Along Came Twins…

“Would that we all could do that,” he murmured.

“I can’t believe she had an opening this fast.”

“My dentist always leaves the first hour free for emergencies. It sounds like she operates the same way. I’m impressed already.”

Kellie got up from the couch, unnerved by the prospect of talking to Mrs. Lasko in front of Leandros without any private time first. “She’s very different than I’d supposed.” No chitchat of any kind.

“Let’s keep the appointment. If we decide she’s not the one for us, then we’ll try someone else.”

Leandros was being so supportive, just as he’d always been during their visits to the hospital, that Kellie felt like screaming. But not at him. She was frightened, and nervous of being alone with him. “I think I’m hungry now.”

“Why don’t we drive to Chora and have an early dinner.” He was reading her mind. She needed to be around other people and he knew it. “Do you have any particular cravings at this stage in your pregnancy?”

“Not yet.”

“Let’s try a restaurant you haven’t been to. The Circe is on the far side of Chora. It’s cozy and the cuisine is basically traditional Andriot.” He’d probably been there with Petra. Of course he had, you fool. If the therapy didn’t work out, Kellie would have to take part of the blame, because she couldn’t rid herself of her demons. “You’ll love their seafood mezes and froutalia.”

“I’ve forgotten what froutalia is.”

“A sensational omelet with sausage and other kinds of meat.”

“Oh, yes. That sounds delicious.”

“Good. Why don’t you freshen up first. I’ll meet you at the car parked around the side of the house.”

“I’ll hurry.”

“There’s no need. We have all the time in the world. By the time we get back, Yannis will have arrived with your luggage. You can have an early night in the guest bedroom.”

Her heart ached as she realized how far apart they’d grown. No sleeping in the same bed for the past two months. Most likely never again…

When Kellie went outside a few minutes later, he was waiting for her, and helped her in the passenger side. She glanced at his striking profile as he started the engine. Whether immaculately groomed or disheveled with a five-o’clock shadow as he was now, Leandros’s male beauty stood apart from other men’s.

Her heart thudded ferociously. A month ago she’d never dreamed she’d be on the island with him again, going to a romantic spot for dinner.

During the six-mile drive to town, she stared out the window at the fruit trees dotting the ancient landscape. When she couldn’t stand the silence any longer, she turned to him. “Have you seen Fran and Nik?”

He nodded. “They invited me to their apartment last week for dinner. Demi is thriving and has started to say words even I can understand.” Kellie smiled. “I’ve never seen two people so happy.”

Guilt washed over Kellie for the part she’d played in trying to influence Fran to stay away from the gorgeous Nik Angelis, Leandros’s good friend. The press had labeled him Greece’s number one playboy. Like Leandros, Nik was the head of his family’s multimillion-dollar business and could have any woman he wanted.

In Kellie’s zeal to protect her divorced friend’s wounded heart, she’d done everything she could to get her away from Nik. She’d been convinced he would only use Fran. But it turned out Kellie was wrong. Ultimately, he’d proved to be the perfect man for her, and had married her on the spot. Since he couldn’t give her children and she couldn’t conceive, they were adopting Demi, who’d lost her parents in a tornado. In time they planned to adopt more.

“I’m so happy for them,” Kellie said aloud.

“Me, too.”

To Leandros’s credit, he didn’t rub it in about Kellie’s behavior with her best friend before they’d flown to Philadelphia on his private jet. “I’ll phone her while I’m here.”

“She’ll be delighted. Being a mother has turned a light on inside her.”

You mean unlike me, who’s pregnant but still wants the divorce?

Kellie wouldn’t blame Leandros for thinking it, but again, he kept his thoughts to himself. That was the trouble between them. They were both festering in their own private way from behaviors that had driven them apart.

The therapist would have to perform a miracle for them to put their marriage back together. How ironic that Kellie had been the one who’d brought up the idea of counseling. Yet now that Leandros had finally agreed to it, she was only going through the motions. Deep inside she had no real hope of success.

There’d been too much damage done during those months of planning each hospital visit like clockwork. Everything had to be gauged down to the second—the temperature taking, the preparation, Leandros’s time off from work…. All of it had affected the natural rhythm of married life.

If he suggested they skip a month of going to the hospital, and give things a rest, she was afraid he was losing interest in her. Maybe he didn’t want a baby as badly as she did. When she asked him if he would still love her if she couldn’t give him a child, he’d acted incensed, which in turn made her afraid to approach him again about it.

There were times when she’d feared he needed a break from her, and would tell him to enjoy a night out with friends or go visit his family. If he took her up on the suggestion, she cried herself to sleep. If he insisted on staying home with her, she feared it was out of a sense of duty. The spontaneity of their lives had vanished.

Aside from making sure she’d prepared a good meal for him at night, Kellie found herself spending more and more time playing tennis at Leandros’s club with friends, or studying Greek with the tutor he’d hired for her at the university.

With the gulf so wide and deep between them because of what they’d gone through to have a baby, they were different people now. Her heart ached, because she couldn’t imagine how they could find their way back to the people they’d once been.

CHAPTER THREE

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING Stefon flew the two of them to the Cassandra in Athens. After eating breakfast in their room, Leandros called for his car and drove them to the Pangrati neighborhood, where Olympia Lasko saw her clients.

Silence filled the Mercedes, as it had last evening on their way home from dinner. Kellie had hardly talked to him and went straight to bed once they’d returned to the villa. If she’d gotten on the phone with Fran or her aunt and uncle, he knew nothing about it.

To his relief she’d eaten a healthy meal this morning and shown more appetite than he had. Leandros didn’t know about Kellie, but he’d slept poorly. Not only was he concerned over the process they were about to undergo, he feared Kellie’s reaction. Though it had been her idea, this was new territory for both of them.

After he’d dismissed the idea of counseling in the beginning, he was thankful that she was still willing to try it. When they’d reached Andros yesterday, he’d been terrified out of his mind she would tell him it was too late, and fly right back to Pennsylvania.

Before long, he turned the corner and spotted the Lasko home. It was a moderate-size, gray-and-white two-story house, typical of the settled, comfortable looking residences along the street in the quiet neighborhood. Leandros pulled in the driveway and stopped at the side entrance.

He eyed his wife, who, thankfully, was still his wife. He’d already contacted his attorney to get in touch with her attorney and put off the divorce. The only thing left was to follow through with counseling and pray for a breakthrough. “Shall we go in?”