Eight months later, as she'd promised, Billie made her return to Speros. She stood on the ferry with Hilary and Nikolos, who had become known as Nicky within days of his birth. She pointed out landmarks on the island to Hilary, who was glowing with enthusiasm by her side. With her short blonde hair tousling in the breeze, her aunt's brown eyes were alight with curiosity and excitement.
'So that's your house…my new home,' Hilary breathed, straining to see the small dwelling to the right of the vast Drakos compound. 'And that massive yacht out there is Sea Queen? I had no idea the yacht was as big as a cruise liner.'
'You'll be able to come on aboard and tour the yacht on St George's Day,' Billie commented. 'The whole island takes a holiday for the festival of Agios Georgios and although it's the celebration of the saint that the village church is dedicated to, there's also a lot of fun with bonfires on the beach and loads of food and drink.'
'I'm looking forward to it. I remember you talking about it a couple of years ago,' Hilary admitted. 'Isn't it typical that Nicky has finally fallen asleep?'
Billie gave her infant son a rueful look. That was Hilary's polite way of saying that Nicky had been a little horror for most of the journey from London, evidently disliking the changes in his usual routine. He had cried for most of the flight and had refused to settle in between times. Offers of bottles, changes and cuddles had made no impression on his general dissatisfaction with life.
'I can't wait to see my house. The photos Damon emailed only whet my appetite.' Billie's arm was aching and she shifted Nicky to her other shoulder, where he continued to doze, his little breathy snuffles sounding in her ear. He was a surprisingly heavy bundle for a baby of only three months old. She stroked his back, wondering how she would bear working for hours away from him every day but knowing that, like millions of other working mothers, she had no choice.
Lauren greeted them at the harbour and made a beeline for the baby, who was now in Hilary's arms. 'So this is my…nephew,' she exclaimed, and it seemed to her daughter that there was a deliberate hesitation over that designation. 'My goodness, he looks older than three months and he's rather Mediterranean in his colouring, isn't he? I wonder who he got all that black hair from—'
'Don't exaggerate, Lauren. He's not a baby werewolf.' Hilary reclaimed the sleepy baby from her sister and clambered after Billie into the village taxi.
'What colour are his eyes?'
'Brown.' Billie avoided the hard stare her mother was subjecting her to from the front passenger seat.
Mercifully the new house took over as the topic of conversation. Billie had had furniture and household effects ready in storage before she even left the island and Lauren and Alexei's housekeeper, Anatalya, had worked together to find a place for everything. The two women had done a great job, but Billie realised that the furnishings looked sparse, particularly when the wood and tiled floors and white walls were bare of any adornment.
'It's so light and bright!' Hilary carolled, walking out onto the terrace where Billie was already admiring the wonderful panoramic view of the bay. 'It's amazing, a fabulous house and so spacious. Should we put Nicky down for a nap?'
'You're his mother, darling. Surely that should be your decision,' Lauren interposed with suggestive bite.
'He's the most beautiful baby!' Anatalya exclaimed in admiration, bridging the awkward moment between the three women related by blood.
Nicky was settled in his nursery where a musical mobile was switched on for his entertainment. He watched it with wide unblinking dark eyes and then his little face creased and he began to grizzle and complain.
'I think the mobile is irritating him,' Hilary opined.
Billie switched it off.
'So the baby rules the roost,' Lauren remarked from the doorway. 'Is it, by any chance…a Drakos baby?'
'Shush!' Billie hissed at her mother in shock. 'Don't even breathe an insinuation like that!'
I worked it out a long time ago. That's why he gave you the building plot next door—'
'Billie!' Anatalya called.
Relieved by the excuse to move, Billie slid past her mother to answer the older woman, whose plump smiling face was set in an unusual expression of discomfiture as she returned a mobile phone to her pocket. 'What is it?'
'Thespinis Calisto has just phoned me to say that she would like to see you immediately.'
Billie swallowed hard. As Lauren broke into rude comment Billie gave her mother's arm a warning squeeze. 'She's probably going to be my boss's wife, so although I don't start back to work officially until tomorrow I had better show willing.'
'I'll soon find my way around. Nicky and we'll be fine,' Hilary declared.
Billie got into Anatalya's beat-up old car. Alexei was heading home from Australia and not due back until later that night. And here Billie was finally heading for the meeting she had managed to avoid for months. 'Do I address her now as Miss Calisto or Mrs Bethune?' she asked the older woman.
'She told us all to call her the first. We all find her difficult,' the housekeeper admitted heavily. 'She has new ideas about the way we do everything at the villa.'
'Well, that's to be expected,' Billie quipped with determined good cheer. What can't be cured must be endured had become her personal mantra in recent months.
Calisto elected to see her in Alexei's office. She was still gorgeous, all blonde hair, white teeth and long legs displayed to advantage by a fluorescent pink dress.
'So you're Billie,' the statuesque blonde pronounced, treating her husband's employee to a head-to-toe unimpressed appraisal, her lips curling with scorn. 'There's loads of things going wrong at Alexei's properties because you've taken too much time off.'
'I'm sorry. It's unfortunate that my replacement didn't work out.'
'You're very lucky to have a job to come back to.' Calisto lifted a sheet of paper and extended it in a regal gesture of command. A whiff of her expensive perfume engulfed Billie. 'I've made a list of the most important things you need to take care of. I hope you're planning on working late tonight.'
'No, not tonight. I've been travelling since early this morning. But I'll make a start now,' Billie declared equably, glancing down at the entries on the paper. It was not a factual list of tasks, rather a long list of complaints that appeared to range from a poorly maintained swimming pool to impertinent domestic staff and finally colour and furnishing schemes that Alexei's consort wanted changed. 'I'll soon get it all sorted out.'
'See that you do. Alexei likes things to run like clockwork. He has no patience for cock-ups and neither do I. He says you're very efficient and this is your chance to prove it.'
Billie nodded and went to the door that led through to her own office space.
'I believe you organise things here for Agios Georgios day,' Calisto remarked in sudden addition. 'Do you think you could cancel the open house reception here at the villa?'
'It became a tradition when Alexei's father was a boy.'
'Yes, well, we're the new generation and I like my privacy. I don't fancy the local fisherfolk marching through our home. Make sure it doesn't happen.'