Una woke up in a panic from a deep sleep.
"Shit, shit, shit, my train!" Una curses as she jumps out of the bed and Alec groans at all her shrieking.
"What's wrong?" He says yawning.
"My train to Bari, so I can make the ferry I missed it!" Una tells him. "I'll miss the boat! I'll make it to Corfu, it only sails twice a week!"
"How much time do you have?" Alex asks throwing on his pants.
"It leaves at 1:30 pm ferry, it's almost 8 am," Una tells him.
"Pack your things, I'll grab mine, we'll figure this out," Alec tells her kissing her quickly before racing down the hall to his room.
They check out and Alec holds her hand as he hails a taxi for them.
"What are we doing?" Una asks still puzzled at his guidance.
"We are renting a car and we're going to drive there, it's only four hours so we'll have you there in time and on the boat. I don't fly out until tonight so I have time." Alec tells her.
They find the first car rental place they can, and Alec the one who fills out the paperwork and shows his ID and Drivers License.
Alec Jonathon Keaton.
"So that is why you don't like Keats?" Una asks teasing him. "You were practically named for Keats!"
"Never," Alec says shaking his head as he takes the keys and they load up the car with their luggage.
He opens Una's door before going to the driver's side once she was seated. After a stop for breakfast at the first Mcdonalds, they found they were off, using their phones as GPS.
"You didn't have to do this," Una tells him after an hour of driving.
"Well it beats dropping you off at the train station again, more time together," Alec tells her reaching over and squeezing her hand.
Una finds herself blushing and smiling before drinking some of her coffee.
"Can I ask you something?" Alec asks breaking the silence.
"Of course?" Una says quietly.
"Just so we are on the same page of things before we go our own ways again." Alec begins. "Do you want kids one day? I understand the reasons for this time, but for the future when you're older and with someone else other than him. Would you want kids?"
Una looks up at him, her head tilted as she thinks of her answer.
"One day yes, I'm not sure entirely when, but I've always wanted to be a mother and maybe that is why it stings as much as it does to me? Do you?"
"I'd like a little one, one day," Alec says nodding his head. "As I said just wanted to be on the same page."
"Good," Una says. "I suppose that is one of the million things out of the way that we will have to figure out someway, somehow? Like how this will work for us?"
"Well, we will have it loads easier than 25 years ago," Alec responds. "WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime, messages that don't cost a thing these days."
"That is true," Una agrees.
"So what is in Greece?" He asks her.
"Meteora and then Athens of course," Una tells him and sees his confusion in the first place. "It's a place that is a bunch of monasteries built on top of rock formations."
"Of course," Alec says with an amused smile. "You will fit right in there."
"Oh hush, you." Una swats his arm.
They drive, or he drives, one hand on the steering wheel while the other laced with hers. They didn't know exactly how to work things out, but they would figure it out. Wouldn't they?
They make it to the port city with time to spare and relax as boarding was still half an hour away. She wraps herself up in his arms,
"I'll message before I board my flight," he tells her.
"Call me when you get in," Una tells him breathing in his scent, trying to commit it to memory. She had already packed away a tee shirt that he had left in her room. It smelled like his cologne or body spray, which she got a small sneak peek at.
Paris's goodbye was hopeful and they had been laughing over something. Today it was bittersweet and unquestionably loving.
"Same thing applies as Paris, if you need anything or if anything decided not to work. Please tell me, we can't work through it together." He tells her quietly. Una nods her head and looks up for a kiss.
It was another long hug, another long intake of each other's scent a final kiss.
It would be like one of many moments like this, watching the other person leave for another time. Una turns back last moment, pulling him into one more kiss and hug before she finally manages to get in line to board.
Una doesn't let herself cry until she has boarded and stored her luggage in the small cabin she had for the duration of the voyage.
She goes out to the deck, she can still see him. Leaning against the car in the distance, she waves her arm largely at him and it takes a minute before he waves back.
She watches him watch the ship leave port and she breathes in the salty sea air. In a way it makes her homesick, she misses her family and her old room. She wonders if she could truly ever be content to stay there again.
She spends hours reading and writing emails in a small cafe area on the boat. Munching on some pastries that she bought along with a coffee in a small cafe on the ship. She ponders life and all the questions. She looks at the hundreds of photos that now were stored on her phone. She smiled at Alex, sandy hair and broad smile and how she fit perfectly into him.
It's late when the boat finally hits the port in Corfu, and the hotel is just down the road from the Port itself. It's small and not fussy and suits her well enough for the night. Greece, the final leg of her trip. She looks outside the small window and looks out over the lights of the small city she was in.
"I made it to Greece," Una says into the phone.
"Already?" Her father says humming. "Has the trip been worthwhile?"
"Well, I may be catholic when I return home," Una jokes to him and looks down at her bracelet. "It's been good though, a lot of thinking, a lot of questions, a lot of self-searching and learning," Una tells him.
"Soul searching is always something worthwhile," John Meredith agrees.
"I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for, but I think I found some answers," Una tells him.
"All I want is for my child to be at peace with herself," he responds as if he knew her quest long before she did herself.
"I was thinking about flying home for a week or two. I'll have to figure out school and when it starts but I think we all need a hug?"
"You are always welcome, and we can keep your presence under wraps if you want." He tells her in code.
"I don't want to hide, as long as he knows that he is not welcome, that is more than enough," Una tells him quietly.
"As long as you are comfortable," her father says.
"I met someone," Una tells him quietly. "Back in Paris, he came to Rome to meet me,"
"A Frenchman?"
"No English, we met on a train to Paris," Una tells him blushing. "His name is Alec, we don't know how things will work, but we're going to try."
"As long as you are happy, and that you are…" John teeters off for a moment.
"It's not like last time," Una tells him quietly. "Double the safety, if anything happened..well it would be less about accidents and more about Devine intervention," she jokes to him.
"Well, I know it's late there, you should head to bed and I am sure you are planning to make more calls.' He father says gruffly.
"It's not that late Dad," Una says shaking her head. "But I do have other calls yes," She tells him.
"Let me know when to pick you up from the airport," John tells her. "I love you, Una."
"I love you too Dad," Una says with a small smile before hanging up.
She leaves a message for Alec, who is most likely still in the air. She puts up her hair in the mirror, lightly touching the light bruises that graced her neck and collarbone. She shakes her head, turns to the bathroom and looks at the tub. She pours herself a bath, leaving her clothing on the floor she steps into scalding water. She sucks back a sigh and hiss but sinks into it.
How long ago was it that she wanted too-tried for a brief moment to end everything with water? She reaches with her ruby cross, the bracelet on the counter not being one for water.
The bed is cold and lonely now, after spending nights next to him, she curls up by herself. Watching her phone, waiting for that message. She wakes disorientated, rubbing her eyes she reaches for her phone.
Made it home, miss you already, sleep well—Alec
She smiles and sighs at the same time and cradles her phone. She tells him good night, and she would message in the morning.
It's another ferry across the bay to the next port city, then a bus to a small city that she narrowly catches to bring her city to the closest to Meteora. To make the most of the trip, she books a tour that day. The sunset tour, when the next day would be the morning one.
She breathes in the fresh air, hearing chatter in a few different languages around her, on her English tour. Though she doesn't listen too much as she looks around her. Today was more about scenery than anything else. The hills and rocks that greeted her vision were visit the six monasteries with great detail, and see the inside one of them, she had brought a skirt to pull over her shorts so that she was dressed appropriately knowing such things while she already wore a light long-sleeved shirt.
Mostly she marvelled at the sheer ability for these places to exist, how they were built and preserved, who the monk had lived all those years, up in their towers upon hills. She walked the old floors of the old Byzantine church. For the first time in all of her travels, she felt no need to repent. No need to feel sorry for herself as she wandered and gazed upon the old painted stones of the centuries-old churches and monasteries.
Maybe that was all she needed someone who barely knew her to come into her life and tell her that it was all right? She takes a deep breath, watching the setting sun in the distance, the reds and pinks of the sun lighting up the school between the valleys and caverns of Meteora that were far below her feet.
Peace?
Was this peace? Had she ever felt this way? A calm serenity that bathed over her body in a way that felt new.
She gets someone to take a photo of her with the magical sunset and valleys behind her.
She changes her mind, about going back and possibly ruining that moment of peace. So spends the next morning travelling to Athens, another bus, and another bus. Head leaning against the window she watches the scenery fly past. Mountains and oceans and landscapes a fairytale-like in many ways.
Her phone buzzes and she looks at it and smiles opening it up.
Are you excited to go home after Athens?
I am I think, I'm glad for this trip for many reasons, but I think home is needed for one last stop before I can put everything at peace.
As long as you are happy—
I'm happiest with you lately,—did you set up the interview?
I did, this coming Monday, we'll meet in London for it. If it all goes well then I suppose I'll be moving to the lakes district?
Never complain about that, and plus if you do I'll be visiting any chance I can get.
What if I want to come to Canada?
Well, I am sure we can potentially manage both, it might be nice for both of us to meet each other's parents before any large commitments.
Fair enough :)
Athens was gorgeous, the Mediterranean air fresh and the sun was bright with blue skies. Another hotel, and again it felt odd to be alone once more, but she went over her things and got a few bottles of water for the room. She spent dinner for herself and looked at her bank account and how much of the allotted money she had still from this trip. A bit more than what she thought, but went through most of it.
In the end, she lays back on the bed, imagining the kisses and touches that had been her life only a few days before. For once, she could possibly understand the appeal of it.
Una grabs her phone, noting the time. With hesitations, she writes out a message, a short message, but a message that told him all he needed to know with a rather cheeky twist.
The next she visits historic area of the city, thinking ahead about buying tickets beforehand thankfully, so she spends her first full day in Athens taking in the amphitheatre and odeon and the Acropolis. Where Temples that had turned into churches, destroyed, turned back into temples to how they stand today in front of her. Long tragic histories of takesovers, wars, changes to finally remembrance.
How many people prayed to Athena long ago, and how many to any of the gods or goddesses that have temples or ruins of temples around this ancient city? Much like all the praying she had done over the past weeks of her journey. Praying for health, food, and guidance for their lives to figures that looked over their lives and the world?
She looks back out over the city, closing her eyes she pictures the sunsets and cliffs from days previous.
She can smell it in the air still by memory alone, she can feel her mother's hand on her shoulder.
There may be a slew of things to figure out still, and there may be things to still work through, but the one thing she knew at this moment was, that maybe she had forgiven and never realized it. Caught in the pain and hurt, caught in the choice that haunted her.
They might always haunt her after all, but haunting didn't necessarily mean regret did it?
She looks at the photo of her in her khaki shorts and tee shirt. Her dark her around her shoulders, a smile on her face. The sun creating a halo around her, and the temple pillars at either side of her.
Was this what she was looking for? Since this all happened?
Am I completely happy with this chapter? I'm not sure but I wanted some sort of resolution to Una's travels and her own questions.
It's not totally the end just yet. A few more are left and we get to hear from Walter next chapter...so stay tuned for that!