Merido's Daughter by LJ Maas 5 page

"Wow, this is really something." Casey said in awe.

Tessa tried not to smile, but the Apógevma Nóstimo was her one source of pleasure and she swelled with pride at the young woman's words. A G-Force salon cabin cruiser, it was the largest catamaran in the harbor and cost it's owner over two hundred thousand American dollars. It was nearly forty feet long and Casey looked at the tall woman in wonder.

"You take this out alone?"

"It's not a big of a bear as you'd think. It handles like silk across your skin." Tessa returned and held out a hand to help the young woman on board.

"The Apógevma Nóstimo?" Casey smiled at the boat's name, Afternoon Delight.

"As much as I would like the other reputation, the reason for the name is that I only get out on her in the afternoons, after work or during my lunch." The Karê explained sheepishly.

It was rather nice, Tessa thought, having someone else with her. Casey was eager to learn and once Tessa laid the boat out to her a lot of things came back to the small blonde. The Karê leaned way over to toss out the aft line and when she turned she saw Casey quickly lower her eyes, the blonde's face a lovely shade of pink that the sun had very little to do with. Tessa turned her back on the woman as a huge grin crossed her own face. She had caught the young woman staring at her legs, and Tessa rather liked that feeling too.

Tessa was right, the double hulls cut through the blue-green water like a warm knife through butter. Casey had never been on a catamaran so large before, especially one with such a large cabin. They sailed up toward Tínos Island first, then turned and headed back, passing their starting point at Mýkonos harbor and sailing south around to Paradise Cove.

The dark-haired woman seemed extremely at ease on the water and Casey hadn't seen the woman's true beauty until now, her ebony hair flying wildly behind her, a relaxed grip on the steering wheel. Tessa seemed enthralled with the speed the most.

"It's like flying!" She said in Casey's ear at one point.

"Would you like to float and watch the sunset?" Tessa asked the young woman. Receiving an enthusiastic nod from the small blonde, she stilled the engines and pulled the main sail aside, letting them drift off the coast of Paradise.

"Hey, how about breaking out those mezés Olympia gave us." Casey suggested.

"Don't tell me you're hungry already." Tessa exclaimed.

"Hey, lunch was hours ago and I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," Tessa chuckled. The taller woman jumped to her feet and held out a hand. "Want a tour?"

Casey let the taller woman help her rise and show her through the cabin below.

"Well, we never had this on my Hobie Cat back home!" Casey laughed.

Tessa chose a bottle of white wine from Límnos and scooped up the sack of appetizers, while Casey gathered some napkins and a couple of wineglasses. They lounged informally on the bow, sipping wine and munching on the snacks Olympia provided. The cook allowed for the sweet tooth she knew both women were slaves to and packed sweet bread, Morello cherries, oranges slices that had been soaked in honey water, and candied pistachio nuts.

They polished off more than half the bottle of wine and Tessa leaned back with her eyes at half-mast, enjoying the feel of the slowly sinking sun and the woman at her side. She enjoyed Cassandra's company for many reasons, but most of all she delighted in the moments of silence where neither of them felt they had to fill up the quiet with mindless chatter. True, the Karê was an unusually subdued woman, keeping her own company for the most part, but she enjoyed this small woman by her, taking pleasure at having someone to finally share a sunset with.

They both lay back against the boat, feeling the roll of the water beneath them.

"Tessa?"

"Hhmm?" the alto voice hummed back.

"Were those young men shooting at me or you?"

Tessa opened her eyes and stared into the blue sky. "Frankly, I think either one of us would have been a feather in their cap."

"That doesn't really answer my question."

Tessa turned her face toward the woman without moving her body. "It was you."

Casey closed her eyes and seemed to think about this for a few seconds before the next inevitable question came.

"Why would men I don't even know, who my father doesn't even know, why would they want to hurt me?"

Tessa rolled over and held her head in the palm of her hand. Watching the pained expression on the small blonde's face.

"Your father has wealth and influence, more than you realize, all over Greece not just here on Mýkonos. Everyone knows that if you want to hurt someone, you hurt what he values most."

Casey rolled until her position mirrored the larger woman's. "Would it bother you if I had been shot?" the small blonde asked softly.

"Sto dheáhvalo!" Tessa cursed, sitting up, "Of course it would bother me! What kind of a question is that?"

The dark-haired woman stopped, suddenly understanding what the small blonde was asking. Would Tessa simply feel the impact of the loss because she was supposed to be protecting the young woman, because she was her father's Karê, or would it be on a more personal level? Tessa wasn't sure how to answer without getting herself in deep. Of course, when the taller woman looked down into the green gaze that so trustingly looked back at her, she knew she could answer with nothing but honesty.

"Yes, Cassandra...it would bother me a great deal."

"Good," the blonde suddenly brightened, "because it would bother me a little too."

Tessa shook her head and laughed at the young woman. "Théh Mou! You are incorrigible."

"Yea, but it keeps you on your toes, eh Karê?"

"That it does," the dark-haired woman couldn't help but smile back.

"Seriously, Tessa, why did you call the boys who shot at us from the car, malákas?" Casey asked.

The Greek term was never one Casey felt comfortable using. The closest English translation was masturbator, a stupid lazy person who sat around and played with himself. Growing up Casey heard boys tease one another by calling each other malákas, but it would be cause for physical violence if it ever came from a foreigner's lips.

Tessa didn't exactly know how to explain to the young woman all she felt. How could she tell the beautiful blonde how she felt about those boys without revealing too much of herself? Would Cassandra still worry what the Karê thought about her if she knew what the other side of Tessa's life was like?

"Because I thought they were the most despicable cowards for shooting at a woman in the first place."

Casey caught the singular use of the word and realized the Karê didn't lump herself into the helpless woman category.

"Mostly," Tessa continued, "it was the way they did it, driving along and shooting from their car. A real mángas doesn't shoot you while he is all snuggled, protected in his auto. It's like the American gangs, what you call drive by shootings in your Los Angeles. Such cowardly bastards." Tessa hissed the words. "They shoot you and don't want to show their face so they hide in their cars like old women!"

Tessa suddenly remembered who she was talking to and lessened up on the anger in her voice.

"I'm not saying that I haven't learned that killing is a stupid senseless business, but it takes more guts to kill a man when he can see it coming than behind his back. To walk up to a man and look in his eyes, to see his sweat and to know what his fear smells like," Tessa created the shape of a gun with her fingers and placed her index finger softly against Cassandra's temple.

"Then, while you're looking in his face and he's begging and crying for his own life, pop," the dark-haired woman pressed her finger harder against the side of the smaller woman's head and Casey shuddered at the realism in the Karê's simulation.

"You put a bullet in his brain. I'm not saying it's smart," the Karê repeated looking out onto the water, "but it's a hell of a lot harder to do."

Long moments of silence passed as each woman floated along, lost in her own thoughts. Casey's own mind raced with all the information she'd just been given and the implication behind the Karê's words. It frightened Casey when she realized how different their two worlds were. The small blonde would have no more a clue as to what it felt like to kill a man up close, as she would to knowing what it felt like to be the Queen of England. Her real concern came from the underlying feeling that Tessa indeed knew what it felt like to take a man's life away. Casey wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees, stealing glances over at the beautiful, dark woman at her side.

Tessa sat and waited for the small blonde to process all she'd been told. She's a smart girl; she'll figure it out. There was no other way to explain her anger to the young woman and Tessa cursed herself for revealing too much. No matter how much she might want or need this young woman in her life, she had to see to her vow first. It won't matter much. Once it comes to its fruition, she won't want you, Niko.

Tessa felt the weight of the smaller woman's stare and remained gazing out onto the vista before her as the sun was perhaps still an hour away from setting. Her blue eyes reflected the horizon and she anticipated the next question that was sure to come. Now that Cassandra had time to think about it, surely she would put two and two together and see the reality of their situation.

Casey watched the taller woman even as she realized that Tessa knew she was being watched. The light fluttering in the blonde's stomach was familiar to her, but it had been a very long time since she felt it and certainly longer since she'd done anything about it. It became clear to Casey that if Tessa were to tell her, right now, that she was a mass murderer or that she'd never harmed another person in her entire life, either way Casey would believe her. Whether it was good or bad, Casey knew she would believe anything this beautiful, mysterious woman told her. She rolled the words around in her head and had no doubt about their verity. Right or wrong, good or bad, dangerous or not, it simply didn't matter. The concerns couldn't change the way her heart felt. She had fallen in love with the enigmatic, Tessa Nikolaidis.

"Tessa?"

Again the Karê tried to steel herself for the question that would come next and even now, wondered how she could be anything but honest with this woman who was wrapping herself around Tessa's dark heart.

"Yes?" The dark-haired woman turned her head and brushed her wind blown hair from her eyes.

"What do your friends call you?"

Tessa's brow furrowed and she wondered if the young woman was making fun of her. "What?"

"A nickname, that your friends call you. Does everyone call you Tessa?"

"I don't have any friends." The dark-haired woman said, still staring at the girl in amazement.

"Can I be your friend?"

Tessa tried hard not to let the words affect her, but she knew she wasn't succeeding. She felt hot tears threatening as she remembered when a pretty, blonde five-year-old with eyes the color of the hillside at Filérmos asked her the same thing. Niko, can I be your friend?

"I think I'd like that." Tessa said softly.

Both women turned to watch the sun as it began its slow descent below the horizon. Goose bumps broke out over Casey's arms as the Meltémi blew in from the north, bringing a cooler breeze with it. Tessa jumped up and returned swiftly with her own jacket, Casey's, and a soft blanket.

They both sat, shoulders touching, leaning against the thick mast, watching as a golden glow lit the sky for the longest time before the sun gave the appearance that it was sinking into the sea. No words were spoken for a long time and suddenly Tessa was drawn from her introspection to the feel of a small body leaning more heavily against hers.

The wine and the sun had taken its toll on the small blonde and her head bobbed as she struggled to stay awake for the length of the long sunset that Greece was notorious for. She was losing the battle fast and Tessa did what she would never have done had she not had a bottle of wine and had she not been at sea with a most beautiful young woman. She repositioned her body and pulled Casey in front of her, between her legs, the girl's weight resting on the dark-haired woman's chest. Casey mumbled something in her sleep and surprised the Karê by snuggling into the strong woman's warm embrace.

Tessa could do no more than smile at her good fortune. And remembered that it had been less than a week ago when she wished she had this very thing, to be on her boat, a woman in her arms, and a sunset to share. Perhaps the Greek Gods of old heard her wishes and decided to take pity on her. Perhaps it was merely a coincidence, but whatever the reason, Tessa wouldn't take her wishes back now for all the drachmas in the world. She held the small woman close to her until only a very thin slice of the sun could still be seen. Suddenly the quiet bundle in her arms stirred.

"I'm not sleeping," she murmured drowsily.

"Yes, you are." Tessa chuckled in her ear.

"No, I'm lovin' every minute of the sunset." Casey desperately tried to get her bearings. Am I lying in Tessa's arms?

"Well, then you're the first person to ever snore while they're awake."

"I do not snore." Casey pulled away and turned to look in the woman's face behind her.

"Yes you do." Tessa drawled. She couldn't resist teasing the girl. "It's this cute little puppy dog kind of snore."

"Oh, you." Casey slapped the Karê's arm and laughed herself once she realized she was being teased.

"You about ready to head back?" Tessa asked reluctantly.

"Mmmm, no," Casey replied, not wanting to extricate herself from the warmth of the Karê's embrace, "but I guess we don't have much choice." The small blonde responded.

For both women the spell was broken, but as they sailed back into Mýkonos harbor, their hearts felt very full of feelings neither one of them could express easily in words.

By the time Casey pulled herself from her bed the next morning and cleaned up, Tessa and her father were already on the outside patio, drinking coffee and conducting Meridio business.

"Kaliméra." Casey smiled as she approached the table.

She was greeted in the same manner by the two as she kissed her father's cheek.

"Thank you," Casey responded to the strong cup of Greek coffee Tessa poured for her.

"Well, Máhtia Mou, I have business on Lésvos. Would you like to spend the weekend with us?" Andreas Meridio asked his daughter.

When her father indicated that the 'us' she would be joining would be himself and Tessa, Casey didn't even have to think twice.

"What time do we leave?" She smiled.

Tessa never looked up from her paper and she kept her face frozen in the same neutral expression as always, but inside the dark-haired woman was grinning from ear to ear.

"We leave at ten o'clock, can you be packed by then?" Meridio asked.

"For a weekend? Sure, Pappa."

"Well, I think I better handle a few items of business and get packed myself. If you will excuse me, Mr. Meridio, Ms. Meridio?" Tessa said, rising from the table.

"Of course," father and daughter answered in unison.

Casey watched the Karê walk away toward the guesthouse. Initially feeling a little hurt at the dark-haired woman's business as usual demeanor around her, she was soon to realize that this was probably a wise move on the Karê's part. The small blonde observed her father staring after the tall woman also.

"I'm glad you are able to get on with my Karê." Andreas began, turning back to his daughter. "Tessa is a very competent woman and I feel better having someone with her abilities around you."

"Cassandra, I need to ask you...has Tessa ever acted, well, has she ever made any advances toward you...any conduct that could be thought of as improper?" The man asked hesitantly.

"Wha--?"

"Now, before you go getting all upset, I ask for a good reason. I know that you young people think everyone and everything is just fine nowadays, but this is Greece, not America, and our ways can still be very Old World. Tessa does not make it a secret among our people that she is mia lesveea and--"

"Pappa," Casey interrupted, "Tessa has never treated me with anything but respect and thoughtfulness."

"Allright, I understand." Meridio held up his hand, feeling he was about to be lectured and the worst thing he could think of would be to be lectured by a woman, even if the woman was his daughter. "I just wanted you to know about her in case it would bother you."

"Pappa, I think you should know something about me--"

A large crashing sound came from behind them, causing Casey to jump in her seat. Olympia had been carrying a tray and the contents of the platter were now on the patio, in hundreds of tiny pieces.

"Mrs. Karoubas, are you allright...do you need help?" Meridio asked, beginning to rise from his chair.

"No, no, Mr. Meridio, Anna will help me clean it up." The older woman indicated a young girl who came running to assist the cook.

"What were you about to say, Máhtia Mou?"

Casey looked up, but she caught Olympia's eyes throwing daggers in her direction. The cook was facing her father's back and as Casey glanced up at the woman, she saw Olympia shake her head slightly. Casey looked in her father's face, now uncertain as to what to do. She had been about to tell her father of her own sexual preference, but it was obvious that Olympia didn't think it was the right thing to do.

"I...I was about to say...that it feels good to be back home." Casey finished and knew she's gotten it right when Olympia smiled and nodded her head.

"It's good to finally have you home again, Máhtia Mou. Now, go and get packed."

Casey made a point of walking through the kitchen to go upstairs and stopped when she saw Olympia. Picking up a piece of the broken china she grinned slightly at the older woman.

"I take it this was your idea of a subtle hint?"

"Miss Me-, Cassandra...there are many ways here that are different from what you are used to in America. If you told your father that you were mia lesveea, do you think that he would allow Tessa to accompany you anywhere? I fear that he might even discharge the Karê."

Olympia chose her words carefully. She had no idea how far the relationship between her employer's daughter and the Karê had gone, but she did want Cassandra to realize that she was in Greece, a county run by men. How well Olympia knew that men held all the power in her homeland. She also used the word discharge when even she knew that would be the kindest thing that would happen to the attractive Karê.

"Olympia, how did you know about me?" Casey asked in a low voice.

"I have been the cook in this house for nearly thirty years. I was here on the day you were born, for your first communion, and on your sixteenth birthday. There is very little I do not know about you, little one." Olympia finished, gently taking the small blonde's chin in her fingers.

"How would I have ever gotten along without you?" Casey smiled at the woman who had been like a second mother to her all these years.

"Go on, now. You don't want to keep your father and the Karê waiting."

Casey kissed the older woman's cheek and rushed up the stairs to her room. Olympia stood in place for a few moments contemplating the outcome of it all. Shaking her head, she began to move around the large kitchen.

Their private plane landed at an airport about eight kilometers south of Mytilíni, on the island of Lésvos. A limousine sat waiting for their arrival and the drive to the villa where they were to stay was short and uneventful. The Laureate, a restored villa, was situated on Vareiá beach. A public hotel most of the time, but like Casey was soon to discover, when her father stayed there it became his own private villa. Casey hadn't been to this particular villa before, but thought it was absolutely breathtaking. Set amidst a beautiful garden it was surrounded by avenues of bay trees and giant pines.

Even though Andreas Meridio bought out every room in the villa for his own personal use, the hotel staff stayed to work and were courteous and helpful to Casey. She was shown to a large suite of rooms and enjoyed the fact that Tessa had the rooms next to hers.

The three lunched together, but Andreas Meridio seemed somewhat preoccupied. Casey hated the way her father's bodyguard hovered in the shadows, but she tried to think of the silent man's role as an important one and kept her mouth closed about it. In the meantime, Tessa seemed to enjoy the information the small blonde knew about the island and its history, from an archaeological standpoint. Meridio abruptly stood and motioned to Peter.

"I'm going to the elaiotriveío, Máhtia Mou. I'll be there all afternoon. Tessa you are to bring Cassandra along when you are finished here." Then he brusquely kissed his daughter and left.

Casey groaned and grabbed the bottle of wine, pouring herself a generous glass.

"What's that sound for...you don't like the olive mill?" Tessa asked in confusion.

"Whenever my father says I'm to meet him at the elaiotriveío it means only one thing. He wants to test me. He likes to make sure I know everything about olives!" Casey moaned.

"And do you?" Tessa chuckled.

"I know absolutely everything there is to know about olives! When you eat them, when you press them, when you harvest them...the list goes on and on."

"They're only olives. How hard could it be?" Tessa questioned as Casey groaned her displeasure once again.

"So, tell me what you know about olives." Tessa said loudly to be overheard above the convertible sports car's engines and the wind that whipped past.

Casey always enjoyed the drive up the hillside to the olive mill outside of Plomári. Since they were staying at Vareiá, they had to drive around the Kólpos Géras bay and then up toward Plomári. One thing Casey learned quickly was that Tessa loved speed and the dark-haired woman drove like most of the locals, full out at break neck speed.

"Well, lets see...The olive groves that belong to the Meridio's date back to 700 BC, however there was a frost that wiped them out and they were replanted with new in the Eighteenth century. Olive oil used to be the big export commodity of ancient Greece. Did you know that they would massage great warriors with olive oil and they would scrape it off them and put it in jars to sell. Something about it being an aphrodisiac, I think."

"Oh, that sounds disgusting," Tessa exclaimed.

"You're telling me! Anyway, where was I? Oh yea, Lésvos and Crete are always in competition over who makes the most and the best oil. We have over eleven million trees here on Lésvos, but some say Crete produces more and a better quality of oil, mostly the people who farm on Crete. This island, however, uses every part of the olive, rather than just pressing for oil alone. We use the fruit for eating, of course, and it's pressed for oil, but we also grind up what remains after the oil is pressed out and use it for soaps. After they use all they can for the soaps, they take what's remaining for fertilizer."

"Cassandra?" Tessa stopped the young woman's informative lecture.

"Yes?"

"Is all this true?" Tessa frowned. She had been born and spent most of her life in Greece and didn't know a half of what this woman did.

"Absolutely! This stuff has been drilled into me every summer since I was little. You watch; the first thing my father will do is bring a plate of olives out and see if I remember all my old lessons."

"And, will you?" The Karê laughed.

"Geez, I hope so." Casey laughed in return.

"Why do we use Greek olive oil instead of Italiana?" Andreas Meridio walked along the concrete pavement of the olive mill, past the large wooden vats, his daughter trying to keep up with the man's longer strides, Tessa following along at the rear.

"Because Greek oil is better quality." Casey answered as Tessa silently applauded the young woman.

"Why?" Meridio responded.

"Because we have hotter, drier summers and that causes lower acid levels in the fruit."

They stopped at a table and Meridio motioned to a young man to bring out a large platter. Tessa watched as it happened just as the small blonde had predicted. The dark-haired woman watched as her employer drilled Cassandra. There were at least a dozen varieties of olives on the tray and the young woman hadn't made a mistake yet. Meridio seemed to take this quite seriously and Tessa wondered if the man wanted his daughter to at least be able to run his legitimate business ventures should anything happen to him.

The tall man simply held a fruit up and Cassandra was expected to know its name or its uses.

"Elítses," Casey wavered as her father held up the small dark fruit. "...uhm, oh, that's no fair, Pappa. Those are from Crete!"

Andreas laughed for the first time that afternoon. "Yes, but you did well in knowing what the competition produces." He held up another and so it went on for some time.

"Tsakistés...uhh, picked young and cracked before curing in brine. Kalamáta, the most famous Greek olive! Always almond shaped and cured in red wine vinegar." The young woman answered, popping one in her mouth then giving Tessa a wink when her father bent down to retrieve another olive.

"Thásos, salt-cured, strong flavor, and go well with cheese."

"Excellent, Máhtia Mou someday you will be a formidable opponent to the farmers on Crete." Meridio stated proudly.

Tessa saw something just then in the older man's eyes; something she hadn't seen before. Meridio praised his daughter, but not with the love and affection of a father to a daughter. Rather, the man commended her as one might do with a prized stallion, or another bit of valuable property. As if she were not a treasured piece of his heart, but something he owned. Something he trained and invested precious time and money on.

The thought disturbed the dark-haired woman as she stood watching the interaction between Meridio and his daughter. In her memory she always registered the man's attitude toward his only child differently. She wondered where this new look came from. Was Meridio simply placating his daughter until the time he could groom a man for her to take as husband? According to Greek law, all the young woman's wealth would then belong to her husband. It would be a miserable existence for someone such as Cassandra.

Much to Tessa's, as well as Casey's, chagrin, Meridio dismissed the tall woman telling her to take the rest of the day off. He explained that he would keep Peter with them, but he wanted to visit a couple of their distilleries in Plomári. The Karê couldn't very well beg to go along with them, even though a trip to the Ouzo distillery would dearly hit the spot. So, Tessa left with a slight nod to the young woman, leaving her in her father's care.

"Pappa, I feel bad making Tessa go off on her own." Casey said. Truth be known she couldn't have been more miserable at the notion of spending the rest of the afternoon without the Karê around.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 618