Sunday short stories, episode 1 : My Big Fat Greek Honeymoon
Hello readers! My name is Kay Kingsman and I am a fiction author and travel writer. I am starting a new weekly column called "Sunday short stories" that will be travel-focused short stories, each week featuring a new story in a new destination - a la Shakespeare when he used to publish his now famous stories in his local newspaper. If this particular story is not your cup of tea, feel free to skip; each week will be a different genre. If you love reading, please consider subscribing so you can be the first to read every week!
Now with that intro out of the way, let's get into the story.
My Big Fat Greek Honeymoon, by Kay Kingsman
location: Santorini, Greece
genre: crime, suspense
content warnings: murder (off-screen)
*This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
———
I was the one scared to get married. Everyone knew that.
Yes, it was a bit stereotypical of me, being a 30-something male and all, but marriage was a big deal. If anything, society was a bit too relaxed and casual about the fact marriage entails completely merging everything about your life to another person. And how long did newlyweds typically know each other? A couple years? Practically strangers. I was certainly not the man I was even two years ago.
Plus, my heart had been broken before so I didn't fancy the idea of having to pay thousands of dollars to eventually have the same thing happen all over again. Thankfully, Iris, bless her sweet heart, was very patient with me.
When we passed jewelry stores, she pretended to check her phone or suddenly feigned interest in the particular color of the sky. If we ate at an upscale restaurant, French if I chose or Mexican if she did, Iris would politely excuse herself to the restroom while the host looked up our reservation. However when my eyes followed her body sashaying into the bathroom, she would always pitstop by the kitchen to question the staff by miming kneeling and opening a box. Most of the time, they would shake their head, but on the off-chance they confirmed her suspicious of any proposals, we would promptly eat anywhere else.
I had never watched a romantic movie with Iris either. She claimed that genre was nauseatingly ridiculous and catered to the chauvinistic ideal that a woman's life, no matter how successful, was not complete without a witty and slightly arrogant male partner.
"Are you just saying that because I'm not witty or slightly arrogant?" I would tease.
"Well, you are definitely one of those," she would retort with a smirk, turning on Top Gun for the fiftieth time. Not that I was complaining. And while Iris wasn't completely wrong, about the romance genre not my level of wit, I couldn't help but notice her Netflix saved list was cheesier than a plate of nachos.
Iris did it all for me, which, when I was finally ready six years later, made my actual proposal extremely difficult.
I had to catch her completely off guard. She foiled my restaurant proposal twice, a fireworks proposal once, and she even caught the time at the Ferris wheel. I had asked the conductor to stop us at the top when Iris ran to grab a bag of cotton candy, and even made eye contact with him as we got inside our pod. We stopped at the top, sunset dazzling in the background. I took the box out of my pocket, then called out her name. My heart was in my throat as she looked at me.
Then she threw up all over my shoes.
I put the box back in my pocket.
It had come to the point where I wasn't nervous anymore, just frustrated about carrying around an awkwardly shaped velveteen cube for six months. For those who asked later of our proposal, they were answered with the story of how we stayed in Friday night for our favorite activity (again, Top Gun) and Iris asked me if she should skip her Pilates class in the morning and I responded with 'Will you marry me, Iris?' Not the cutest story, but at least vomit wasn't involved.
She even had a work around for my hesitation around price.
"A destination wedding?" I looked at her incredulously, but she just beamed back with her dazzlingly white grin.
"They're actually so much more affordable than normal weddings. Resorts usually have a package so less planning too. And my yiayia and Papou can join us."
My eyebrows furrowed together. "Wait, what do you mean?"
Now it was her turn to look at me incredulously. "I'm Greek."
"Oh. Really?"
"My name is Iris."
As if that was supposed to mean anything to me. Most of the Irises I had known were Asian. "Well, that's cool..." because I didn't know what else to say. Iris had never mentioned anything about her heritage before. See - practically strangers. "But you were born here, right?"
Her eyebrows rose into her hairline, "Does it matter?"
"No not at all." I quickly backtracked. "Greece sounds incredible."
And it was.
Iris was beautiful in Greece. We arrived to the island of Santorini, Greece a full week before our wedding so she could show me the streets she used to run down barefoot every summer on her annual family trip. There was something about the Mediterranean sun kissing her skin that made Iris even more beautiful. Her bright blue eyes sparkled like the water lapping up at our feet on the rocky shores. Her hair glistened, soaking up the warm rays until the curls expanded into a full thick halo around her head. The language dripping from her tongue blossomed a new personality, one that I had only briefly seen after Iris had a glass (or three) of wine.
On our wedding day, she was beautiful.
In between resort staff pulling and prodding me in every direction as they ushered us through the schedule, friends and family sobbing throughout the entire day, plates breaking everywhere...the one thing I remembered was how beautiful she was.
The day after our wedding day, she was also beautiful.
Looking down at Iris now, her eye makeup smeared down her cheeks and one set of fake eyelashes perched on the side of her forehead, she was still beautiful. The day we met, it was at a dim bar on a Wednesday night. I just had a bad day at work and she was out for happy hour with her girlfriends. Her future bridesmaids, in fact. Iris had absolutely no makeup on, but her laugh made everyone turn around to watch her. For one, her laugh was very loud and on the verge of a snort with every inhale, but it was also invigorating. She was beautiful then too. Meanwhile, those same bridesmaids stood behind her at the alter, their eyes as dry as the whiskey shots that night.
The way the sheet laid over her naked curves, revealing no information but teased to their secrets, I wanted everything to happen all over again. The meeting, the first day, the first kiss, the second kiss, every kiss after, all the hand holding and laughing and binge eating then stomach aches and the fairs, movies, vacations, running errands together. And the wedding. Oh the wedding. I wanted it all again, and to last forever.
Bruises from last night trickled down the side of her neck in a twisted galaxy of blue, purple, and red, but already starting to lose vibrancy. Iris still wore her veil, I couldn't get her to take it off. Not even a full day after the wedding. No one could convince her to part with it, and I knew she wanted to live in the dream again. For it to last forever.
The veil was ripped, torn into thin lace curtains cascading down the chestnut curls of her hair, now matted from hairspray and friction. Even with her eyes closed, I knew Iris was the love of my life.
'Is that her?' The coroner asked again, his hand firmly gripping my shaking shoulder. I hadn't even realized I was shaking. I hadn't even realized I was crying, barely holding myself up as my heart landed in my gut. Even with her blue skin and her fingernails ripped off and scratches running up and down her limbs, Iris was beautiful.
And it was only the beginning of our honeymoon.
——-
Stay tuned for Sunday short stories, episode 2, when we head to the continent of Africa for a rivals-to-lovers story set nestled in the mountains of Morocco!
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Vickie vividly remembers Graham attempting to explain 1066, seen as a pivotal date in English history, when William of Normandy defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. 'I didn't even know what 1066 was,' says Vickie, 'The moment I left the plane, I knew everything that ever happened. I'm surprised I didn't have the kings and queens memorized by the end.' 'I enjoyed educating the girls and introducing them to my country,' says Graham. 'Couldn't believe my luck that I got to sit next to two beautiful blondes, and certainly looked forward to seeing them again. I made firm plans to visit before I left them that first day.' After landing in the UK, the trio made their way by train to the central hotel where Vickie and Sandra were set to be living and working for the next three months. Graham led the way, teaching Vickie and Sandra how to navigate the foreign transport system, and helping them haul their large bags on and off carriages. 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'We were really put under a microscope when we first arrived. But I couldn't wait for him to come back.' Back home in Lancashire, Graham called up a university friend of his who lived in London — Jim — and passed on Vickie and Sandra's details, suggesting Jim look them up. 'He arranged to meet up with them and took them out for a drink. And I immediately got my train ticket to come back down that next weekend,' says Graham. 'So that was the plan. And there was no doubt I was going to do it.' The next Saturday, as promised, Graham arrived back in London, and he and Jim took Vickie and Sandra on a sightseeing day around London. It was a glorious, sunny day and the group ducked in and out of museums and pubs, posing for photographs outside London landmarks. Vickie and Sandra enjoyed their first fish and chip meal, climbed on the lion statues at Trafalgar Square, peeked at 10 Downing Street and marveled at the imposing grandeur of St Paul's Cathedral. 'We were all running around. We had the best time. We all got along so well, and we were joking and laughing,' recalls Vickie. 'Our friendship with these guys was just so easy, as if we had known them for years,' Vickie wrote in her diary that day. Vickie still suspected Sandra had a soft spot for Graham. She was happy for them, and understood why Sandra liked him. 'His concern for us and warm personality were endearing, and we viewed him as being special because he had introduced us to this country before we even arrived, not to mention his curly ginger hair and smiling green eyes.' In the afternoon, the group headed to Portobello Road, home to one of the world's most famous street markets, a mix of antiques, fruit and vegetable stalls and everything in between. Riding the escalator to exit the London Underground station, Vickie and Graham found themselves standing side by side. Sandra and Jim were lower down, amid crowds of tourists and locals. Out of nowhere, a woman standing on the step in front of Vickie and Graham turned around to survey them both. They didn't notice her at first, both preoccupied with one another. Then she spoke: 'You're both Scorpios,' she said. It was more of a statement than a question. 'Yes, ma'am, I am,' said Vickie, surprised. She didn't know Graham's birthday, let alone his star sign, but she turned to look at him expectantly. Graham said yes, he was also a Scorpio. The stranger smiled, like this confirmed everything she already knew. 'You will make great love and will always be together,' she said, and then turned back around to disembark the escalator. 'Graham and I looked at one another, completely confused, and nearly tripped off the escalator,' wrote Vickie in her diary. 'We got the biggest kick out of that,' Vickie recalls today. 'We laughed and couldn't wait to tell Sandra and Jim about it. We thought that was so funny.' But hearing the strangers' words shifted something in both Vickie and Graham. 'By the end of that evening, we were holding hands,' says Vickie today. 'That was March 6. And then we were engaged July 4, and married December 28.' Turning point The interaction with the woman on the escalator seemed funny at first. But looking back, Graham says he thinks it was a turning point. 'That was the moment,' he says. 'The day had already been near perfect, and now Graham and I were looking at one another with new eyes,' wrote Vickie in her diary. That evening, the group enjoyed a nightcap at The Bloomsbury Tavern. As they were leaving, Graham reached over to hold Vickie's hand. 'He just reached back and held my hand and I took it, which would be unusual for me. It was just meant to be. I mean, it was — it is — very strange, but it was definitely meant to be,' says Vickie today. Vickie and Graham's chemistry and connection felt so natural, that Sandra, who had, as Vickie expected, quite liked Graham, was immediately happy for them. 'She was thrilled when we got together, she said it just seemed appropriate,' says Vickie. From that evening on, Vickie and Graham were a couple. Graham traveled down to London from Lancashire whenever possible. And only three weeks after they'd first met on the airplane, Vickie traveled to the north of England with Graham to meet his parents. Graham's parents had been worried about their son traveling around the US on his own — his mother had a particular fear of American cults. But in all the hypothetical situations she'd fretted about, she'd never considered he might meet an American girl on an airplane and fall instantly in love. She didn't know what to think. 'I think we really shocked them that we were dating and we were immediately serious,' says Vickie. Vickie and Graham strove to make the most of their time in the UK together. They knew there was a deadline — Vickie had to head back to the US in only a matter of months — and this knowledge accelerated their relationship. 'We just didn't want to be apart once we met, so we knew we were going to have to make some permanent plans,' says Graham. 'We knew that my time was going to be coming to an end quickly. So we sort of had to act quickly,' says Vickie. 'What do we do to see each other, to stay together? And I remember us saying, we would have to get married — which was weird because we just graduated from university. It was the last thing on my mind to get married.' The couple would chat about their future while sitting together in leafy Bloomsbury Square Garden, a quiet green space near to the hotel where Vickie was living and working. 'We would sit out there, and everything was just so peaceful. It was like the world was just right. That's all we had to do, just sit together and the world just felt good,' recalls Vickie. Vickie also had long conversations with Sandra about what to do. Was getting married so quickly a mistake? Her friend backed her up. 'I've never known two people that just seem right for each other like you are, especially so quickly,' Vickie recalls Sandra saying. While in London, Vickie stayed in touch with her parents via letters sent back to Tennessee. She never called — long distance, transatlantic phone calls were expensive in 1982. Instead, she wrote about Graham in long dispatches home, explaining they were serious, and suggesting marriage might be on the cards. 'My mother said whatever I decided, she knew that I'd always make good decisions,' recalls Vickie. As for Graham's parents, they were worried their son's prospective law career might be derailed by a transatlantic romance. But they saw how much he cared for Vickie, and also supported his decision. His friends were shocked, but supportive. 'Jim was amazed by how quickly it all was happening, but happy for us,' recalls Graham. 'My other friends were all surprised, but once they met Vickie, they understood why I had fallen in love with her.' A proposal and a marriage On July 4, 1982, Graham proposed. Despite all the conversations leading up to it, Vickie was still surprised. They'd talked so extensively about marriage that she didn't think they'd do the whole official proposal thing — it went without saying, surely? 'We made the decision to marry before the official engagement, but I wanted to be traditional and propose on one knee,' recalls Graham. July 4, given it was a US national holiday, seemed an appropriate date. 'He came up to the room and said, 'You know if we're going to do this, we've got to do it right.' And then he got down on one knee and he asked me. And he gave me the ring that he had purchased, which was so sweet,' says Vickie. Then Vickie had to go back to the US in September. Cue a tearful goodbye at London Heathrow Airport. 'The plane taking off brought on fresh tears,' wrote Vickie in her diary. 'It was more than leaving someone I loved for a few months; it was about the ending of a chapter of my life. One that was unexpected. One where I took a risk and it worked and I had learned and grown so much.' In December 1982, Vickie and Graham reunited in the US for their wedding day. Graham recalls the surreal, exciting week in which he met all of Vickie's family within days of their nuptials. Vickie's family also met Graham's parents that week. It was a whirlwind, but a happy whirlwind. 'Everybody loved him the minute they met him and they really liked his family too,' says Vickie. The wedding took place in Bristol, Virginia. Vickie took Graham's name, becoming Vickie Kidner. Then the couple returned to the UK, where they lived for the next two years while Graham finished law school. After that, Vickie and Graham relocated to the US. They'd been torn between life in the UK and life in the US. But in the end, the US won out. 'I didn't want to leave my family as much, I wasn't used to it. Remember, that was the first time I'd ever been out of the country, or out of the south,' says Vickie. 'Because I'd been to the States on my own, I think I was maybe a little bit more adventurous in terms of I was willing to take a bit more of a risk and travel and do something different,' says Graham. Vickie and Graham went on to have two children, and brought them up in the US with plenty of UK traditions thrown into the mix. Graham takes particular pride in his annual English Christmas dinners: 'I usually do Yorkshire puddings,' he explains. 'Roast potatoes, Christmas pudding…' When their kids were growing up, Vickie and Graham would also take them on regular trips to England to visit their family. Today, Vickie and Graham still enjoy returning to the UK, especially London — it's always special for them to return to the locations of their early courtship. The hotel where Vickie worked is now an apartment block. But on a recent trip in 2022, the building manager let a nostalgic Vickie and Graham into the foyer for a peek. 'It looks nothing like it did with us. But we had a lot of happy memories there,' says Vickie. Afterwards, the couple sat in Bloomsbury Square, the green spot where they first talked about marriage. It was special and surreal to look at how far they'd come in four decades. They're still friends with Sandra and Jim, and they enjoyed catching up with Jim during that recent UK trip. Four decades later unknown content item - Vickie and Graham recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, their neighbor Amanda Caldwell, who is a photographer, took a photograph of Vickie and Graham. She got the couple to recreate the picture they took the day they met, on Vickie's first day in London, arms around each other, smiling. 'We met when we were 22 years old. We had both just turned 23 when we got married. And now we're 63,' says Vickie. 'It's hard to believe,' says Graham. 'Time goes very quickly,' says Vickie. That first cup of tea together in 1982 turned into many more shared pots of tea. Vickie and Graham say they've always enjoyed just 'doing nothing' together, relishing the small moments as well as the big adventures. 'You have to enjoy doing nothing together, as well as enjoy doing things together,' says Vickie. 'You marry a friend, it's about finding somebody you can be a friend with, because you keep friends.' 'And it's also accepting the good and the bad,' she adds. 'Your interests change over the years to some degree. Raising kids together isn't always easy. But that's why you marry a friend, somebody that you enjoy being with.' Nowadays when the two travel on an airplane together, Graham usually puts on his headphones before take off, gets absorbed in a book and doesn't speak to anyone. 'He's become very, very British,' jokes Vickie, who says she'll always chat to a seat neighbor. Still, traveling together always leads them to reflect on how they met, and the coincidence that they both booked the same flight, both booked standby seats and against the odds, both made it on board that World Airways flight to London. 'When you think back, all the things that had to line up for us to meet is incredible,' says Graham. 'One slight change of plans, we never would have met. It was meant to be.' 'It was amazing how we met, and how things turned out,' says Vickie. 'And that we're still together, that's amazing too, we didn't really know each other – we did, and we didn't. And yet we're still here.' Editor's Note: This article was originally published in February 2023. It was republished in July 2025 to include a new episode of CNN's Chance Encounters podcast focused on Vickie and Graham's love story Solve the daily Crossword
