of my heart and that of courage.” He said it so softly that no one could hear him, and when he stepped back, he pressed a small box in her hand. His eyes insisted that she take it. And then suddenly they were being rushed onto the plane and he was gone and she and Charlie were both crying. They boarded the plane with their arms around each other, and it wasn't until after they took off that they felt like talking. Charlie was subdued, and Vanessa looked at her, thinking that she looked absolutely splendid. She was the prettiest girl Vanessa had ever seen, and she had noticed a number of heads turn as they had taken their seats. It was the combination of the ivory skin, the emerald eyes, and the sheet of black satin hair. It was a dazzling combination.
It wasn't until later that Vanessa opened the small package Andreas had given her. A thin gold chain fell into her hand, and at the end of it a starkly beautiful single diamond in a setting that made it look like a star, and as she hung it around her neck she understood its meaning. It was their falling star. As she touched it with her fingers she felt her eyes fill with tears again. She had only known him for six weeks, but it seemed like a lifetime.
The plane landed in London an hour and a half later, and they had to change planes, and discovered that they had to wait for two hours until they could board the plane to New York.
“Do you want something to eat?” Vanessa looked at her sister after they had checked in, and Charlotte looked excited. She had bounced back after leaving Athens, and now there was a fresh spark in her eyes. She had met two English boys and a girl her own age on the plane and had talked to them at length. They were on their way to London, she explained to them that she was on her way to New York. Vanessa marveled at how lively and open she was, at how easily she talked to people. She had none of Vanessa's restraint, no fears at all about being hurt or rejected. She was used to being loved, to spreading joy wherever she went.
They walked into the coffee shop arm in arm and took a table, and Charlie ordered a hamburger and Vanessa ordered tea.
“Don't you want to eat?” Charlie looked surprised, but Vanessa seemed suddenly nervous. “Is something wrong?”
“I don't know.” Vanessa looked strained. “I think it's this airport.” And then as she said it the memories began to flood back, the times she had been there with her mother … with her mother and Vasili on their way to Athens … when they had left London the last time for New York. Vanessa looked into Charlie's eyes and trembling a little, she recalled it all, even the appalling scene in the hospital in London, when she had called for Teddy to come and save her mother's life. “What were you thinking just then?” Charlie looked worried, but Vanessa slowly smiled.
“About when you were born. …”
“Andreas said that Mommy almost died.”
“She did.” Vanessa answered gravely. “My uncle Teddy came and delivered you by Caesarean.” Charlie nodded.
“Where was my father?”
Vanessa looked distant as she answered. “I don't know. He had disappeared.” She sighed deeply then. “He was awful to my mother in those days … to our mother,” she corrected, and Charlie nodded.
“He used to scare me. After a while Andreas wouldn't let me see him.” She had been five when he had got out of the institution, and fourteen when he died. But she had only seen him four or five times over the years. They said nothing more about him, and Vanessa sat lost in her own thoughts.
“What was it like when you were little?” Charlie looked at her with her big green eyes and Vanessa smiled.
“It depends when. Some of it was wonderful… and some of it wasn't.” But she seemed to look at it differently now. She looked at everything differently since she had met Andreas. None of it seemed quite as overwhelming as it had before.
“Do you remember your father?” Charlie was curious about all of it now. She was crazy about her sister in every way.
Vanessa shook her head. “Not really. Just from pictures. The only man I really remember from my childhood is my uncle Teddy.” But now she remembered