Page 77 of The Island Villa

His confidence settled her.

“Yes, you’re right.”

Finally, the past was behind her. She could move on.

There was no time to discuss it further because at that moment Adeline and Cassie appeared.

Cassie was wearing a sheath dress in a shade of hot pink that matched the bougainvillea that frothed and tumbled around the paths of the villa. It fell from two narrow straps and ended half way up her thighs.

She was also wearing an enormous smile. The smile helped Catherine to relax. After their conversation that morning, she’d been worried. She’d had an uneasy feeling that Cassie knew she was hiding something. And she was. But didn’t parents always keep things from their children? How many times a day did a mother say, I’m fine, honey, when the truth would have been, My life is falling apart but I’m the adult and it’s my job to protect you and make it look as if I’ve got this.

And that was what Catherine was doing. She was protecting Cassie, just as she’d protected Adeline. And she’d done her best, even if her best had fallen short of what she would have wanted it to be.

Children didn’t need to know that their parents didn’t have all the answers.

People didn’t always understand that you could love your children deep down to the bone, and still make mistakes. That you didn’t always know a choice was a bad one until after you’d made it. That although you might try to control everything, in the end you controlled very little.

After Cassie had left her that morning, she’d fretted that her answers hadn’t been good enough and that the questions were going to start again over dinner. But judging from the smile on her face, Cassie seemed to have accepted everything her mother had said, and all was right with the world again. She’d been careful to give exactly the same facts to Adeline.

She felt the tension in her shoulders ease a little.

Maybe Andrew was right. Maybe everything was going to be fine. The rocky part was behind them. All they needed now was time and patience.

She hugged Cassie and smiled at Adeline. “You both look wonderful.”

Adeline was wearing a dress in a pale shade of lemon that looked perfect with her coloring. Her face and shoulders were showing a touch of the sun. Tonight, she’d chosen to leave her hair loose, and it slid past her shoulders in soft waves. She looked younger somehow, more relaxed, and Catherine finally relaxed too.

Hopefully, this evening would be fun.

The first few moment felt a little awkward, all of them were reliving what had happened on this exact spot just twenty-four hours earlier.

It was Andrew who smoothed it over. Andrew who greeted Cassie warmly, making it clear that whatever her reservations about them becoming a family, he had none.

They talked about nothing in particular while Andrew filled their glasses and they admired the gardens and the view across the sea.

The scent of wild thyme and garlic wafted from the kitchen, mingling with the sweetness of flowers. The infinity pool merged with the sea beyond, blue on blue, the view stretching forever.

My place, Catherine thought. My special place.

As the evening cooled, they sat down to eat, this time fresh fish baked with lemon and herbs that grew wild on the hills around them. There were tiny potatoes, fried crisp with salt, and greens picked fresh from the gardens.

The girls greeted Maria with hugs and genuine warmth and she lingered for a while, catching up on their news. Maria knew how much their presence meant to Catherine and she was all smiles, her own sadness pushed aside as she celebrated the moment.

And then she returned to the kitchen to tend to the elaborate dessert she’d been planning all day.

“And how did you girls spend the afternoon.” Catherine passed Adeline a basket of freshly baked bread. “Whatever it was, you caught the sun.”

Adeline paused while her father filled her glass. “I went out on the boat with Stefanos.”

Catherine felt a spark of interest but knew better than to show it. She also knew that if she’d suggested such an activity, it would have been rejected. “It’s been a beautiful day for it. Hot, but not too hot. Did you swim? You always did love to swim.”

“Yes, I swam.” Adeline glanced up from her food. “We went to that pretty bay up the coast. I can’t remember the name.”

“I know the one you mean, it’s one of my favorites. It has a Greek name, but I usually call it the horseshoe beach. And the boat behaved? She broke down on Andrew last week and Stefanos had to rescue him.”

“He’s handy to have around.” Andrew helped himself to more potatoes. “He messaged me earlier to tell me that he’d fixed the motor, Catherine. I forgot to tell you.”

“Excellent. Did you go too, Cassie?”

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