Up ahead! Her inner voice noted, tension racing towards her shoulders, as her father maneuvered the car back onto the road. She was about to meet these mystery grandparents. What to say?
As they traveled the two-ne twists, a few cottages came into view along an ocean shoreline. She peered at them as they drove parallel to a set of three cottages, with more in the distance. They were white with various pastel color roofs, ivy growing around the doors, and flowering vines and shrubs along a winding path that connected them. Cordelia leaned closer to her window and toward her mother to see further ahead. Sunset light bounced off a rge, two-story building, sparkling white in the evening dusk. Across the shore, she could make out an old-style brick lighthouse, complete with a viewing deck at the top. On the other side of the central building, more cottages dotted the shoreline.
Immediately, her heart swelled in her chest as she viewed the resort, a small smile appearing until it washed away with thoughts of what could have been. This was their family home. She could have spent summers here: bonfires on the beach, stories under the stars, and waves carrying them as they floated in the cove.
A dark iron-gated entrance loomed ahead, surrounded on both sides by a beige cement wall. The gates were thrown wide, and on the left-hand wall, Cordelia saw fancy lettering that read, “Siren’s Cove”. Their tires crunched on the rocky path as they drove slowly through the gate toward the main building that arose among a scattering of palm trees.
Pulling into the reception turnaround, Cordelia loved the beautifully manicured front area full of rge bushes, flowering shrubs, and other trees. All of it gave a welcoming appeal. Her eyes fell on a gentleman out front watering some hedges. He looked up at them as they pulled into the curved entryway. Was that her grandfather?
Robert parked the car and reached to undo his seatbelt, and their mother did the same. “Both of you stay in the car until we call for you.” Cordelia had reached for her seatbelt buckle, but paused at his words. Robert opened the car door and slid out before poking his head back into the car, saying, “Understand?”
“Yes - stay in the car until you call us,” Cordelia repeated to him, barely keeping her eyes from rolling. He nodded.
By now her mother had stepped out, a brisk ocean breeze rushed in cooling them, before the door clicked closed. Her father waited at the front of the SUV, and when Silka joined him, they turned to walk toward the gentleman. The man was rge, standing over six feet tall and had a head of white hair, but otherwise looked great for his age with a golden touch to his skin and a muscur build. He had turned off the water hose and was walking toward her parents with a confused expression on his face.
“Silka?” Cordelia looked to the right, where she saw a woman of average size and long reddish-hair streaked slightly with white running toward her mother. “Silka - is that you, my darling?” came the call again.
At the same time, a cry of joy came from where her parents had stood, “Mom!” Within seconds, the two fell into each other’s arms, hugging fiercely with tears running from their nearly identical blue eyes.
Cordelia looked back at her father to see how he was reacting to the reunion between mother and daughter and noticed that neither of the men was looking at the women. Instead, they stood close, conversing quietly and seriously. The older man raised a finger, shaking it at her father several times. Cordelia wasn’t sure about her father’s reaction or his attitude as she couldn’t see his face. His posture, though, seemed to indicate that he wasn’t afraid.
The man’s voice rose as his face grew red, but her father responded in calm, low tones. Cordelia’s stomach clenched. Did someone need to step in between the two men? From the corner of her eye, she saw the women pull away from each other, their whispered words dying as they turned to the two men. Her eyes flickered from one man to the other, and something very unpleasant must have been said, for Silka flew over to the man, grasped his arm, and spoke urgently to him. Robert reached for his wife to pull her away, but her mother held the man’s arm tighter, looking up into his face until the hard mask of anger cracked. He reached over, grasping Silka’s hand where it held his arm, and seemed to nod his head in acceptance as he rubbed her hand softly.
As the tension eased, Robert ceased trying to move his wife. Cordelia watched as her grandmother came up to her mother to y a supportive hand on her shoulder. The three talked for another minute or two, and then Silka dropped the man’s arm and stepped back next to Robert, who quickly slid an arm around her. Cordelia’s grandmother did the same, putting her arms around the man who must be their grandfather. Cordelia watched as her grandfather smiled down at his wife and kissed her on the forehead, his anger momentarily abated. Both men’s shoulders rexed, and her grandfather looked over at Robert and spoke, but this time his voice was back to the stern, quiet tone he had used earlier, with little of the warmth he had shown to her mother.
The conversation continued between the two men while the women looked on until her grandfather raised the arm that was around her grandmother to offer his hand to Robert. They shook hands, and her mother must have been crying, for her grandfather pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. Silka’s hands fell from Robert’s arm, and she stepped to her grandfather, throwing herself into his arms. Without hesitation, he hugged her tight and spoke something into her ear, to which she responded with a nod.
* * *
From the brief exchange, it was clear that Silka and her parents loved each other. Whatever the reason for the separation and cut ties, it seemed it wasn’t something that her grandparents had wanted. She looked closely at the older couple, searching for something that would provide a clue. From outward appearances, they were two normal grandparents. Of course her grandfather was a rather big guy, so Cordelia couldn’t imagine too many people would want to cross him, but other than that there didn’t seem to be anything extraordinary about the couple. Why had her parents taken them from her life? When her father had first expined that it was for their protection, she had imagined mobsters, witness protection, or maybe drug traffickers. They certainly didn’t look like they did any of those things.
Silka pulled back from her grandfather and said something to him as he held her at arm’s length. Cordelia’s grandmother and grandfather then turned to look over at the car. Likewise, her mother turned toward the car with an enormous smile and gestured to her and Kai to join them. Before doing so, Cordelia looked at her father, but his expression was bnk, only exhaustion around his eyes as he stood waiting.
Taking a breath, Cordelia gnced at her brother with eyebrows raised, wondering what he was thinking about all of this. Simirly, she found him looking at her. Their eyes met briefly, and then he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed for the door handle as he unclicked his seatbelt. She wished it were that easy. Releasing the breath she had held, she dropped her phone into her backpack, then nervously folded up her bnket and followed her brother out of the car.
Kai ran towards their mother, wrapping his arms around her waist once he got next to her, and she smiled down at him, grasping his shoulder.
Cordelia felt her legs tremble as she stepped out of the SUV. It will be fine. She closed the car door, leaning against it to calm the slight shake before pushing away. Unlike her brother, she trudged up to the group, still unsure what was going on. How do you act around people you’ve never met and just learned were alive five minutes ago? Well, okay, more like fifteen! Was she to ignore the argument she witnessed? Pretend that there wasn’t an unease that lingered among all of them? Pretend that none of this was weird?
Stopping next to her brother, she ignored the hand that her mother offered; rather, grasped her hands behind her back and looked at the two people standing before her. She realized again how young they were, noticing their thick hair and smooth skin, save for the wrinkles around their eyes. They both were tan, Cordelia assumed from working outside, and physically fit.
“This is Cordelia, my oldest at 14, and she is just finishing up eighth grade,” Cordelia saw her mother gesture towards her from the corner of her eye, but continued to ignore both of her parents, “and this is Kai, he is 10, and he’s finishing up fourth grade. They are both exceptional students and love sports.” Silka’s voice droned on to tell her grandparents a few things about both of them, but Cordelia tuned it out as she studied the grandparents that she had always assumed she would never know. A blush rose on her face as she realized she had never asked her parents many questions about them, and therefore they were total strangers. Her grandparents studied her and Kai, their eyes roving between the two of them. Cordelia swallowed, realizing that she was doing the same. Silka carried on proudly while everyone stood nervously, not saying anything.
Eventually, her mother’s voice trailed off, and Cordelia’s grandmother filled the silence, “It is so wonderful to meet both of you.” The older woman’s eyes glittered with tears, and Cordelia could see the general joy there along with the nervousness. “I’m Maria, but I hope you will call me Yia Yia.”
“Yia Yia?” Cordelia asked with confusion.
Maria ughed, “Yes - it is Greek for Grandmother. It is what I called my grandmother. I always thought it would be what my grandkids would call me.”
Cordelia smiled at the hopeful expression on her grandmother’s face, “Yes - Yia Yia.”
Maria’s smile grew even wider, and before she could say something else, Cordelia’s grandfather broke in, “I’m Kostas, and I’d be pleased if you would both call me Papou.”
“Is that Greek for grandfather?”
“Yep,” he smiled at Cordelia, and she met his grin with one of her own. So far they seemed nice. Since they both wanted to go by Greek names, that must mean she was part Greek. Why had she never wondered about her family heritage? She had never thought much about the many backgrounds from which she might have come; instead, she worried about how people saw her at school and in her general social circle, rather than what might have been passed on to her from her family.
“I’m thrilled to meet you,” Cordelia heard Kai say, eager to get into the conversation. He pulled away from his mother and stuck out his hand. Maria ughed and shook it lightly, followed by Kostas with a more hearty grasp.
Cordelia peeked over at her parents, and both of them were smiling at the group. The shoulders of her mother seemed more rexed, but the tightness around her father’s eyes remained.
“You both py sports, huh? We’d love to hear what your favorite is and what you like about them?” Maria asked, looking between them for an answer.
“Now, Maria, we can get into all of that ter. Let’s see which cottage we can find for them to use and get them settled.” He winked at the two of them. “I’m sure you can ask all your questions at dinner,” Kostas procimed to the group as he turned his wife toward the main building behind them. Silka took Kai’s hand, and the two followed. Robert looked over at Cordelia, and she stepped forward as well to follow, and felt her father fall in next to her.
Expecting her father to say something to her, maybe a joke or something to make her ugh, she waited with bated breath. But the joke didn’t come. They walked silently in the rear, listening to Kai chatter on about the drive and what he thought of the resort. For the first time in Cordelia’s life, a dark sorrow overwhelmed her, and she didn’t see where she fit in her family. Rather than sink further into this darkness, a spark ignited. I will get my family back. And this resort had to contain the answers.
