My Big Fake Green-Card Wedding

The idea of meeting her father, a traditional Greek man, left a hollow, sinking feeling in his chest. He had to make one last attempt to get her to back out of their agreement.

“Maybe we should elope,” he said suddenly. “Tomorrow is Friday. We can get married Saturday night, elope and go on a three-day honeymoon. By the time you tell your father we’re married, it’ll be too late for him to hassle you.”

No sooner had Adam suggested the elopement than he wanted to bite his tongue. Until now he’d prided himself on being honest and pragmatic and definitely a man in control of his life. He was thirty-four, and a successful businessman. And smart enough, he told himself as he glanced down at his “intended,” to handle a marriage of convenience, if it came to that, without any complications.

What was there about this beautiful, young Greek woman that had caused him to lose his usual self-discipline and to test his sanity? he mused as he followed her into the elevator.

Her smile? The charming way she looked at him under dark eyelashes? The gentle sway of her hips?

What was there in her walk that frankly interested him, when he had no right to be interested?

Her quaint Greek persona? He’d always had an interest in everything Greek, he mused as he tried to reason with himself, or he wouldn’t be in the business of importing commodities from Greece.

But a wife he couldn’t touch and who looked like Melina? The more he gazed at her, the more he had to smother a desire to take her in his arms and to kiss her senseless.

“Elope? Greek women do not elope!” Melina said, startled at Adam’s proposal. She’d been searching for a way to take her mother’s advice about compromise, considering Adam’s need for a quick marriage. But an elopement?

“Why not? You wanted to get married a moment ago?”

“A marriage, yes. An elopement, no,” she agreed, reluctant to let go of the idea of a traditional Greek wedding. Not in church, perhaps, but a wedding with Greek food and hauntingly lovely Greek music. “We have to consider tradition,” she sighed, debating the trade-off between settling for a quick wedding ceremony for the chance to realize her dreams. Evidently now was the time to make that compromise. “Okay, I’ll agree to the quick wedding, but first, I have to take you home to meet my parents. Would tonight be convenient for you?”

Adam smothered a sigh and reluctantly agreed. There was no use insisting they elope to get Melina to back out of their agreement. She wasn’t buying.

On the other hand, what if her father changed Melina’s mind for her? What had seemed like a good idea to get her to call off the marriage proposal suddenly turned into an odd sense of loss. To his surprise, he was actually looking forward to having this fascinating woman in his life. One way or another. Even if it meant going by her rules.

“PAPA, MAMMA,” Melina said later that night at the door to her family home. “I would like you to meet Adam Blake. Adam is the man I told you about over the telephone. Adam is the man I plan to marry.”

Mikis Kostos eyed him in a way that made Adam uneasy. The uncompromising message in the man’s eyes was clear: no man is going to date, let alone marry, my daughter without my approval. From the frown on the man’s face, it was also clear to Adam that the chances of his gaining this man’s acceptance were slim to none.

“I’m pleased to meet you, sir,” Adam said. He didn’t go so far as to try to extend his hand, not when Kostos’s fists were clenched at his side.

Melina’s mother edged closer to her husband. “Mikis?”

It was only after the quiet prompting by Melina’s mother that her father held open the door. “Come in, come in,” he said. “We don’t need to have neighbors watching me be embarrassed by my own daughter.”

Adam glanced around at the neighboring houses before he followed Melina into the house. If anyone was watching what was going on on the Kostos’s porch, they were either hiding behind bushes or the man was paranoid.

Maybe this visit hadn’t been a good idea, after all.

Inside the house, there wasn’t a single flat surface not covered with lace doilies and knickknacks of all sizes and shapes. The lamps were topped by upholstered shades with dangling beaded trim. Religious pictures hung on the walls. To Adam, it looked as if time had stood still here while the rest of the world had moved on. No wonder Melina wanted a taste of the twenty-first century before she settled down.

“So, young man, you wish to marry my daughter?”

Adam was taken aback at the speed with which Mikis Kostos cut to the chase. Prompted by Melina’s elbow in his ribs, he nodded. “Yes, sir. I do.”

“Are you Greek?”

“No, I’m afraid I’m not. I’m an American.”

“Your father perhaps is Greek?”

“No, sir. Dad’s family came to the United States from England before he was born.”

“Your mother is Greek?”

Adam felt as if the walls were beginning to close in on him. It sounded as if Melina’s father was about to insist she marry a Greek man loud and long enough for Melina to change her mind about marrying him. “No sir, my mother’s family is Irish. In fact, my parents have recently retired to Ireland.”

Kostos frowned and looked as if he couldn’t find a redeeming branch on Adam’s family tree. In the man’s mind, Adam was clearly a mongrel. “So tell me, why do you want to marry my Greek daughter?”

Adam glanced at Melina. Now that he’d seen her father, he sympathized with her need for independence. For her sake, he had to find his way through this minefield of a marriage charade without getting married and without hurting Melina.

Melina held up a hand before Adam could answer. “It doesn’t matter if Adam isn’t Greek, Papa. We’ve made our decision. Adam has asked me to marry him and I have said yes.”

Kostos glowered. “And how does he intend to take care of you?”

It was time for Adam to make a decision, but his pride came first. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his business card. “I have my own import/export business, Mr. Kostos. I import Greek wine, olive oil and other Greek products to the United States. Successfully, I might add.”

“Why from Greece? You can get olive oil and wine in Italy, too. Of course—” Kostos huffed his pride “—no one produces virgin olive oil like ours. And my pistachio nuts are the best in the world, too.”

“You’re right, sir,” Adam agreed. Not only because he imported the pistachio nuts, but because he would have agreed to almost anything to end the interview. Before Melina got hurt, he told himself. And, now that he listened to her father, maybe even for his own sake.

“Ah!” Kostos finally nodded approvingly. “It is a good thing you know this. Our women are the most beautiful in the world, too,” he said proudly. “No wonder you want to marry my daughter.”

With Melina’s father’s approval of Adam’s ability to take care of a wife, Adam realized he was getting too close to becoming a married man again. He glanced over at Melina’s mother, Anna. She, to his surprise, was smiling.

“We will talk about a wedding after we have a chance to know you better,” Kostos said expansively. “There is plenty of time. My wife and I were neighbors and knew each other for five years before her father consented to our marriage. Now, tell me. When did you and my daughter meet?” he added as he peered at Adam.

Adam was almost speechless. How could he tell Kostos he’d only met the man’s daughter today? He looked at Melina for help.

“Peter Stakis introduced us when he visited the embassy,” Melina answered, with a fond look at Adam. He knew the look was part of the pretense but it sent his senses spinning anyway. Warning bells rang. “Oh, and by the way, Peter sends you his regards, Papa,” she added. “He said to tell you he will visit you soon.”

Melina’s father appeared to be mollified by the mention of Peter. “Come back for dinner tomorrow, and bring your young man, daughter. We will speak more of this.” He glanced at Melina and heaved a deep sigh. “Since Melina is getting older, maybe I will wait only a month or two to give you my answer…”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Adam said, afraid it was his last chance to back out of a misguided joke. One failed marriage was enough for him. “We won’t be able to come back next Friday. I have to return to the United States next Wednesday.”

“To the United States!” The frown reappeared on Kostos’s forehead. “Where in the United States?”

“My home and my business are in San Francisco. It’s a large city in northern California,” Adam said as he took a step backward at the change that came over the man’s face.

“The wedding is off!” Melina’s father thundered, waving his hands in the air. Before his fists could fly, her mother rushed to grab her husband by the arm.

“Mikis, no!”

“I do not give you my Greek daughter for you to take away halfway across the world,” Kostos said. He glared at Melina. “Of all my children, why is it is you who continues to defy me!”

Because I am the one most like you, she wanted to reply. “I’m not defying you, Papa,” she retorted. “You said you wanted me to marry and I am. Only to a man of my choice!”

“You go too far,” Kostos shouted. “How would I be able to see my grandchildren if you do not live in Greece? Unless,” he peered at her, “you are already expecting a baby and do not want me to know.”