Black Butterflies (20 page)

‘
Then Petta was nearly killed and I was nearly drowned. I saw how quickly life can be taken from you. That is when I made the decision you must be told.’ Marina takes a step towards her. ‘I cannot go on living my life in half-truth trying to please you, Mum. You will hear the truth and then you can decide how you want to behave and whether you still want to talk to me.’

‘
Eleni …’

‘
Hush. Mum, you need to know that …’

‘
That Anna is your girlfriend?’

‘
You know!’

‘
Yes, I know, and I liked her from the first time I saw her.’

‘
The first time you saw her?’

‘
Yes. But, Eleni, it is not I who has to decide if I will talk to you. It is you who must decide if you will talk to me.’

‘
What?’

Marina cannot look at Eleni as she says,
‘I have held a secret from you all your life.’ She can feel Eleni’s eyes on her. ‘This secret …’ Marina bites her bottom lip to hold back her emotions; she must say what she must say, with no interruptions. ‘This secret has made me a bad mother …’

‘
Oh no!’ Eleni takes a step toward her.

‘
Yes, I know it has. It has stopped me loving you as you deserve. I am sorry, so, so sorry, and for this I can never forgive myself, and I can only hope you can understand and forgive me to a degree, although I do not deserve it.’ Marina takes out her handkerchief.

‘
Mum, what are you saying? It is I who rejected you, because of Dad, because I couldn’t please you and because I thought you would push me away if you knew about Anna.’

‘
No, Eleni, it is I who rejected you and I have kept something very important from you.’

The door opens suddenly.

‘Have you told her yet?’ Petta’s head is visible around the door.

‘
Told me what?’ Eleni asks.

‘
Your poor mum, they were very mean to her when she found love. She had me and they took me away. I am your brother, Eleni!’

‘
What the …’ Eleni backs away from Petta, who is advancing with open arms. Marina is frozen in astonishment.

Anna appears at the door.
‘Eleni, are you ok? Petta just told me.’

‘
I …’ Eleni looks to her mother and then her new-found brother. ‘So all this time I had my secrets from you, you had even bigger ones from me?’ Marina cannot read Eleni’s emotions and backs away to stay safe.

‘
Like mother, like daughter,’ Petta laughs, but neither Eleni or her mother smiles. They each wait for the other’s reaction. The room becomes still. Panos enters quietly. The room is crackling in its silence.

It is a stand-off. Two and two stand opposite each other. Marina, dressed in faded black, is by the window. Petta is at her side, a pleading look on his face, gazing across at Eleni. Eleni, in her port police uniform, stands rigid. Calm, elegant Anna is by her side, squeezing her hand. Panos stands motionless by the door, contemplating the group, each person waiting to see what the others will do.

Anna notices the dust floating between them, like tiny sparks in the sun
’s rays. Swirls and calms, each speck hovering, alive, until it is suddenly snuffed out by a shift in the air.

‘
May I say something?’ she asks quietly in the stillness. No one replies. ‘We are all alive. No one has died.’ Everyone, including Panos, who was edging back out of the door, looks at her quizzically. ‘I know Irini, because Irini and I have something in common. Both our parents are dead. They were too young to die, but life sometimes gives no choice and as a consequence Irini and I, from quite separate events and circumstances, are alone in this world.’ Anna closes her mouth and looks at the floor. She has finished her speech.

The air is still now, the dust suspended, undisturbed. No one moves, or coughs, or twitches. The moment feels unbreakable.

‘I had no blood family for thirty-five years,’ Petta exhales loudly. ‘I don’t care who has done what. For me, this is about moving forward.’ The air swirls with his energy.

‘
Eleni …’ Marina offers. ‘I love you.’ Her tone of voice whispers a thousand ‘sorries’, her heart on a plate, an absorption of blame. There is a momentary pause. Someone coughs and the spell is broken.

Eleni steps toward Marina. Marina hungrily pulls Eleni to her and encloses her in her arms. Petta cannot resist, and he wraps his longs arms around them both. Irini claps her hands together once and then interlocks her fingers to stop herself doing it again. Panos steps back into the room and puts an arm around Irini and gives her a supportive squeeze.

‘What! The moment my back is turned you find a girlfriend?’ It is Panos’ boyfriend. Petta releases Eleni and Marina, and all of them are smiling.

Later that evening at Zoe’s Marina is pressed for every detail. Bobby has a smug look on his face, aware of the part he played in the turn of events.

‘
So you tracked down every one of the boys in Petta’s class and one by one ruled them out?’ Zoe is crying with laughter. ‘I have never heard anything so absurd.’

‘
I thought it was pretty smart!’ Bobby says. He is in the shadows, which are being kind to him, reflecting his younger self.

‘
You would, you cunning old fox. But well done, Marina. Families are tricky things. It sounds like you handled it well, if bizarrely.’

The door opens with a bang and Irini rushes in, out of breath.
‘We are getting married!’ The sun streams in behind her and Marina blinks with the sudden light.

‘
Yes, we know, Irini.’ Zoe lifts a spoon to her mother’s lips.

‘
No, I mean immediately, the day after tomorrow. Petta says he will wait no more, life’s too short and all that. He’s talked to Socrates.’ She turns to Marina. ‘The Papas. Remember, Marina? You met him in the hospital.’

‘
Can I be a bridesmaid?’ Roula is watching a western. She is standing, her arms dangling by her sides, and she has drawn her fingers at the ready for a shoot-out.

‘
We were just going to have a quiet little wedding.’

‘
And then a huge party!’ Bobby says.

‘
Why not?’ Zoe agrees.

‘
No money,’ Irini answers.

‘
You don’t need money. We are all family here on the island. If everyone brings a little something we’ll be fine.’

The taxi boat men do not want Petta to have a low-key wedding. They agree he should get married in style. But they do not arrange this with Petta or Irini. Petta’s parents, Mr and Mrs Mavromati on the farm, are approached and Marina is invited to their house for the discussion.

They are an elderly couple, more like grandparents. Marina is touched by their warmth towards her. They repeatedly say how her sadness in losing Petta became their joy and how much they love him, in a tone to reassure Marina that they have been good loving parents to him. His mother impresses upon Marina how she never let Petta think they were his birth parents and she always made sure he had his butterfly hanky with him.
‘Like an anchor,’ she says. ‘But,’ she adds with a sigh, ‘we are poor and the farm is not ours. The lease will end when we die. It will make me so happy to see him married, something we could not help him with …’ There are tears in the old lady’s eyes.

Marina is surprised at how little they need to say to each other to make the situation comfortable. Which is just as well, as the taxi boat men have a lot to say, mostly loudly, with arms flying in gesticulation. Eventually Mrs Mavromatis brings out Greek coffee and ouzo chasers and the discussion becomes even louder. Mr Mavromatis is enjoying the noise and joins in with the shouting as much as he can. Finally, when the coffee and ouzo have all been drunk, the taxi boat men come to an agreement and everyone is sworn to secrecy. One man volunteers to tell Socrates, the Papas, but another says he will do it and there is a secondary raising of voices in which everyone is assigned a role. Those who are given bureaucratic roles grumble a little and Mrs Mavromatis pours them a second ouzo.

There are surprises for everyone. Marina calls Juliet and invites her over. Juliet is thrilled. Eleni calls her sister, Artemis, in Athens, and she and her new husband Sottos make arrangements to arrive the next day. Panos calls all his and Petta’s classmates and every one of them, including sour-faced Yanni, is delighted.

Marina tells Zoe the secret plan for the wedding and Zoe says that, obviously, she cannot come with her family, which disappoints Marina, but she can see why. Bobby is listening.

‘And the party afterwards, where will that be held?’

‘
Oh, no one has discussed that.’

‘
Have it here then, in the square, with tables and chairs from Irini and Petta’s house, and from the rented rooms. Then at least I can come,’ Bobby says. Aunt Eleftheria wakes up with his jiggling happiness shaking through the chairs.

The day of the wedding arrives before everything has been arranged. Petta stays the night on his parents
’ farm. Marina stays with Irini.

The taxi boat men go to pick up Petta, and as he marches to the church they manoeuvre him in a different direction.

‘Hey, guys, come on! I’ll be late.’ But they are not to be deterred. They take him down to the port where several guests have already arrived.

Marina helps Irini dress. She has been lent the most beautiful white lace dress by Zoe
’s mum. It had been her wedding dress. Panos arrives to stand in for Irini’s father, and he leads her out to the street where Yanni waits, twisting his moustache, dressed in a suit and looking distinctly uncomfortable, his donkey beautifully adorned with ribbons and flowers. Panos lifts little Irini on side-saddle and they set off for the church, only to turn down toward the port. Yanni tells Irini to trust him, as he twists his handlebars.

By the time Irini gets to the port, Petta and the guests are nowhere to be seen. There is a yacht in port, which is covered with pale orange bougainvillea, wound into the stays and along the boom, and littered over the deck. Irini is helped aboard. Costas Voulgaris, the millionaire waiter, wishes her welcome. Marina climbs on board, followed by Panos.

The yacht has a different movement to the water taxi, a slower, more even roll. But the water is like oil and there is not a breath of air. The engine ticks over, driving them effortlessly from the harbour.

Out in the channel they turn west toward the end of the island where Ship Rock lies. Irini is grinning and chattering and cannot sit still. Panos is fussing with her hair. Marina sits and takes it all in. The view down the channel still lifts her like no other. She feels proud of her family.

‘So, where are we going?’ Irini is looking up and down the coast for clues. Panos makes one last tweak to her hair and sets her free. She still can see no trace of anything on shore and they are fast coming up to the boatyard.

The millionaire waiter-come-captain turns the yacht hard to starboard and they swing round to face out to sea.

Irini gasps. A dozen taxi boats are circling round the tiny island with the church. One taxi is moored to the quay. The yacht lowers its anchor, its keel too deep to allow it to moor close to the island. A taxi boat comes to carry Marina, Irini and Panos to shore.

The island is even smaller than it had looked from the sea. Petta and his parents take all the room there is by the church door. The church inside is so small that only the Papas, the couple and the best man can fit. Two large decorated candles provide some light.

Panos walks Irini up the quay and hands her to Petta, and then swaps sides to become the best man. The Papas begins his incantations. He changes from quiet Socrates Rappas to a bellowing priest. Marina, peering in through the church doorway, takes out her hanky to dry her eyes. The rings are exchanged, and the couple are crowned three times by the Papas and then three times by Panos. They can hear cheers from the boats which have all stopped circling and are crowding as close as they can to the island.

The couple sip from the wine chalice, and then Socrates the Papas asks who will be the stronger of the two. Marina cringes as she remembers this part of her own wedding. The stamping of the toes. Whoever stamps on the other
’s toes first will be the boss. Her toes had been bruised.

Irini makes to stamp on Petta
’s toes, but he is too quick. He lifts her in the air and lowers both her feet upon his toes and whispers, ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ Marina can feel her cheeks blushing and turns away as if she is intruding on a private moment. But the boats all around sound their horns and Marina laughs. The taxi boat men compete to sound their horns the longest, recent memories of the pirate re-enactment igniting their endeavours. Costas Voulgaris on his yacht sets off a flare, which starts a trend. The port police have come in uniform on the port police boat. One of the crew, who is smoking a cigarette, fires a gun repeatedly in the air. The noise echoes off the island and people instinctively duck.

Eleni is leaning on the prow of one of the larger boats taking photographs with a long-lens camera. Marina smiles and waves; Eleni waves back, still pointing her camera at the island.

Petta and Irini make their way to the yacht and they are left to sail back to the island alone.

Marina and Panos join Eleni. The Papas nearly falls in the water as he climbs aboard the port police boat. The police cheer when he saves himself.

Costas Voulgaris surprises them all. When they return to the square he has all but removed his whole café there. The tables match and are cove
red with white table cloths. There are waiters, albeit in jeans, but they have white shirts on. There is a jug of wine on every table and people are bringing plates of steaming food out from crates, strapped to donkeys, that have come up from his kitchens.

Zoe is sitting at a table with her mum, Bobby, Roula and a sleeping Aunt Eleftheria. With a trembling hand, Bobby is drinking Aunt Eleftheria
’s wine, his own glass already empty. Maria the candle maker is sitting with them, her phone on the table.

To Marina
’s utmost joy, she sees Artemis and her husband are here. They say they arrived by the first ferry, in time to see the wedding. Eleni explained it all over the phone and they think it is fantastic. Artemis says she cannot wait to get to know Petta better, and could they all celebrate next Easter at the village? They agree it’s a date.

Soon everyone is dancing. They dance the
syrtaki
in a line, arm over arm, snaking around the tables, followed by the complex foot-sliding
hassapiko
. As they get their breath back a boy, of no more than ten, dances the slow-strutting
zeybekiko
. With people half-kneeling and clapping to encourage him, he dances like a drunk. On and on they dance. The music changes to a series of harsh, raw Cretan war dances, and the men are up and stamping their feet, dancing the
pentozali
. Marina is mesmerised and wishes she was not so stout.

She slowly backs away from the hub of the party and sits on the bench by the peeling grey door, watching everyone enjoying themselves. It is a perfect moment. Irini looks wonderful in her lace gown. She comes over and sits by Marina
’s side.

‘
How perfect is this!’ Marina says.

‘
Marina, I want you to be the first to know, I am pregnant ….’ Irini jumps up from the bench and is dancing with Yanni before Marina has time to reply.

Tears flow as she laughs. Life cannot get more perfect.

Marina looks up through the throng of dancers, and for a moment, there in the middle, she sees Meli, dancing and laughing, his lithe body full of rhythm, life, the same sparkle in his eyes as that night so long ago. And then he is gone, hidden in the crowd. She searches for him amongst the dancers, her heart yearning for a second glimpse; she begins to stand to be ready to run to him as soon as he reappears. But as quickly as her love to grown to full strength again, she knows that of course this is not, could not be Meli – he was lost to her years ago. Her throat constricts, tears fill her eyes, she lowers her weight back to the bench. She has seen Petta dancing and mistaken him for his Father. What is Meli doing now, she wonders, and does he think of her? She has rarely allowed herself to think of him over the years; the pain is too much to bear. Life, she reasons, gives moments of joy, and snatches them away, replacing them with years of sorrow. Better not to dwell on these things.