Page 124 of Summer in Greece

We talked through the night, only stopping while I fed Adam. Manno watched, his face alight with awe. My heart was breaking as dawn approached. I knew I would never leave Johnathan. I had put his life in danger, made him lose his leg. I could not break his heart too. Manno’s plan was all a dream, a fairy tale, doomed from the start.

At five o’clock, as dawn broke, I started to wrap Adam in a blanket with the intention of placing him in the perambulator.

‘Wait!’ Manno said, picking him up tenderly. He held him in front of his face and spoke seriously to our beautiful baby. ‘My son, you must grow big and strong, and take care of your mother. You must do this for me, because I love her with all my heart. Your name is Adam, but I give you your Greek name. You, my son, are Hephaestus, blacksmith, god of fire and strength, because you were born from the fiery passion between your mother and me, your father, inside a house of stone, on the island of Syros. I don’t know when I will see you again, but you will always be in my heart, and I will think about you every day, until I die. On this, I swear.’ He gently kissed Adam’s cheeks, his forehead, and his mouth, then lay him on the settle and kissed the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. When he stood, and passed our baby back to me, his eyes were full of tears.

‘I will walk to the gate with you, Manno.’ I could hardly say the words for the pain in my throat. Would I ever see him again? ‘Kiss me one last time.’ My heart was breaking. All the love I had for him seemed to fill me in that moment. Oh, how I wanted to go back to Greece with him. We broke apart, and I tried to stifle my sobs as we stepped outside.

Sensing my distress, Manno said, ‘Just promise me you’ll wait until the end of the war, agapi mou. Give me a chance to prove I can give you and our son a better life.’

Unable to speak, I nodded. We were just under the big oak tree when a van came speeding down Lighthouse Lane.

Neither of us heard the collision, and I’m sure the driver was unaware of it, but there on the verge, as still as death, was one of my father’s pigeons. I recognised it immediately. Icarus, a blaze of pure white feathers. I put the brake on the pram as Manno stooped to pick up the bird.

‘It is a sign,’ he said. ‘Such a beautiful bird. It is like an angel sent by the gods. Look, it comes back to life in my hands!’ The bird fluttered.

‘It has a broken wing, Manno. Best to put it out of its misery. I don’t want to see it suffer.’

‘No, agapi mou, I told you, it is a sign, don’t you see? There is so much I want to say, but the passion gets in the way and I can’t find the right words in English. I will fix his wing and send him back to you with a letter. Katarina will help me with the English. Do you have a box?’

Aware of time ticking by, I hurried to the pigeon loft and brought Manno a pigeon backpack – a bamboo cage with two leather straps to hold it onto the shoulders of a soldier.

‘Take care of my son, Gertie!’ he cried, marching towards Dover port just as a huge orange sun met the horizon, silhouetting him as he turned with a final wave.

I waved back, hoping he could not see the tears racing down my face, or feel the pain of my broken heart. And for all I know, I could not see the tears on his face, or feel his broken heart either. I wanted to think that it was over now, but I knew the love between us was eternal.

*

I never heard from Manno again, but my love for him has never died. Even to this day, I think about him often. My storm-tossed soul still clings to the wreckage of life.

Let me give you this advice. If you find love, darling Shelly, grab hold of it. True love is the only thing you should never let go, regardless of the difficulties, it is a rare and precious thing.

Corporal Perkins loved me, of that I am sure, and I believe Adam and I brought him a great deal of happiness. However, it’s a sad fact that he didn’t survive the war. Although he was a non-combatant, he was often in the war zone. His end came when a jeep in his convoy broke down. He left his vehicle to take a look, and stepped on a land mine. He gave a message to another soldier, for me.

Dearest Gertie and Adam, I love you both with all my heart. Don’t be too sad, you have made me happy beyond measure. I won’t be coming home, darling nurse of mine. I leave you with the task of finding a good father for my boy. Someone who knows about discipline, and love, and the importance of affection and loyalty, Gertie. In the short time we have had together, I am grateful for all the joy you have given me. You know I’ve loved you from that first moment I saw you, on the Britannic. I want you to know that I’m not in any pain, but I will not make it back, my darling. I’ll see you in heaven, beautiful Gertie. Hold my son tightly, for me. Kiss his sweet face, and talk of me when you take him to your breast.

All my eternal love,

Your devoted Corporal.

Adam had not been christened yet, and because his father had died, I insisted the boy had my family’s name. This was an unusual thing to do, but times were changing and there was so much going on with women’s rights, equality, and the vote, nobody was really surprised. Everyone knew I was a great supporter of Mrs Pankhurst, and Sissy would have approved.

Our son, Adam, grew into a fine young man, tall and handsome. In 1938, when he reached twenty-one, I told him about his father, Manno, how he pledged his love, but never returned.

Adam had a passion for travel. He had trained as an architect and specialised in bridge building, but he eagerly signed up with the army when they advertised for professionals, despite my objecting.

‘Adam, I’ve lost almost everyone I loved to the war. I’m begging you, stay away from the forces.’

‘Really, Mum.’ He took me into his arms. ‘Leave the drama programmes for the radio. War of the Worlds isn’t real, you know, it’s make believe, straight out of George Orwell’s own head. I’m not going to be in any danger building bridges, now am I? Anyway, I want to try and find out what happened to my father while I’m abroad.’

‘Honestly, you sound like my lovely brother, Arthur. He didn’t believe anything bad could happen to him. “We’ll show them!” he cried. Excited to join up and defend the Empire.’

‘That was the olden days, Mum,’ Adam said. ‘Everything’s different now. Nobody wants another war, do they? Stop worrying.’

He went to Syros, on a quest to find his father. So, it came about that I learned of Manno’s death from our son. This was a dark time for me. The local people told Adam, Manno had pulled up a mine in his fishing net. The explosion killed him and his father.

Adam was working on a Greek bridge between the mainland and the island of Evia, the second-largest island in Greece. While there, he caught the ferry to Kea to visit his father’s grave. He fell in love with a Greek girl, Anna, and in 1943 she came to England where they married. This was a time of joy.

Anna gave birth to Margarete in 1951. Unfortunately Anna became ill and died shortly after. I brought up Margarete, as my own. Not a difficult task as I loved her intensely, and still do.