“Yes. It was your mother who insisted that I live here”.
She had given a small laugh, seeing the shock on the two other faces, a slight frown falling on her brow.
“You are aware of the kind of marriage your mother and Alexander had?”
Nikos had shaken his head, a small look of anger once more filling his eyes.
“My mother was a very private person Miss Lane. However, I do not think that their marriage was a happy one”.
The frail woman had shaken her head.
“No…no you must not think that. Please. They were good friends”.
Nikos had looked up at Mina for answers, seeing the dumbfound shock on her face also.
“Your mother and Alexander married for convenience. He was Greek aristocracy, with no money, and her family were rich but needed the connections. It seemed an ideal solution for them both…until he and I met”.
A small wistful look had come to her face.
“He wanted to divorce your mother and marry me…especially when Mina was born…but it would have been disastrous and your mother made us see that”.
She had lain back as coughs had wracked her small frame, Mina rushing forward with water. As the coughing had died down she had continued.
“Your company was in a bad way, and the divorce would have meant the end, so we all talked and came up with this solution, and it worked well…until your mother died…then Alexander” her face filling with sorrow, before leaning forward she had gently patted his cheek.
“You have your mother’s eyes Nikos. She was a good woman”.
Mina could see as Nikos had blinked, surprised to see what looked like tears, before he had managed to pull himself together, smiling softly at the other woman.
“Yes…yes she was…but she never told me any of this”.
About to say more her mother had once more started to cough, this time struggling to breath, both Nikos and Mina becoming concerned, as Alice had rushed in, her professional voice calm as she had taken control of the situation, pulling oxygen from behind the chair and giving it to the older woman to help her breath. Looking at the other two people in the room she had smiled, her voice brooking no argument.
“Mina perhaps you should show your visitor the grounds” both recognising the instruction to leave, as they had risen.
“S…sure” Mina looking lovingly at her mother “I will show Nikos the beach mother” seeing as she had nodded, breathing in shallow gulps of air, Mina not aware as her body had shaken with seeing her like that.
As they had moved out of the villa, he had pulled her around to look into her eyes.
“You don’t really expect me to believe any of that do you?” he had bitten out at her, his eyes full of anger and confusion, as she had looked back at him, hers full of pain at seeing her mother struggling just to breath.
“She is dying Nikos…why would she lie?”
Looking down adding in a smaller voice “She has nothing to gain from telling anything but the truth”.
Pulling away from him, she had moved away down towards the beach, seeing as the sun was starting to set, needing to put some distance between herself and this man who was having such a disturbing effect on her with just his presence. She had heard as he had followed her, Mina moving to where the water gently lapped at the sand, kicking off her sandals and stepping into the icy water feeling as it had cooled her suddenly burning skin.
Behind her she had been aware as he had stood silently for several seconds before finally speaking, no longer talking of the revelation her mother had just made.
“Why did you leave Mina?”
The question had caught her by surprise, glad that she was facing away from him, so that he would not see the hurt which had filled her lovely face.
“You know why…my mother needed me”.
This time his voice had been gentler
“And what about what happened between us?”
Lifting the long gypsy skirt she wore, she had moved further into the water, needing to put even more space between them.
“A mistake Nikos, one best forgotten”, she had heard the small dismissive sound from him, glad that he could not reach her in the water.
“Really…so that is it for you is it?” Mina surprised at the tinge of anger on his voice, as she had finally whiped around to look at him.
“You made your feelings more than clear the night before” her voice lower as she had added “And by making sure that you were not there in the morning”.
She had been rewarded as his expression had become one of discomfort.
“I didn’t know how to deal with it Mina…I needed to think…it was unexpected”.