Under The Stars, page 6
“Come on, silly, we can dance later.” I pulled her in and placed a quick kiss on top of her head. “Show me what else there is to see.” We moved to the next booth, where scarves and hair bows had been hand dyed. I bought Christine one with tiny stars embroidered along the edge. We passed by vegetables, fruits, nuts, and sweets. We got something small at each booth, but when we made it to the booths that sold sponges for household cleaning, scrubbing your face and body, and cleaning outside items, I stopped her from buying them. “I’ll get you all the sponges you need.” I tugged on her hand, and we went on.
Christine got caught up talking to Zoe, and the two of them looked at earrings in one of the many jewelry booths. I happily followed them like a little puppy. I couldn’t help but look in the display cases that held the silver, gold, and pearl items that were offered.
When I saw the silver ring, I was almost mesmerized by it. It had flakes of gold in the band, which made it look celestial, and it was delicate and beautiful.
After glancing over my shoulder to where Christine and Zoe were standing, I bobbed my head back and forth until I caught the attention of the seller. “How much is that ring?” I whispered.
“Eíkosi pénte dolláriá,” the woman said back.
Twenty-five dollars. That was almost everything I’d made since being here. I glanced over at Christine, her pink-tinted cheeks, and eyes so vibrant that I wanted to look into them for the rest of my life.
Pulling out the money, I handed it to her, and she wrapped the ring carefully in tissue paper before dropping it into a pouch. Smiling, she handed me back the ten dollars in drachma bills. “For love,” she whispered.
“Thank you.” I smiled at the woman, who grinned back as she looked from me to the girl who’d stolen my heart.
After sliding the ring into my pocket, I caught up with Christine, trying to decide when to give it to her.
George
“Close your eyes.”
“George, this isn’t funny, I’m going to trip and get hurt.”
I took one of her hands, laid it right over my heart, and trailed one finger over the back of her hand, making a sign. “I cross my heart that I’ll never allow you to get hurt.” Then I tugged the scarf free, because as fun as it was to try to surprise her, I didn’t want to worry her. “It isn’t anything super fancy, but I wanted to do something for you. You’re always taking care of me. I thought tonight you could relax and I’d wait on you.” We took the last few steps to the boat, and I helped her up.
“This is your uncle’s boat, he doesn’t mind?”
“No, it was his idea. We aren’t going anywhere. We’re just going to sit out here and watch the stars. You can teach me more about them.”
“I like that idea. Did you make dinner?”
I shifted from one foot to the other as I tried to tell her without making me sound totally useless. “Yia Yia did most of it, but I stayed with her the entire time. I was afraid that if I did it, it wouldn’t be edible.”
“I’m sure it will be perfect.”
The two of us went downstairs into the cuddy cabin, which wasn’t huge but had a circular couch with a table in the center. I’d already gone down and placed flowers in the center of the table next to a small carafe of wine, something that we didn’t drink back home but seemed more common than water here.
I pulled out our dinners and tugged the plastic wrap free before setting one in front of her and the other in front of me. “It seems as if the summer is flying by. I hate that.”
“I know, me too. But we still have a few weeks.”
“Not enough time.” Christine stuck out her lower lip, and it was adorable.
“I promise that I’ll call you whenever I can and that I’ll write you.”
“But you’ll forget about me. America is so big. You’ll go back, and there are so many girls.”
“No, never. That was why I wanted to do this for you tonight. Christine, I love you. I haven’t even been here two months, and I know that you’re the girl I want to marry.”
Christine curled her legs up under her, tucked her skirt over them, and then twirled her glass, staring through the liquid that jostled inside. “I love you too. I don’t want you to leave me. I know that sounds selfish, but it’s the truth.”
“I have to go home. If I don’t, how am I supposed to build you a house? My father bought land for my sister and me. It’s huge, so we will be able to build a big home.”
“What about kids? Do you want to be a dad? I want to be a mom someday. I’ve always known that, it’s who I am.”
“I would love to be a dad, and we will have plenty of room for a big family. Then, when they grow up and have their own families, there will be enough land for them to build homes close to us.” Christine scooched over, snuggling closer into my arms as the boat seemed to settle with the waves. “I bought you something.”
“You did?” She sat straighter, practically bouncing with excitement. “I love surprises.”
I pulled the blue velvet pouch out from my pocket and loosened the pull strings. “Asteri mou, think of this as a promise ring, I promise I’ll come back for you. I promise that it’s going to be the two of us,” I said as I reached in and pulled out the small silver band. “I know that it isn’t anything fancy, but I promise you someday—”
“Hush, don’t insult my ring.” Christine yanked it from my hand and slid it on, looking down and twisting it, examining all sides. “I love it. It is beautiful.”
“Those gold flakes reminded me of little stars, and it made me think of you.” Christine held her hand out and stared at the ring as the soft lights around us glinted off it. “I know it will be hard since you still have a year of school, but we will make it work. Because of you, I want to do things . . . I want to take care of you. I want to build a life for us.”
“Yes. I want that too, more than anything.”
I slid from my seat and extended a hand to her. “Will you come up on deck and watch the stars with me?”
Christine nodded and then leaned forward and kissed me. “I can’t wait to meet your parents when they come,” Christine said, sliding her arms around me and tilting her chin so she could look into my eyes.
“You know what’s weird?”
“What?”
“The boat seems to have mellowed out. I’ve always thought boats tied at dock were rougher because the waves were tugging the boat out and the rope was jerking it back in.”
“Yeah, that’s how it is here.” Christine’s face blanched.
“Stay here.” I jumped over the table and bounded up the stairs, but before my head peeked out, I already knew something was wrong. There were no beams of lights from houses.
“George, what’s going on?”
“We’ve somehow broken free.” I ran over to the engine to see if by chance Alessandro had left keys, but he hadn’t. I checked every nook.
“What are we going to do? My parents are going to freak.”
“Stay calm, I’ll take care of you. I’ll never let anything happen to you, I promise.” I reached out and cupped Christine’s face with one hand. Once I was sure she wasn’t going to panic, I powered up the radio, it would take several minutes to find a relay. Then I moved on to search the emergency box for flares.
“Just in case.” I held them up and then took her into my arms. “I love you. They’ll figure out we’re missing and find us.”
“How’d we break free in the first place?”
“I don’t know.” Letting go of Christine, I moved to the side and grabbed one end of the rope that dangled off the edge. It had been cut. “Whoever did it wanted to make quick work.” I waved the frayed end so Christine could see it.
“You think someone did this on purpose? Maybe the rope was dry rot?”
I handed it over to her, letting her see for herself that the rope was still fairly new. “No, it was cut, look how clean the line is.”
As she examined it, I went back to the radio.
“How far is too far for it to work?”
“Twenty miles, I mean, thirteen or so kilometers.” Picking up the handle and pressing the button, I spoke clearly first in Greek then in English. “Mayday, mayday, mayday. Help, boat, no power at sea. Coordinates unknown, but we were docked at Pothia, Kalymnos, boat broke free. Two people on board. Help.” Over and over, Greek then in English, I called out. Christine and I made ourselves comfortable on the deck of the boat, and she curled up against me.
“Kalymnos, Diamandis boat, do you hear me?”
My heart picked up speed. “Yes. Yes, I hear you.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes, for now.”
“How many are on board?”
“Christine Petrakis and myself, George Christakos.”
“Can you tell me if you see land at all?”
“No. But we’re heading southwest. Orion’s belt is behind us.”
“Perfect. Stay on with us. Miss Petrakis’s family has been notified, and they are on their way to the shipyard now. If you have one on board, please shoot a flare straight up in the air when you see the search lights on the horizon, but not until you see the first search light.”
“Okay.”
I dropped the radio and stood before Christine, pulling her to her feet. I kissed her left cheek, then her right, where a few tears had slipped out, even though she’d fought to hold them back.
“My parents are going to be so furious. Why would someone do this? What have we done to them? I don’t get it.”
“Me neither.”
“We’re going to be in trouble.”
“No, we won’t. We didn’t do anything wrong.” Truthfully, I was worried about the exact same thing. Uncle Alessandro had given me permission to sit and have dinner on the boat, would he believe me when I told him that I didn’t try to take it out?
Our bodies rocked, and occasionally, the voice on the other end of the radio would check in with us to make sure that we still had a connection.
“I see a light. Christine, get on the radio. Quick.” I grabbed the flare gun, and once I was sure that it was definitely a light, I shot the red beam straight up. My heart pounded in my chest as Christine spoke in rapid-fire Greek. When the light in the water turned toward us and picked up speed, I wanted to jump overboard and swim to meet it. Christine hurried to stand next to me, and we wove our fingers together as we watched the boat get closer and closer to us.
“Christine, are you okay?” her oldest brother shouted.
“I’m fine, Adrian. We’re fine.”
As the boat neared, Adrian threw a rope out, and I caught it before tying it to the front of our boat.
“You’re alone?” Christine asked.
“Yeah, Papa wanted more people out searching, so we all took a different boat and went in different directions.”
That might have been the case, but it didn’t take long for more lights to hit us. My uncles Alessandro, Costas, Pappous, and several cousins were mixed in the bunch as well.
“We will all talk when we get back to the dock,” Mr. Petrakis snapped.
“It isn’t our fault, someone cut the rope, look, Papa.” Christine ran to the edge, but Adrian grabbed hold of her hand.
“Come onto my boat, I have blankets. You must have a chill.” Christine stretched out her other hand toward me. “No, just you. He got you into this mess.”
“No, he didn’t. He kept me calm. Someone did this.”
I didn’t do this, but even she had to see that not a single thing either of us could say would change her brother’s mind. He thought I had cut the rope.
“Asteri mou, go, get a blanket, I’m fine. I’ll see you at the dock.”
A piece of my heart cracked as I watched her head fall, but she did as I requested and climbed onto her brother’s boat. Alessandro jumped onto the boat with me, untied the towrope, and started the engine, since he had the keys to his own boat.
“I promise you that I didn’t do this. We were sitting at the table, and I made a comment about how much calmer the boat was and how it was different from in Florida. It was strange, so I came upstairs to check. But by that point, I couldn’t even see the lights from the island. I promise. I followed your orders.”
“I know you did. I saw the rope.”
When we all pulled up to the dock, the Petrakises drove into the marina where they kept their boats docked while I grabbed some new rope and helped Uncle Alessandro secure his in his slip before we set the anchor, just in case.
“Why don’t you go find your girl and smooth everything over with her father? I can finish up here.”
“Thank you. I owe you.” I raced off, but as I neared the gate of the shipyard, I halted and frowned, because Christine was no longer with Michael, Julian was. I was about to get their attention but stopped at the last second, listening to what they were arguing about.
“What did you do? You cut that rope, didn’t you?” Michael hissed out.
“No, you did.”
“I did not, my family would never believe that I would put my sister in danger.”
“I actually have a photo of you holding the rope after it was cut. Looks like evidence to me. If you look real close you can even see the knife.” Julian leaned over and pointed at something in the Polaroid photo.
“Is this why you brought me down to the dock? It was all a setup?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Julian’s voice held no hint of remorse.
“You can’t. My family will disown me, and my sister will never speak to me again. I didn’t do this, and you know it. They won’t believe you for a second.”
“Emotions are high, they’re looking for someone to blame, and all proof points to you. I’m sure I can even direct everyone to that exact knife, and they’ll find it stashed in your room.”
“What the hell, Julian? While I’m freaking out worried about my family, you broke into my house and hid it? Why? Just so you can date my sister? Do you really think she will want anything to do with you after this? Are you that stupid?”
“Doesn’t look like I’m the stupid one in this situation. Now, do as I say, and I won’t show the photo. Maybe, if you’re extra good, I’ll tell you where the knife is hidden. All we have to do is get rid of the American and no one gets in trouble.”
“Tell me one thing.”
“Is it just Christine that you want, or it is George that you hate?”
“I’ve asked your sister out three times and not once has she said yes. She turns me down, but she throws herself over some American. I bet he doesn’t have money. You know that I could provide for Christine, she’d have everything she ever wanted. So, if you want your family to remain your family, you’ll do exactly what I say.”
Christine
I wasn’t getting any sleep tonight, Papa and my brothers were shouting—some at me, some at the situation, and some at George, who wasn’t even there.
“Since I was the only one there, why don’t you listen to me?” I asked for what had to be the tenth time.
Mitera patted my shoulder. “Give them time to blow off some steam, their adrenaline is still running high.”
So, just because they were angry, it gave them a free pass to scream and ignore the facts? Unbelievable. I huffed and headed upstairs to put on my pajamas. “Whoa, where do you think you’re going, young lady?” Papa’s bark seemed much louder tonight.
“Upstairs to change. None of you are listening to me, so I figured you didn’t need me.” I knew that my flippant answer was the wrong thing to say when all of my brothers dropped into chairs. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but I was the only one there and no one has asked me what happened.”
“Fine, tell us what you think happened,” Papa said.
I took a deep breath and started at the beginning, taking them all the way through to the moment we shot the flare, leaving off a few of the more personal details, of course.
“If the rope was cut and only a few fibers remain, then it is only moments until it breaks. There are several possibilities,” Adrian said.
“Several possibilities, none of which are that George cut it. He’s just as innocent in all of this as I am. You should have seen him, Papa, he was so worried—not about the boat but about me. He was only worried for me. Mitera”—I glanced at my mother for help—“please, you’ve met him. Nicholas, tell them about Julian the other night. Michael, please.”
“I don’t think it was George,” Nicholas offered. “Christine’s right. He was quicker to defend her at the bonfire than even we were.” Nicholas pointed to himself and Michael. “Why would he turn around and put her in danger?”
“It could have been a show to impress us at the bonfire,” Michael said nonchalantly, and I stared at him.
“You are not permitted to go off with that boy alone, do you hear me?” My father waited for me to acknowledge him. “Until we get to the bottom of this, you may see him in public but not alone and not somewhere that he can carry you off.”
I wanted to roll my eyes but didn’t. Carry me off? To where? America?
* * *
It had been two days since the boat incident, and I hadn’t seen George since. I rose early Monday morning and raced down to the docks. I needed to find George. He wasn’t at church yesterday, and I wanted to beg him to please be patient while everything settled.
“Christine.” I turned as Monika and Zoe raced up to me.
“What’s going on?” Monika looked hurt, which was probably because I’d been avoiding her.
“Nothing. Everything is fine.”
“No, I mean, about with what happened Saturday night? Are you and George okay?”
“What do you care? You made it clear you didn’t think he was worth my time.”
She had the good sense to look contrite. “No, I’m sorry about that. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking, but I don’t think that I was wrong.”
“You were.”
There was a long moment of silence, and then Zoe shifted from foot to foot before asking, “So? What happened? Are you still allowed to date him?”
