella had been wondering the same thing; she hadn’t seen any mention of them on the villa’s website. Katerina was already striding up the stone steps to the front door, however, and didn’t reply.
‘Be careful. They’re quite steep.’
As soon as the door swung open, Amelia and Lily pushed ahead, followed by Stella, Louise and the boys.
Gazing round, they could see they’d entered a wide, open entrance hall, with a high ceiling, smooth, whitewashed walls and cool, cream-coloured marble floor tiles.
In the centre was a polished dark wood table on which sat a chunky, greenish-grey ceramic vase with a round bottom and narrow neck.
A number of curved archways led off the hall into smaller rooms, one with a TV and some comfortable-looking dark-red armchairs, just waiting to be sat on, another with a desk, more chairs and an antique wooden table with a fancy chessboard on top.
Another bigger arch behind led into the dining room with a rectangular, pale-grey marble table in the centre. It could probably have seated at least twelve people and must have been incredibly heavy to lift. To Stella, it seemed to represent strength and permanence. She liked it.
The open-plan layout of the property created a sense of space and light, while the little nook-like rooms round the atrium seemed to beckon you in.
Stella took a deep breath. She’d picked well; the villa was serene, comfortable and beautiful. Thank God one thing, at least, was going right.
They left their bags on the floor and followed Katerina to the yellow and white kitchen at the back of the house. It was spotlessly clean and appeared to have everything they needed. There was even a tree outside the open window, giving off a heavenly scent of lemon blossom.
Next, they went upstairs to see the bedrooms, which were simply but tastefully decorated with linen blinds in deep shades of red, orange and blue, original paintings and wooden floors scattered with rustic, woven rugs.
The best ones had balconies and views of the mountains, town and sea.
Louise turned to Stella and smiled.
‘Happy?’
‘Very. It’s gorgeous. Surely I’ll be able to relax here?’
