Villa of Secrets by Patricia Wilson

Author:Patricia Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zaffre Publishing

Friday, 4 August 1944

Dear diary, just a few lines before I leave for the mud tunnels. I woke trembling and afraid for no apparent reason, The air in the hut was damp and stuffy. I lay in the dark trying to recall my nightmare, without success, then I slipped out of bed and sat outside. Being grown-up isn’t all I imagined it to be. Suddenly, everything is serious with consequences I had never considered. Responsibility was a weight I hadn’t foreseen and was even less prepared for.

Chapter 31

Rebecca traced small watermarks on the cover. Dora had cried over her journal. Then a fresh spot appeared, puckering the paper and slowly spreading. The page blurred as she stared, and Rebecca realised it was her own tears mingling with her grandmother’s. She wiped her eyes and looked up from the diary, for a moment confused by her surroundings, like waking from a deep sleep in a strange place. She had her hand on her chest, staring, when Naomi came back into the kitchen.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I can hardly believe it’s Bubba,’ she said, her voice thick with emotion. ‘Reading this completely changes my perspective of her. Imagine having that kind of friendship, Dora and Irini. They were so close.’

‘I’ve considered that too. I mean, Heleny and I have been best mates all our lives. We started school together, and we’ve seen each other almost every day since. But recently, I realised she’s been lonely for years. It made me awfully disappointed in myself. I wondered why her loneliness had never occurred to me before. Do you have close friends in London?’

Rebecca frowned for a moment, then shook her head. ‘I’m in a children’s charity group, and a lunch group, and a photography group too. There are a couple of neighbours that will come for a coffee at the drop of a hat, so I have lots of acquaintances but nothing that comes anywhere near Bubba and Irini’s relationship. I suppose Fritz is my truest friend – my soulmate. But even though I’ve known him for eleven years, there are things, innermost feelings, that I’d be reluctant to share with him, and I guess he feels the same.’ She stared at the floor, silent, her face stony.

Naomi watched her and wondered if everything was okay between her and Fritz. ‘I suspect that changes over a great length of time. Sometimes you see an old couple giving off a certain sense of contentment. Even when they disagree or annoy each other, they’re like one person. Do you know what I mean?’

Rebecca nodded. ‘As it is with you and Costa.’ The silence returned, broken when she looked straight into Naomi’s eyes. ‘Do you think I’ll ever have that?’

Naomi was pained by the sadness in her sister’s voice. ‘It takes time, Rebecca, and patience, understanding and forgiveness. No marriage is all hearts and flowers.’

‘Yours is.’

Naomi chuckled, lifting the moment. ‘You believe so? Let me tell you: we’ve had our ups and downs over the decades. We almost divorced when we were younger, but we hung in there and eventually grew back together again.

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