The Theotokis Inheritance (11 page)

Helena smiled broadly. It was so good to hear her friend’s voice, especially this morning.

The two girls spent a few minutes while Anna filled in more details about the job and just catching up, then they finished the call and Helena snapped her mobile shut thoughtfully. That was just what she needed. Not just to hear Anna’s voice, but to make her realize that she should think seriously about her future. It was time to turn her back on Mulberry Court and return to real life. Being here, she was hiding her head in the sand.

She was just making her tea when Oscar appeared, and she glanced up. ‘Hi,’ she said brightly. ‘Do you want your coffee now?’

He came across and stood next to her and Helena thought, please don’t touch me. I don’t want you to ever touch me again. She took a step to the side, avoiding any contact, and took their drinks over to the table.

‘I’ve just had a very interesting call from Anna—my friend in London,’ she said, glancing up at him briefly. ‘She told me about a very exciting opportunity coming up in her firm. She’s going to send me all the details so that I can apply.’ Helena sat down and reached for the
rack of toast. ‘It does sound as if it might suit me,’ she went on, spreading some butter on her slice of toast, ‘and if I was lucky enough to get it, I wouldn’t start until August so I’d still have a few weeks here. So that would be good, wouldn’t it?’ She took a generous bite from the toast and scrunched away, looking up at him, realizing that he hadn’t spoken a word.

‘I have to go back to Greece as soon as possible, now, this morning,’ he said, his expression darkly serious.

‘Well, I hope you can stop long enough to have your coffee,’ Helena said, rather tritely.

He stared down at her. ‘I’ve just been told they’ve brought my father back to Greece,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m afraid he’s dying.’

A
WEEK
later Louise returned and Helena was especially thankful to have some company. To hear about someone else’s problems was always a relief, she thought, as one morning she made her way down to the cottages.

Oscar had left almost immediately after receiving the call from Greece, only staying long enough to have a quick coffee, refusing any food. It was obvious that the news had hit him unbelievably hard, and Helena was filled with sympathy as she’d looked up at his drawn features. She was never going to forget what her reaction had been on hearing about her own father’s death, how she’d felt so devastated, so empty. She knew that losing one’s parents was a natural sequence of human events, but that didn’t make it any more acceptable when it happened.

She had found it easy to offer just one or two words of sympathy, squeezing Oscar’s arm tightly, and he’d covered her hand with his own briefly. With his voice thick with worry, he’d said he would be in touch with her as soon as possible. And, rather surprisingly, given the particular circumstances, as he’d left he had asked her not to apply for the London job until he returned, saying it could complicate matters. And although
Helena hadn’t really understood the point, she wasn’t going to question it… not then. Family matters were a far more important concern than jobs—or even the selling of houses. And that was obviously the ‘complication’ he was alluding to, she thought. His buying Mulberry Court from her and all the formalities that would have to be dealt with. And he knew that, now, she would readily fall in with his plan because it meant no one else would get their grasping hands on the place.

All the information about the job had arrived in the post two days later and, leafing through it, Helena had to agree with Anna that it did seem to fit her credentials perfectly, almost tailor-made for her, in fact. But there was no need to return the forms just yet, she’d thought, putting them back into the envelope. Not until she’d spoken to Oscar. She’d had only one rather tense call from him, telling her very little, and she remembered what he’d said about Greeks being very family-oriented and emotionally close. His parents were Oscar’s only family, as far as she knew, and it was his father’s name which had always cropped up in conversations. In a way, Helena wished she was there with him to give some support, but he’d have no need of her. There’d be plenty of other people—other women—to give him support. Not to mention his future wife!

Now, Helena tapped lightly on the door of Louise’s cottage and Benjamin, with Rosie at his heels and a mug of coffee in his hand, opened it to let Helena come in. Louise came across from the kitchen with some drinks on a tray, her face creased in a broad smile.

‘It’s so good to be home again,’ she said, putting down the tray and giving Helena a big hug. ‘Now, I
know we’ve only had a few words on the phone so far, but I want to know everything that’s been happening!’ She handed Helena a mug of coffee.

Helena said quickly, ‘You start first, Louise—how’s your cousin now?’

Benjamin cleared his throat, looking at each of them in turn. ‘Well, Rosie and I must be off—so I’ll leave you two to it,’ he said amiably. He glanced across at Louise. ‘Thanks for the coffee, Louise—the best one I’ve had for weeks!’

‘Flatterer,’ Louise said as she handed Helena a plate of biscuits. ‘And by the way, I’m making a steak and kidney pudding for supper, Benjamin. I know it’s your favourite, so we’ll eat at eight, if that’s OK.’ She looked across at Helena. ‘There’ll be plenty for three if you’d like to join us, Helena,’ she said, adding, ‘It’s wonderful to be using my own cooker again. Didn’t realize how much I’d miss it!’

After Benjamin had gone, and Helena had insisted on knowing every detail about Sarah’s problems, Louise said, ‘Now, I want to know how
you’ve
been getting on.’ She shot a look at Helena. ‘Benjamin told me that Oscar’s been about quite a lot…’

‘Yes… he has been, on and off,’ Helena replied guardedly. She smiled. ‘I think he wants to keep a very close eye on his property, but at the moment he’s with his father, who’s not at all well, I understand,’ she added, deciding not to be more specific.

‘Mmm,’ Louise murmured equivocally. She paused, then, casually, ‘Benjamin and I were chatting the other night, and we came up with the idea that wouldn’t it
be wonderful if you and Mr Oscar were to, you know, keep the house and… were to get married one day…’

Helena interrupted this flight of fancy. ‘Louise! There’s about as much chance of that happening as time moving backwards!’ she exclaimed. ‘Oscar would never want to marry me, I know that for a fact.’

‘I don’t see why not,’ Louise said. ‘It’s obvious that he… likes you… Helena. Always did. Just think of the hours you both spent here together…’

She didn’t go on, but Louise remembered those times clearly—what a handsome couple the youthful pair had made, how they’d revelled in each other’s company… and it was no different now, not from the looks she’d seen Oscar give Helena…

Helena shrugged. ‘We’ve both grown up, Louise,’ she said firmly. ‘And anyway, if Oscar ever marries, it won’t be to an Englishwoman. He’ll probably have to marry a suitable Greek woman.’

Louise pursed her lips. ‘Well, Isobel’s husband obviously had his own ideas about that,’ she said. ‘Now, those two were a devoted couple. He worshipped the ground Isobel walked on.’

‘They were a different generation, Louise, and Oscar is obviously different from Paul Theotokis,’ Helena said lightly, not wishing to continue with this conversation. She wasn’t going to say a word about the wife Oscar had alluded to, nor that he intended becoming the sole owner of Mulberry Court. In any case, that was still some time off because no sale could go through until one year had elapsed—which was still some time away. Best to leave things unsaid, for now, she thought. But she couldn’t help feeling touched at what Louise obviously
hoped for, though Helena hadn’t realized that she and Oscar had obviously been discussed at length by the two in the cottages. And of course their dream scenario would be wonderful for them, she thought. The perfect answer to their own personal future.

For the next few days, Helena decided to suspend all thoughts about Oscar, or the house, or the London job, until he came back to England. She still had another couple of weeks before the application form needed to be sent, so she decided to spend a lot of the time being busy cataloguing all the books in the library, even though she knew this wasn’t really her problem any more. She made notes of the ones she would like to take away for herself, thinking that it would be useful for Oscar to know exactly what was left on those shelves. Kneeling back on her heels, she added another set of volumes to the list in her hand. And the moisture she was wiping from her eyes had little to do with the occasional dust that drifted about, she knew that. It was sad regret that made her keep taking a tissue from her pocket.

One day, Helena went upstairs to her room, taking her mug of tea with her. She put it on the bedside table, then sat looking around her again for a moment. All the rooms in Mulberry Court were individually distinguished by the furniture and fittings that Isobel had brought back from her travels, and Helena’s room—the best one, in her opinion—boasted several items of beautiful hand-crafted Indian workmanship. She stared thoughtfully at her reflection in the ornate mirror opposite, and at its matching chest of drawers. Both items had apparently been the handiwork of a young
teenager—the son of the owner of a struggling out-of-town enterprise in Delhi—and, staring at it now, Helena knew that she wanted this special furniture in her own home one day. Well, it wouldn’t suit Oscar’s style, she thought. He wouldn’t want it.

Suddenly, remembering something, Helena smiled faintly and stood up and went over to kneel in front of the chest of drawers. Apart from the one in which she’d put some clean tops, they were empty of any contents but, at Helena’s touch, the wider drawer at the bottom slid open smoothly. She let her fingers trace the fine inside seam along its length until she felt the tiny nub which, when compressed, allowed the opening of a compartment designed as a place of safety for treasures.

‘I thought it was such fun!’ Isobel had said when she’d first shown it to Helena. ‘Such amazing craftsmanship by someone so young, with a delightfully cunning twist! I had never seen anything like it before, and I think everyone should have somewhere special that no one else knows about! And this is yours, this is for you, Helena,’ she’d declared emphatically.

Now, with the firm movement required, Helena was able to draw out the small compartment and, gasping audibly, she felt her fingers close on something inside. Bending further forward, she took out two envelopes and stared at them for a moment, completely mystified.

With her mouth drying, she recognized the first one immediately. It was something she had found in her father’s desk after he had died and, without question, Helena had obeyed the simple hand-written instruction on the front.

‘To be returned, unopened, to Mrs Isobel Theotokis.’

Now, with the blood beginning to gather pace through her arteries, Helena picked up the second envelope. It read:

‘For the sole attention of Miss Helena Kingston.’

Holding both items in her hands, which were by now shaking, Helena wondered if she was having another of her dreams, whether she was finally losing her grip on reality. She stayed quite still for several minutes, then got up slowly and went over to sit down on the cushioned seat under the window.

Then she opened each envelope carefully and spread the contents out in front of her.

Finally, the worst had happened and, ten days later, Oscar was due to return to Mulberry Court. Helena’s feelings were in a state of total confusion as she waited to see his car pull up outside.

From their one or two phone conversations, Helena had learned that Giorgios Theotokis had passed away quietly with Oscar there, holding his hand. From the tone of his voice, and the brevity of what he’d said, Helena knew that it had—naturally—been a traumatic event for Oscar. But she also knew that he would deal with it—and the aftermath—quickly and effectively, in his usual businesslike way. He was no defeatist, and he would recover, probably quicker than she had done after her own bereavement.

But, in spite of death, life went on, Helena reminded herself. And
her
life was somewhat hanging in the balance. She still had no job, and no home of her own that she could move into. In fact, the only thing that she really
owned at the moment was an elderly car waiting to be picked up at that London garage.

And that other thing she owned. A broken, jealous heart…

Then a sudden smile tilted the corners of her mouth. Despite everything else, she had to acknowledge a warm ripple of contentment running through her every now and again. It was possible, she realized, to feel happiness—real happiness—on someone else’s behalf, even in retrospect. Happiness by proxy! Even the darkest clouds sometimes had a silver lining, she thought.

At six o’clock on the Friday evening that Oscar was due back, Helena stood idly in the conservatory, gazing out of the window. He had phoned her on his way from the airport to say that there was heavy traffic and that he might be delayed.

She had been surprised that he was able to return to the UK so soon after the funeral—she’d have thought there’d have still been a great deal to do. But when she’d made the comment to Oscar, he’d said that there were one or two essential points he had to clarify regarding Mulberry Court, and that he wanted to get them sorted out as quickly as possible.

In the fridge were some thick, moist slices of home-cooked gammon, and a generous wedge of duck paté to go with a loaf of the bread she’d bought for their supper, and presently she went into the kitchen to prepare a green salad to go with it all. In the new car—which Helena freely admitted she was going to hate parting with—she’d driven into Dorchester that morning to buy the provisions—among which were some delicious
black cherries, which now she rinsed under the tap before putting them in a ceramic bowl.

It had been a lovely fine day, and the evening was turning out to be just as perfect, with the sun still warm and a light breeze ruffling the leaves and branches. Glancing at her watch for the hundredth time, Helena decided that she wasn’t going to waste another moment inside; her days here were numbered, and it could be another hour or more before Oscar returned.

She tore a piece of paper from the notepad in her bag and scribbled the words
‘6.45—gone for a short walk’
. Then she propped it up against one of the wine glasses on the table and went outside.

She was wearing her simple blue shift dress and strappy sandals, her hair in one long plait down her back and, as soon as she set off, Helena’s heart surged once more in pleasure just to be here, walking the familiar territory. As she trod lightly across the dry grass, her mind kept going back to the short time on that island… Well, it had been in the forefront of her thoughts ever since they’d returned. How could it not have been? It had been an unforgettable few days and she never would, never could, forget it. How could Oscar have brought her down to earth so cruelly—on the very night they’d come back? It had been heartless of him to even hint at another woman after he’d possessed her so fully! Even if he did know that announcing he was going to keep Mulberry Court in the family would please her! As if that made everything all right! Her heart, and this house, were two very different things, she thought, suddenly feeling defiant again at what he’d said.

She shook herself angrily. She was not going to ruin
this lovely evening by going over and over all that, she thought. It would be a total waste of her emotional energy, and she’d wasted enough of that already.

As she wandered up the gently sloping terrain, she wondered if Benjamin and Rosie would be around somewhere, but so far there’d been no sign of them. Helena smiled to herself; this had been the perfect place for Benjamin, Helena thought, as Isobel had known it would be. And when he and Louise were eventually told that their futures were secure—because Oscar and his wife would obviously be keeping them on—they would be over the moon. Mulberry Court would still be owned—and partly lived in—by the Theotokis family.