that such behaviour from a decent girl would mean ruin for her and disgrace to her family.
‘We could run away together,’ Kosmas told her one day as they held each other close in the cave. ‘We could go to Heraklio, or Chania which is even further away. No one would ask any questions there, no one would know how old we are.’
‘We must wait just a little longer, at least till my next birthday,’ Froso replied, ‘and then you can come to my father and ask for me.’
‘That’s not till the winter, it’s months away . . . and besides, I don’t think your father will accept me,’ he protested. The young lad was amorous, his love and passion overwhelming, but Froso was strong and determined to do things the right way. She would not bring shame to her family.
‘We can only ask him. We at least have to try. It will be worth waiting for,’ she appeased him and kissed him full on the lips.
The two lovers were determined that soon no one could stop them from being together.
During late summer, while the weather permitted, their hideout served them well, but as soon as autumn approached, and the rains began pouring down the ravine, reaching it became hazardous.
‘We must find another place to hide,’ he told her, his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her against him as they lay on the soft earth.
‘We will see each other at the church on Sundays,’ she said with a mischievous smile, knowing well enough what Kosmas would say.
‘I’ll go crazy if I can’t touch you.’
‘You will go even more crazy if they stop us from seeing each other altogether,’ she told him. ‘Besides, just think how it will be when we are finally engaged, and we can be together whenever we want.’ Although sex would not be permitted before marriage, once the youngsters were engaged, they would be allowed to spend time together freely.
That autumn the snow started to fall earlier than usual on the high peaks of the mountains and the road to the upper village became increasingly difficult to reach. Froso’s visits to the school became less frequent and scrambling to their hideaway hazardous. One day after rain had fallen hard in the night, making the ground sodden and slippery, Froso hurried to meet Kosmas for what they had agreed to be their last time in the cave. She had just left him, the boy still in the cave, and she was making her way surreptitiously towards the village square to catch the bus home, when she sensed someone behind her.
‘Kalimera, Froso,’ a male voice greeted her, causing her to catch her breath. She turned round to see Mitros standing several paces behind her. She knew who he was, she had seen him once in a while in the village; he always made a point of greeting her. ‘Where have you come from in such a hurry,’ he asked, ‘in such weather?’ A mocking smile spreading across his face.
‘Nowhere . . .’ the girl mumbled, the colour draining from her face and her knees trembling as she hastened her steps towards the bus.
Kosmas as usual waited a while after Froso left him before clambering up the hill. Black clouds had gathered, casting their gloom and threatening a downpour. He was making his way towards the field where he had left his bicycle hidden in some bushes when he heard footsteps behind him.
‘Leave the girl alone!’ a voice hissed. ‘She is not for the likes of you.’ Kosmas turned to face his follower, but before he could respond he saw Mitros disappearing into the shadows.
What neither Froso nor Kosmas knew was that the young man harboured a secret obsession with the girl and having already made his offer of marriage the year before, Mitros believed he had some unspoken ownership over her. Froso had come to his notice long before he sent word via his mother that he was interested in her. He had picked her out in the village during her last year at school, then observed her later during her subsequent visits to her teacher, and he kept a tally of her movements. He fancied that the girl was as good as his.
A few years older than Kosmas, Mitros was running his late father’s butcher’s shop in the village and considered himself as something of a catch. If he wanted a girl for his wife, he would have her, and no girl would make a fool of him.