But all he saw was Elsa.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THEY coped without him.
It was a strange thing, caring for a child who’d been dependent for years but who was finally finding her wings. Zoe couldn’t wait to get out of bed in the morning, to meet her new friend, to play with Buster, to be allowed to start school. Medical constraints, always suffered stoically, were now a nuisance to be ignored. She bounced around the palace with growing confidence and pleasure, and by Christmas there wasn’t a member of the palace staff who wouldn’t have given their right arm for her.
Zoe was gloriously in love with this new life.
So was Elsa. Sort of.
She and Helena were working through the issues with the turtles with cautious exhilaration. There was so much to be done. The turtles’ habitat had been destroyed once, and only part of it had regrown. Turtles were crossing roads to dig their nests. There were threats everywhere, and this for a world endangered species. Making them safe was imperative. Extrapolating the research was breathtakingly exciting. She could make a difference.
There were so many things she could do.
But she wanted to be with Stefanos. Every morning she woke rethinking his proposal. Was she crazy? She’d turned down a man she could love with all her heart.
She knew it was more than that, but that was the problem. Her head knew things her heart didn’t necessarily agree with.
‘Will Stefanos be home for Christmas?’ Zoe asked for about the thousandth time since he’d left and, for the thousandth time, she replied.
‘He said he would be. He’s phoning us as often as he can, sweetheart, and he doesn’t seem to be changing his mind. And then he’s going to stay with you while I have my hip fixed.’
‘I don’t want you to go away.’
She didn’t want to go away either, but it was organised. The day after New Year she’d fly to Athens and spend a month in hospital.
She should be grateful. She was grateful. Zoe was happy and blooming. There were no money problems. She had work that truly interested her, and her hip was about to be treated.
So why was a part of her so miserable?
Happy Christmas, she told herself fiercely on Christmas Eve, as she helped Zoe hang her stocking in front of the vast fireplace in the great hall. Last year she’d used a sock in front of the fire-stove. This year the housekeeper had hand-stitched Zoe a gold and crimson stocking, with the most beautiful appliqued Father Christmas and elves and reindeer.
It looked beautiful on the great mantel. But, despite the massive Christmas tree the staff had set up-or maybe because of it-it looked really alone.
‘You should have a stocking too,’ Zoe said as she’d said every Christmas since they’d been together.
‘Stockings are for kids.’
‘You never get presents.’
‘Stefanos should be home. That’ll be a present for both of us.’
‘He should be here now,’ Zoe said severely. It was almost bedtime on Christmas Eve. She’d counted on her big cousin coming today. ‘He said he’d come.’
‘Maybe he’ll come in the night like Santa Claus,’ Elsa said. ‘Maybe we won’t see him come if we stay up.’
‘You think we should go to bed?’
‘Why not?’ She was weary of waiting, herself. She was riding an emotional roller coaster and didn’t know how to get off. If Stefanos didn’t come…He’d promised Zoe.
He’d promised her.
‘Okay,’ Zoe said, infinitely trusting. She tucked her hand into Elsa’s and tugged her towards the stairs. ‘Let’s go to bed and make it come quicker.’
He had so much to do he felt like Santa Claus, zooming across the world at midnight. Actually he was only flying from Athens to Khryseis on the seaplane, but he did feel a bit like Santa. He had so many gifts in his pack. He sat next to the pilot, gazed out at the blue-black sky and the stars hanging low and lovely in the heavens, and he felt that a little bit of magic was around.
He needed magic. In his pocket was a ring almost worthy of the woman he loved-the ancient ring of Khryseis, plaited gold with three magnificent diamonds embedded in its depths.
She wouldn’t take it unless she accepted the rest of his sleigh load, he thought ruefully. A woman of principle was the woman he’d chosen to give his heart.
Would she take it? He’d done so much. If there was anything else he could do…Anything at all…
He had a mad compulsion to tell the pilot to turn the plane around. So much was at stake. The woman he’d chosen as his life’s partner had knocked him back because of her principles. If he didn’t get it right this time…
What else could he do?
The lights of Khryseis came into view and the plane started its descent. He could see the palace from here, lit up like a fairy palace. That’d be the staff celebrating Christmas, he thought. The whole staff-the whole island-was overjoyed to have their royal family in residence.
Or their royal princess and her nanny, he corrected himself. For a family required more.
Would she accept him now? She must. For years he’d scorned the idea of a family. Now it seemed he couldn’t live without it.
He’d met one feisty, beautiful nanny and his world had changed.
‘Coming in to land now, sir,’ the pilot said, looking ahead at the palace lights. ‘Seems someone’s keeping the home fires burning.’
‘I hope so,’ he murmured.
‘I think every person on the island hopes so,’ the pilot said enigmatically. ‘Welcome home, Your Highness.’
‘Santa’s been and Stefanos is home.’
Elsa woke to find Zoe bouncing up and down on her bed, the long-suffering Buster being bounced with her. ‘Come and see, come and see, come and see. Santa’s been, Santa’s been, Santa’s been.’
Despite the tumult of emotions she’d gone to bed with and woken with-
‘It’s humungous,’ Zoe was saying. ‘You should see. How can Santa have brought it down the chimney?’
Humungous? Nothing she’d stuffed in Zoe’s stocking could be described as humungous. And…
‘Stefanos…’ she said cautiously.
‘He got home really late. Christina told me he snuck in after all the staff went to bed-almost morning. Elsa, you have to get up and see what Santa’s brought me.’
So Stefanos would be asleep. That gave her breathing space. She’d have time to enjoy Zoe’s stocking with her before she needed to face him.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him, she thought, feeling really confused. Not exactly. There was a big part of her that ached for him.
There was another part of her that was just plain custard.
But he was asleep. Hooray. She threw back the covers, pulled on a robe and padded downstairs.
She’d never get used to the opulence of this place. The staircase was wide enough to fit ten people
