Husband By Request

by Rebecca Winters

  But, as miraculous as the last twelve hours had been, he wasn’t so blind that he didn’t know their marriage was still in a fragile state. There was so much that needed sorting out—problems they hadn’t even touched on yet.

  When he’d warned her things would probably start to fall apart between them within a twenty-four-hour period, he hadn’t realized how accurate his prediction would be.

  With one phone call reality had intruded, to tear at the fabric of their newfound joy much sooner than he’d suspected.

  The pain of last year’s separation would be nothing compared to the agony he would suffer if their trial reconciliation foundered in deep waters, never to be resurrected again.

  “We have visitors,” he stated grimly, after hanging up the phone.

  “Who?”

  “Paul’s helping Olympia get settled in with Ari. It’s her vacation. Since I have to be back in Athens, I told her she was free to use the yacht and the villa.”

  He watched her violet eyes, waiting to see them cloud now that she’d heard the news. Amazingly, they stayed clear.

  “Like I told you earlier, you’re the kindest, most generous man I’ve ever known. Hurry and shower while I help her with Ari. But please get out on my side of the bed, darling. I don’t want to have to rush you to the doctor for your heart and cut feet.”

  She gave him a long, passionate kiss before disappearing from their bedroom. Dazed by her response, Andreas could only stare after her. His wife had changed so much.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THROUGH the windows at the east side of the villa Dominique could see Paul bringing a load of things from the helicopter. She rushed outside.

  “Hi, Paul! What can I do to help?”

  He gaze roved over her features, settling on her ponytail. Obviously her new look kept surprising him. “This is the last of it.”

  “Let me take that thing under your arm.” She grabbed the clear plastic holder. It contained what looked like a colorful little quilted floor gym.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Eleni met them at the entrance. “I’ve put Olympia in the pink room. She’s warming a bottle for the little one in the kitchen.”

  “Perfect. Come on, Paul. Let’s set up the crib for Ari.”

  “I’ve already done it.”

  “You’re a wonder, you know that?”

  A rare smile broke out on his face. It made him quite good-looking. According to Andreas, he’d had various relationships with women over the years, but none of them had ever lasted.

  He followed her down the hall to the bedroom. Ari was lying in his crib, contemplating his toes, but one glimpse of Dominique and his cute little face crumpled.

  “I have a terrible effect on him,” she lamented to Paul as the baby started to wail. “The other day the same thing happened.”

  “He doesn’t know you. Come on, Ari.” He said something else in Greek and plucked the baby from the mattress. Immediately the little guy stopped crying, but he still stared at Dominique as if she were the enemy.

  “Well, Uncle Paul…” She delighted in teasing him. “Who would have guessed you have the master touch?”

  “Paul’s full of hidden talents.”

  Dominique swung around to confront her husband, who was freshly shaven. He’d donned white slacks, and a navy polo shirt covered his well-defined chest. Just looking at his virile face and body drove the air from her lungs.

  When her gaze switched to Paul, she caught him blushing.

  How could it be that for all the time she’d known Andreas’s friend, a man who’d always seemed rather formidable, she hadn’t understood he was really shy and sweet? The year away had given her second sight about a lot of things.

  “I want to check this out.” She opened the little gym and placed it on the tile floor. Padded toys dangled from an arc.

  “Paul? Let’s see what Ari does with it.”

  “He loves this.”

  The minute he set him down, the baby started kicking at the various animals with all his might. He really did love it. While he lay there, Dominique picked out the features that were Olympia’s. His body shape and hairline reminded her of Theo.

  A pain pierced her heart to think Theo had cut himself off from his own flesh and blood. Every child deserved its father if it was at all possible.

  Dominique adored her dad. He’d always been so wonderful to her, but never more than when she’d cried to him on the phone after finding out she had cancer. When he’d told her she was going to be all right, it had been as if God had been speaking to her.

  Little Ari would never know what that was like.

  Her eyes smarted for him and Theo.

  Suddenly she felt Andreas’s gaze trained on her and glanced over at him. For a second she thought she saw pain.

  Was he still worrying that he might have gotten her pregnant?

  In therapy she’d learned about the loved ones of cancer victims. They suffered in their own way too, and had to work through their grief.

  Dominique could see she’d done a lot of damage in the past by not letting Andreas talk about it and share it with her. He’d had to shut off in order to placate her. Now he didn’t know where to go with all his feelings.

  Later, when they were alone, she would force him to tell her everything he was thinking and obsessing about, even if the conversation became repetitive. An open dialogue was the only way to help him cope with the future.

  Her attention returned to Ari. Unable to help it, she knelt down to tickle his little tummy. “You cute little thing. You’re adorable.”

  He stared at her with large, startled brown eyes.

  “Ari doesn’t know what to make of me.”

  “My son’s not used to hearing English.” His mother spoke from the doorway.

  Dominique got to her feet. “He’s a beautiful boy, Olympia. You’re so lucky to have him.”

  “I think so too.”

  “It looks like you’re ready to feed him, so we’ll leave you alone.”

  “Do you want to give him his bottle?”

  Olympia’s demeanor had undergone a change from two days ago. What was going on?

  “I’m afraid there isn’t time,” Andreas answered before Dominique could say anything. “The pilot’s waiting to fly us to Athens. I’ve already arranged for your things to be put on board, Dominique.”

  They were leaving for Athens right this minute?

  She couldn’t believe it, but now was not the time to question her husband’s decision.

  Turning to Olympia, she said, “There’s nothing I’d love more than to feed your baby. When you’re back in Athens, please bring him to the penthouse so he can get to know me better. Then maybe he won’t cry when I try to hold him.”

  “After my vacation’s over, I’ll call you.”

  “I’d like that very much.”

  Dominique was more than ready to play Olympia’s game. She reasoned that if they played long and hard enough Olympia would get tired of it and become resigned to the fact that Dominique was here to stay.

  She turned to Paul. “Are you coming with Andreas and me?”

  “Yes.”

  He picked up the baby and handed him to Olympia.

  “Is there anything else we can do for you before we leave?” Andreas inquired.

  Olympia shook her head. “You’ve done too much already. Thank you.”

  He kissed the top of the baby’s head. When he raised up, his gaze flew to Dominique’s. “Shall we go?”

  “Just let me get my purse.”

  She hurried to the master bedroom, then popped in the bathroom to remove the elastic holding up her hair and gave it a brush. Now she felt ready to leave.

  After racing through the villa to the chopper, Andreas helped her climb on board. He took his place in the co-pilot’s seat. Paul sat across from her. Once they were strapped in, the pilot made a flawless ascent and headed for Athens.

  To her chagrin Andreas w
ore a brooding expression once more. The thrilling lover of last night was nowhere to be found. With second sight she realized he was hiding his feelings and confusion behind that remote mask.

  Not to be put off, Dominique turned to Paul and forced him to talk about his childhood with Andreas. He rewarded her by relating some of their more notorious escapades. She laughed out loud so hard he and the pilot laughed too. It made their short trip very enjoyable.

  A company limo was waiting for them at the airport. They dropped Paul off at his flat, then continued on to Andreas’s penthouse apartment, with its elegant, cosmopolitan furnishings and a view of the Acropolis to die for.

  She looked out over the city. Nothing seemed changed from a year ago. But as she heard Andreas bringing in their things she was assailed by bittersweet memories. The last time she’d been in here was the morning they’d gotten ready to leave for the courthouse. The beginning of the end for her.

  At that point in time she’d felt deserted by his parents, who’d never shown her much warmth and had closed ranks to protect their son no matter what. Her four-month-old marriage had been hanging by a thread. The tension between her and Andreas had made it impossible to communicate. Every look wounded. Every gesture was misinterpreted.

  Dominique hadn’t known what to believe about him and Olympia. Andreas had asked her to trust him. But it hadn’t seemed possible to her that Theo would charge them as adulterers for the whole world to see…unless it were true.

  For Theo to do something so awful had shaken her faith in her marriage, in Andreas. It had made a lie of any friendship she’d tried to cultivate with Olympia. Nothing had made sense.

  She hadn’t been able to follow much of the Greek spoken at the opening of the trial, but she’d known the essence of it. Suddenly the walls had seemed to close in. Everyone’s wooden faces, the clamoring of the media outside in the halls—it had all been too much and it had suffocated her.

  Paul must have been watching her, because he’d followed her outside to the limo amidst a barrage of photographers and camera flashes flanking them.

  Looking back on that day, she recalled Paul’s desperate attempt to get her to reconsider. He’d ridden all the way to the airport with her, begging her not to leave Andreas. But she’d been beyond reach.

  Thinking about it now, she realized how much Paul loved Andreas. He had tried to stop her. That alone should have told her there was more to the story than she knew. Maybe deep down she had known, but her own doubts about her validity as a woman had blinded her to certain truths.

  “Dominique?” She turned to her husband. There was a whiteness around his mouth. He looked ill. “I want you to get Dr. Josephson on the phone.”

  She’d been right. He was fixated on the fact that they’d made love without protection.

  “His numbers are in my purse.” She walked over to the glass coffee table and pulled a small address book from her wallet. “It’s morning in New York. He could still be home, but he might be making rounds at the hospital before he goes to the office. I’ll try to find him.”

  Andreas handed her his cellphone. She sat down on the couch and placed a call to the doctor’s office first. The receptionist said she was expecting him shortly and he would phone Dominique as soon as he came in.

  She clicked off, then darted him a glance. “He’s on his way to work and will call us.”

  Anxious to alleviate his anxiety, she got up and walked over to him. Grasping his hands, she said, “Would it help if I tell you it’s not time for me to be ovulating yet? If I’d thought there was any chance for me to conceive, I would have talked to you about it first.”

  She felt his body shudder with relief.

  “Don’t misunderstand me, Andreas. I want a baby. Your baby. But I asked you if we could have this trial period to see if we could make a real marriage between us. Until we know it’s rock-solid, we have no business bringing a child into the world.”

  His hands slid to her shoulders. “I couldn’t agree more. Last night I wasn’t think—”

  The rest of the words came out muffled because she’d covered his lips with hers to quiet them. “Last night was the most glorious night of my life. That’s the way it should be when two people are in love. Please don’t ruin it with regrets.”

  “Dominique—”

  He crushed her mouth with his own, sweeping them away to the same place they’d gone last night. Yet the way he clung to her revealed needs and fears he hadn’t yet articulated.

  There was so much she still had to understand about her husband. God willing, they would make it through the next month and have a stronger union for it.

  Just as he’d picked her up and started for the bedroom his cellphone rang. “That’s probably Dr. Josephson,” she said when he relinquished her mouth.

  He carried her over to the couch and sat down with her on his lap. She reached for the phone and identified herself. It was the doctor.

  “Hello, Dominique. My receptionist said you were anxious to talk to me. What’s going on?”

  “Actually, it’s my husband who would like some questions answered. Do you have time now?”

  “Is he right there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Put him on.”

  Their conversation went on long enough that she slid off his lap and went into the kitchen for drinks. He kept a stock of juices in the fridge. She pulled two from the rack and carried them back to the living room.

  Whatever Dr. Josephson said must have relieved her husband somewhat. When he hung up, more animation lit his handsome features. His black eyes didn’t appear as haunted.

  She removed the cap and handed him a bottle of ice-cold lemonade. He took it and devoured most of the contents before setting it down on the table.

  “That tasted good,” he murmured, studying her intently.

  “I thought we could both use one.”

  His intimate gaze traveled down her figure. “I like your dress. The colors blend perfectly with your hair and skin.”

  Her body started to tremble. “It’s simple.”

  “It’s stunning.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Paul told me you came to Greece without luggage.”

  “I bought a few items in Fiskardo.”

  “Enough for all of two days,” he said dryly.

  She had an idea where this conversation was leading. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she would ask her parents to ship her wardrobe from Sarajevo. But at the last second she caught herself.

  In the past she’d never let Andreas go shopping for clothes with her. She’d returned the one outfit he’d bought for her without trying it on. It had been a dress a little like the one she was wearing, but she’d wanted something that hugged her neck and hid her body. She hadn’t felt beautiful, and had preferred that her thin arms were covered too.

  Andreas was a generous man who liked to give pleasure to everyone. But she’d deprived him of bestowing little surprises on her. Sometimes, like now, she wondered how he’d put up with her as long as he did.

  “Do you have to stop in at the office this afternoon?”

  “No.”

  “Then let’s go shopping in Kolonaki.” It was a trendy residential neighborhood in the center of Athens, full of pricey boutiques, art galleries and expensive restaurants. The kind of place she knew he’d yearned to take her.

  His eyes ignited. “We’ll have a meal there too.”

  “First I’ll want you to choose some outfits that will be appropriate for me to wear when we entertain guests this month. If we eat first, I’ll need your help to fasten everything.”

  His wolfish smile proved that she’d said the right thing. After his talk with the doctor, his angst appeared mitigated. At least for the time being.

  Two hours later they’d arranged for an entire wardrobe of dresses, separates and shoes to be delivered to the penthouse the next day. She’d never had so much fun.

  Sharing everything with her husband was a new experi
ence she intended to keep alive. And that meant developing a relationship with his parents.

  Over a fabulous meal of moussaka, she brought them into the conversation. “I know you have a lot of business and entertaining to do this month, but do you think we could squeeze your parents in one night soon for dinner?”

  When he went still like that, it meant she’d surprised him. She could hear his mind digesting her idea while he wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin.

  “Friday night’s free. I’ll call them and arrange it.”

  “That would be wonderful. I want to really get to know them. When you introduced us, you told me they were still in so much pain over Maris’s death they weren’t themselves. But I should have made more of an effort to get us together after our return to Athens. The trouble was, no time seemed the right time.”

  “That’s because there wasn’t one.”

  Andreas spoke the truth. The threat of the trial had loomed too large to deal with anything else.

  She gazed at him directly. “Do you think they’ll come?”

  “Of course.”

  “Even if they believe I’m a poor excuse for a wife?”

  “That’s not their opinion of you,” he declared, in that tone of authority he used on his business calls.

  Dominique couldn’t help but smile a little sadly. “It’s every parent’s opinion when anyone hurts their child. I didn’t stand by you at the trial. Therefore I failed you, and as a result failed them. I’d like to repair the damage.”

  Instinctively Dominique realized their marriage could never be completely happy until she’d been accepted by his mother and father. She had a long way to go, but Friday night could be the first step.

  “You’re sure you want to do this?” His eyes were shuttered—his way of veiling his torturous emotions.

  “More than anything in the world. My parents think the world of you. I’m hoping that one day yours will feel the same about me.”

  His mouth tautened in response. “If you’re telling me the charge of adultery didn’t change their feelings, I don’t believe you.”