HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIGI!

Daniela

PART ONE Italy 1994

Chapter I 

Her bags were in the hall, packed and ready. As she anxiously waited for her taxi, she  checked that her passport, money and cigarettes were in her handbag. Everything was in  place. The moment felt too good to be true. The taxi pulled up to the drive just as Demetri,  

her husband, gave her a hug. 

‘Enjoy the trip and have a great time at the party, my love,’ he said. 

Everything was moving according to her plan and she was so excited, her pulse was high and  she felt her heart beating hard through her body. 

She knew that neglecting her responsibilities was the sin she had to live with and felt guilty  about leaving her husband and daughter Alainna behind, to be with Paolo, the man who made her  feel complete. 

She had met Paolo in a bank one busy morning and, when he noticed she was having trouble  with her account, he had come to her rescue. That was it! The on-off, love-hate affair had begun. They exchanged phone numbers and within twenty-four hours he dialed her number and, partly  to her own surprise, she agreed to meet with him. Daniela had thought that a little bit of fun wouldn’t  hurt, this time with an older man.  

She had had an affair a while before, with Giovani, but that hadn’t lasted at all. She was mainly  desperate to escape from the dull routine of her life, but Paolo’s intentions were to go all the way and  he always got what he wanted. 

Paolo began phoning her constantly, telling her how much he wanted to be with her, literally  sweeping her off her feet until he got her into a five-star hotel. She remembered that first time so  clearly. He had been so attentive and she thought he was such a gentleman. They sat in the luxurious  room and talked about themselves; he telling her how unhappy he was in his marriage and she  explaining that her own marriage had begun when a good friend of hers introduced her to Demetri,  and how there had never been any romance to keep alive. Most of that evening was spent with kisses  and cuddles, which he rightly guessed she was starved of. He had filled the Jacuzzi with hot water,  rose petals and a few added drops of essential rose oil and lit candles all around the side of the  Jacuzzi. She could still remember the scent and the romance. As soon as she entered the room she had  realised that Paolo must have spent a lot of time and effort to organise the evening. No one had ever  done anything like this for her before. 

They had sat opposite each other in the Jacuzzi and he slowly massaged her toes, one by one. His  hands then gently slid over her smooth legs, caressing every inch of her skin. She moved her body, allowing the water jets to massage her curves. Paolo placed his hands on her waist and could wait no  longer. He made the connection they both so desperately desired in the warm, scented water. His stiff  body inside her, his hands now pulling on her hips as their bodies swayed rhythmically to their  sexual needs. Daniela felt this was the beginning of something very special. 

After that first night, Paolo had always made an effort to meet with her and, whenever possible,  had taken her out to expensive places and showed her how it felt to be cared for and wanted. Six months had past and now they were arguing constantly. He was feeling that the time had  come to move on to someone new. Daniela still remembered that first time and could not accept that  this might be the end. 

When Paolo had announced that he was going to London for business, she suggested she could  go with him. She felt this was a great opportunity to try and make things work between them, to  bring back the excitement and passion they once shared. And there she was, standing outside her  house, waiting for the taxi, hoping this trip would make everything okay between them and bring the  romance back, and continue their affair. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the bibbing of the car horn. She kissed and  cuddled her daughter Alainna and made her way into the taxi. The driver began the journey to the  airport and Daniela simply sat back, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the beginning of what she expected  to be an unforgettable vacation. 

All she was able to think about were the three forbidden nights she was to spend with Paolo, in  an exciting city, full of life. No hiding, no disapproving faces and with no complications, just endless  sexual fun. She was really feeling the thrill of it all. 

Daniela knew that Paolo had arrived in London the previous night for a business meeting and  was certain that, once his work was done, he would spend time with her. She was the most attractive  and kind woman he had ever seen, or at least that is what he repeatedly told her. Her body  voluptuous and firm, her hair long and silky with a healthy shade of dark brown, her make-up  always perfect, her skin as white and smooth as porcelain. People often complimented her on her  beauty, but she thought they were simply being kind.

They approached the airport and her stomach filled with butterflies, making her feel nervous.  She felt anxious and enthusiastic, frightened but still tremendously excited. 

‘Here we are, signora, I’ll help you with your bags.’ The driver carefully placed all her luggage  onto a trolley which he had found nearby and pushed it inside the terminal building. She paid him  and, to his surprise, she added a generous tip. She then thanked him in a heartfelt way and all he  could do was stare into her big, green, almond-shaped eyes.  

‘Arrivederci, signora,’ he said, waving his hand, turning and making his way back to his cab. Her fantasy was moving along as well and as smoothly as she had hoped. Daniela checked in  and asked for a window seat. Clutching her boarding card, she went through to the duty free and  bought herself a mobile phone, a sensuous body lotion and a bottle of expensive whiskey for Paolo.  ‘ALL PASSENGERS TO LONDON ON FLIGHT AL ITALIA AZA 334, PLEASE PROCEED TO  GATE THREE.’ 

She began to make her way to the gate where the other passengers were seated chatting away.  Time seemed to be moving faster than ever. She boarded the plane, went to her seat and made herself  comfortable, ready for take-off. 

Paolo had told her the name of the hotel she would be staying in but she didn’t know how far it  was from the airport. Not that it mattered because Paolo would be waiting to meet her, obviously not  holding a rose, as this was not his style; he did not like scenes. She imagined he would leave the roses  on the bed and a bottle of Dom Perignon in an ice bucket on the table set for two. She thought it was  possible that he had perhaps bought her the most seductive lingerie money could buy and would  give it to her in a ribbon-tied box, filled with scented tissue. How wonderful, she thought. 

She tried to decide what she could do for him the moment they were finally together; she could  take a hot bath and use her new body lotion, while he poured ice-cold champagne into elegant glasses  and perhaps repeat the first time they made love, in the Jacuzzi that night. 

‘Coffee, madam?’ asked the steward, rousing her from her thoughts. 

‘Oh, yes, thank you,’ she replied. 

‘Milk?’ he asked, holding up a large, blue flask. 

‘A little, yes.’ As he poured the coffee, she could see him staring through her slightly unbuttoned  blouse. Secretly, she welcomed his gaze. Looking directly at him, she said,  

‘That’s enough milk, thank you.’ He smiled and moved on. 

‘Coffee, sir …?’ 

Sipping her coffee, she thought how fortunate she was to have everything she needed – everything except the love of a man, a man who would love her deeply and be loved by her in return. Although Demetri did love her, she was not in love with him and this made her marriage feel  numb. 

Demetri had been an attractive young man from a working-class Greek family. His father owned  a construction company, dealing with many large projects both in Greece and in Italy. He had  graduated with a business degree, enabling him to take over his father’s business and make it even  more successful than it already was. When his father died, Demetri had full responsibility of the firm  and was now making enough money to provide his wife with a warm, luxurious house and all the  clothes and jewellery a woman could wish for. Not once had it occurred to him that these were all  unimportant, materialistic things and that what Daniela most needed was love and friendship.  

She was at fault, knowing she had based her marriage upon an expensive address in which she  could keep her countless pairs of designer shoes, while letting her husband believe she was content  and settled. 

He had been attracted to her the moment he set eyes on her. At that first introduction, Demetri  felt that Daniela was the perfect woman for him. He did everything in his power to make her Mrs D. 

Diamandidis. She knew she was destined for a better life than she had with her mother; her single  mother, with no trade or the wherewithal to provide for Daniela. Felisha was a desperate woman  with a young child to raise, and she did it the only way she knew how. 

Daniela was young and innocent and believed it was normal to entertain so many different  ‘uncles’ in one’s home. It was only when she became a teenager that she realised that these men, who  so frequently visited their home, were her mother’s only source of income. These men enabled Felisha  to provide for Daniela. What she couldn’t provide, though, was the love and affection of a father the  child so desperately desired. 

She sat Daniela down and explained that, as long as she did not get personally involved with the  clients, her job would be an easy one. But the moment she allowed her emotions to get in the way,  then the problems would start and her job would become hard and painful. 

Daniela never had a boyfriend, nor did she ever date, she simply did her job and it ended there.  She had dreams like every girl her age. She wanted to study medicine and open her own clinic for  children, but money was scarce and so her choice was to stay at home and do as her mother did or  work for the Mafia and risk losing her life. 

Most poor, uneducated young girls from broken families ended up on the streets, throwing  themselves at the men passing by to make a living. At least Daniela stayed at home and the men came  to her. She wanted her mother to stop trading with these men, but her mother reminded her that they  had bills to pay, and food did not appear by magic. 

Felisha was born and raised in Seguro, a small town near Milan. Felisha’s father, Roberto was  sent to Germany during the war in nineteen forty and was away for six years. His wife Maria was  pregnant with their first child, Felisha. When he returned home, they had seven other children, one  after the other. Felisha being the oldest was taken out of school and kept at home to help her mother  with the upbringing of her siblings.  

When Felisha got married, she followed her husband to Naples in search of a better future.  Things didn’t turn out quite as they planned and Daniela’s father turned to the bottle. Mother and  daughter had to move into a smaller place to live. 

Daniela’s mother, Felisha, had told her how her father had walked out when Daniela was a small  child, leaving her mother to raise her then, two-year-old daughter. He had not kept in touch at all.  Still, today, she did not know where her father was and she tried not to think about him, pushing him  to the back of her mind in a dark, lonely place where she felt he belonged. She tried hard not to think  about him but, thoughts of him kept popping up, unsettling her. 

Their home was in a rundown part of Naples, with two bedrooms: one decorated seductively  like a ‘B’ movie film set, strictly used for business; the other, dull and damp, which they both shared.  The tiles in the bathroom were cracked and falling off the walls, and the kitchen cabinet doors were  hanging off their hinges. In the corner of the kitchen, above the small fridge, her mother kept icons of  Mother Mary and Jesus, to whom she would pray and ask for forgiveness for their sins every night.  The small entrance, where the customers entered and waited for a moment or two until they were  greeted, was cosy and comfortable. 

Felisha was under the impression that her daughter was asleep at night when she had ‘guests’,  but the walls were thin and every sound kept Daniela awake. The girl spent most of her evenings  alone in her room until her mother finished work. She would lie awake, waiting for her mother to  complete the routine, when she would creep into the room quietly, scrape past the bed and put more  money in a tin on the top shelf. The tin was next to an expensive bottle of perfume, which was a gift  from one of her clients and she wore it only for him. 

Her mother had eventually saved enough money to build a small extension at the back of the  house. It was nothing special, but it was Daniela’s private room, where she entertained, giving her a  space away from the main house. She could no longer hear sounds from her mother’s room, nor could  her mother hear Daniela or see the tears that she cried, night after night.

She coped well with following in her mother’s footsteps. She began working soon after her  sixteenth birthday, when she was forced to abandon her childhood and, reluctantly, become a  working woman.

Alainna’s Story

Chapter I

Alainna is my name, like Helena but with an A in front, Daniela is my mother  and Demetri is my father. She is Italian and he is Greek which makes me half  Greek and half Italian. I couldn’t speak Greek very well but I did try. I could  

say yiayia which means nanny and I could say good morning, good evening, hello  and goodbye and I love you. My yiayia, Athena, taught me new words every time I  visited her but my Italian was perfect, according to my teachers. 

Mummy was going on a trip today to London, I knew that was in England  where the Queen lived. She was so excited. Yesterday, we went clothes shopping  and she bought a new dress, a pair of shoes and a pair of boots because she was told  it always rains in London. How I wish she was taking me with her. I was a little sad  because I knew I would miss her so much but she told me to be happy because she  was going to bring me lots of presents back. Of course that did make me happy. 

She could see that I was a little sad so to cheer me up she took me to my  favourite little restaurant in the town square and we had some lunch. I was allowed  to have some cake too. 

We also went to the hairdressers and the lovely lady platted my hair; mummy  had curls put in hers, her hair was so shiny I would love my hair to be like hers  when I grow up. And then, to my surprise, she took me with her to the beauty salon.  I had never been to a beauty salon before. All the ladies there were having their nails  done, I didn’t know that they could make short nails longer by extending them; I  was fascinated. I had my nails painted while mummy had her legs waxed. She also  had a manicure and a pedicure. I wanted a pedicure too but she said I could have  one next time as we had to get home before daddy arrived. 

She was so beautiful with her red nails. I had mine painted pink because I loved  pink, it matched the pink ribbons in my hair. I loved red too but I guess I was too  young for bright red nails. 

I didn’t know how many days she was to be away but it was fine because daddy  was going to look after me, he said we would be going to aunty Sophia’s house and  she that would cook pasta for us one day. Aunty Sophia was my mum’s best friend;  she was always in our house. 

I wanted to go to London with my mum because I had never been there before  and I wanted to visit the palace and go to the zoo but she said that she was going to  a party that was only for adults. My daddy is an adult so why wasn’t he going with  her? I couldn’t understand.  

I helped her pack her suit case and she took some lovely clothes with her. I loved  her long black backless dress. I promised myself I would buy one just like it when I  grew up. Daddy helped her take her luggage downstairs and we all waited outside  the house for the taxi to arrive.  

She was so happy. Daddy gave her lots of money and made sure she had  everything she needed. The taxi arrived and mummy gave me a big kiss and cuddle  and told me to be a good girl while she was away, 

‘Mummy, I’m always a good girl.’ 

‘Enjoy the trip and have a great time at the party, my love,’ daddy said. We  watched the taxi drive away. 

I still couldn’t understand why they were not both going to the party in London.  I could have stayed with my yiayia and she would have gladly kept be company but  instead mummy went alone. I would be far too scared to go to London on my own  but she didn’t mind, she was not scared at all.  

We both went inside the house and the telephone rang straight away, I answered  it and it was aunty Sophia. She asked me if my mother had left yet and of course I  said yes. She told me that she was going to come to our house later to bring us a  kebab from the Greek take-away because she knew how much my father liked a  kebab occasionally. My kebab came with chips because it was a child’s portion and  as I was a child, I got the chips.  

I liked aunty Sophia, well most of the time I did, but I didn’t like the way she  kept asking me questions about my mother and she always managed to ask me  when daddy was out of the room. It was like I was the only one who knew the  answers; why didn’t she ask my father? He knew far more than me. Questions like,  what time is her flight and who is she going with and when will she be back? How  did I know when she would return to Italy, surly my father knew, why didn’t she  ask him? Aunty Sophia was rather annoying sometimes, well most of the time but  she was my mum’s best friends and a friend of mummy’s was a friend of mine. 

She was a bit boring too and at times it seemed like she didn’t like me much  either or rather it felt like I just got in the way, which was fine, she didn’t have to like  me. I had my school friends and the children who lived in the houses in our street  and I would play with them all time. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters but the  children in the neighbourhood were really nice to me and we got on very well. I  didn’t need a brother or a sister.  

I had everything I needed, food on my plate, a bed to sleep in, a roof on my head  and parents who adored me. I didn’t have to share anything with anyone. I wasn’t at  all selfish and I had good friends to play with, and I was having lessons on how to  play the piano. Did I mention I played the piano? I loved it so much, I would sit and  play for hours. It was kind of an escape for me. When mummy and daddy were too  busy doing whatever it was they were doing, I would be playing the piano. 

I couldn’t see where my daddy was. He wasn’t in the kitchen nor in the living  room. Perhaps he was in his bedroom. I sat and waited for him in the kitchen. It was  moments like those I really wished I had a dog. A lovely little dog to play with, if I  was lucky they may let me get one day soon.

I heard him walk down the stairs, he must have been in his office. He called the  attic his office but really it was just an attic with a desk in it and a telephone. His  computer was up there too so I guess that made it an office. He was really funny  sometimes, he would say I’ll be in my office, but he only went up into the attic. I  thought that was funny. 

Chapter  II

Looking out onto the street I could see the children outside playing. I wanted to  play with them too, but I didn’t know if he would let me go out to play. I  decided to ask him. 

‘Daddy, can I go out to play please?’ 

‘Oh honey, do you have to go now?’ he replied with a hint of negativity in his  

voice. I could see that he wasn’t too keen on me going outside so I used my charm on  him, it always worked. I put on my smile and tried again. 

‘I will only be out for a little while, please … Pretty please?’ I could now see my  smile worked. I gave him a big kiss to help him decide. He smiled back at me. 

‘You are a cheeky little girl you know that? Go, go play and don’t be long please.  We will be eating soon.’ Job done. I went out to play.  

All the children in the neighbourhood were playing together; the boys played  football and the girls were skipping. I wanted to play football with the boys but I  knew that the girls would laugh at me so I decided to play with the girls. They saw  me walking towards them and they looked happy to see me.  

‘Alainna, come and play with us. Are you allowed to stay till it’s dark?’ they  asked. 

‘Of course, I can stay as long as I want to. What are you playing?’ I could see  they were skipping but still I asked.  

‘Shall we play the Campana?’ they asked. That is the same as hopscotch and I  really did love to play that. I said yes and so after a little bit of skipping, one of my  friends, Marina, took some chalk from her bag and began to mark the road with  boxes and numbers in each box. Some of the boys came over to us and began to  tease, saying we are proper girls and all we do is play girls games. I didn’t need any  more encouragement; I urged the girls to go and play football with them.

Georgia Melaris is no stranger to the twists and turns that make up life’s rich tapestry. She was the landlady of a vibrant North London Pub and formerly the owner of a beauty business in Cyprus. As you can imagine, Georgia has heard stories which you couldn’t make up or believe!

She has taken these true life events and stories and created the main character for her first thrilling and seductive novel, ‘Daniela’.

The tale was lovingly conceived and evolved over eighteen years, a result of soaking up wonderful toe curling experiences and real life dramas and watching Daniela the novel, becoming a 5 star revue offering.

Each and every event throughout this seductive and thrilling novel has happened to someone, somewhere. Their names and locations have obviously been changed. Georgia was always busy raising her family and running her business. Now that her two sons are adults, she has dedicated her time to her passion of writing, completing her first book, this erotic novel which is now published and has made her dream come true. 

Georgia is now settled in London with her sons and having sold the wonderful Cavalier Pub with her brother Spyros, she has successfully qualified as a medic and is now working with the London Ambulance Service on the frontline responding to 999 emergency calls.

She is currently working on her second book the sequel to ‘Daniela’ the novel.