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.’ Her smile softened. ‘A bit like the cinnamon tree, really. A little piece of my heart was taken away, but the scars healed over and now everything appears as it was.’
Rebecca raised her eyebrows. ‘Gosh, I had no idea. You mean there was somebody else?’ They stared at each other for a moment, then Rebecca broke the silence. ‘Sorry, sorry. What an appalling thing to say! Of course there wasn’t. None of my business anyway.’
Naomi studied her sister and suddenly saw Rebecca’s resemblance to Evangelisa. With this insight came a deeper understanding of Dora’s relationship with her sibling, always on the verge of becoming closer, loving each other deeply, yet not really knowing each other.
‘Call me old fashioned, but I suspect divorce is too easy these days,’ Naomi said. ‘When we were young, it still had a certain stigma attached, almost something to be ashamed of. A person got married for life, and changing your mind after four or five years was simply not acceptable.’
‘But what if someone made a genuine mistake?’
‘Then you’d hope to God there were no children to hurt and unsettle.’
‘I long for children.’
Naomi heard such power in the words and, without understanding the reason, sensed heartbreak. Instinctively, she changed the subject. Whatever was wrong, it needed to come out in small chunks. She lifted the diary from Rebecca’s lap, wishing she could lift her sister’s troubles as easily. ‘Shocking, isn’t it? The diary I mean. I keep wondering where it’s leading, and I have to remind myself of her tender age.’
‘Such courage,’ Rebecca swallowed. ‘And every time she describes a Nazi, she describes Fritz. That part about Nüller? I’m telling you, I shivered. No wonder she was horrified when Fritz walked through the door. Do you remember how she gasped and stared at him, unable to speak? Her past must have come back in one horrible rush.’ She pondered for a second. ‘You said she gave the diaries and the gun to Papas Yiannis when I was born, when our parents were lost at sea. So, for nearly twenty years the journals had been out of her mind. What a devastating moment it must have been for her when I brought the man I wanted to marry into this room. The most difficult decision I ever made was to walk out of here a decade ago. I took such a hard line. I wish it could have been different, but I can’t see how.’
‘The bravest thing I ever did was to tell Bubba I was pregnant and had to get married. I was terrified she’d disown me.’ They both smiled sadly. ‘The point is we had no idea what our grandmother had been through. The diary explains that in her eyes Fritz stood for all that was evil. The Axis had taken everything from her, and then he came for you. Imagine how she felt. I keep wondering if any of her family returned. What happened to Evangelisa, Giovanni, and Irini? I’ve tried to remember but I don’t think I ever heard any mention of them. Did you?’
Rebecca shook her head and stifled a yawn. ‘Sorry, it’s been such a long day.’
‘ ’Course it has. Come on, I’ll help get the cases upstairs.’
*
At ten o’clock the next morning, Rebecca stumbled into the kitchen. ‘Gosh, I went out like a light,’ she said. ‘Where’s Bubba?’
‘Mid-morning nap. Heleny came around and invited you for coffee at eleven. I told her you only drank water or mountain tea.’
‘Will you come too?’
Naomi shook her head. ‘Lunch to prep. Shopping for dinner and washing to do. And the floors are desperate for a going-over.’
‘Do you ever stop?’
They both caught sounds of their grandmother, groaning behind the rug.
‘Are you all right, Bubba?’ Naomi called. ‘Do you need me?’
‘Can’t a woman have a bit of privacy around her? Leave me be!’ she replied.
The sisters exchanged a smile before Naomi continued.
‘When I get an hour, I spend it on my lotions and potions. I’ve always got orders to catch up on. Marina’s helping with the Internet stuff, website, Twitter, and so on. She talked me out of considering a shop.’
‘Too right. My photography took off online. Very successful. Most photographers closed their premises and went on the net. Such a vast audience at your fingertips. What about accounts?’
‘Haven’t a clue. I’m hardly making any money yet.’
‘My advice is don’t wait until you are. Keep a log of everything you spend and take from the start. Then it won’t be such a task when you submit your finances.’
‘She’s absolutely right.’ Papas Yiannis stuck his head through the doorway and beamed at the sisters. ‘May I come in? Sorry to interrupt your morning but I’ve got some important information. Good news.’
‘Wait for me!’ Bubba shuffled in, clutching her new Zimmer and wearing a loose cotton dress and her best cardigan.
Naomi grinned. ‘Bubba! You dressed yourself!’
Papas Yiannis smiled, hooked his arm around Bubba’s waist and helped her into the chair.
Bubba peered at the priest, her eyes saying thank you. ‘What are you waiting for, Papas? Tell us this good news,’ she said.
‘The court sitting has returned to its original date, and secondly, the Jewish Society has funded a lawyer for the Cohen family to help with the legalities.’
‘Great to have some people on our side,’ Naomi said, glancing at Bubba and thinking of poor Dora and her friends. She dreaded the court case but it was nothing compared to what her grandmother had faced. The first moment she had, Naomi returned to diary.