He glanced at Athena and her eyes were brimful of tears. She wrenched her head around so she was looking out of the window, but not before he’d seen those tears.

‘I’d like to teach you to fish,’ he told Nicky, fighting for something-anything-to say. Hell, there should be a book on what he was doing now. It was too important to mess with, and all he could do was flounder. ‘I’d love to take you in my boat.’

‘You really own a fishing boat?’

‘Really.’

‘I don’t get seasick,’ Nicky said, as if that was important.

‘Neither do I,’ Nikos said and felt something grow in his chest. The heart swells to fit all comers. Maybe the corny saying was right.

His son. The thought was overwhelming.

Nicky and Christa. His son and his daughter.

His family.

‘You have a grandma,’ he said.

‘A grandma.’ Nicky was clearly overwhelmed.

‘Her name is Annia. She’s a princess like your mother.’

‘My grandmother’s a princess?’

‘She’s not as pretty a princess as your mother,’ Nikos told him. ‘And, like your mother, she doesn’t wear a tiara. But I hope you’ll like…I hope you’ll love her. She’s a better fisherman than I am.’

‘Does she get seasick?’

‘No one in my family gets seasick,’ he said and he saw Athena flinch.

Nicky fell silent. No one spoke. Athena was looking out of the window as if her life depended on it.

‘Why didn’t you tell me, Mama?’ Nicky asked and the question hung. For a moment he thought she wasn’t going to answer. For a moment he thought, how could she?

‘I was very young,’ she said at last, and her voice sounded as if it came from a long way away. ‘I was in America and I was by myself. And I knew…I knew Nikos…your papa…and his wife were having a baby here. That baby is Christa. So I thought your papa needed to stay here to take care of Christa. I knew I could take care of you, and I did.’