She smiles at Rose. ‘My plans for a unicorn tattoo are now off.’
Rose grins.
‘In practical terms, I was going to do a business course and set up my own vintage shop. That was my grand plan. But my stepmother rang earlier and suggested I spend six months working with the person who manages the business side of her company, which is going to be nicer and I’ll learn so much. I can start when I get home and see what I think.’
‘That sounds wonderful,’ says Rose. ‘You’d like to do that? You’re not being pushed into it?’
‘Georgie’s brilliant about boundaries,’ says India. ‘She’s been an amazing stepmother with a very light touch. Same as you’d be if you have the chance,’ she says kindly to Grazia.
‘It is lovely to hear you say this,’ says Grazia. ‘I know that people look at me and think I am cold, removed, but I am not. It’s a protection. I have got so much from this week, Rose.’
Rose feels a blast of pleasure. She’s forgotten how wonderful it is when people tell her she’s helped them.
‘I would never have got where I feel I am now without you all. I am sorry that Bernard is not here, everyone, but we can’t expect him to change. I am only sorry it has takenme this long to realise that. And Rose,’ she adds, ‘I am worried that Bernard will strike back at you.’
‘What – what do you mean?’ Rose asks.
‘So he has started to hit back,’ Grazia says sadly. ‘I am disappointed in my husband but I know his ways.’
‘What sort of ways are they?’ asks Rose evenly.
Grazia takes a tiny pair of gold-rimmed glasses out of her little handbag.
‘I don’t like to wear these, I think they make me look old,’ she says.
‘What’s wrong with old?’ asks Dianne. ‘Old is better than dead.’
India laughs out loud.
Glasses on, Grazia finds her phone and begins to look through it. Rose does not remonstrate over this.
She sits, waiting.
‘He uses people to, how do I say it, blackmail sometimes. It’s a last resort, I think. You must understand that Bernard had a difficult childhood. Nothing was easy. He thinks he is entitled to abuse his power now.’
‘What form does the blackmail take?’ asks Rose.
‘I will show you an example,’ Grazia announces. ‘Then we can decide what we do next.’
Chapter Forty-Two
On the final morning, there’s a sense of excitement in Villa Artemis.
The staff are discreetly busy preparing for departure, quietly delighted with how well the retreat has gone, despite the two uninvited guests.
Breakfast on the beach is the plan for the very last few hours.
Rose walks down to the beach with Adriana, both of them carrying rolls and fruit, laughing and talking about the retreat, how Dan arrived earlier with a huge basket of honeyed pastries from the restaurant in Corfu.
‘I don’t think I will give you a job yet, Dan,’ says Christos, following with Dan who is clearly a bit tired from his night in Corfu and has nearly dropped the basket of pastries.
‘Certainly not after a night with an elderly woman trying to make me eat more baklava and drink more Metaxa,’ says Dan. ‘How’s India?’ he asks Rose quietly, once Adriana has relieved him of his burden.
Rose considers what she can tell him. She’s not a messenger. More of an interpreter.
‘You heard that Julia arrived,’ she says.
‘I heard,’ Dan replies. ‘Did India meet her?’
