The Storm Sister (The Seven Sisters #2) (6 page)

Theo was as good as his word, and we arrived at Piraeus harbour in Athens at sunset. During the agonising journey, I lay across his lap on the bridge, as one of his hands
gently stroked my hair and the other steered us safely across a choppy sea. Once in our berth, Theo went down to the galley and prepared some pasta, which he then spoon-fed me as if I was a
child.

‘Coming down to sleep?’ he asked me and I could see he was exhausted from the concentration of the past few hours. ‘We have to be up at four tomorrow to make your
flight.’

I agreed, knowing he’d insist on staying up with me if I refused to go to bed. Steeling myself for a long, sleepless night, I let Theo lead me below, where he helped me into bed and
wrapped his warm arms around me, cradling me to him.

‘If it’s any consolation, Ally, I love you. I don’t just “think” I do any more, I
know.
’

I stared into the darkness and, having not shed a tear since the news, I found my eyes suddenly wet.

‘And I promise I’m not just saying it to make you feel better. I’d have told you tonight anyway,’ he added.

‘I love you too,’ I whispered.

‘Really?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, if you mean it, I’m more pleased than if I’d won this year’s Fastnet Race. Now, try to sleep.’

And surprisingly, held fast by Theo and his admission of love, I did.

The following morning, as the taxi crawled through the Athens traffic, heavy even at sunrise, I saw Theo surreptitiously checking his watch. It was usually me in control of
such things, monitoring the time for others, but at that moment, I was glad he was taking charge.

I checked in with forty minutes to spare, just as the desk was closing.

‘Ally, darling, tell me, are you sure you’re going to be okay?’ Theo frowned. ‘And are you positive you don’t want me to come to Geneva with you?’

‘Really, I’ll be fine,’ I said as I walked towards departures.

‘Listen, if there’s anything I can do, please let me know.’

We’d reached the end of the queue waiting to go through security as it wove snake-like between the barriers. I turned to Theo. ‘Thank you, for everything. You’ve been
amazing.’

‘I really haven’t, Ally, and listen’ – he pulled me back towards him urgently – ‘just remember I love you.’

‘I will,’ I whispered, managing a wan smile.

‘And any time you don’t feel brave, just call or text me.’

‘I promise.’

‘And by the way,’ he said as he released me from his arms, ‘I’ll totally understand if you can’t sail in the regatta, given the circumstances.’

‘I’ll let you know as soon as possible.’

‘We’ll lose without you.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘You’re the best crewman I’ve got. Goodbye, my darling.’

‘Bye.’

I joined the queue and was subsumed into the mass of trudging humanity. As I was about to dump my rucksack in a tray for X-ray, I turned back.

He was still there.

‘I love you,’ he mouthed. And with a kiss and a wave, he left.

As I waited in the departure lounge, and the surreal bubble of love that had encased me for the past few days burst abruptly, my stomach began to churn with dreadful trepidation at what I must
face. I pulled out my mobile and called Christian, the young skipper of our family’s speedboat, who would transport me from Geneva and along the lake to my childhood home. I left a message
asking him to collect me at ten o’clock from the pontoon. I also asked him to say nothing to Ma or my sisters about my arrival, telling him I would contact them myself.

But as I boarded the plane and willed myself to make the call, I found that I couldn’t do it. The dreadful prospect of another few hours alone, with the truth having been confirmed over
the phone by one of my family, prohibited it. The plane began taxiing along the runway, and as we left the ground, flying up into the sunrise over Athens, I leant my hot cheek against the cool
window as panic began to assail me. To distract myself, I glanced unseeingly at the front page of an
International Herald Tribune
that I’d been handed by the cabin attendant. I was
about to put it aside when a headline caught my eye.

‘BILLIONAIRE TYCOON’S BODY WASHED UP ON GREEK ISLAND’

There was a photograph of a vaguely familiar face, with a caption beneath it.

‘
Kreeg Eszu found dead on Aegean beach.
’

I stared at the headline in shock. Theo had told me it was
his
boat, the
Olympus
, which had been so close to Pa Salt’s in the bay off Delos . . .

Letting the newspaper slip to the floor, I stared miserably out of the window. I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand anything anymore . . .

Nearly three hours later, as the plane began its descent into Geneva airport, my heart started beating so fast that I could barely catch my breath. I was going home, which normally engendered a
feeling of happiness and excitement because the person I loved most in the world would be there to welcome me with open arms into our own magical world. But this time, I knew he would not be there
to greet me. And never would be again.

‘Would you like to drive, Mademoiselle Ally?’ Christian indicated my usual seat in front of the wheel where I would sit and speed us across the still, calm waters
of Lake Geneva.

‘Not today, Christian,’ I said and he nodded at me sombrely, his expression confirming that everything I knew already was true. He started the engine, and I slumped onto one of the
seats at the back, my head hanging miserably, unable to look anywhere but down as I remembered how Pa Salt had sat me on his knee as a tiny child and let me steer for the first time. Now, just
minutes away from not only having to face reality, but also having to acknowledge the fact that I’d failed to pick up my family’s messages or respond to them, I wondered how any god
could take me from the heights of joy to the abject despair I felt as we approached Atlantis.

From the lake, everything beyond the immaculate hedges that shielded the house from view looked as it always had. Surely, I prayed as Christian eased us into the jetty and I climbed out and
moored the boat securely to the bollard, there’d been some mistake? Pa would be here to greet me any moment, he
had
to be here . . .

Within a few seconds, I saw CeCe and Star approaching across the lawns. Then Tiggy appeared, and I heard her shout something through the open front door of the house as she hurried to catch up
with her two older sisters. I began to run up the lawn to meet them, but my knees went weak with dread and I drew to a halt as I read their shared expressions.

Ally
, I entreated myself,
you’re the leader here, you have to pull yourself together
. . .

‘Ally! Oh Ally, we’re all so glad you’re here!’ Tiggy reached me first as I stood immobile on the grass, trying to appear calm. She threw her arms around me and hugged me
tightly. ‘We’ve been waiting for you to come for days!’

CeCe was the next to reach me, then Star – her shadow – who remained silent but joined Tiggy in our mutual embrace.

Eventually, I pulled away, noticing the tears in my sisters’ eyes, and we walked up to Atlantis together in silence.

Seeing the house, I was struck by another pang of loss. Pa Salt had called this our private kingdom. Dating back to the eighteenth century, it even looked like a fairy-tale castle, with its four
turrets and pink-painted exterior. Cocooned on its private peninsula and surrounded by magnificent gardens, I’d always felt safe here – but already it felt empty without Pa Salt.

As we arrived on the terrace, Maia, my eldest sister, emerged from the Pavilion that sat to the side of the main house. I could see her lovely features were marked by pain, but they lightened
into relief as she saw me.

‘Ally!’ she breathed, as she rushed to greet me.

‘Maia,’ I said as she clasped her arms around me, ‘isn’t it absolutely awful?’

‘Yes, just ghastly. But how did you hear? We’ve been trying to contact you for the last two days.’

‘Shall we go inside?’ I asked the assembled company. ‘And then I’ll explain.’

While my other sisters crowded around me as we walked into the house, Maia lagged behind. Even though she was the eldest and the one they looked to individually if they had an emotional problem,
as a group, it was me who always took command. And I knew she was letting me do so now.

Ma was already waiting for us in the entrance hall and enveloped me in a warm, silent embrace. I let myself sink into the comfort of her arms and clutched her tightly to me. I was relieved when
she suggested we all head into the kitchen – it had been a long journey and I was desperate for some coffee.

As Claudia, our housekeeper, prepared a large cafetière, Electra sidled into the room, her long, dark limbs managing to look effortlessly elegant in shorts and a T-shirt.

‘Ally.’ She greeted me quietly, and close up I could see how weary she looked, as if someone had burst her and drained the fire out of her incredible amber eyes. She gave me a brief
hug and squeezed my shoulder.

I looked at each one of my sisters, thinking how rare it was these days that we were all gathered together. And as I thought of the reason, my heart jumped into my throat. Although I must
eventually hear what had happened to Pa, I knew I had to tell them first where I’d been, what I’d seen there and why it had taken me so long to come home.

‘Right.’ I took a deep breath as I began. ‘I’m going to tell you what happened, because to be honest, I’m still confused about it.’ As we all sat down around
the table, I noticed Ma standing to the side and gestured her to a chair. ‘Ma, you should hear this too. Maybe you can help explain.’

As Ma sat down, I tried to gather my thoughts in order to explain the appearance of the
Titan
through my binoculars.

‘So, there I was, down in the Aegean Sea, training for the Cyclades Regatta next week, when a sailing friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him on his motor yacht for a long weekend.
The weather was fantastic and it was great to actually relax on the water for a change.’

‘Whose boat was it?’ Electra asked, as I knew she would.

‘I told you, just a friend,’ I said evasively. As much as I wanted to share Theo with my sisters at some point, this was definitely not the moment for it. ‘Anyway,’ I
continued, ‘there we were a couple of afternoons ago, when my friend told me that another sailing mate of his had radioed him to say he’d spotted the
Titan
. . .’

Casting myself back to that moment, I took a sip of my coffee and then did my best to describe how our radio messages had gone unanswered and my sense of confusion as Pa Salt’s boat had
kept moving away from us. Everyone listened to my story with rapt attention and I saw a look of sadness pass between Ma and Maia. I then took a deep breath and told them that because of the
dreadful mobile phone signal in the region, I hadn’t received any of their messages until yesterday. I hated myself for lying but I couldn’t bear to tell them I had simply switched it
off. I also made no mention of the
Olympus
– the other yacht Theo and I had seen in the bay.

‘So please,’ I finally entreated them, ‘can somebody tell me what on earth was going on? And why Pa Salt’s boat was down in Greece when he was already . . .
dead?’

We all turned to Maia. I knew she was weighing her words before she spoke. ‘Ally, Pa Salt had a heart attack three days ago. There was nothing anyone could do.’

Hearing how he’d died from my eldest sister made it so much more final. As I tried to stop the rising tears, she continued. ‘His body was flown to the
Titan
and then sailed
out to sea. He wanted to be laid to rest in the ocean; he didn’t want to distress us.’

I stared at her as the dreadful realisation hit. ‘Oh my God,’ I whispered eventually. ‘So the chances are that I happened upon his private funeral. No wonder the boat sped off
as fast as it could away from me. I . . .’

Unable to pretend to be strong or calm any longer, I put my head in my hands and took deep breaths to control the panic I felt, as my sisters gathered around me to try and give me comfort. Not
used to showing emotion in front of them, I heard myself apologising as I tried to regain my composure.

‘It must be an awful shock for you to realise what was actually happening. We’re all so sorry for you, Ally,’ Tiggy said gently.

‘Thank you,’ I managed, and then muttered some platitudes about hearing Pa tell me once that he wanted to be buried at sea. It was such a ridiculous coincidence that I had come
across the
Titan
on Pa Salt’s final voyage; the thought made my head spin and I needed some air urgently. ‘Listen,’ I said as steadily as I could, ‘would you all
mind terribly if I had a little time alone?’

They all agreed I should and I left the kitchen with their warm words of support following after me.

Standing in the hallway, I looked around desperately, trying to navigate my body towards the comfort I craved, but knowing that whichever way I turned, he was gone and I would find none.

I stumbled out of the heavy oak front door, wanting nothing more than to be outside so I could release the feeling of panic that was pressing on my chest. My body automatically led me down to
the jetty and I was relieved to see the Laser moored there. I climbed aboard, raised the sails and released the lines.