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‘You’d better sit down,’ he said heavily.
‘I don’t want to sit down. Tell me, Theo. Just tell me.’
And even though her pale cheeks made him suspect she had already guessed, he nodded. ‘I’m afraid it’s your grandfather,’ he said, swallowing down the sudden lump which had constricted his throat. ‘He died a few minutes ago.’
He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her, but deep down he knew he didn’t have the right, not after everything he’d said.
And touching her was always fraught with complications.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THEOBARELYSAIDa word to her, throughout the journey to Greece. Not on the plane, nor in the waiting car which took them straight to the funeral parlour. He had sat gazing out of the window, seemingly lost in thought. His face, Mia thought, looked as if it had been carved from some dark and unforgiving piece of granite. His features were bleak and stony, his body language forbidding. Was this his way of dealing with the grief of Georgios’ passing? Had it made him close in on himself even more? Unable to offer her even the most rudimentary element of comfort?
She had not shared his bed. She had not shared so much as a kiss or a hug, since news had reached them in the south of France, right after their uncomfortable showdown which had left her in no doubt about how little she really meant to him. Perhaps with her grandfather gone, he no longer saw the need to maintain any kind of masquerade. And didn’t that make sense, on so many levels? The need for pretence was gone.
But she took her lead from him, clinging onto her composure and not giving into tears—not once. Not because she was afraid of showing her grief in front of the man who was still technically her husband, but because she was afraid that once she started crying, she might never stop.
Wearing the black dress and shoes which had been hastily purchased from the hotel boutique in Nice, Mia prepared to say her final farewell to herpappous.
‘Do you want me to come in with you?’ Theo asked.
Of course she did. She’d never even seen a dead person before. She wanted him to stand by her side and squeeze her hand. And afterwards hold her tight and dry her tears, and offer her the condolence she so badly needed.
But she didn’t articulate her wishes because she was afraid of sending out the wrong message. To Theo, yes—but, more importantly, to herself. That might imply she was expecting him to behave like a real husband, or that she had started to rely on him, and was looking to him for support. And why get used to something which was only going to be snatched from you?
‘No. You go in after me,’ she said. ‘I’ll be fine.’
At least Theo took over all the funeral arrangements—booking the church, contacting friends, and putting notices in the paper—and Mia was grateful for his cool efficiency. The church was full, bright with the light of the candles which every mourner held. In a daze, Mia greeted them all—some she knew, though many she didn’t. She recognised most of the nurses and thanked them for their care, and the first crack in her carefully constructed composure came when she was hugged by Georgios’s old housekeeper, Elena. And that was when she had crumbled. Clinging to the matronly woman who had known her since she was young, she had sobbed her heart out.
The rest of the wake passed in a blur and Mia was dry-eyed by the time she slid into the passenger seat beside Theo and he drove her back to his house. But when she stood in a hallway in the light of the setting sun, she suddenly felt as if she’d lost her way—like someone stumbling around a maze in the dark. She found herself looking around, as if she had never been here before—as if she didn’t recognise any of it. Was it really here that she had given her virginity to this man and stupidly reactivated all those deeply buried feelings for him?
‘Come outside and sit down,’ said Theo, still with that cool and remote manner which was making him seem like a stranger.
‘I’d better go and pack,’ she said stiffly, her fingers curling round her black patent clutch bag.
He frowned. ‘You don’t need to do that now, do you?’
‘Well, actually, I do, if I’m leaving tomorrow.’
‘This is news to me.’
‘I wasn’t aware that I had to run my travel arrangements past you first.’
‘I’ll need to arrange for my plane to be ready.’ He studied her consideringly. ‘Don’t you want to stay for the reading of the will?’
A flicker of anger stirred to life inside her and in that moment Mia could have slammed her fists against his chest. Even the most insensitive person might have faked a little surprise at her abrupt departure, or fabricated a trace of disappointment, but not Theo. It was still about the money for him, she thought bitterly. ‘I don’t care about the damned will, Theo. I just want to get back.’
Something else which had been nagging at her suddenly occurred to her. ‘What about Tycheros? Who’s going to look after him now that Pappous has gone?’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he goes to a good home.’
‘Agood home?’ she echoed. ‘With people we don’t even know? Why can’t you take him? There’s plenty of space here for him to run around.’
‘Because my lifestyle is incompatible with having a dog, Mia. I travel a lot of the time and wouldn’t be here for him.’ His mouth hardened. ‘And I don’t want the tie of having to look after an animal.’
Mia flinched at his words. He had all those staff but he didn’t want a tie and he couldn’t provide a home, not even for a dog as beloved as Tycheros.
‘I want him to come to England to live with me,’ she said suddenly. ‘Will you help me do that?’
