“Fathers!” she muttered, eyes flashing in indignation. “Mine is just as bad. They always think they know what’s best. And they can be so clueless!”
But her indignation vanished and she beamed gleefully when Ally told her about her grandmother’s legacy and how she could use it to avoid having to fall in with her father’s demands.
“I couldn’t be the person he wanted me to be. I needed to be me. To get away and find out who I was. But I couldn’t get away without the legacy. And I couldn’t have the legacy without being married—”
“So PJ married you!” Cristina clapped her hands together delightedly, her eyes were alight with satisfaction. And all her original skepticism and animosity toward Ally seemed to evaporate.
“That is such a great story.” She cheered Ally’s determination—and her brother’s part in it. “I should have known he wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
She didn’t even blame Ally for “using” him to get what she needed.
“Blame you?” she’d said, affronted, when Ally suggested it. “Of course not! What else could you have done?”
Ally shook her head, surprised at Cristina’s approbation.
“So what did you do? Where did you go?” PJ’s sister asked.
And Ally told her that as well. And in telling her the truth about how she had used PJ to get her legacy, to get her education, to travel and learn and work and become the person she’d become, far from putting Cristina off, actually brought her around to Ally’s side.
“I think it’s absolutely marvelous. What a hero!” And for an instant Ally thought Cristina might jump up and go outside and throw her arms around her brother. Instead she just shook her head and aimed a smile and a fond glance his way.
Ally, following her gaze, knew that what Cristina said was true. “He was, actually,” she admitted quietly as much to herself as to his sister.
“And of course you couldn’t stay. You had to leave,” Cristina went on, telling the story herself now, and believing every word she said. “To find yourself. And PJ was probably distraught, but knew he had to let you go.”
“I don’t think he was distraught,” Ally said.
“Of course he was. How could he not be? You’re everything he’d want in a woman.” Cristina looked her over with frank admiration. “He’s not blind.”
Ally felt her cheeks warm. “It wasn’t quite like that. Besides, he wasn’t ready to be married then. Not really married.”
“You mean, adult and responsible and all? Yes, I can see that.” Cristina’s tone grew thoughtful, as if she were remembering, too, what he’d been like ten years ago. “He was a kid. I remember what he was like when he left—moody, distant, could hardly wait to be on his own. Independent to a fault. Yes, he would have needed time and space to find himself, too. But now—” Cristina’s voice brightened visibly “—he has. You both have.”
“Yes.” Ally nodded, glad PJ’s sister understood. Now she could explain about why she’d come, why it was time for them to go their separate ways.
“And so you’ve come back to him.” Cristina sighed in pure appreciation. She smiled broadly. “That is soooo romantic. Who’d ever think PJ would be romantic?”
“He’s not!” Ally blurted, and this time, at least, she managed to get the words out before Cristina could cut her off.
Cristina looked startled at her vehemence. But then she laughed and gestured toward the living room. “Maybe not. But if he’s not a romantic, why did he have Martha paint that mural?”
Ally stared, uncomprehending.
Cristina shook her head. “We didn’t understand what he was up to. But it makes sense now.” She glanced back toward the living room and its resident mural. “Trust me, under all that cool, PJ’s a romantic. And so are you.”
There was only one time in her life Ally thought she’d behaved romantically—and that had been the night she’d spent in PJ’s arms.
Before and after, she’d been a realist. She’d done what she needed to do. She was still doing it. She was being a realist now, asking for the divorce, not asking for the impossible.
She was being a realist in choosing to marry Jon, who wanted the same things she did, who felt about her the way she felt about him. She was, she realized, the daughter her father had wanted her to be, after all.
“I’m not a romantic, either,” she told Cristina.
But PJ’s sister disagreed. Her eyes widened. Her hands fluttered. “Just turning up on his doorstep isn’t romantic?” She laughed and shook her head. “It’s the most romantic thing I can imagine.”
“I didn’t mean—”
But Cristina leaned toward Ally across the table and lowered her voice, as if the men outside might be able to overhear. “I know. You don’t want to scare him to death. Men can be panicky that way. But, honestly, you picked the perfect time. No matter what he thinks. PJ is ready to be married now. He’s settled. Centered. And he dotes on the kids. You should see him with the nephews.”
In fact Ally could see PJ with Alex right now.
Other than when he’d tossed a ball or a Frisbee to a kid on the beach, it was the first time she’d seen him interacting with a child. She’d imagined he might be awkward. Lots of men were.
For that matter, she was. She’d simply had no experience with them. But PJ had apparently had plenty. Or dealing with them came naturally to him.
Ally had expected to see Alex cling to his father and duck his head when PJ talked to him, just as the little boy had with her. But the minute they’d gone outside, Alex had flung himself into his uncle’s arms. And PJ had accepted him willingly, flipping him up and over his shoulders, then whipping him around his side and tossing the boy into the air.
Ally had watched in almost horrified amazement. But PJ seemed perfectly comfortable, and Alex, shrieking with laughter, clearly loved it.
After that PJ had hung Alex upside down, let the boy climb his legs like a logger going up a ponderosa pine, then somersault to the ground. He was like a human climbing frame and Alex was having the time of his life. Even when they stopped, Alex remained sitting on his shoulders while PJ stood there, listening to Mark.
“PJ will be a great dad.” Cristina stated the obvious. “Are you going to have kids soon?”
Ally colored fiercely. “No! I mean—we’re not…!”
“Sorry,” Cristina said quickly. “That really is none of my business. It’s enough that you’re back. Whatever happens, happens, right?”
“Y-yes,” Ally managed. She needed to say it—to tell this woman why she’d really come. But somehow the words wouldn’t form. Because they shouldn’t come from her, Ally told herself. They should come from PJ. He was the one who had told his sister he was married. He needed to be the one to tell her they were getting a divorce.
And when he had kids someday—when he was some child’s wonderful father—that child would not be hers. And if the thought caused pain, Ally didn’t let herself think about it.
“Mom and Dad will be so pleased,” Cristina went on. “Mom can hardly wait to meet you.”
“What?” Ally’s brain jerked back to the moment. “Oh, no!”
Cristina made a face. “You aren’t going to be able to keep her away. She was so excited to hear you’d finally turned up. She said she’d always believed PJ—about being married. Dad thought he was stonewalling. Dad thought he might have even faked the marriage certificate. But Ma said no. So did Yiayia—our grandmother. Yiayia said he wouldn’t lie about a thing like that.”
He’d told them all? He actually showed them their marriage certificate? Ally’s brain spun.
Cristina didn’t notice. She shook her head. “She was right. Mother’s intuition, you think? Before I had Alex, I’d have laughed at that. Now sometimes I think I know what he’ll do before he does it. So she may be right.”
“No, she’s not right!”
At Ally’s outburst, Cristina’s eyes fastened on her. “What do you mean? You said you were married.”
/> “We are.” She chewed on her lip briefly, torn. What could she say? Talk about opening a can of worms. “For the moment,” she said at last.
Cristina’s gaze snapped up and she frowned. Then her expression lightened. “Oh, are you worried that you might not suit now, after all this time? Don’t be. You’re soul mates, it will work out.”
Ally opened her mouth to deny it, but again the words wouldn’t come out. And she couldn’t tell Cristina about coming here to get him to sign divorce papers. If he’d kept their marriage a secret, it wouldn’t really have mattered. Everyone would know he didn’t care. But he’d told them he was married to her.
Word of the divorce would have to be his to tell.
Cristina patted her hand. “Don’t worry. It will be fine. The only one who’s going to be upset is Dad.”
“What does your father have to do with it?” Just what she needed. One more person’s opinion to matter.
“Oh, he’s a ‘never say die’ sort. He’s still trying to hook PJ up with Connie Cristopolous. Her whole family is coming from Greece this weekend. It’s a huge affair. Sort of a family reunion for us, too. Complete with fatted calf or, in this case, sacrificial lamb. At least, it was. That was going to be PJ.” Cristina laughed. “But not now, obviously. With a wife in tow, he won’t have to worry.”
“But I’m not—”
“Poor Dad,” Cristina said with relish. “Well, it serves him right. He should have believed.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It might be a little awkward at first, but he’ll be thrilled to have a son married off and no wedding to have to go to. Dad much prefers sailing and golf.”
Before Ally could even begin to think of how to respond to that, Mark opened the sliding door.
“Someone needs to go home to bed,” he said. Alex was back in his arms, head against his father’s shoulder, looking weepy and out of sorts.
“Yes. And we should let these two enjoy each other’s company.” Cristina smiled warmly at Ally and then at PJ who, seeing the smile, raised his brows quizzically.
Cristina stood up and went over to him, going up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “I like your wife,” she said. “A lot.”
The vehemence of her declaration seemed to surprise him. But then he just looked bemused. “She checks out okay, then?”
Cristina swatted his arm. “You knew she would. You married her. You are such a dark horse.”
“Me?”
“Such a romantic. Riding in to save her like a knight on a charger.”
PJ reddened. “I never—”
“A knight? PJ?” Mark’s brows rose. He regarded his brother-in-law with wonder.
“A knight,” Cristina said firmly. “Who’d a thunk it? Come on. Let’s go home.” She linked her arm in Mark’s. “And I’ll tell you all about it.”
At the door, she turned back and looked at Ally. “I want to hear more about your art. And the clothes. They sound fantastic. We didn’t even get into that,” she said to her brother. “But we will. There’s plenty of time now.” She went out, then turned to back Ally. “You can fill me in on the weekend.”
“The weekend?” Ally stared.
“Oh, I know everyone else will want a piece of you, too. But we’re going to talk.”
“I’m not—”
“Are you going up Friday?” Cristina asked her brother.
“Yes.”
“No!” Ally blurted.
“We’re still discussing it,” PJ said smoothly.
Cristina laughed and patted his cheek. “Enjoy the discussion. And the making up after.” She winked. “We’ll be there Saturday. See you then.”
“Yes,” PJ said.
“No!” Ally said.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Cristina said happily. Then as PJ began to close the door, impulsively his sister darted back in to plant a quick kiss on Ally’s cheek.
Her eyes were shining and she squeezed Ally’s hand as she said, “I just want to say how happy I am for both of you. And…welcome to the family.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“NO!” THE door had barely shut behind Cristina and Mark before Ally had the word out of her mouth. “I am not going to your parents’ house.”
“Al—”
“No!” She whirled away from where she’d been standing beside him near the door, stalking across the room, needing to put as much space between them as possible.
Only when she was as far as she could get did she turn and glare at him. “You did this on purpose!”
“Did what?” How could he look so innocent? So completely guileless.
“You set me up! You invited your sister here so she would jump to all the wrong conclusions and then back me into a corner where you think I’ll be forced to go to your parents’ house with you! Well, I won’t!”
“I didn’t invite my sister here.”
Ally snorted. “Then how did she know to come? She knew I was here.”
“They invited me for dinner tonight. I had to decline.”
“And you just happened to mention—”
“I didn’t even talk to her. I asked Rosie to call her.”
“And Rosie just happened to mention—”
He shrugged. “If she did, you can blame yourself as much as me. Who came in and announced she was my wife?”
Ally’s teeth came together with a snap. “In my office we prize confidentiality.”
“In mine we prize people,” he said mildly, putting her back up even further. At the same time she knew he was right. She’d told his assistant who she was. She’d used the relationship first.
“Besides, it doesn’t make any difference. You weren’t a complete surprise. They knew about you.”
Ally couldn’t even imagine how that conversation must have gone. “So it seems. And what did you say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m married, but I seem to have mislaid my wife’?”
His lips pressed into a thin line. “The first part, yes. The second didn’t come into it. It just…happened. When I came back and decided to stick around, Dad and Mom started throwing women my way. I said I wasn’t interested. They said, ‘Oh, God, he’s gay.’” His mouth twisted. “I suppose I could have let them think that, but it seemed smarter to tell them the truth. So I said, ‘No, I’m married.’”
“And they didn’t say, ‘Show us your wife’?”
“Of course they did. But I couldn’t, could I?”
“So what did you do?”
“Told them a shortened version of what happened. Said I’d met you in Hawaii. That we were friends. That you needed to get married. That I married you.”
“You said I needed to get married? Oh, for God’s sake, do they think I was pregnant?”
“It did occur to my mother,” he admitted. “She asked, rather hopefully, as I recall, if she was going to have another grandchild. Cristina had just had Alex. I said no. I said you needed to stop your father meddling in your life, and marrying me was how you’d done it. No big deal.”
Ally’s eyes widened. “And they were okay with that?”
“Well, it wasn’t their idea of a best-case scenario. They like their children to marry people they can meet and who will have loads of little Antonides babies.” He gave her a wry smile and a shrug. “That’s the way they are. But what were they going to say?”
Ally couldn’t imagine. She knew what her father would have said. It wouldn’t have been pretty. She shook her head. She prowled restlessly around PJ’s living room, feeling off balanced. Awkward. Guilty.
She’d never really considered how their whole marriage scene would play out for PJ. It had always been about her. Her needs. Her hopes.
“Of course they wanted to meet you,” PJ went on. “They wanted to know where you were. What you were doing. When we were going to get back together.”
Ally cocked her head. “And you said…?”
“I said I didn’t know.” He lifted his shoulders, spread his hands. “I didn’t, did I? The truth.”
Ally grimaced. T
he truth was supposed to set you free, wasn’t it? She didn’t feel free at all. She felt trapped, hemmed in.
She picked up the softball on the bookcase and slapped it against her palm. “And now Cristina assumes I’m going to the family reunion with you.”
“It’s a natural assumption.”
“And what will they think when we get a divorce? They’ll have expectations,” Ally went on. “Cristina certainly has expectations!”
“She likes you.” He still sounded almost surprised at that.
Unaccountably, the thought made Ally bristle. “You thought she wouldn’t?”
“Nothing Cristina does surprises me. But I didn’t know if she’d shut up long enough to find out anything about you. Cristina generally goes into every situation with both guns firing. My sister shoots first and asks questions later. I figured she would like you a lot if she gave you a chance. And apparently she did.” He paused. “What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“That you came for a divorce?” The edge was back in his voice, but he looked perplexed as he said it. “But she didn’t—”
“I told her the truth about why we got married. About my meddling father. About needing to find myself. About not marrying Ken. About the legacy. I told her why you married me. She thinks you’re a hero.”
A grin lit PJ’s face. “She said that? I wish you’d got it on tape. It won’t happen again in my lifetime.”
“She’s very devoted. And far fonder of you than you might imagine. She was definitely protective.”
“Bossy,” PJ corrected.
“She loves you.” Ally envied him that familial closeness. She’d never had it. “What you did—she thinks it’s the most romantic thing she’s ever heard.”
PJ laughed. “You put a spell on her!”
“No. She put one on herself. I told her the truth—and she embroidered it to fit her view of the world.”
“That’s pretty much Cristina in a nutshell. Still, you apparently handled her very well.”
“If I had, she wouldn’t have assumed I was staying.”
“Why didn’t you tell her that you weren’t?”
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