Wish You Were Here

Chapter 41



Milo was at war with himself. Alice wanted to go home. She was leaving Kethos for the second time and he didn’t know how to stop her. He thought about the week they’d shared together a few months ago back in the spring and then he thought about how – just last night – they’d talked and talked like old friends. There’d been such an ease in their togetherness – a closeness that usually comes over time. It had been so natural and he didn’t want to give that up because he truly believed that he’d never find it again.

So, what if he told her all these things now? What if he asked her to stay?

But she doesn’t want to hear what you have to say, a little voice told him. You lied to her. You deceived her. She only came back because of the statue – it had nothing to do with you.

Milo sighed. None of that seemed to matter, though. What mattered was that he had a burning sensation in his gut and he just had to tell her how he felt about her otherwise he was quite sure he would spontaneously combust.

They reached a crossroads where a pair of hairy goats were grazing and he stopped the car.

‘What is it?’ Alice asked, looking at him. ‘Are we lost?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘We’re not lost.’ He cleared his throat. He had to do this, he told himself. ‘There’s an amphitheatre near here,’ he said. ‘I’ve just remembered it. I’ve not been there for years. Do you want to see it?’

Alice looked surprised. ‘What about the ferry?’

‘You can get a later one.’

They locked eyes for a moment and Milo silently willed her to stay. Say yes, he silently pleaded. Say yes!

‘Okay, then,’ she said.

He smiled. ‘You won’t regret it,’ he said.

He turned right and followed the road up into the mountains, watching out of the corner of his eye as Alice wound her window down. The warm air pushed its way into the car and the breeze caught her hair and tangled it around her face and she smiled.

How could she leave all this, Milo thought to himself? How could she choose to return to the country of grey skies and stormy seas – a country so far away from him?

She hasn’t gone yet, a little voice told him. Don’t give up now.

The road suddenly dropped down into a little valley and Alice gasped as she saw the amphitheatre for the first time. The semicircle of stone was set perfectly into a great scoop in the landscape and looked as if it had been there forever.

‘It’s not the grandest in Greece,’ Milo said as he parked the car. ‘It’s probably one of the smallest.’

‘It’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘I can’t think how I overlooked it before.’

‘Because you rushed back to England before you gave this place a chance to work its magic on you.’

‘What do you mean? It did work its magic on me!’

Milo shook his head. ‘I don’t mean the wish – I mean – this place! It’s a place you feel in your very soul.’

They got out of the car and walked across the stony ground, entering the amphitheatre at the top and gazing down the steep rows of seats to what would have been the performance area below.

‘Isn’t it amazing?’ Milo said, his dark eyes shining with pride. ‘I often wonder if my ancestors came here to watch plays and be entertained.’

‘Is it used now?’

‘Not often. Just the occasional play in the summer for the tourists and firework displays at New Year.’ Milo walked along one of the rows of seats and Alice followed him. You’re going to do this, he told himself. Just keep calm and work out exactly what you want to say.

He stopped abruptly and Alice crashed into him.

‘Oh!’ he said, turning round and facing her, a blush colouring his face. ‘Sorry.’

‘Milo, what is it?’

‘Nothing,’ he said.

‘You’re all angsty and jittery.’

‘Am I?’

‘Yes, you are,’ Alice said, and her hands were on her hips. ‘Milo – why did you bring me here?’

He looked into her soft blue eyes and noticed the little wrinkles in her forehead as she tried to work out his motive. ‘Why did I bring you here?’ he said, repeating her question.

‘Yes,’ Alice said, staring at him hard.

‘That is a direct question and it deserves a direct answer.’

‘Right,’ Alice said.

Milo took a deep breath. ‘I brought you here because I want to tell you something.’

‘Okay,’ she said encouragingly.

He paused before beginning, kicking one of his shoes against the other like a nervous schoolboy. ‘Alice,’ he said, ‘I don’t want you to leave.’

She frowned. ‘You don’t?’

‘Of course I don’t! You’ve already left once and it almost broke me. I can’t bear the thought of you going again and I will hold you fully responsible for my actions if you do go.’

‘But I thought—’ she stopped.

‘What?’

‘I thought you hated me because of the conclusion I’d jumped to about you being married.’

‘I don’t hate you!’ he said aghast.

‘But you didn’t talk to me this morning. At breakfast, you just stared at me and froze me out completely and I didn’t know what to think.’

‘Alice – I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘I was trying to work out what to do. You said you were leaving and I knew I had to stop you but I didn’t know how you felt about me any more. I know you only came back to Kethos to see the statue and—’

‘Well, I—’ she paused, tears in her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry, Milo. I’ve had so much on my mind lately.’

‘I know you have,’ he said gently.

‘My father, and the wish and – well – I didn’t really know if you were interested in me. I mean, really interested in me or if it was because of the wish I’d made.’

‘Oh, Alice! And then I go and make a huge mess of everything between us,’ he said. ‘Look, I have no right to expect you to forgive me after I lied to you. I should have told you the truth about Tiana and I’m sorry I didn’t.’

‘But Milo – it should be you forgiving me,’ she said.

‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ he said, taking a step closer to her. ‘I just wish—’ he paused and laughed. ‘Maybe it would be better not to wish but I can’t help wishing that I’d done things differently.’

‘But you did what you thought was right for Tiana,’ Alice said. ‘You were right to protect her. You had no idea how things would be between us and it would be unfair to bring all of your girlfriends home and confuse her.’

‘But you’re the only one I’ve ever brought home,’ he said and their eyes locked for a moment. ‘You won’t leave, will you? I mean, I know you’ll have to go home and do whatever you have to do but you will come back, won’t you?’

Alice smiled and her whole face suddenly lit up with joy. ‘I want to tell you something,’ she said.

‘Okay,’ Milo said, his face filled with anxiety.

‘I’m not planning on leaving,’ she said with a little laugh.

‘What?’ Milo’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

‘I’ve been trying to think this all through,’ she said. ‘I know it’s a little bit crazy but I really want to have some crazy in my life now. I’ve always done the sensible thing, you see – I got a job, I rented a house, I’ve tried to save up for a place of my own and yet none of it’s brought me any happiness. But, when I came here, it was as if the world suddenly switched from black and white to colour and I was just dazzled by it all. I know I got a bit distracted by the wish and everything and – well – all the chaos it brought when I went home, but I couldn’t get this place out of my mind. I’d sit staring at my computer at work and yet it wasn’t the computer I was seeing but the Villa Argenti or that little beach you took me to. I’d see a pigeon sitting on my garden wall and I’d think of Pelagios the pelican.’

Milo laughed.

‘Oh, dear, I’m rambling now, aren’t I?’ Alice said.

‘You’re not rambling.’

‘But I thought I might have to find myself another island if you didn’t want me on this one.’

‘But I do want you on this one! You should have told me what you were thinking! Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Because you seemed so distant today. I didn’t know what you were thinking.’

‘What I was thinking? I was thinking of you! I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you since I first met you. Since I first saw you.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, really!’ He laughed. ‘You still don’t believe me, do you? Stay right there,’ he said and, suddenly, he was racing down the steep stone steps towards the centre of the amphitheatre.

‘Milo – what are you doing?’ Alice called after him.

‘Wait there!’ he said excitedly. His feet almost tripped over themselves as he ran but then he reached the bottom and he stood perfectly still right in the middle of the performance area. He gazed up at Alice high above him. She was shielding her eyes from the sun with her hands.

‘Alice?’ he said, testing out his voice in the immense space.

‘Yes?’ she called back.

‘I love you,’ he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

‘What?’ she said.

‘You heard me!’ Milo said. ‘The acoustics in here are the best in the world.’

‘Yes, but I want to hear it again just in case I imagined it.’

‘All right then – I LOVE YOU!’ This time, he shouted his declaration and his voice filled the whole amphitheatre and seemed to spread far beyond to the very heavens. ‘I’ve loved you from the first moment you walked into the gardens at the villa and it had nothing to do with your blue eyes or your hair or what you were wearing. I loved you because you were you!’ he said. ‘Because you were Alice!’

‘But you didn’t know me then,’ she said, slowly walking down the steps towards him.

Milo shook his head. ‘But I did! I knew you straightaway. I could see you, Alice. I could see you for the person you really were.’

‘But how do I know it’s not because of the wish?’ She was halfway down the steps now.

‘Because I saw you getting off the boat that day – the very moment you arrived on Kethos – long before you made that wish. You were with your sister but it was you I was looking at. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, Alice. You looked so happy to be here – on my little island – and I so wanted to get to know you and then you came to the gardens and we talked. Do you remember that? You told me all those things about your life and I loved listening to you. And that – all that – was before you made that silly wish.’

Alice had reached the centre of the amphitheatre and he could see that her eyes were shining with tears.

‘I love you,’ he said again. ‘And I know we’ve only just met and I know it seems crazy to say such a thing but I just can’t help it.’ He gave her a smile, relief and joy surging through him at having told Alice how he felt.

‘Oh, Milo,’ she said. ‘I love you too.’

‘Really?’

‘I think so,’ she said and they both laughed.

‘And I know it has nothing to do with Aphrodite,’ he said.

Alice nodded. ‘You’re right. It doesn’t. But I do have something to confess.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I might have made another wish on her.’

Milo looked surprised. ‘What was it? What did you wish for?’

Alice looked up at him and her eyes were soft with adoration. ‘I wished that I could stay here on Kethos.’

Milo sighed with great satisfaction. ‘You didn’t need Aphrodite to make that wish come true. I would have granted it for you.’





One Year Later



The sea was the colour of aquamarines. Alice shielded her eyes as she looked out over the orchard towards it. It was going to be a glorious summer on Kethos. She could smell the thyme and lavender which Milo had planted in the new garden he was creating and the rich lemony scent of the little flower which only grew on Kethos and whose name Alice had forgotten. Still, there was plenty of time to learn it. She wasn’t going anywhere.

She still couldn’t believe what had happened over the course of a single year. Her father’s house had been sold and Stella had paid off her debts and put down a deposit on a little flat in Norwich and had even got herself her first full-time job.

‘It’s so tiny!’ she’d complained when Alice had visited her.

‘Stella, you have two en suite bedrooms, a brand new kitchen and a balcony all to yourself!’ Alice told her, shaking her head in despair. Stella would never be happy and Alice had finally realised that there was nothing she could do to change that. But she could be happy.

‘And I am,’ she said to herself now as she gazed into the silvery green olive trees where Tiana was playing.

It seemed an age since she’d handed in her notice to a perplexed Larry Baxter.

‘Greece?’ he’d said. ‘You’re going to live in Greece?’

Alice had nodded. ‘I’ll send you a postcard!’ she’d told him.

Ben had found out about her plan and had come down to the department to wish her well on her last day. It was a moment laced with awkwardness and Alice had wondered what she’d ever seen in him and she had the feeling that he was thinking exactly the same thing about her.

And then the villa had come up for sale. Alice and Milo couldn’t believe it. The sculptor, Yanni Karalis, had retired. He was ninety-two, after all, and had been persuaded by one of his sons to sell up and move to the mainland.

Mr Karalis’s statues were all sold before Alice and Milo took possession of the property. All apart from one. Alice had made sure that one very special statue was left as part of the deal and she was looking at her right now.

They’d managed to find a sculptor who had done his best to piece back Aphrodite’s broken body and she now stood in a shaded corner of the garden, overseeing the work that they were doing. Alice would plant roses around her one day and make that little corner of the garden fit for a goddess.

She smiled as she remembered that it was because of Aphrodite that she was here right now. The foolish wish she’d made seemed to have been reversed and Alice’s life had returned to normal – if she could call finding her true love and living happily ever after normal.

For a moment, she thought about the wedding ceremony in the tiny white church at the top of the hill and the reception afterwards which had been full of laughter and the most delicious home-cooked food Alice had ever tasted. All of Milo’s brothers had been there and it seemed like the whole of Kethos had turned up too. She’d never been made to feel so at home in her life and she had Aphrodite to thank for that. If it hadn’t been for the statue, she would never have returned to Kethos.

‘Hello, beautiful,’ Milo said, appearing on the terrace with two glasses of homemade lemonade.

Alice had stopped telling Milo that she wasn’t beautiful because she really believed him now and it wasn’t because the sun had banished her pale face and limbs or because it had highlighted her hair – it was because she was in love and love, she realised, had made her truly beautiful.

He handed her a glass of lemonade and they watched as Tiana clambered up one of the olive trees in the orchard.

‘Careful!’ Milo shouted, and they looked on helplessly as Tiana’s grip suddenly loosened and she fell from one of the lower branches with a great thud.

Alice sprang out of her chair in an instant but Milo’s hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. ‘Wait a moment,’ he told her.

‘Tiana?’ Alice called. ‘Are you all right?’

Tiana got up from the dusty ground and brushed herself down. ‘It’s okay!’ she shouted back. ‘I’m fine!’

Alice breathed a sigh of relief.

‘You’ve got to learn to relax,’ Milo told Alice, kissing the top of her head.

‘If our child is going to be half as energetic as Tiana, I doubt I’ll ever relax again!’ Alice said with a laugh.

Milo placed a hand on her belly. ‘How is he?’ he asked.

‘Milo! It might not be a he at all. It might be a little she.’

He shook his head. ‘It’s a boy. I can feel it!’

She smiled at his certainty. ‘You’re going to be so disappointed if it’s a girl.’

‘How can you say that? I’d love a little girl. In fact, we’re going to have lots of little girls too but this is a little boy!’

‘How many children are you planning, exactly?’ Alice asked. ‘I mean, I’ve already got the barn conversions under way for the holiday lets and—’

‘Alice, I don’t want you working so hard. Not if we’re going to have three boys and three girls to take care of.’ He grinned at her as her eyes doubled in size. ‘Well, let’s just take it one at a time,’ he said, bending down to kiss her.

Alice smiled in contentment. She was living on a beautiful island with the man she loved and they were going to make a family together.

She really couldn’t wish for anything more.





Acknowledgements

To the fabulous support team I’m so lucky to have: Deborah Wright, Caroline Mackworth Praed, Ruth Saberton, Bridget, Gael and to my husband, Roy, who puts up with so much when I’m writing a novel!

To the lovely Leah Fleming and Allie Spencer for tips about Greece.

Thanks also to Wendy Holden, Fiona Dunbar, Brin and Helen, Andrea Jones, Annette Green, David Smith, Caroline Hogg and the team at Avon.

Special thanks to Alexandra Galani for letting me use her name - again!

Thanks also to the fantastic team in Norwich: Simon and Lisa Ludkin, Roger and Anne Betts, Jane McInnes and Vicky Green and Robert Welton at Jarrold’s.

And to my dear readers and friends on Twitter and Facebook who send me such lovely messages – you’re amazing!





About the Author

Victoria Connelly was brought up in Norfolk and studied English literature at Worcester University before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire. After getting married in a medieval castle and living in London for eleven years, she moved to rural Suffolk with her artist husband and ever-increasing family of animals. She has had three novels published in Germany – the first of which was made into a film.

To find out more about Victoria Connelly please visit www.victoriaconnelly.com