The Music Trilogy (42 page)

“Stefanos, I don’t believe the children are trying to shame you in any way. As a matter of fact, I think they are trying to make you proud of them.”

Koulouris could not believe what he was hearing. If anyone could help, it was Eleni. “How do you figure?” he demanded. “He wants to become a common doctor, and she wants to be a renegade!”

“Let me just make a suggestion. If I understand correctly, they both want to go to the same university. Why don’t you let them go for the year they intended to travel and pretend that they are just having a vacation? It is a wonderful school and they would be together. They could take care of each other, and they would be getting some sort of education anyway. If worse came to worse, Faydon would have at least learned how to study in a difficult university and Penelope might change her mind and come back home. I think it is a good opportunity for both of them. I think you should consider it seriously.”

Stefanos smiled at her. His children stood on either side of Eleni.

“I will make a deal with you, a
gapimou
, my love,” he said, addressing Eleni. “I will grant them their wish under one condition. As I had mentioned previously, I have good news.” He took out a small velvet box from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of Eleni. “This is my condition: You must agree to marry me.”

Eleni, the thespian, showed no emotion. Koulouris’ eyes were victorious.

He’s ghastly, Penelope thought. She was disgusted with her father, hated him at that moment for trying to use his children to get a woman to marry him—just another business deal, that’s all we are to him.

“Father, that’s blackmail!” Faydon exclaimed. “How could you?”

“Call it what you like, but you have just witnessed my marriage proposal to the woman who has taught me many fine things.” Koulouris felt only victory.

Eleni spoke slowly and calmly, looking Stefanos straight in the eyes. “That was dirty and underhanded to use your children in such a fashion. You are a chauvinist, a real sexist, Stefanos. You are lucky that I love your children very much, as I do you, but now it is my turn to make you a counter offer.” She had yet to open the box. As she did, the powerful Aegean sun shone on a beautiful fifteen-carat square cut emerald lined with diamond baguettes. The rays on the gem had a blinding effect. Eleni still showed no sign of any emotion. “My deal,” she continued, “is this. The children go to Harvard and I become officially engaged to you, but my condition is that
I
will set the date of the wedding.”

The twins held their breath. Eleni was cunning. She was gambling for their futures, and the twins felt that they already knew the outcome, so powerful was Eleni’s hold on their father.

“Do you agree?”

“
Bellissima Diva
,” Koulouris said. “Your performance is as usual unsurpassed. You are very shrewd and you drive an even better bargain. I accept.” Koulouris put the ring on her finger. “You should have been a businessman.”

“You mean a businesswoman,” Penelope corrected him.

He grunted.

“And what, Penelope, will you study at Harvard?” her father asked.

“I will be at the Harvard Business School.”

Stefanos threw his hands up and looked at the sky. The Gods had erred somewhere terribly. His daughter wants to become the businessman, and his son wants to be a doctor, the son who is supposed to become head of Koulouris Enterprises, and the daughter who is supposed to marry. “This is getting too complicated,” he said. “We will talk again.”

After their first year at Harvard, much to their father’s dismay, the twins continued their studies. Faydon proved to be brilliant in the medical field and continued for another six years, specializing in the cancer research field. Penelope graduated at the top of her class, and managed to convince her father to let her work at one of his offices in Piraeus. He of course believed that she would be a disaster, would fall flat on her face and make a complete fool of herself, but she proved him wrong on all counts. She actually improved his businesses. She reorganized the company in such a way that in a short time, Koulouris was making profits he never knew possible. He now regarded her as proficient and he was quite proud of her. His son, the Doctor, was extremely successful, not financially, that did not concern him, but more importantly in his research, and he was highly respected in his field. Koulouris finally came round to realizing that Faydon was doing something special for the whole world. He was very proud of both his children, and like all good Greek fathers, he wanted his children close to him, closer to home, closer to their roots. It bothered him that Faydon stayed in Massachusetts at one of the large research hospitals.

On the twins’ twenty-seventh birthday, Koulouris called a press conference to which he invited the international press as well as his business associates. When all had gathered in the huge conference room at the Piraeus head office, Koulouris finally told them what was on his mind.

“I know this is a little unusual, but of course you are aware that I am an unusual man,” he said, and the crowd laughed. Yes, they knew him. When he called a press conference, it was well attended. “I have called you here today,” he continued, “to make an announcement. First, you will note that champagne is flowing amply and I hope you will drink it for this is a wonderful day and we should all celebrate it.”

“Today is the birthday of my children,” he said, looking at Faydon and Penelope. The crowd clapped politely. “Also on this day, I am retiring.”

The room began to hum. The business reporters knew they had a page-one story. Koulouris’ business associates were alternately shocked and afraid.

“I know you are wondering who will replace me.”

This was greeted with laughter, for that is exactly what they wondered.

“Well, I have found my replacement and I believe this person is the best man for the job.” He extended his hand toward his handpicked replacement. “The best man is none other than a lady, my daughter, Penelope Koulouris.”

Penelope stood for the applause. She was widely respected by the shipping and business communities.

“I see you agree,” Koulouris said. “Good! I am glad. Of course, many of you might have thought that my son would have continued in my footsteps, but he has decided on another field of endeavor, one which I must admit I was firmly against, for I had hoped one day he would succeed me. But let me tell you, that one is a stubborn Greek if I ever saw one, almost as stubborn as his father.”

Now, the crowd roared with laughter.

“But believe it or not, I was finally convinced, and I am glad of it. Faydon has become an internationally acclaimed research specialist. He is a doctor, and of course a brilliant one. My sources confirm this.”

Koulouris waited until the crowd quieted. “My son has done what few noble people in this world can, and I must admit that I was a little jealous that I did not have this God-given gift, but I wanted to help.”

Faydon, grinning quizzically, wondered what his father was up to. His father, he knew, was capable of almost anything.

“Now, finally, I present on behalf of the endeavors of my son and his colleagues the new Koulouris Institute for Cancer Research here in Greece.” Koulouris unveiled a miniature replica of a building with tiny trees and cars parked in tiny spaces on fake asphalt. “You see, my son, I too have done some homework.”

Faydon, tears filling his eyes, embraced his father.

Koulouris’ final announcement was his marriage to Miss Eleni Kerzi, the great Diva.

Eleni kissed him on the cheek. Koulouris, an arm around his new wife and his children at his side, could hardly contain his emotion. Ah, I did it, he thought, this is the happiest day of my life. He beckoned all in attendance to join him in a toast.

Stefanos Koulouris had indeed come a long way. He could not have believed that a man could be so happy. When he learned that Eleni’s godchild Davina Walters was on her first singing tour, he insisted on throwing her a party, a very big party that would stretch from Monte Carlo to Portofino, Rome and an to his own personal Greek island, Sinefaki.

Traditional Greek folk music could be heard from the deck of the
Aphrodite
as the guests began to arrive after Davina’s concert in Monte Carlo. Koulouris and Eleni, and Davina’s mother Melina, who lived in Greece since her husband’s death, greeted them with a glass of champagne and kisses on the cheeks. Melina and Eleni showed the guests who would be staying on the yacht to their staterooms.

Eleni decorated each of the twenty staterooms in the style of a single artist or period. Jacques’ room was the
Gauguin
, which had two original Gauguin paintings, done during the artist’s time in Tahiti. The room had a Polynesian mystique about it. Monique would love this room, Jacques thought.

Adam and Ruth were in the
Hogarth
, where a painting by the early 18
th
century British artist hung. Bianca was in the
Rafael,
Eric in
Caravaggio
. Jean and Rodrigo were in the
Sargeant,
where one of his gypsy paintings hung. Melina was in the
El
Greco. Davina and Alejandro were in the
Pajac
. Eleni had her godchild in mind when she decorated this suite because she knew Davina loved this modern French artist’s work. The suite exuded youth and elegance. When Davina saw it, tears came to her eyes.

“Eleni, you are
finissimi,”
she said, hugging her chubby godmother. “You’ve made this room especially for me, haven’t you?”

“I’m happy you approve, little one, but this room does not even border on
your
beauty, not so much physically, but more importantly your inner beauty. Promise me you’ll never change. I am very proud of you, and I love you very, very much.”

The two divas embraced one another, love and respect in their eyes and hearts.

All aboard gathered in the ballroom for champagne and caviar and a midnight buffet of shrimp trees and other delicacies. An ice sculpture of the
Aphrodite
gleamed under the recessed lights. The guests lounged around the grand piano, the mirrored bar, or sat on the leather and silk couches.

Stefanos Koulouris told them there was enough food and spirits on board to last a decade. “Please, indulge and enjoy,” he said, “and if you should require anything, we will be most happy to get it for you.”

When the first rays of the Mediterranean sun began to bathe the vessel, the guests who would not be sailing bade their hosts farewell and the
Aphrodite
slowly made her way from the marina of Monte Carlo into the azure that lay beyond.

Since Koulouris’ retirement, he spent more time sailing on his yacht than he ever had before. He never missed any of Eleni’s performances, no matter where in the world she happened to be singing. She meant everything to him, and he would have gladly given up his empire for her. How one changes, he often mused. As a young man, his ambition was to be wealthy, powerful and independent. But now that he was older, he realized that true happiness did not exist without the love, trust and friendship of his life-long partner.

”
Agapimou
, my love, you must be having a day dream, or should I say a morning dream, considering the hour it is,” Eleni said. “Why are you smiling?”

“I was thinking of you, my sweet, and how much you mean to me. You are right, it is late. Shall we go to our room?”

Eleni cradled his arm as they left their guests and headed for their own personal suite, decorated with paintings of the modern Greek painter Thanasis Akrivopoulos,
a favorite of Eleni’s.

As the
Aphrodite
sailed the waters of the Mediterranean, Stefanos and Jacques were shooting skeet off the stern. Most of the guests were at the pool. Adam and Ruth sat together on the edge with their feet in the water.

Davina followed Alejandro and Rodrigo into the pool.

“Jean, wouldn’t you like to cool off as well?” Eleni asked.

“I can’t swim.”

“I see, yes, that could be a problem,” she said and sat down next to Jean.

“Eleni, thank you for this wonderful cruise. Everything is just… just… wonderful.”

“Don’t mention it, just enjoy yourself, that’s all that counts,” she said, watching Jean closely. “Is there anything wrong?”

“It’s just that… Well, all of you, you’re rich and famous, and I feel a little out of place, like a fraud.”

“Ah! Let me tell you something, and I want you to listen carefully and understand this. Yes, you are right. We
are
a group apart. We
are
successful, rich and famous, each in our own way. We do lead the good life, but we’ve worked hard, some of us maybe harder than others. But we’ve all had our share of problems and pain. We’ve learned, usually the hard way, who our friends really are, and there is nothing more important in the world than a good friend. What we are interested in is the wealth someone has in his or her heart. It does not matter how much money you have in your bank account. Davina has become your friend for this reason. She sees the wealth inside of you, not the carats of the rings on your fingers or your beautiful eyes. You must never feel out of place among your friends. Otherwise they would not be real friends.”