The Unquiet Mind (The Greek Village Collection Book 8) (22 page)
Read The Unquiet Mind (The Greek Village Collection Book 8) Online
Authors: Sara Alexi
She shared her vision and Stella became very excited. She explained how she had started her candle factory in her baba’s old barn on top of her own hill. Juliet said she would visit for sure and the rest of the night, the three of them laid plans. No mysterious God, but there were one or two bottles of beer.
Chapter 29
‘To answer your question, we’ve had several completion dates, and it keeps getting pushed back ... But when he asked me to come and look, I knew the day to move in could not be far way.’
‘Well, I think it was very sensible of you to come and stay with me so you can keep an eye on things.’
‘It was very kind of you to invite me.’ Sophia realises she is not going to get any more digging done for the moment and so leads Sister Katerina into the shade, back to her bench by the church door; the most perfect spot to look over the garden.
Staying with Sister Katerina was the abbess’ idea. After Sophia left the convent, it was agreed that she would visit the abbess once a month, and it was at one of these meetings she voiced her plans to move back to her island. The old nun turned very thoughtful for a moment before taking a large key from inside her robe and unlocking the bottom door of an oversized dark wood desk from where she withdrew a piece of paper folded many times and bound in string. Carefully undoing the knots and unfolding the sheet, she slowly read through the contents.
‘This is a note from a fellow nun. I will divulge its contents, but you must keep complete confidence,’ she rasped.
‘Of course, Sister.’ Sophia was curious.
‘It is from Sister Katerina in the convent on Orino.’ She looked at the note. ‘She says that despite her prayers and God’s strong arm of support, she grows physically weak. Her vegetable garden is not producing enough to live on because she does not have the strength to do all the work that is necessary. In this note, she asks if I could send a younger nun to support her. Preferably someone quiet who will not get in the way.’ She paused before adding, ‘Those are my words, not hers, but I can read between the lines.’ She cleared her throat, re-folded the note, re-tied the string around it, and replaced it in the bottom drawer. ‘It strikes me that you are the answer to her prayers. You can stay with her to begin with, sort out all the major jobs she lists as being beyond her, and use your God-given talent on her vegetable plot.’ She crossed herself. ‘Then when your house is done, it will give her the space she needs if you were to attend her garden a few times a week. I think this is God’s purpose for you. This is what he would like you to do to recompense the church for all the years you lived here.’
The anger boiled in Sophia, rendering her speechless. But after a moment’s reflection, reason filtered through her wrath and she slowly realised that this presumption by the abbess could in fact be the answer to her living up on the top of Orino Island long-term without water to grow her food.
‘I will write to her, telling her to expect you.’ Sophia was dismissed and she walked once more from the convent wishing, hoping, that would be the last time she would ever see the abbess.
In the shade of the small church, Sophia sits by Sister Katerina’s side and they gaze over the garden.
‘Look what a difference you’ve made in just two days.’ Sister Katerina surveys her blossoms and blooms. ‘It is wondrous.’
Sophia checks over the lupins and the geraniums and notes several things in that area that she must attend to. There are weeds poking through here and there and behind them, the climbing rose by the front gate needs to be cut back to one or two stems to give it strength. It thrills her. The whole garden thrills her. There were so few flowers at the convent near Saros, but here, there is so much that is new, so much she can learn, and Sister Katerina has so much she can teach her, which she seems to enjoy doing in her own meditative way.
Her happiness is all but complete. She can ask for no more. If there is a God, a bigger, more real, more live, all-encompassing force of nature that governs the universe than the icon gods of the convent, then maybe that force has turned the wheels of her life, that force has moulded her steps to bring her out into her own garden of Eden and for this, she gives thanks, as she could not be happier.
Presently there is a tapping noise that breaks Sophia’s reflection.
‘Oh.’ Sister Katerina stands and her old legs seem to take on new life. ‘I have just thought of something I really must do inside.’
Sophia has stood automatically, ready to support Sister Katerina. The tapping is repeated. Sister Katerina has moved with alarming speed and is almost inside when she turns to say, ‘Open the door, will you? That will be my weekly delivery from town.’ With this, the old nun goes inside and closes the door behind her, leaving Sophia alone in the garden.
The tapping repeats itself. A butterfly on the roses nearby takes to the air.
A donkey brays just outside. Sophia opens the door.
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Sara Alexi