Greek Doctor Claims His Bride

Her voice cracked as she reached her final heart-rending words.

He leaned across the table and took hold of her hand. She remained very still but she could feel the prickly tears at the back of her eyes waiting to be released.

“I couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t take time off,” he said gently. “Why you wouldn’t let me take care of you, why you turned me down when—”

“I think my hormones were jumping around too much. I wasn’t sure if you were proposing because…well, because you thought it was the dutiful thing to do.”

“Was that why you turned me down for the second time?”

“Manolis, let’s defer this discussion, shall we?” she whispered. “I can see people looking at us.”

“Of course.”

She knew now she’d been mistaken to turn down his proposal. In the agonising weeks after they’d split up she’d realised how stupid she’d been. She’d destroyed the most essential part of her life. The love of the person she’d admired as a child and desired when she’d become an adult. And by the time she’d come to her senses it had been too late.

She swallowed hard, very aware of the big hand holding hers.

One of the young waiters put more meze on the table. Taramosalata this time to add to the kalimara and the Greek salad, all of which remained largely untouched.

Manolis held out a plate towards her. “Try some of these Ceres shrimps. You used to like them when your parents invited me for supper, I remember.”

She removed her hand from his and took some of the tiny pink shrimps. “Delicious as always.” She chewed slowly. “Some things never change.”

“And some things do. You, for instance,” he said gently.

She leaned back against her chair. “How have I changed?”

“Well…you always were stubborn but—”

“Stubborn? I suppose you mean when I didn’t agree with something you wanted?”

He smiled. “Possibly.”

She nodded. “I have to admit that some of the ideas I had when I was younger have changed. I don’t think I would be quite so…well…stubborn, as you put it, now.”

He wondered if he was in with a chance now with this older, wiser woman. No, of course not! If they were ever to become close again and he was to raise the question of marriage she would dash his hopes again. What did she mean when she’d questioned if his proposal had been merely dutiful? When the time was more convenient he’d quiz her further.

“So, you got all your information about me from Costas?”

“Mostly. We rather lost touch when he went to South America to work in that rural area. He hasn’t answered any of my letters for ages!”

“He’s chosen to live in a remote hospital near the Amazon. Sometimes he doesn’t get his mail for weeks, months or at all. Often he can’t get his letters sent out of the area. He’s very dedicated to his work and doesn’t have much spare time to worry about the outside world. My mother worries continually about him, of course, but she’s adamant that he’ll tire of this difficult life when he’s had enough deprivation.”

“He had a relationship in Australia that went wrong, I believe,” Manolis said, quietly.

“Yes.” She sighed. “These things happen.”

Their eyes met and Tanya saw the moistness in Manolis’s gaze before he looked down at his plate and began crumbling a piece of bread.

“You haven’t drunk your wine.”

Tanya took a small sip. “The jet-lag is getting to me. I’d better not drink it. It might make me sleepy and I want to stay awake. I feel that we…well, we’re getting to know each other again.”

“I was completely surprised when you turned up here today. I’d had no news of you for ages.”

The people on the next table had now gone. He waited before he dared to broach the subject of their disastrous break-up again. He’d been so unhappy, so completely devastated and depressed that he couldn’t imagine how Tanya had suffered when her physical health had been at an all-time low and she’d had to cope with the emotional confusion as well.

“I was so proud that you coped by yourself after I left Australia. It couldn’t have been easy after…”

“After I’d lost the baby?” she said quietly.

“Yes. Costas said you went straight back to medical school.”

“I was still in a state of shock, I think. As I said, I now know I should have taken some time off but I was very confused. Keeping busy kept me sane—or so I thought. You must have done something similar when you went off to England and almost immediately married.”

She tried but failed miserably to disguise the bitterness in her tone of voice.

“Tanya! I…”

The young waiter was placing the main course plates in front of them, having removed the scarcely touched meze dishes.

“Tanya, it wasn’t like that!” he continued when they were alone again. “You’d made it clear that you didn’t want me. My old tutor in London had already contacted me about a newly created post as head of surgery which he said would be perfect for me. I was holding off discussing it with you because I wouldn’t have gone over to London without you. When you virtually sent me away I decided to go for it. There was nothing to keep me in Australia any more. Victoria and I were old friends and we just happened to meet up again.”

“How convenient!” She couldn’t hold back the jealous anguish she’d experienced when she’d heard that he’d gone straight into the arms of another woman.

She took a deep breath. “And then married and had a baby very shortly after.”

“On the rebound, I suppose,” he said quickly, regretting how much she must have been hurt when she’d found he had a child. “But in mitigation…I’m not trying to sound as if I’m in the dock being tried for something…”

She watched him, anguished about what he’d done but still unable to crush her feelings for him.

“Go on, Manolis, tell me why you’re hoping to be forgiven for jumping from one bed to another in double-quick time.”

His eyes flashed. “You’d turned me down, told me to go away, said I was making things worse for you by staying, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did,” she said quietly.

“So, Victoria being an old friend helped to salve my wounds. Somehow the comfort she gave me turned to sex. She fell pregnant. We married in haste and repented at leisure, as the old saying goes. It didn’t take us long to realise that we would drive each other mad if we stayed together. We split up when Chrysanthe was six months old. Victoria was busy with her career and agreed with me that Chrysanthe would be brought up well on Ceres with the extended family here. My mother was overjoyed to add another granddaughter to her brood, and I came over as often as I could. I was on a long-term contract at the time so I had to wait before I could give in my notice. When a vacancy came up here on Ceres I applied and was accepted.”

“They must have been delighted to have you here.”

He nodded. “Yes. After a while I was offered the newly created post of Medical Director. We’ve had to expand in recent years because of the long tourist season from April to November. Better boats, more tourist facilities…”

His voice trailed away. He hoped he’d helped to justify what had happened since he’d walked away from her. She’d asked him to go, but maybe, just maybe she hadn’t meant it.

He gave a deep sigh. There he went again, giving himself hope that he could turn the clock back to the time when they’d been so idyllically happy together.

“Dr Manolis.” The young waiter was standing beside his chair. “There’s a lady in the kitchen who wants to speak to you. She’s climbed all the way up the kali strata to find you. Her granddaughter is having a baby in her house and there’s some problem that I…”