‘You may prefer not to shake my hand.’
Nicolas stared. ‘Good God – a leper!’
Yannis returned his hand to his pocket. ‘I’m burnt-out. There’s nothing to fear.’
‘Can we get home, please?’ Daphne suddenly felt very near to tears. So that was why her husband had not wished to acknowledge his family.
In silence they walked the length of the corridor and down the flights of stairs. Elena led the way to the car. ‘Come on, it’s big enough for all of us.’
Yannis hung back.
‘And you – uncle Yannis.’
Obediently Yannis climbed inside, sitting between the door and his sister. Surprisingly Elena slid into the driving seat, switched on the engine and began to reverse the large car from the car park. She drove fast and skilfully, taking the road to Piraeus, before turning off into the most select suburb of Athens.
‘Do you drive often?’ Anna asked, her knuckles white from clutching at the seat in front of her.
‘Every day,’ she replied cheerfully. ‘Don’t worry, you’re quite safe.’ She swung the wheel violently to the right and brought the car to an abrupt halt. ‘We’re here.’
The apartment was larger and more opulent than Yannis’s and seemed a wonder of modern conveniences to Anna as she followed Daphne into the kitchen.
‘Is it all right for Yannis to be here?’
Daphne smiled. ‘I’m thrilled to meet both of you. It was just a bit of a shock. When Stelios started talking in his delirium and saying he wanted to see you I didn’t know what to do. I thought his only relative was a cousin. He had told me his family were dead.’
Anna’s eyes filled with tears. How wicked to say Yannis was dead! She followed Daphne back into the lounge, carrying the bottle of wine that had been handed to her. Yannis was sitting self-consciously on the edge of the deep settee, whilst his niece and nephew were trying to think of something to say that would ease the tension. Daphne handed the bottle to Nicolas.
‘Pour us all a glass of wine and then I think we should sit and talk. We’ve a good many years to catch up on. Where do you live on Crete? I only found out about his cousin through reading a letter which Stelios had dropped.’
‘Yannis, I think it’s better if you do the talking.’ Anna was beginning to feel very tired and she would have liked nothing better than to lean back in her chair and close her eyes.
‘We heard nothing from Stelios once he went to Athens and after the war we thought he must have died. Then Andreas wrote and said he was alive and well. We were obviously a great embarrassment to him as he refused to have anything to do with us.’
‘Poor Pappa. He should have told us.’
‘I think he really had convinced himself that his family were all dead.’ Elena looked at Yannis with misty eyes. ‘I asked him once to tell me about you and he spoke so sadly.’
‘Then why did he suddenly want to see us?’ asked Anna.
‘I’m not sure. Maybe the doctor was confused. Stelios had been drifting in and out of delirium for some time. He kept repeating that he must see Yannis. The doctor asked me if I knew who this Yannis was and I eventually remembered the letter from years ago. I wrote to Father Andreas and asked him if he could help.’
“What other relatives do we have?” asked Nicolas.
‘It might be better if I told you all about us. It could help you to understand.’ Yannis looked at the attentive faces before him and began to recount the story of his life and the details of his family.
Nicolas drew in his breath. ‘You lived on Spinalonga?’
‘Yannis and his friends made it beautiful,’ interrupted Anna.
‘You went there?’ Nicolas could hardly believe his ears.
‘Of course I did, once I was allowed. My brother lived there. I made many friends over there.’
Nicolas shook his head in disbelief, whilst Elena gazed at her newly found uncle in astonishment. ‘Are you really a leper?’
Yannis spread out his hands. ‘I couldn’t possibly deny it.’
‘Is your brother Yiorgo still alive?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then why didn’t he come over?’
‘He had to look after the farm,’ Anna defended him.
‘And what about the children you brought up? What happened to them?’
‘Marisa is married to an Italian; she has three children, all boys. Here, I’ve a photograph.’ Anna delved into her bag and drew out a snapshot of her niece, the baby on her lap and her other sons on each side of her. ‘Yannis is married, too, but he has no children yet.’
‘And you?’ Daphne turned to Yannis. ‘I suppose not.’
Yannis smiled. ‘You suppose wrongly. I’ve married twice. The first time was when I was on Spinalonga and then again when I returned to Athens. Lepers are human, you know.’
Daphne coloured slightly. ‘I didn’t mean…’
‘I know what you meant. How could anyone find a leper attractive enough to marry? My present wife is also a leper. We accept each other’s defects, although mine are a good deal more noticeable than hers.’
Daphne swallowed. She felt she had been extremely tactless. She leaned forward and refilled Yannis’s glass. ‘Will you visit Stelios again tomorrow?’
‘I’ll take Anna tomorrow, but I’ll wait outside. He may not remember seeing me today and I don’t want to upset him.’
‘Suppose he asks for you?’
‘I’ll be there if he does.’ Yannis looked at his watch. ‘We should go. Dora will think something has happened to us.’
‘Who’s Dora?’
‘My wife.’
‘Can we meet her?’
‘Of course; she’ll be delighted.’ Yannis rose to leave and held out his hand to help Anna from the deep armchair. ‘If I could just call a taxi.’
‘I’ll take you home.’ Elena picked up her car keys. ‘Poor aunt Anna looks almost asleep.’
Dora looked at Yannis anxiously as he returned with his sister, his face drawn and his jaw set. ‘Is Stelios dead?’ she whispered.
Yannis shook his head. ‘We’ve been chatting to his wife and children. They thought we’d both died long ago.’
Dora slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. ‘How awful for you.’
Yannis slumped down in a chair. ‘I suppose I was to all intents and purposes. Once a leper and sent to Spinalonga death was inevitable. You weren’t expected to leave from there! It’s Anna I feel sorry for. Why disown her? She’d done nothing.’
Dora could think of nothing to say that might comfort her husband. She placed a glass and bottle at his elbow. If he became drunk who could blame him? Anna had gone straight to her room and Dora knocked tentatively.
‘Is there anything you want?’
‘No, thank you.’ Her voice sounded muffled.
‘May I come in?’ Without waiting for an answer Dora opened the door. As she had guessed Anna was crying. She pressed another handkerchief into her hand and sat beside her on the bed.
‘Poor Yannis; fancy Stelios saying he was dead! Stelios used to adore him. Followed him everywhere.’
Dora placed an arm round her sister-in-law’s shoulders. ‘He was very young when Yannis was taken ill. Maybe he didn’t fully understand.’
‘We none of understood. Pappa forbade us to tell anyone.’
‘Maybe that was why Stelios thought it better to say he was dead.’
Anna shook her head. ‘Why should it have happened to Yannis?’
‘Why does it happen to any of us?’
‘Oh! I’m sorry. I forgot.’ Anna’s hand flew to her mouth.
‘That’s all right. I’m not sensitive about it any more. I suppose I’m luckier than most. I’ve no outward signs that people can see when I’m dressed. When I first limped I said I’d had a car accident and everyone accepted it and was sympathetic. Had I told them the truth my own family would have driven me away.’
‘We wouldn’t have done that to Yannis.’
‘You may not have, but your neighbours would. That was why your Pappa forbade you to tell anyone. It was probably easier for Stelios to say Yannis was dead; it saved him awkward questions and explanations. Now, how about helping me to lay the table for supper? You must be hungry. You’ve hardly eaten all day.’
Anna sniffed. ‘I still think it was very wrong of him.’
To Dora’s surprise Yannis had drunk very little, but she found his silence disconcerting. She tried to make up for it by chatting brightly to Anna, arranging how they would spend their morning in the city.
Yannis spent a sleepless night. He was more shocked and hurt than he realised. To have told people his family was dead! The words went round and round in his brain until he could see the sky begin to lighten. He seemed to have only just closed his eyes to try to stave off the coming of dawn when Dora was shaking him.
‘The telephone, it’s Daphne.’
Yannis rubbed his eyes. Stelios must have died in the night for her to be telephoning so early. He vaguely noticed that Dora was dressed and the sun was bright in the room.
‘Hello? Daphne?’
‘Yannis, I’m at the hospital. Stelios is asking for you.’
‘For me? You must be mistaken. Is he delirious again?’
‘No, truly. He seems quite coherent and is most insistent that he wants to speak to you.’
For the first time Yannis looked at his watch. It was ten fifteen. He could hardly believe it. Why had Dora left him so late? What must Anna think of him?
‘Give me half an hour. I’ll bring Anna with me.’ Yannis replaced the receiver looking thoughtful. ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’ he demanded of Dora.
‘You spent all night tossing and turning, muttering away to yourself, so I thought it best to leave you when you began to sleep soundly.’
‘But you and Anna were going into town.’
‘That can wait until tomorrow. You get yourself dressed and I’ll bring your coffee.’
It was a little more than the half an hour that Yannis had estimated by the time he and Anna reached the hospital. He was still unconvinced that Daphne had understood her husband and sent Anna into the room alone. He waited in the white, scrubbed corridor until Elena came out to him.
‘Pappa wants to see you.’
Silently Yannis followed her into the room where his brother lay, small and wizened in the hospital bed. He stood where Stelios was able to see him. For what seemed like eternity to Yannis, Stelios looked him up and down.
‘Not – too – bad,’ he gasped finally.
Yannis moved a little closer. ‘I’m burnt-out. I’m not infectious.’
‘Doesn’t – matter – now.’ Speech was an effort.
‘Why did you do it, Stelios? Me, yes, that was understandable, but why say everyone was dead?
‘Education – career – Daphne. Might – have – found – out,’ he panted. ‘Better – all – dead.’
Yannis nodded. Tears were pricking at the back of his eyes. With a last supreme effort Stelios managed to raise his hand and touch Yannis’s.
‘Forgive – me – Yannis.’
Yannis took the fragile hand in his own disfigured claw. ‘I understand. There’s nothing to forgive.’
Yannis leant towards Daphne and whispered. ‘Has he been confessed?’
‘This morning.’ She bent and kissed his thin cheek. ‘You always made me very happy, Stelios.’
Stelios opened his eyes and smiled at her. He tried to raise his head, but it fell back limply on the pillow as his strength ebbed away. His breath rattled in his throat and his eyes began to glaze over.
Anna pushed Daphne away from the bed. ‘Take them out, Yannis. There’s nothing more to be done.’
Placing an arm round Daphne’s heaving shoulders, Yannis led her from the room, followed by her two silent children. Anna closed her brother’s eyes. She wondered if she should offer to wash and lay him out or if his family had made other arrangements. She decided she would ask them later.
Daphne, although white-faced, had regained her composure when Anna joined them and was busy apologising. ‘It was just so sudden.’
‘It always is,’ Anna assured her. ‘However prepared you are it still comes as a shock. How long had he been ill?’
‘Almost a year. The doctors were surprised he fought for so long.’
‘We’ll go back to my apartment,’ Yannis spoke authoratively. He ushered his relations down the corridor and stairs, stopping at the front desk to inform the nurse on duty that his brother had died. She nodded, pressed a buzzer, murmured her usual sympathetic phrases to bereaved relatives and turned back to her work.
Elena drove across the city and was directed by Yannis to his apartment. The little party entered soberly, Dora guessing by their faces that the waiting was over. She fussed over Daphne, bringing freshly baked baklava and urging her to eat. Each did so automatically and in silence, occupied by their own thoughts until Anna finally spoke.
‘Would you like me to wash Stelios and lay him out for you?’
Daphne looked at her in horror and shuddered. The action was not lost on Yannis.
‘Anna is the local nurse back home,’ he explained. ‘She deals with everything as a matter of course. She just wondered if you’d prefer to have the essentials performed by a relative rather than a stranger.’
‘No, I think maybe a stranger is better. Less,’ she searched for the word. ‘Less humiliating. It will be done by the hospital, won’t it, Yannis?’
‘Of course. All you need to arrange is the funeral, or I could do that for you.’
Daphne shook her head. ‘No, I’m quite capable. I know what Stelios wanted. We discussed it when he first knew how ill he was. Would your brother Yiorgo want to come to the funeral?’
Anna shook her head. ‘He can’t leave the farm. There’s little point in contacting Marisa or Yannis either. They hardly remember him and it’s doubtful they’d be able to get here in time. I’ll stay, Yannis, if I may.’
‘I hope you’ll stay a good bit longer. This is the first time you’ve ever had a holiday and I think you should make the most of it.’
‘I did say I’d return as soon as possible,’ Anna looked dubious.
‘Yiorgo is quite capable of looking after himself for a week or two,’ remarked Yannis dryly. ‘It’s time you had a rest and were looked after for a while.’
‘Do stay. There’s going to be a theatre show at the Acropolis next week and we could get tickets. You’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘I’ve only been to the theatre once before. That was on Spinalonga.’
‘On Spinalonga?’ Nicolas looked at his aunt in surprise.
She nodded. ‘They were very talented. I didn’t understand it all, but I did enjoy it.’