A Father for Baby Rose. Margaret Barker

hardly know you,” she blurted out. “Don’t you think it’s a bit soon to have a date together?”

      For a brief moment he looked perplexed before he managed to reply in a composed tone of voice. “I think you’ve misunderstood the situation, Cathy. I was merely wanting to have a chance for us to discuss how things are going for you here at the hospital in a less formal setting, away from work.”

      Oh, heavens! She’d put her foot in it again. How embarrassing to jump to conclusions like that! She felt crushed.

      She hesitated before replying. His suggestion now seemed harmless enough. This was by no means an average type of man. Not the men she’d known in her life anyway!

      “Well, yes, I agree it would be nice to have time to discuss things when we’re not busy in hospital. What did you have in mind?”

      Yannis was watching her reactions, trying to look composed but feeling utterly foolish for asking her out in the first place. Whatever had he been thinking? He was so rusty he had no idea how to talk to women any more!

      Yes, what did he have in mind? If only he knew! He swallowed hard. “Would you like to come and have supper at my place?”

      She hesitated once more. Having misinterpreted the situation completely, she knew she should make up for her faux pas. There would be no harm in simply chatting over supper.

      She took a deep breath. “Yes, I would enjoy that. Thank you, Yannis,” she said politely.

      Relief flooded through him!

      “Good! My housekeeper will be delighted if I do some entertaining for once. She’s a very good cook but I don’t give her enough practice. Most evenings I tell Eleni I don’t need her so she goes home to her husband in Nimborio.”

      He was talking very quickly now, anxious to disguise his nervousness and get the preliminaries out of the way. “Oh, and do feel free to bring Rose along. All the taxi drivers know where I live now. About eight o’ clock OK?”

      “Fine!”

      He left the room abruptly without a backward glance. Outside the door he paused for a couple of seconds to gather his breath. There! He’d taken the first step towards…towards what? Was he going in entirely the wrong direction? Would it all be a disaster? The emotional turmoil inside him didn’t augur well. But he felt driven on by forces beyond his control. Was he betraying Maroula’s memory by contemplating an evening in the company of another woman, someone he found very attractive and wanted to spend time with?

      He sighed as he moved off down the corridor in the direction of his office. Only time would tell and at this moment he wished he could see into the future. Best to simply not look too far ahead. Only as far as this evening.

      * * *

      Cathy was as nervous as if she was going on her first date. She had to keep on reminding herself that this evening wasn’t actually a date. She was simply going to her boss’s house for supper and his housekeeper would be doing the cooking. It would be a treat to be spoiled like that—and nothing more!

      Her face in the mirror certainly looked an improvement on the face that had stared back at her at the end of a morning in Theatre. And so it should after the time she’d spent covering up that spot on her right cheek, blending in the foundation with the light suntan she’d managed to get by playing in the sunshine with Rose whenever she’d had some off-duty time during the day. And she’d changed the shade of her lipstick three times.

      She put the third lipstick down. That was fine. By the time she’d drunk a couple of glasses of wine and swallowed a few olives, she’d have licked it all off anyway. She stood up, adjusting the waist tie on her white cotton top. Too much cleavage?

      If you’ve got it flaunt it, as her mother used to say. But what did she know about relationships? She’d had almost as much bad luck as her daughter! And Cathy was determined not to flaunt herself tonight. She was intent on being totally platonic with Yannis who obviously simply wanted to be a friendly and concerned boss by inviting her to supper. She readjusted her top so that it was in no way provocative.

      Her mobile rang. It was Anna. Her son, Manolis, had presented her with a mobile phone before he’d gone off to Australia. Cathy was glad she could stay in contact with Anna throughout the day when she was looking after Rose. This evening, on hearing that Cathy had been invited out, Anna had insisted it would be better for Rose to stay at her house and get a good night’s sleep.

      “I meant what I said earlier,” Anna said now, shouting as she always did when she used her mobile. “Just enjoy yourself this evening, Cathy, and don’t worry about Rose. She’s already settled down in my children’s dormitory room. I’ve got two of my granddaughters in there too, so when she wakes up she’ll have company. I’ll call you in the morning. OK?”

      “Thanks, Anna. I really…”

      But the line had gone dead. What a wonderful woman Anna was! She’d devoted her life to her family and now, at an age when she could have had some time to herself, she’d chosen to look after the next generation and the next.

      After much persuasion from Manolis, Anna had allowed him to pay a young woman from the village to help her. Cathy had insisted on being responsible for the wages now that Anna took charge of Rose whenever necessary. She’d also made an arrangement with the bank to have a percentage of her hospital salary put directly into Anna’s account.

      Her phone rang again almost immediately. It was the taxi she’d ordered. Apparently the driver was waiting for her at the end of the street. She picked up the new clutch bag her mother had given her before she’d left for Ceres. It was just big enough to hold a few euros, a comb, a lipstick and a tissue.

      As she started out down the rickety wooden staircase, being careful not to get her heels caught in the gaps between the wooden steps, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of apprehension at the evening ahead of her.

      * * *

      Yannis was waiting for her in the drive of his imposing house. She held her breath as she looked up at the impressive façade.

      “This is some ancestral pile you’ve got here!”

      Yannis gave her a nervous smile as he reached out to take hold of her hand. “Rose not with you?”

      Cathy thought he looked decidedly disappointed that she hadn’t brought her.

      “Anna was insistent that it would be better for Rose to be put to bed at her house tonight. I don’t like to argue with an older and wiser mother and grandmother.”

      He was still holding her hand. He raised it to his lips briefly.

      They stood in front of each other face to face on the firm gravel, both of them almost too apprehensive to continue with this nerve-racking encounter.

      “There’s nothing ancestral about the house, I’m afraid,” Yannis said as he led her inside. “It was a complete ruin when I bought it and the owners were glad to get rid of it. It took a year to rebuild. I got a good builder who suggested ideas and between us we came up with this.”