Daughter of the Winds (27 page)

I laughed gently.
“Well, hello there.”

He sat upright then and took my head in his hands and pulled me towards him.
He balled his fists in my hair and kissed me harder this time, sucking on my lower lip. I held on to his wrists as he kissed me, not wanting to quite let go of myself completely.

“
Wait,” I said.

“
What’s wrong, darling?” He let go of my head then and took my hands in his. I smoothed my thumbs over his knuckles. Such strong hands.

“
I’ve not been fair to you, I...”

“
Hold on. Is this going to be an apology?” he mocked.

I half smiled, half glared at him then.

“Maybe.”

“
Then can it wait until later? I need to give it my full attention and, if I’m completely honest, my mind is elsewhere right now.” He pulled my hands then so that I fell on top of him. “Now, where were we?”

Epilogue

Dom and I stayed on the island for three more weeks.
Mum flew out to join us and I gave her all of the things I’d rescued from her flat. She sobbed when she saw the watch. It was the last thing her parents had ever given her and showed that her mother had been thinking about her after all. She wished she’d forgiven her before she’d died.

I reintroduced her to Eddie.
That was an awkward day, but they soon got to talking and she asked him to take her to see their son’s grave. I think it’s too much to hope that they will get back together again but who knows what the future will hold? They also went out for dinner with Betty and Bernie, some old friends from back in the day. Bernie had retired back to England after the war but they still came for a holiday in Cyprus once a year to stay with Eddie. Mum cried when she saw Betty and they promised they would never lose touch again.

I only saw Anna once more.
I followed her against the strong breeze which I now realised was always present when she was there. She took me to a steep hill on the outskirts of a deserted village. She bobbed ahead of me with her plaits swinging behind her, smiling as she led me to a dried-up well. The same blinding light that had saved my life in Varosha exploded through the remote hillside and I shielded my face. When I glanced back in her direction Anna was gone. I never saw her sweet smile again.

It took three days before we could get someone to come and investigate the well.
When they did, they found six bodies. All the bodies had bullet wounds to the head. They laid the yellowed bones out on white sheets under a tent. One body was a lot smaller than the rest. A young girl.

Antheia has given samples of her DNA and we’re waiting now for confirmation of the identity of the bodies. We know that Anna and her mother are among those bones. Antheia has asked us to stay for the funeral but it might be months and possibly years before the bones are formally identified and then released to the family.

Dom and I are heading back to England to face whatever the future might hold for us.
He is treating me like I am made of glass. He won’t let me lift a thing. You see, I’ve been feeling sick for the last week; it seems that we are smuggling a passenger home with us. I feel sure that it is a girl, and if it is, she will be named after the girl who saved my life: Anemone, ‘Daughter of the winds’.

THE END

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who gave me their time and their memories in order to add colour to this novel.  It would have been much paler without you.

Steff@edit-my-book did a great job of editing and proofreading and I shall be forever grateful.  Andy Cameron of Karate Graphics, local Rock God and all round great guy, thank you for the book cover design.

Credit should be given to my boys Alex and Danny for keeping out of the way (and not squabbling) for just long enough for me to put the finishing touches to this, my debut novel.

Finally, James, my wonderful husband who has been amazingly supportive throughout this project and been far more patient than I deserved.  Without him I wouldn’t have had the confidence to follow my dreams to Varosha.

About the author.

Jo Bunt was born in Cyprus the year following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.  After a career in Recruitment Consultancy in the City of London she turned her hand to motherhood and writing.  She is still working hard to perfect both.

She now lives in Derbyshire with her husband and twin boys.

Daughter of the Winds is Jo’s first novel.  ‘Eye of the Beholder’, her second novel will be published on Kindle in September 2014.