The ram, clearly uninterested in its human audience, sniffed the air. Manno steered the wooden wheelbarrow towards the boat and his father passed the mail sack up. Before anyone could react, the ram caught the scent of Yiayá’s pretty goat. It hurtled towards the cottage, its physical attributes making its intentions very clear, dragging a yelping Nurse Josephine with it.

The ram was not a romancer. The creature mounted the goat without so much as a ‘hello’.

Josephine, her face aflame, turned her back on the beasts but kept a grip on the rope.

Manno strode over, took the rope from Josephine’s fist, and with a grin said, ‘Very good, nurse. Maybe you marry a shepherd, yes?’ He tied the ram’s halter to the metal ring while Josephine scurried back to me.

Manno thrust the air with an open hand, in the direction of the ram’s behind in a slightly lewd manner, and grinned at Perkins.

‘Is one happy boy, yes!’ he cried.

Josephine and I stared at the fisherman, then at each other. After a moment of shocked silence, we grasped one another to save falling over while trying to contain our laughter. ‘This will not do,’ Nurse Josephine squeaked, trying to apply a sombre face while smoothing my apron. ‘Not the correct conduct for upstanding nurses in public.’

‘More’s the pity,’ Perkins muttered, glancing at the goats

*

An hour later, Josephine, Perkins, and I were in the fishing boat with Manno and Yianni. I peered back at Kea as we sailed out of the bay and past the lighthouse. So much had happened on that island, and at that moment, somewhere below us, HMHS Britannic lay on the sea bed, along with Sissy’s watch. I glanced at Corporal Perkins’s foot, and wondered what he was thinking. He looked up, straight into my eyes, and I saw such sadness. I wished I could hold his hand for a moment.

Then Manno caught my eye and winked. My spine tingled as I tried to hide the thrill I felt when he looked my way. ‘You no worry, koukla. My boat, she is unsinkable.’

‘Isn’t that what they all say?’ I remembered Yiayá’s words. ‘Manno, what does: O engonós mou se agapáei, mean?’

His face darkened and his brow furrowed. ‘Who says these things to you?’

Alarmed by his attitude, I shook my head, ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘No, you must tell me. Who said this, koukla mou?’

‘Yiayá.’

The aggravation left his face and he tilted his head back to laugh heartily. ‘Ah, this is good.’

‘But what does it mean?’

I glanced over to Josephine, but as I did, the nurse turned away, smiling. I returned my attention to Manno. ‘Tell me.’

He let go of the tiller, cupped my chin and peered into my eyes. ‘O engonós mou se agapáei means: my grandson loves you.’