‘Elsa?’ he called into the night and in seconds she was back. Looking straight to Zoe.
But Zoe slept on. Elsa’s face slackened in relief, and he thought how much had she worried? How many infections, dramas had she endured during these four years of getting Zoe back to health?
‘It’s just turtles,’ he said swiftly and she looked down at his hand. He had one hand cupped over the other but tiny flippers were peeking through. They felt weird. A handful of flippering.
‘They were just…here,’ he said, in case she thought he’d collected them from the beach, done something less than noble, he didn’t know what, but he was starting to suspect she thought he wasn’t exactly hero material.
Hell, he wished he could be.
‘What in the world are they doing here?’ she asked, opening his hands and taking them into her smaller ones with all the tenderness in the world. ‘Hey, guys, the ocean’s this-a-way.’
‘I guess, if they walked far enough, the ocean is that-a-way,’ he said.
‘Yeah, but changing direction’s easier,’ she whispered. ‘I ought to know. Come on, guys, I’ll take you where you need to go.’
‘What do you mean, changing direction’s easier?’ he asked.
She looked up at him in the firelight and shook her head. ‘If you need to explain it, you can’t do it,’ she said. ‘You just…follow your heart. Thank you, Stefanos, for saving my turtles. And thank you for giving me another direction. I’ll make the most of it.’
‘Your hip…’
‘Has nothing to do with direction,’ she said. ‘Some things still hurt, no matter what direction you’re travelling.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
FOR the next three weeks she immersed herself in this new life and felt herself…unfurl. That was what it felt like, she thought. As if she was coming to life again.
For the last four years she’d been constantly worried, constantly battling for their survival. Here, Zoe’s welfare was more than taken care of. It was Stefanos who inspected the little girl’s grafts, who worried about her medically, who even told her to back off a little, she was fussing. Others cooked for her, cleaned…Elsa was an honoured guest, free to do as she wished.
And she was free. Zoe had made a friend her own age, Pip, daughter of Phillip the butcher, granddaughter of Helena, defender of the turtles. She was friends with every one of the castle staff now, she was happy and confident and more than content that Elsa do her own thing.
So Elsa was making her own friends. The turtle breeding grounds was a project which had her waking up every morning aching to get up and go.
The only problem was…in the moments when she’d sit opposite Stefanos at meals and watch his face as the palace secretary outlined what needed to be done that day, she felt…bleak.
He was doing the right thing, the honourable thing. But, for Zoe and for her, this new life promised excitement and freedom. For Stefanos…There was still a conflict that seemed to be tearing him apart.
She didn’t know what was happening with his practice in Manhattan. The plan was to leave straight after the coronation and do what needed to be done and return. She tried to talk to him about it, but it was as if after their appalling picnic he’d decided he’d overstepped the boundaries; his life was separate, only overlapping with her need to be with Zoe.
Oh, his bleakness wasn’t overt. Outwardly he was cheerful and confident and purposeful. It was only that she seemed to know this man; she seemed to sense how he was feeling.
His trouble was the one cloud on her horizon. Actually, no, sometimes it felt more than that, like a fog she could see rolling in to envelop him, but she had no idea what to do about it. The fact that sometimes she had an urgent desire to take him and hold him and love him…Well, that was just plain dumb.
And…she suspected it might not even help.
Meanwhile, the coronation was almost on them, and she’d made her promise. It was time to buy a dress.
Zoe’s coronation dress was exquisite, stitched by hand by a team of dressmakers who smiled all the time they worked, who said what a pleasure it was to be able to do this, what a joy. So, ‘Can’t I get my gown made here as well?’ she asked Stefanos, knowing how stressed he was and how little he could spare the time to be away.
But, ‘It’s my one bright day,’ he said. ‘I think I’ve worked hard enough to earn one free day.’
He surely had. What he’d achieved in these last weeks was little short of miraculous.
The island council had been reformed. Three councillors had been invited to stay on; five had been ‘retired’. Stefanos had done it with tact but with an underlying ruthlessness that left her awed.
The governance of the island was now under the control of the council, with ultimate responsibility resting with Stefanos. The royal coffers were being used with a speed that made her blink. Advertisements were already appearing on the mainland, for teachers, for engineers, builders, nurses…
Unemployment on the island had been running at over fifty per cent. No longer. There were schools and hospitals to build, roads to repair, water mains to install, electricity to supply to the inland area…
‘Giorgos and his predecessors have held on to our taxes for hundreds of years,’ Stefanos told her when she questioned how the island could possibly afford what he was starting. ‘Alexandros on Sappheiros has split the royal coffers into three so there’s more than enough to get things moving.’
He worked with a ruthless efficiency that left her awed. But still there seemed to be this aching need…
She heard him, late at night. Her balcony overlooked the sea and so did his. She’d walk outside to watch the sea and she’d hear him talking, discussing operations, questioning results, talking to colleagues about cases they needed his help with.
He was needed elsewhere. He was working frantically so he could leave, fitting in as much medicine as he could as well. He’d found a locum to work here while he was away, to leave him free.
And he’d come back. He’d promised that he’d come back. But he didn’t want to. She heard it in his voice-that coming back would tear him in two.
And she couldn’t help.
But first…her dress.
‘I’ve organised a seaplane to pick us up and take us to Athens for the day,’ he’d told her at dinner the day before.
Three weeks ago Zoe would have reacted to this proposal in fear. Now she simply looked up and said, ‘Am I coming too?’
She’d been tucking into her dinner as if she had hollow legs. The difference in her health since she had been here was astonishing.
‘I’ve asked Pip’s mama if you can stay with Pip for the day,’ Stefanos said. ‘Is that okay?’
‘Ooh, yes,’ Zoe said, pleased.
‘And Pip’s mama says it’s okay if Pip comes back here and sleeps for the night. Christina will look after both of you and you’ll have Buster to keep you company. I thought I might take Elsa shopping in Athens for something beautiful to wear to our coronation, and I thought I might take her to dinner afterwards.’
From the start he’d been able to wind his cousin round his little finger and this was no exception.
‘Elsa would like that,’ Zoe said seriously. ‘She says she doesn’t like dresses, but she does really. And boys are supposed to take girls out to dinner.’
‘Hey,’ Elsa said, startled. Half laughing, half horrified. ‘I’m here. It’s not like you’re talking behind my back.’ But she was ignored.
‘It’ll be a date,’ Zoe said in satisfaction. ‘You have to kiss her on the way home.’
‘Who says?’ Elsa demanded.
‘Pip’s big sister went out on a date last week. Pip says when the boy brought her home he kissed her goodnight.’
‘Pip’s sister is eighteen,’ Elsa retorted. ‘I’m too old for that nonsense.’
‘You’re not,’ Zoe said seriously. ‘You’re still quite pretty.’
‘Gee, thanks.’ She hesitated. ‘Stefanos, it really isn’t necessary.’
