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Under a Greek Moon

Page 86

by Carol Kirkwood

She took the postcard and tore it right down the middle, then tossed it into the bin. ‘There. Done.’

‘Thank you,’ Shauna said in a small voice.

‘Come on, let’s tuck you into bed,’ Roxy told her, pulling back the duvet. Shauna slipped under, folding herself into a ball. Roxy tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead, as if she were a child …

Roxy turned again to the picture of Grace at the front of her passport. She looked at her date of birth: 8 April 1983.

Her heart pounding, she studied Grace’s picture: the long dark curls, her hazel eyes … just like her father. Her rosebud lips … just like her mother.

‘Shit!’ She looked up, her eyes frantically scanning the harbour. Where did Grace say she was going?

The tyres screeched loudly as Shauna and Demetrios pulled up at the harbour wall.

‘Where the hell is Christian? I need his boat.’ He jumped out of the Ferrari, not even bothering to open the door, simply leaping over the side of it. He exchanged some words in Greek with one of the boat owners and gestured to Shauna.

‘He said we can use his – quick, jump in.’ He held his hand out to her and she stepped over the side of the speedboat, but then turned at the sound of her name being called.

Roxy came running along the quay, waving and shouting at her. ‘Stop! Shauna, wait!’ She caught up with them, breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath.

‘Shauna, we do not have time for this,’ Demetrios said impatiently, keeping the engine running.

‘Shauna,’ Roxy panted, ‘you need to see this.’ She got into the boat and thrust the postcard into Shauna’s hand.

For a moment, Shauna didn’t recognize it. Then she flipped it over and saw the writing on the back.

‘How … why … I don’t understand, where did this come from?’

‘It was in Grace’s passport.’

Demetrios looked over Shauna’s shoulder and reached out for the postcard. He read it and frowned. ‘I wrote this.’

‘Your goodbye note,’ Shauna said.

‘No, not goodbye.’ He shook his head, confused. ‘Look, we don’t have time for this. Roxy, you will have to tell us later – right now I need to find my daughter.’

The waves were choppy as they set out into the bay, and the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. When they got there, the beach was deserted, but there was a dull light filtering out from the boathouse.

Shauna risked a look at Demetrios: his lips were set in a hard line. Please let Ariana be safe, she thought, but her mind was still in turmoil after discovering that the postcard had been in Grace’s possession. It had been too noisy on the boat to question Roxy about it, and now that they were here their first priority was to find Ariana.

The boat bumped to a halt against the jetty and Demetrios leapt out, followed by the two women. As they entered the boathouse, Demetrios cried out, all of his pent-up fears and anxiety spilling out as he saw his daughter, sitting hunched with her knees underneath her chin, looking tired but safe. He scooped her up in his arms and she buried her head in his neck.

‘Papa, I’m so sorry,’ she sobbed.

His own voice was strangled with emotion. ‘My darling girl … I thought the worst … Thank God.’

At that moment, Shauna realized that they were not alone in the boathouse. Quietly standing to one side was Grace, looking as if she wanted to disappear.

‘Demetrios …’ Shauna said quietly, and his eyes followed her gaze to settle on the quiet English girl who seemed to be trying to shrink into the background.

‘Grace?’ he said. ‘You are here?’

‘Grace was the one who found me,’ Ariana said.

Demetrios searched his daughter’s face. ‘Why don’t you tell us what happened, Ari.’

Shauna took in the striking resemblance to Sofía. Right now, though, Ariana looked much younger than her eighteen years, vulnerable and scared.

‘Last night, after I went to see Grace, I’d been planning on going straight home in a taxi, but I knew that you’d be angry if I came home drunk.’ She looked sheepish.