She followed the two of them through the elegant mansion and out the doors to the back patio surrounded by a flowering garden. The lovely redheaded woman in a deep blue silk dress got up from her wheelchair to greet them. “I’m delighted the two of you have come, Kyría Remis.”
“We’re pleased to be here and meet you, Kyría Papadakis. Thank you for inviting us.”
“Call me Irena. Let’s talk at the table while my housekeeper Melia serves us, shall we? My son has been impatient for this night to come.”
Irena had to be close to Alexa’s age with a charm her son had inherited. “My daughter has been no different.”
Like coconspirators, the two women smiled at each other in understanding before Kristos assisted his mother to the candlelit round table. She walked carefully while Alexa and Dimitra found places and the four of them sat. A fifth place had been set, no doubt for her younger son.
Soon their dinner arrived and they began to eat. “Kristos told me he met you at the university. What do you teach, Kyría Remis?”
“English to business students, and please call me Alexa.”
Irena nodded with a smile. “How long did you live in Canada?”
“The whole of Dimitra’s life. Once she went to first grade, I started a program to become a teacher while I attended the University of Ottawa. After my postgraduate studies, I started teaching Greek there.”
“I’m very impressed.”
“Don’t be, but thank you, Irena.” She drank some of her coffee. “When my grandmother passed away last year, my retired grandfather wanted to move back here. We came last August. Because of my experience living in an English-speaking country for so long, I joined the faculty here to teach English in a bilingual program.”
“We’re glad you did,” Kristos interjected. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have met.” He couldn’t take his eyes off Dimitra. Alexa had to acknowledge that like these two, she and Nico had been just as love struck and oblivious to everything except one another.
“What are you studying at the university, Dimitra?”
“She’s terrific at math, Mama.”
“My least favorite subject,” Irena murmured.
Alexa nodded. “And mine.”
Dimitra flashed Kristos’s mother a smile. “Mama says I get it from my father.”
“Lucky you.”
Tell the truth when you can, Alexa.
“When I met Dimitra’s father, he had plans to take engineering classes in college. We were both students and met on vacation,” she said without naming a location, “but were unavoidably separated. In time we lost touch.”
She eyed Irena, needing to change the subject. “I’m so sorry about your husband. How wonderful that you have two devoted sons.”
Irena nodded. “I’d say both you and I are lucky in the children department.”
“You’re right about that.”
Kristos looked at his mother. “I wish Papa were here to meet Dimitra. Why do you think Nico is so late?”
Nico? Alexa thought his brother’s name was Yanni.
“Business, of course. Since becoming CEO, his life isn’t his own anymore.”
“But he said he’d come.”
“He knows it’s your birthday. I’m sure he’ll phone if he can’t make it. Forgive us, Alexa. We’re talking about my husband’s best friend, Nico Angelis.”
“I call him Uncle Nico,” Kristos volunteered.
“He’s done everything for us since Tio passed away and said he’d drop by.”
Irena kept on talking, but Alexa had gone into shock.
Nico Angelis had been the best friend of Irena’s husband?
He was coming here to this house tonight? Would his wife be with him? No. It wasn’t possible. Her body went hot, then cold. She felt sick.
“Excuse me, Irena. Would you mind if I used your powder room for a moment? I’ll be right back.”
“Please. It’s inside the doors on your left.”
“Are you all right, Mama?”
“Yes, honey.” Alexa got up from the table, praying her legs would support her before she fell into a dead faint in front of them.
Ready or not, your moment of truth has come, Alexa Remis. Pray the world doesn’t come down on your head to bury you.
* * *
Nico got out of his car and only had to wait a moment before Melia answered the door. As he thanked her, Kristos came up behind her. “I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to make it.”
They hugged before he handed him a gift. “Happy Birthday. I would have been here earlier, but had to put out a fire at work first. You can open that later.”
“Thanks. We’re eating outside.”
“Lead the way.”
When they reached the patio, Nico walked around to kiss Irena’s cheek, then glanced at the lovely young woman in the yellow dress seated at the table. Wavy brunette hair fell to her neck. With her coloring, she reminded him in a curious way of his sister Giannina. She was well-known for her beauty and could have been married long before now but for an unhappy love affair that had put her off men. He had to believe that would change in time.
“Uncle Nico? I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Dimitra Remis.”
He smiled at her. “It’s my pleasure, Dimitra.”
“How do you do, Kýrie Angelis.”
Nico found his place and sat. “Your name happens to be a particular favorite of mine.”
“My mother’s too. She’s always loved the Greek myths and named me for the goddess of the grain.”
Once upon a time Nico remembered another beautiful young woman who’d also loved the myths, but that had been in another world when he’d been a different person. “I’ve heard you have a remarkable mother and was told she would be here with you.”
“Kyría Remis excused herself for a few minutes,” Irena explained.
Melia brought his dinner and he started to eat. Dimitra looked across the table at him. “Kristos told me the Papadakis family wouldn’t have made it through the last six months without you, Kýrie Angelis.” Between her expectant light green eyes and warm smile, he could understand why Kristos was so taken with her.
“He’s the best friend we could ever have!” Kristos blurted before Nico could get a word out. Kristos had just opened the gift Nico had given him—a framed picture of Tio when they’d first gone in the military. Tio had been eighteen and looked a lot like Kristos at that age. He showed it to Dimitra. “I’ll treasure this, Uncle Nico.”
“I’ve long wanted you to have it.”
Kristos passed it to his mother, but at this point Nico looked beyond Irena to a woman of medium height who’d come out on the patio. A blue-on-white print dress clung to her stunning figure. Light from the candles illuminated the gold strands in her shoulder-length chestnut hair.
Only one woman he’d ever known had hair that color, but it had cascaded down her back like a mermaid’s. Maybe he was hallucinating. He got to his feet and found himself looking into the sea-green eyes of the Aegean enchantress who’d stolen his heart.
Thee mou! he cried inwardly as she sat. It was Mara!
She looked to be in her late twenties, not the thirty-six she must be now.
Dimitra was her daughter?
Nico’s mind reeled. As he did the math, he felt a stabbing pain in his heart. She’d told him she’d come to Salonica on vacation from France to be with her cousin. She must have been with another guy during the hours when he’d been at work for his father. She would have had the time to meet someone else. He smothered a groan. So many lies...
That was why she’d sent back all Nico’s letters without reading them. She’d fallen for the other guy and had ended up having his baby. How many guys had she played while on vacation?
“Uncle Nico? Please meet Alexa Remis, Dimitra’s mother.”
Alexa? Since when?
It amazed him that Mara Tito, who’d supposedly returned to France after her vacation was over, could look him straight in the eye without flinching...unless she’d developed a serious case of amnesia.
The last thing he wanted to do was ruin this evening for Kristos and the attractive young woman seated across the table from him. He would play Mara’s game for now. After nineteen years, Nico could be patient until he got answers he’d assumed would never see the light of day in this lifetime. But soon there would be a reckoning.
“Kristos has been anxious for us to meet, Kyría Remis. He’s told me you’re teaching English at the university.” His thoughts reeled while he stared at her. To think she was back here in Salonica. A professor. The mother of the young woman Kristos loved. Nico was incredulous.
“Yes. I’m on vacation now but will be starting a full load in the fall. Dimitra is taking classes this summer,” she said in a quiet voice, at this point avoiding his eyes.
No doubt she was terrified he was going to expose her. He had every right to destroy her in front of all of them. The way she was trembling, he could tell she was waiting for him to unmask her.
What in the hell had happened to the supposedly guileless young woman he’d met years ago and instantly adored? How could he have been so wrong about her? “I’ve learned you’ve been living in Ottawa, Canada, since your daughter was born.”
She nodded, still afraid to meet his gaze. So much for the fictional woman living in France. Canada was where she’d been all these years? Nico couldn’t comprehend it, let alone the fact that he was seated a few feet from the woman he’d loved to distraction.
She was more gorgeous than she’d been at seventeen, and she’d given birth to another man’s baby. But there was no ring on her finger. Had she not loved the father of her baby either? It was possible, given she’d made up the fiction that they’d been unavoidably separated. Nico couldn’t fathom any of it, especially the letters she’d never opened. The fact that she had sent them back to him to make certain he got the message she wasn’t interested had exhibited a cruelty he hadn’t known her capable of.
He sat back, studying her through narrowed lids. “Our university is fortunate to have a teacher of your talents who’s fluent in English and Greek.”
“I’m the one who’s fortunate, Kýrie Angelis.”
Nico eyed Dimitra. “Are you going to follow in your mother’s footsteps and become a foreign-language teacher too?”
She shook her head. “I’m looking at a degree in orthopedic engineering. It develops therapies to treat musculoskeletal disease.”
“What would make you choose a field like that?”
“My papoú has arthritis, but he’s also afflicted by the disorder. I’d love it if I could do something to help others like him one day.”
“I told you Dimitra was intelligent,” Kristos interjected. “Her math skills are off the charts.”
Nico smiled. “I’m impressed, Dimitra.” He was touched by her love for the grandfather Nico had never known existed. But she had a long, hard road of studies ahead of her. To combine it with marriage at this stage wouldn’t be easy. He flicked his glance to Mara. “You must be proud of your daughter.”
“She’s wonderful.”
“Mama is wonderful too, Kýrie Angelis. I do wish I’d known my father, but I’ve been lucky to have my papoú all my life. He’s brilliant and a sweetheart.”
Nico got the feeling Dimitra was a sweetheart too. But he’d been fooled before and worried that one day Kristos could be hurt after falling under Dimitra’s spell. “I understand your papoú became the ambassador for Greece in Ottawa a long time ago.”
“All my life, actually. Mama and I lived with him and my great-grandmother Iris until she died. Then we moved back here.”
“I guess there’d be no point in asking how you like living here in Salonica, Dimitra.”
She blushed while Kristos chuckled.
Just then sixteen-year-old Yanni came out on the patio and kissed his mom. With Nico’s emotions in total chaos, Yanni’s appearance gave him the perfect excuse to leave. He needed to get out of there. “Take my place, Yanni.”
“Hey, Uncle Nico.”
“I’m sorry I have to cut this short. I’ve got to go back to the office to deal with a situation that will keep me there half the night.”
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Irena murmured, “but I understand.”
No, she didn’t. No one but Mara had any idea what he was feeling as he walked around to give Irena a kiss.
“Thank you for a delicious dinner. We’ll talk later,” he whispered before glancing at her guests. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Dimitra, Alexa. Kristos is a lucky man.”
Dimitra beamed. “Thank you, Kýrie Angelis. I feel lucky too.”
Mara avoided his gaze.
“I’ll see you out, Uncle Nico.”
Kristos walked him through the mansion to the car. “What do you think?” he asked before Nico got in the driver’s seat. Kristos was painfully in love and Nico could see why. There’d be no talking him out of it.
“She’s an intelligent, charming young woman. I find nothing wrong with her.” It was the truth. That was the problem. Only time would reveal what wasn’t visible right now.
Like mother, like daughter? Mara hadn’t wasted any time finding another man to enamor within those three weeks. Or maybe she’d slept with the other guy after Nico had boarded the plane for military service. She hadn’t been scheduled to return to France for at least three more days. That had been her story.
Who knew what had really happened though? How could he trust anything she’d told him? Seeing her tonight looking more beautiful than he could have thought possible brought it all back.
“Then will you tell Mama that?”
“I’m sure your mother feels like I do, but we’ll finish this discussion when I don’t have an emergency.” Right now he couldn’t think.
Kristos squeezed his shoulder. “I love the picture of Papa. Thanks for coming, for everything.”
“Anytime. You know that.” He wondered if Mara would be guilt ridden enough tonight to admit to the others that she’d known Nico a long time ago. It would be fascinating to find out how long it took her before she couldn’t keep her secret from them any longer. Surely she had to know he wouldn’t keep quiet forever about something so earthshaking.
Nico got behind the wheel and started the car. He pulled around the white BMW parked in front of him, which must be Mara’s...or Alexa’s...or whatever name she’d chosen to go by in her life.
His anger growing, he wasn’t worried about her swimming away. Not this time. After nineteen years he knew where to go for the truth. It was time to be enlightened by the woman who’d once entranced him. Her disappearance had sent him to hell for a long, long time.
CHAPTER THREE
“MAMA?”
“Come in.”
Dimitra tiptoed into Alexa’s bedroom and sat on the side of the bed. “I know you got sick tonight. You went so pale at the dinner table, I was frightened. And you were so quiet on the way home, I think you need to see a doctor.”
Alexa did need a doctor, but not the kind her daughter was talking about. The bell had tolled for her tonight and there wasn’t a physician on earth who could help her. Years ago, when her grandparents had asked her if she could handle her silence, she’d said yes, never dreaming she’d see Nico again. The flesh-and-blood reality of him had sent her into shock for a second time tonight.
“The sickness is passing, honey. I’m going to be okay, but it saddens me this happened while we were having such a good time.”
“Kristos’s mother was so kind and friendly. I really like her. What I hope is that his Uncle Nico liked me and approves of me. I know he’s not really his uncle, but Kristos worships him and loves him a
lmost as much as his own father.”
“I’m sure he thought you were wonderful. Who wouldn’t love you?”
“You say that because you’re my mom. I happen to know his opinion will go a long way with Kristos.”
Alexa’s heart pounded. “What about you?” she ventured in a trembling voice. “Did you like Kýrie Angelis?” She had to know her daughter’s instant reaction.
“Who wouldn’t?” her daughter responded so fast, Alexa couldn’t believe it. “He’s awesome in every way, Mama. You know that little photo of my father you gave me years ago? It kind of reminds me of Kýrie Angelis. My father was dark and handsome too. I can see why you fell for him. I hope that doesn’t bother you for me to talk about my father.”
Oh, Dimitra. You have no idea what those words mean to me since you’ll probably be meeting him again—knowing who he is this time—within the next twelve to twenty-four hours.
“Of course it doesn’t, and I just wanted to say that Kristos comes from a lovely family, honey. I’ll send his mother a thank-you note for inviting us.”
“I will too, but I’m worried about you.”
“I’ll be all right.” She patted her daughter’s hand. But Alexa couldn’t predict anything about the future. Tonight she’d seen a dangerous glint in Nico’s midnight-brown eyes that let her know there’d be no avoiding him now. She hadn’t seen the last of him.
At nineteen he’d been a man of integrity and it appeared he still was. During dinner tonight he hadn’t disappointed her. Another man might have created an ugly scene she would never have been able to survive. Not Nico. After all these years of no news, to see her again and realize she’d had a daughter and had been living a different life, his anger would have reached its zenith.
But he’d been born a breed apart from other men. For the short time he’d been at the Papadakis mansion, he’d known how to expose some of her lies and sins of omission with such expertise, no one suspected anything. That explained one of the reasons why he’d been made the head of the Angelis empire.
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