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‘I want this, Costa,’ his mother said.
Costa knew exactly what his mother wanted—and so many others on the island too—for the prodigal son to return and for past decisions to be erased. It was about more than Costa. It was about traditions and family honour and all he sought to escape.
He knew the pressure his mother was under, for he had felt the claws of it himself during occasional brief visits.
‘I want to celebrate how far we have come,’ Yolanda continued. ‘I want to be surrounded by friends and to stand with my son. I want my birthday here...’
Anapliró.
Costa was being summoned home.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘HOWWASYOURBIRTHDAY, Mary?’
Sitting opposite her father on her regular Monday afternoon visit, she thought that precious time with Costa seemed light years away.
‘It was fine.’ Mary pushed out a smile.
‘What did you get up to?’
She tried to come up with something, but no words were forthcoming. ‘Just...’
Mary couldn’t explain to her father, let alone herself, what had transpired. Not the awful part, nor the job offer, not even the cake...
‘How’s work?’ Her father broke into her thoughts and perhaps read them a little. ‘No luck with the apprenticeship?’
‘No.’ She told him a little of what was going on in her world. ‘Coral gave it to the daughter of a friend.’
‘You’ve still got a job, though?’ he checked.
‘Yes...’ Mary took a breath. The glimmer of confidence she had found in speaking with Costa felt almost snuffed out now, but she was fighting to reignite it. ‘I’m applying elsewhere, though. I went to the library this morning and found a book on writing a CV.’
‘That’s good.’ Her father looked at her. ‘Mary, you know I love seeing you, but I don’t want to hold you back...’
‘Dad, please don’t.’
She did not want to hear again how he’d prefer it if she didn’t come and how he loathed her seeing him here.
There was a dreadful stretch of silence then, and still a full fifty minutes to go. Both knew what the other was thinking.
About that fateful night.
‘I’m so sorry, Mary...’
‘Dad, please...’ Mary shrivelled into herself, for it was something she simply could not think about, let alone sit and discuss.
And so they sat in silence.
Yet as she looked at her frail father, once so dependable and strong, every moment of that night played like a magic lantern on the walls of her mind.
Her grandmother had come over to babysit while her parents attended a function. Mary had been in trouble again, and was to have been sent to bed early with no treats.
‘No treats!’Granny Farrell had exclaimed.‘Why not?’
‘Because Mary has to learn,’her dad had said. He’d come over and knelt down beside her and taken her clenched hands in his.‘You can’t just go running off like you did.’
‘I know.’
