Everything Xandros was doing was a waste of his time.
I have to tell him—I just have to...
The landline went on ringing, despite her nerve-racking thoughts, and she got up reluctantly to answer it.
‘Parakelo?’ she said, hoping she would not get a volley of Greek beyond her capabilities from someone wanting to speak to Xandros.
But the call was for her.
‘Rosalie?’
The voice was female—and recognisable. It was Xandros’s mother.
Surprise filled Rosalie—and a sudden apprehension. ‘Kyria Lakaris?’
‘Yes. My dear...’
There was a slight pause, as if Xandros’s mother was deciding what to say, and that bite of apprehension came again. Never before had Xandros’s mother phoned her, so why...?
Something’s happened to Xandros!
Apprehension sharpened to fear...
‘I am in the lobby. May I come up?’ asked Xandros’s mother.
Fear subsided into wariness.
‘Yes—yes, of course,’ she replied.
The line went dead, and Rosalie opened the apartment door just as the lift doors opened to reveal Xandros’s mother.
Politely she stood aside, to let her enter her son’s apartment. Her mother-in-law—the very last person Rosalie had expected to see—seemed agitated. Apprehension bit at Rosalie again.
‘My dear, I need to speak to you,’ Xandros’s mother said.
She sat herself down on one of the sofas, and Rosalie lowered herself tensely to the other.
‘Has something happened?’ she heard herself ask, not able to keep the alarm out of her voice. ‘To Xandros?’
The older Kyria Lakaris shook her head. ‘No,’ she said quickly.
Too quickly, Rosalie thought. Something had happened—something that was not good.
Yet what her mother-in-law said next reversed that thought instantly.
‘My dear, Ariadne has returned!’
Rosalie’s face lit. ‘Oh, I’m so glad! I know you were very worried about her.’
Xandros’s mother nodded. But her demeanour was still agitated, and she went on speaking rapidly. ‘Yes...yes, I was worried indeed. But she has been, as Xandros thought, with her relatives in Scotland. Now, though, she is back in Greece—she arrived at the weekend. She came to me because of her...estrangement...from her father—’ She broke off.
‘He has behaved very badly towards her,’ Rosalie said, wanting to make it clear where her sympathies lay. Her face lit again. ‘I do hope so very much, though, that Ariadne will want to meet me. I’ve been longing to meet her—’
Xandros’s mother cut across her, her expression constrained. ‘That would not be...advisable,’ she said, as if searching for the right word. ‘You see...’ The expression of constraint deepened and she pressed her lips tightly for a moment. ‘Ariadne is pregnant.’
Rosalie stared. She could not think of anything to say except, ‘That’s wonderful!’
Xandros’s mother was looking at her strangely. ‘That’s a very generous thing to say...’ she said slowly.