Page 30 of The Silent Sister

Eléni found that time passed painfully slowly as she waited for her mother and sister to return.

But at the same time, her stomach performed somersaults as she tried to decide what to do.

You’d best come straight out with it, she told herself.

You won’t be able to carry on as normal after what you’ve found out. You’d just be perpetuating the lie.

Did it make a difference? Eléni or I?ánna, a twenty-three-year-old, or was she twenty-five? She was still the same person, so did it matter?

Yes! shouted a voice in her head. It matters a lot! They have been lying to you and letting you think they are your real parents.

Eléni read the newspaper advert again. IS MISSING GREEK GIRL IN WALES?

The man looking for her would have given up now after almost twenty years.

She imagined how distraught he must have been to find out his family had been wiped out in the earthquake and then to learn his niece had survived only to be stolen by strangers.

She, little I?ánna, or Eléni as her parents had named her, would have given her uncle some hope that not all was lost. Cassia and Tom Beynon had denied him that.

She heard the front door open and Bronwen shouting for her to come downstairs.

‘We’re back. Come and see what we’ve bought.’

She’d let her sister have her moment of glory and then she’d confront them.

Her stomach churned and her heartbeat raced as she went downstairs.

Bronwen pulled out her new shoes from the box, scattering the tissue paper they were wrapped in over the floor as she hurried to put them on and model them for Eléni.

‘Very nice.’ Her voice sounded flat and disinterested. Eléni didn’t take her eyes off her mother, who stood behind Bronwen.

‘Don’t sound so impressed then.’ Her sister glared at her. ‘You could have come with us if you wanted a pair.’ Her voice rose. ‘It’s always about you. You’re never happy for me, are you?’

Eléni clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms. She didn’t even notice the pain as she yelled at her sister. ‘I’ve had other things to deal with. More important than a trashy pair of shoes.’ She was close to tears.

‘Stop it, both of you.’ Her mother looked confused. ‘I don’t know what this is all about. Eléni, all she did was show you her new shoes.’

By this time, Tom Beynon had come into the kitchen.

‘You two. Squabbling again. What’s it all about this time? I could hear you from the garage. Shut it, both of you!’

Now she was able to talk with fluency and put her thoughts into words, the squabbles between the sisters had become worse.

Cassia didn’t take her eyes off Eléni, but Bronwen wouldn’t let things lie.

‘Go on, then, sister, dear. What other things have you had to deal with, poor thing?’

Eléni snapped. ‘This!’ She waved the newspaper cutting in front of her sister who took the piece of paper from her and began to read aloud.

‘ Is missing Greek girl in Wales? This Greek man whose name I can’t pronounce.

.. has found out that his five-year-old niece, I?ánna, may have survived the earthquake.

After extensive research, he believes she was taken out of Kefalonia without permission from the authorities in Greece and brought to Wales. ’

Eléni watched as her mother’s face drained of colour and she grabbed the back of a chair.

‘Aw, look at the little girl. She’s so cute. She reminds me of someone.’

Her father’s face was like thunder. ‘Here, let me see. Where did you get this, Eléni?’ He looked at her mother. ‘Cassia, do you know anything about this?’

Tears poured down Cassia’s face. She nodded. ‘You had no right to go through my things, Eléni.’

‘What things, Mamá? said Bronwen.

‘She’s been keeping a journal of her life since she came to Wales. If you’ve never seen this, Baba, then she’s been keeping secrets from you, too. And there’s a huge secret you’ve both been keeping from me, isn’t there? Does Bronwen know?’ Eléni’s voice rose to a screech.

‘What do I know? Will someone tell me what’s going on? Is the little girl you? Oh, my God, it is!’

Tom put his arm around Cassia. She dissolved further into tears.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Eléni’s voice cracked.

The look on the faces of the two people facing her told her she was right.

They were not her real parents. ‘When were you going to tell me? Ever? You kidnapped me — no stole me, forged my birth certificate and got me a fake passport just so you wouldn’t be found out.

No wonder I’ve always been the odd one out in this family!

’ Eléni’s voice reverberated throughout the house.

Her father’s face became red with anger.

‘Stop it at once, my girl! Although I know we were wrong not to tell you, we did it to give you a better start in life. You had no one left, so don’t you dare start throwing around words like “kidnap”, “forgery” and “fake passports”.

If you knew the lengths we went to to get you here. Apologise to your mother.’

‘No, I won’t. It should be you two apologising to me!’

Eléni had never seen her father so angry. She knew she’d gone too far. Her mother’s face remained ashen and her eyes were red with tears.

‘I thought you knew Mamá and Baba are not your real parents. The boys told me when we came to live in Porth Gwyn. So, yes, I did know. The reason you and Mamá had to leave the first time was because a reporter came looking for you.’ Bronwen looked at Eléni and then her parents’ shocked expressions.

‘What? It’s no big deal, is it? Loads of people are adopted.

You treat us both the same. In fact, I think you treat her better.

’ Eléni went to push her sister. ‘Just joking.’ Bronwen ducked out of the way.

Eléni glared at her. ‘Well, I don’t think it’s funny.’

She placed the newspaper cutting on the table and went to leave the room. ‘If you haven’t seen this before, Baba, you should read the journal. It makes for very interesting reading.’

Her mother got up from the kitchen table and tried to put her arms around Eléni who stood in the doorway, her dark eyes blazing. She shrugged her away.

Cassia looked at her husband, who had calmed down by then.

‘Come and sit down, Eléni. You’re right.

We should have told you. Years ago.’ Her father patted a seat beside him.

‘It’s my fault. Your mother always said this would happen.

But I was...’ His voice broke. ‘Afraid. I didn’t want you to go back into your shell and stop speaking again. You’ve done so well.’

Her mother went to him and clutched his arm. ‘Don’t get upset, Tom.’ She turned to Eléni. ‘You deserve to know everything . You, too, Bronwen . ’

‘No,’ shouted Eléni. ‘I’ve read all I need to know. You’ve deceived me for almost twenty years and I’m going to find out everything about who I really am. For a start, I’m going to find my uncle. My real uncle and my real family, that is.’

She left the room, slamming the door behind her with such force it shook on its hinges.

‘Eléni.’ Her mother’s wail followed her into the hallway.