Rebecca Winters - Dreaming Of... Greece

“He came from a very poor family on Paxos.” Ah, she was beginning to understand why these islands drew him. “My grandparents and their children, with the exception of my father, were victims of the malaria epidemic that hit thousands of Greek villages at the time. By the early nineteen-sixties it was eradicated, but too late for them.”

“But your father didn’t contract the disease?”

“No. Sometimes it missed someone in a family. A poor fisherman living in a tiny hut in Loggos, who’d lost his family, took my father in to help him catch fish they sold at a shop in the marketplace. When he died, he left my father the hut and a rowboat. Papa married a girl who worked in the olive groves. Her family had perished during the epidemic too. They had to scrape for a living any way they could.”

“It’s hard for me to believe people can live through such hardships, but I know they do. Millions and millions, and somehow they survive.”

“According to our papa, our parents were in love and happy.”

“The magic ingredients. Mine were in love, too.”

He nodded. “First Vasso was born, then I came along eleven months later. But the delivery was too hard on Mama, who was in frail health, and she died.”

“Oh, no,” Raina cried softly. “To not know your mother... I’m so sorry, Akis. I at least had mine until I was twelve.”

Solemn eyes met hers. “But you lost both parents. It seems you and I have that in common.”

“But you never even knew her. It breaks my heart. How on earth did you all manage?”

“Our father kept on working to keep us alive by supplying olives and fish to the shop. When we were five and six years old, we would help him and never attended school on a regular basis. Life was a struggle. It was all we knew.

“The village thought of us as the poor Giannopoulos kids. Most people looked down on us. Then things turned worse when our father was diagnosed with lymphoma and died.”

A quiet gasp escaped. “How old were you?”

“Thirteen and fourteen. By then the woman’s husband who owned the shop had also died and she needed help. So she let us work in her shop and helped us learn English. She said it was important to cater to the British and American tourists in their language. We studied English from a book when we could.”

“You learned English with no formal schooling? That’s incredible.”

He stared hard at her. “You’re talking to a man whose education is sorely lacking in so many areas, I don’t even like to think about it.”

“I see no lack in you. Anything but.”

“Give it time and my inadequacies will be evident in dozens of ways, but I digress.

“While Vasso waited on customers and did jobs the woman’s husband had done, I would go fishing and pick olives. Then it would be my turn to spell him off. I don’t think we got more than six hours sleep a night for several years.”

“No time to play,” she mused aloud.

He made an odd sound in his throat. “We didn’t know the meaning of the word.”

Raina hated to see him do all the work and got up to help him. For the first time she didn’t use crutches because the kitchen was so close.

“Careful,” he cautioned.

“My ankle doesn’t hurt.”

“Just do me a favor and sit in the chair at the table. The food is ready. I’ll bring everything over so we can eat.” He’d cut up fresh melon and made a shrimp salad. Lastly came some rolls and iced tea.

“When did you have time to stock the refrigerator?”

He sat down opposite her. “I pay a boy to do errands for me when I come to the island.”

“No housekeeper?”

“I prefer to do the work myself.”

“You’re a jack-of-all-trades as we say in English.”

“What does it mean exactly? Whether you’ve been aware of it or not, I’ve been picking up a few expressions from you, but I’ll admit I’m not familiar with that one.”

“Jack is a common name and it means that you can do everything well. Now that you’ve given me some idea of your background, I understand why.” The minute she said the word, she saw the slightest hint of emotion cause his lips to thin.

Realizing she’d stumbled on to something significant when he already felt vulnerable she said, “Akis? At the pool when I told you to talk to someone of your own kind and background, you thought I was being condescending. Admit it.”

“The thought did cross my mind.”

“Since I knew nothing about your upbringing until just now, will you believe me when I tell you I only said what I did because—”

“Because you sensed I was extremely attracted and it made you nervous.” His dark eyes devoured her as he spoke.

She squirmed on the wooden chair. “You’re right. Please go on and finish telling me your life’s story. I’m riveted. The food is delicious, by the way.”

“Thank you.” He leaned forward. “The widow we worked for started to suffer from poor health and gave us more and more responsibility. One day an American came in and told us the place reminded him of the convenience-store chains in America. He said they were all over the country. We looked into it and started to make innovations.”

“Like what?”

“To keep the shop open twenty-four hours, which we took turns manning. Besides stocking it with a few other items tourists needed, we let patrons cash checks and provided free delivery for those living or staying nearby. In time we’d saved enough money to buy half the store. When she had to stop working, we bought her out.”

“That’s amazing! How old were you?”

“I was eighteen. Vasso had turned nineteen and had to serve nine months in the army. While he was gone, I ran things. After he got back, it was my turn for military service. We both served in the peacekeeping forces and undertook the command of Kabul International Airport.”

“It’s a miracle neither of you was injured, or worse.”

He shook his head, dismissing it too fast for her liking. What was it he wasn’t prepared to share? “The real miracle was that overnight we started making real money. After the early years when most nights we went to bed hungry, it was literally like manna falling from heaven.

“After selling the hut, we moved to an apartment in Loggos right along the harbor. When the widow died, we purchased the property and undertook renovations. In time we’d made enough money to buy failing shops of the same type in Gaios and Lakka, the other towns on the island. We patterned them after the chains we’d investigated and called them Alpha/Omega 24.”

She looked at him in amazement. “When I think of two brothers who had the will to survive everything and succeed, I’m in absolute awe over what you accomplished. How did you end up in Athens?”

“You really want to hear?”

“I can’t get enough. Please. You can’t stop now.”

* * *

Not immune to her entreaty, Akis brought some plums to the table for their dessert before he spoke. “When our staff was in place at all three stores and we felt confident enough to leave, we took a ferry to Corfu. From there we flew to Athens, our first commercial plane trip.”

“Late bloomers on your way to do big business.” The warmth of her smile melted him. “Were you excited?”

“We were so full of our plans for future expansion, not much else registered. Without the backing of an established bank, we didn’t have a prayer. After two days we found a shop for sale we wanted to buy and started talking to bankers. We were turned down by everyone.”

Her eyes reflected the hue of a lavender field. “Obviously that didn’t stop you.”

“No. At the last bank on our list we met Theo Chiotis in the loan department. He was working his way up in his family’s banking business. Maybe it was because we were all the same age and he could tell we were hungry, or maybe we just caught him on a good day, but he was actually willing to examine the books.”