told them. ‘They’re hot off the plane.’
Twenty dollars wouldn’t pay for transport from the airport, Elsa thought. How much had these cost?
‘They’re not to be wasted,’ he said severely, and Zoe needed no further prodding. She popped one into her mouth really fast.
‘They’re not just for eating,’ he told her, lifting two pairs of cherries, each pair joined at the stem, and looping them over Zoe’s ears. ‘Cherry earrings are my favourite accessory.’
‘You wear them too,’ Zoe said, and he promptly did.
A prince was sitting at her kitchen table wearing cherry earrings.
Her foundations were getting shaky.
‘Have a cherry,’ he said kindly. ‘They go off fast, I hear.’
‘Not in range of us, they don’t,’ she said and ate a cherry and then another. And then…why not?…another.
‘I’m up to nine already,’ Zoe crowed. Zoe was showered and shiny clean, her face was flushed with pleasure and she was popping cherries in with an enjoyment Elsa had never seen. For four long years, for operation after operation, this little girl had been cheated of her childhood. And now…Stefanos had arrived and joy was flooding in.
Without warning, tendrils of fear wound their way round her heart yet again. But this time it was different. It wasn’t just the fear of Zoe being taken away. It was stronger. Maybe Stefanos could give Zoe a better life than she could. If he cared for his little cousin and loved her and made her laugh…What right did she have to stand in his way?
‘You’re not eating,’ he said gently and draped cherry earrings on her as well. ‘There. We’re the cherry family- Mama Cherry, Papa Cherry, Baby Cherry.’
She smiled and ate another cherry but there were icicles forming inside. She’d only ever wanted what was best for Zoe. If this was what was best…
‘Let me show you what else I have in my car,’ he said, watching her face. He could see her terror, she thought. This man saw things she didn’t want to reveal to anyone.
Maybe it was the man himself who terrified her the most.
‘Presents?’ Zoe said hopefully and he grinned.
‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘Coming right up.’
‘This is exciting,’ Zoe said.
‘It is.’ She was desperately trying to match Zoe’s pleasure. Outwardly succeeding. Inwardly failing.
And then he was back, carrying suitcases, one soft blue leather, the other pink.
Suitcases. A wave of nausea swept over her so strongly that she rose and made a move towards the bathroom.
Stefanos dumped the suitcases and stopped her.
‘Elsa, no,’ he said softly. ‘I told you before, you have nothing to be afraid of.’
‘You’re taking Zoe away.’ She hadn’t meant to say it. To say it in front of Zoe was unforgivable, but her terror was too raw, too real for her to disguise it.
‘I do need to take Zoe to Khryseis,’ he said, still in that gentle, reassuring tone that must surely be a learned bedside manner.
‘Trust me,’ he said now, as Zoe rose, her panic matching Elsa’s. ‘I want to take you both to the Diamond Isles. Zoe is the Crown Princess of Khryseis. Khryseis needs Zoe, and Zoe needs you. So I need you both. Thus I’m asking if you’ll both come home with me.’
It was important-really important-to get her expression right. Zoe was staring at her and she’d seen terror. Stefanos was Zoe’s cousin. This was Zoe’s life, not hers. She had to get fear off her face and show courage.
‘You…you scared me,’ she managed at last, and to her relief her voice came out calm. ‘I saw the suitcase and I thought you might be wanting Zoe to go away today. She doesn’t even have a passport.’
‘It will take a few days to get the documentation through.’ His gaze was holding hers. ‘Zoe, I think I frightened Elsa,’ he said, rueful. ‘How can we stop her being scared?’
You could go away, Elsa thought, but she knew Zoe wouldn’t say that. Zoe was entranced with her big new cousin, and why shouldn’t she be?
Stefanos was a prince, Zoe was a princess, and he’d pulled Zoe onside simply by acting as if the two of them needed to reassure her. Prince and princess together.
‘Hey, Elsa, it’s okay,’ he said and reached to take her hand. His hold was strong and firm and…reassuring? How could touch be reassuring? How could his touch warm her when she was so cold she was beginning to shake?
She should pull away.
She couldn’t.
‘Does Khryseis have a beach?’ Zoe asked, and Elsa knew right then that this was a done deal. ‘Elsa likes beaches,’ the little girl told her cousin. ‘We looked at Khryseis on the computer and Elsa said she bet there were more fish than we could count. And more starfish.’
‘Starfish?’ he said, bemused, and his hand was still holding hers. She should pull it away, but how could she? How could she find strength to pull from such a touch?
‘The real name for starfish is echinoderms, or asteroidea,’ Zoe was saying importantly. ‘They have two stomachs. They use one stomach to digest food while the other stomach turns inside out to pull its food in. But the really cool thing is that if they lose an arm they can grow another one. If I was a starfish I could grow another finger. And if you find just one leg of a starfish still joined to just a little bit of its body, a whole new starfish can grow. How cool is that?’
‘Really cool,’ he said, sounding stunned.
‘It’s what me and Elsa are working on,’ she told him, sounding about twenty years older than her eight years. ‘And the Internet says Khryseis has some really weird starfish.’ She turned to Elsa, her eyes shining with small girl excitement. ‘Elsa, can we go?’
No, she wanted to scream. No!
Instead she took a deep breath. She tried a tug on her hand but it wasn’t released.
‘Sweetheart, maybe we could work things out so you could go,’ she whispered. ‘I need to work.’
Zoe’s face fell. ‘I can’t go without you,’ she said, her bottom lip wobbling. ‘I’d be scared.’
So would I, Elsa thought, but once again she held her tongue.
‘I need you both to come,’ Stefanos said. He was watching the two of them, focusing as much on Elsa as he was on Zoe. The pressure on her hand remained. Was he trying to warn her? she wondered. It didn’t feel like that. It simply felt as if he was feeding her…strength. It was a crazy concept but it seemed the only one that would fit.
‘That’s why I’ve brought two suitcases,’ he told them. Finally he released her hand. He’d set the suitcases on the floor and he flipped one open.
From the top he lifted a shiny new laptop computer. She’d seen these advertised. They were worth…a tenth of Zoe’s next operation?
‘This is for you,’ he told her, setting it on the table. ‘Whether you decide to come or not. You work from home. Why can’t that home be on Khryseis?’
Because…
There was no because. She couldn’t think of one, apart from the fact that the thought left her terrified.
She glanced at the mantel. Mathew’s face smiled at her. Steadied her.
There must be a because.
Because my husband is buried here? Because this is where my grief is?
That wasn’t a good because.
Because this guy in front of me makes my body react as I don’t believe it’s ever reacted?
Well, that was something she needed to dismiss. How weak a because was that?
Because I’d have no control over Zoe’s life? Because people would stare at her scars? Because, as a royal, she’d be on display, and it could well destroy her?
Here at last were valid reasons, but before she could voice them Stefanos had lifted parcels onto the table.
