Katherine

Kerry Christofilea

Description

Set in 1940 Kalamata Greece 16 years old Sophia against her own free will is coerced by her mother to take up residency at the monastery to undertake her duties as a seamstress. It is here Sophia's journey begins.
Amid her new life at the monastery Sophia meets sister Katherine who appears to be a puller of strength. Surreptitiously sister Katherine is devising plans for Sophia's future. Unbeknownst to Sophia she is to be betrothed to a man in the very imminent future.
In essence Sophia's story metaphoises into the journey of her second daughter Katherine named after the aunt her father's sister the nun.
A world of love , unforgiving deceit, deep tragedy and ultimately revenge.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 23 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669833611
• Langue: English

Extrait

Katherine
Revenge is Sweet
Kerry Christofilea

Copyright © 2023 by Kerry Christofilea.
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022923146
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-3363-5
 
Softcover
978-1-6698-3362-8
 
eBook
978-1-6698-3361-1
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 08/31/2023
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1A Village Girl
Chapter 2Betty The Village Girl
Chapter 3Katherine The Nun
Chapter 4Sophia
Chapter 5The Boat Trip To Australia
Chapter 6The Five Children
Chapter 7School Camp
Chapter 8The High School Years
Chapter 9Reunion Night
Chapter 10The Problem With Omar
Chapter 11The Christmas Party
Chapter 12Stephen And Perry
Chapter 13Perry The Greek
Chapter 14The Proposal
Chapter 15The Engagement
Chapter 16The Wedding
Chapter 17Married Life
Chapter 18The Next 20 Years
Chapter 19Financial Problems
Chapter 20End Of The Marriage
Chapter 21Dating
Chapter 22The Whirlwind Affair
Chapter 23The Affair
Chapter 24Disaster
CHAPTER 1
A Village Girl
B ETTY STARTED RUNNING down the long and endless road, falling and tripping over the potholes,loose branches and tree roots, tears running down her face. The shock of being caught was too overwhelming for her.
All she could do was run, run as fast as she could and never look back.
After running for half the day, she was exhausted. As she went further along up the dirt road, she saw a huge cobalt stone wall, which looked like a prison. As she got closer, she saw a large entrance, with a huge archway, cobblestone slabs with wooden benches on either side. The wrought-iron gate must have been 20 feet high. In her fatigued state, she just lay down on the wooden benches in deep thought. The sun was setting, the temperature dropping; she was wearing a thin cotton dress, freezing and hungry. It only took a few minutes before she fell asleep, not knowing what would become of her. Her legs were bleeding, and flies would land on her open wounds as they started to dry up. A nun made her way to the front entrance. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“My dear, are you alright? Have you been here all night?” asked the nun from the convent, gently nudging her. “Are you hurt badly?”
There was no response from Betty, but the nun could see the scars on her back through the ripped clothes and rushed back inside to get help. Betty lost consciousness. She remembered hearing a voice, opening her eyes and finding herself lying in a warm bed. Sweet aromas surrounded her in the small grey stone room, with a fireplace crackling and warmth on her face after being out in the cold. This was comforting.
As the nun enters the room with the doctor, he examined the patient carefully, cleaned and dressed her wounds, and administered medication for pain and sleep.
“Try not to scare her,” the doctor said. “She’s in shock. I’ll come back in a few days, keep cleaning and dressing her wounds to prevent any infection. Who knows what she’s been through?”
When they left the room, Betty opened her eyes in confusion, not sure what was happening. Flashbacks came and went in seconds. She just wanted to die at this point in her life.
Despite the nun’s best efforts, there was no change in her condition. The nuns felt helpless because she still wouldn’t speak. Someone contacted the doctor again. “It has been a week now. What should we do?” asked the nuns.
“Just monitor her and let her rest,” the doctor said. “Her wounds have healed, but the trauma she’s enduring will take a lot longer. In time, she will come around, just pray for her and keep her safe.”
CHAPTER 2
Betty The Village Girl
B EFORE BETTY RAN away, she lived with her family. Her father was a very strict, traditional Greek man, very tall thin build, hardly ever smiled. He walked with a limp because of a lot of years in the farm fields, climbing mountains to keep watch on his goat’s. His arthritis had set in, he was suffering from a lot of pain. He was a man of strong family values. His word was law, and no one ever challenged him.
Betty was the youngest daughter of nine siblings. All of them worked in the fields until they were old enough to go to school or get married. Unfortunately for Betty, her role was quite different: She was the last daughter to remain in the house to take care of her ageing parents until they died. This entitled her to inherit the family home and farmland.
Betty had secretly been seeing a handsome local boy named Costa. Despite being forbidden to see each other, they exchanged letters with close friends who kept their secret and swore never to tell, feeling sorry for their fate in life. The young lover’s flirtatious behaviour suggested the two liked each other. Any chance they had to wink or smile at each other came from their heart and was obvious to all, except their parents. Everyone in town knew but would never let it slip past their lips. They loved the young ones and wanted to protect them. Betty’s father was respected in the community. His family farmed land for many generations. The town relied on this for goat’s meat and milk, cheeses, and the sheep’s wool.
The Costas family went to ask for Betty’s hand in marriage as they had come of age. Unbeknown to Betty, her father had already offered one of his other daughters instead. Betty was devastated at the news, and her sister was not happy either as she had her heart set on marrying another, the boy’s father agreed to this arrangement as Betty’s family was wealthy, and her father offered a large dowry. As tradition went, when coupling a daughter to a son, an offering of land and some goats, also some gold jewellery were offered. The boy tried to protest, but this fell on deaf ears. He was afraid to insult his father with this behaviour, therefore accepted with respect. Betty’s father made it quite clear his last daughter will not marry until they died.
Betty kept receiving messages from the village boy Costa via her friends and would meet her boy in the woods or down at the river, where their favourite place was a hundred-year-old walnut tree. You could hide inside the trunk—it was that big. A three-foot-by-three-foot hole hollowed out the trunk from a bushfire one year before, and they could hide in it if they saw anyone come by while meeting in secret. When they met again, they were devastated.
He told her, “I will not marry your sister. I have a plan to run away and become a seaman on a cargo ship. I love you, and no one else can have my heart, except you.” He grabbed Betty and kissed her like it was their last kiss.
Suddenly, they heard movement in the bushes, turned around, and saw someone coming. “We’ve taken too long.”
Bettys parents had realised she was gone for more than two hours. Time went by so fast when you’re in love.
She pushed him out of the hollow tree and said, “Run! Keep running, and don’t look back, it’s my father. He found me. I love you!” they were her last words to him for years to come.
As she said this, her father grabbed her and beat her with a stick like a madman. Somehow, she got up, found the courage to push him away, yelled out to him, “I want to marry him! I love him!” and started running for her life, not looking back.
The old man could not believe what he heard; he did not have the legs to catch up with her. Although he tried, his old legs gave in because of his arthritis, with pain so severe, he gave up and watched her run down the country track, never to see his beloved daughter again.
CHAPTER 3
Katherine The Nun
B ETTY NEVER SPOKE of her ordeal. She took an oath of celibacy and silence, offered herself to God, and became a nun. Her father came to the convent frequently but was refused entry. He was told his daughter Betty no longer belonged to him. “We have given her a new name when she took her vows to become a nun. Her new name is Katherine.”
Betty’s father did not take this news very well and tried to argue with the nuns, but it did not get him anywhere. He turned his back on them, not wishing to say any more, dropped his head, and started to make his way home. How was he going to explain to his wife that their last daughter is now gone.
He couldn’t listen to his wife’s crying anymore. Therefore, he kept coming to the convent in hope of meeting his daughter. Even though it humiliated him, he persisted in hopes of easing his wife’s pain. When he failed to bring his daughter home, he accepted it will be the last time. The townspeople gossiped about this story for years to come. It was very humiliating.
B