“Do you need help?”
“Yes. Have you got a half an hour?”
“If it’s to plan a way to get rid of Olympia, I’m all yours for as long as it takes.”
CHAPTER NINE
DOMINIQUE entered the gym the next morning after her language class, ready for a workout. Several well-cut males lifting weights called out hello to her in English. Andreas had once told her that her walk was so American, her nationality stuck out a mile.
“Hi, guys.”
A buff-looking hunk approached her with a smile. “I’m Alex, the manager and trainer.” His eyes swept over her in masculine admiration. “I’ve never seen you in here before, or I would have remembered.”
“You’re right. This is my first time.” She looked around at the state-of-the-art equipment. There were only half a dozen men taking advantage of the facilities. “Where are all the women?”
“They usually come at the end of the day. Are you here to sign up for a membership?”
“My husband has one.”
“What a shame.” He frowned. “Every guy in here is going to be sorry to hear that.” She chuckled. “What’s the lucky man’s name?”
“Andreas Stamatakis.”
In an instant his expression sobered. He let out a low whistle. “You’re his first wife?”
With that question, Dominique realized how pervasive the gossip had been following the trial.
“I’m his one and only wife.” But maybe not for long.
His hands went to his hips. “I meant no disrespect. In fact that came out wrong.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know what you meant. We were separated for a year, but now I’m back. My name’s Dominique.”
“That’s a beautiful name. French, isn’t it?”
“Yes. My mother studied in France and fell in love with the name.”
This time his inspection of her was professional. “You are in excellent shape. I take it you’re no stranger to a gym?”
“I’ve practically lived in one for the last year and a half.”
“Then—please. Make yourself at home. The dressing room is back there.” He pointed to a doorway behind him.
“Thank you.”
She passed through to the locker room. After putting her hair in a ponytail, she emerged minutes later in her running shorts and top, ready to do her stretches. Dominique liked to get in her workouts early. They energized her for the rest of the day.
Ignoring the men’s interested gazes, she ran through her routine, which included dumbbell bench presses to strengthen her arms and upper body. Finally she got on the treadmill and put herself through the paces.
Even if she couldn’t do anything about Olympia, she could do this for herself. It felt good to be in control of her body. The discipline worked hand in hand with her mind, keeping her thoughts focused on what was important.
“That’s it,” she muttered to herself.
A few more stretching exercises and she was ready for a shower. Once dressed, in a skirt and blouse, she brushed out her hair and went in search of Alex.
He was helping a teenage boy who’d come in while she was in the locker room. She stood a ways off and waited until he was free.
“Sorry. I was busy.”
“Of course. Do you have some time to talk to me now? Or should I come by another time?”
“This is the best time.”
“Thank you. I wanted to know if any of your women patrons are breast cancer survivors.”
By his expression, her question was the last thing he’d expected to hear. “As far as I know, there is only one. She usually comes in at six in the evening.”
“If I gave you my cellphone number, would you see that she gets it and ask her to call me?”
“Certainly.”
They walked over to the counter and she wrote her name and phone number on the pad he provided.
“Tell her I’m a cancer survivor too, and would like to talk to her.”
Alex’s eyes softened. “I’ll do that.”
“Thank you. Could you do me one more favor?”
“Naturally.”
“While you are working with your clientele, if you find out any other women are breast cancer survivors too, will you tell them to call me?”
“I’ll make a point of finding out.”
“I’d appreciate it. I’m in the beginning stages of planning a fun run marathon for us here in Athens. I hope it can be put together by November.”
He scratched his head. “I have friends who also manage gyms in the city. I’ll pass the word.”
“Terrific. See you tomorrow. Same time.”
“See you tomorrow, Mrs. Stamatakis.”
“Call me Dominique, please.”
He grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Her spirits lifted, Dominique left the gym for the hospital. After she’d eaten lunch in the cafeteria, she visited her first patient.
It was like déjà vu. Dominique could hear her own fears as she listened to the forty-year-old woman who was about to lose a breast. She asked Dominique the very same questions that had plagued her.
Though the other woman only spoke a little English, they managed to communicate beautifully. Dominique promised she would come in to see her again soon, then made the rounds of several rooms to talk to cancer patients who’d just been checked in.
It was later than she realized when she walked in the penthouse and discovered that Andreas had arrived ahead of her. He had dinner waiting. Over their meal they talked about his newest business venture. She told him about the patients she’d met. Since she had homework, he offered to do the dishes.
The one thing they didn’t discuss was Olympia.
It was incredible to her how harmonious everything could be on the surface when they were both aware of a volcano building, ready to erupt.
At ten she closed her textbook, and went to bed first. When Andreas slid under the covers moments later, he reached for her and pulled her back against his chest. “All I want to do is hold you for the rest of the night. Do you mind?”
“Of course not.” After a little pause, “Andreas—”
“No more talking. You gave me a lot to think about last night. Right now I just want to fall asleep with you in my arms. Is that too much to ask?”
“No.”
Nothing was too much to ask. She’d been afraid she’d alienated him to the point he would opt to sleep in the guest bedroom. Unutterably relieved to feel his strong arms wrapped around her, she closed her eyes—only to hear her cellphone ring.
It could be her parents, but she hoped it was the woman from the gym.
“Do you want to get it?” he asked in his deep voice.
“I think I’d better.”
She sat up against the headboard. He reached for the phone on the bedstand and handed it to her.
“Hello?” she said, after clicking on.
“This is Dominique?” a female voice asked in heavily accented English.
“Yes.”
“I am Elektra. Alex said you wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes. Thank you for calling me, Elektra.”
“That is fine. You have cancer too?”
“I did have. I hope it’s gone for good.”
“I hope the same thing for me.”
“Do you run as part of your exercise?”
“No, but I think about doing it.”
“Would you mind if I come by the gym tomorrow evening and talk to you after you’re finished with your workout?”
“Fine. Seven o’clock. I will look for you.”
“Thank you so much. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Andreas relieved her of the phone and put it back on the table. “You’ve been busy today. Already making inroads on your plans. You’re a very remarkable woman, Dominique. I’ll go with you tomorrow night and put in a workout.”
Her husband was true to his word.
The next evening they both worked out and got acqua
inted with Elektra. Alex joined in their conversation and said he would help to organize the run. He’d already collected a list of six names for her.
When they reached the penthouse, Dominique made an omelet for them before they went to bed. Andreas didn’t try to make love to her. They simply held each other until they fell asleep. It formed a pattern for the rest of the week.
On Friday evening they had dinner at his parents’ home. Just the four of them. While Andreas and Eli chatted in the living room, Dominique helped his mother in the kitchen. She’d made her son’s favorite dishes.
Before the night was over Dominique had written down the recipes so she could experiment at the penthouse. Everything seemed to be going along so pleasantly, by Saturday she’d almost forgotten their haunting problem.
After breakfast they flew to Zakynthos for a day of swimming and sun. The weather was idyllic. While they lay on mattresses and floated around in the pool, she practiced the Greek she’d learned on Andreas.
He was actually a much better teacher than her tutor at the university. She couldn’t imagine ever speaking Greek like a native, but she was determined to try. Andreas was very complimentary.
In truth he was wonderful to her, and waited on her hand and foot. She felt like a royal princess. Food and drinks appeared before she asked. He turned on music, some soft Greek rock that was so much fun to listen to. Everything from CDs to television helped her pick up the language.
They ended up playing a game where she couldn’t say anything unless it was in Greek. At first Andreas asked her easy questions that only required one word answers. Then little by little the answers became more complicated and she started using infinitives instead of conjugated verbs.
He laughed so hard he fell into the pool and pulled her after him. While they were under the water, he kissed her. The kind of kiss he hadn’t given her for several days.
When they surfaced, he carried her out of the pool into the house. Eleni caught up with them before they reached the bedroom.
“I’m very sorry to interrupt you, kyrie, but Olympia is calling from Athens. She’s worried about little Ari and wants to talk to you.”
Dominique’s guess that Olympia would call about Ari had been close to prophetic. The only thing she’d erred with was that the call had come in the daytime instead of the middle of the night. Still, it worried her to think anything might be seriously wrong with the baby.
“Thank you, Eleni. I’ll pick up in our bedroom.”
Once they reached it, Andreas lowered Dominique to the floor, then walked over to the bedside table to get the phone.
Most of his conversations with Olympia were brief. But, like clockwork, he responded by saying he’d be right there.
Over the distance separating them, he shot Dominique an oblique glance.
Oh, my darling Andreas. How you give yourself away.
“Ari’s sick and can’t stop throwing up. Olympia called the doctor. He told her to take him to the hospital. She’s frantic.”
She’s more than that, only you can’t see it.
“Then you have to go.”
“Dominique?”
“It’s all right. If he’s very sick, then she needs your support. But, as you know, I’m the last person she wants to see, so I’ll stay here.”
Beg me to come with you, Andreas.
He walked toward her. “You’re sure?”
Wrong answer, my darling.
“I’m positive.”
“I’ll try to get back before dark.”
You can try, but you won’t succeed—because Olympia will find a way to keep you tied to her.
In a lightning move Andreas lowered his head and kissed her with almost suffocating intensity. Once upon a time his display of passion would have been enough to hold her until he came back to make love to her all over again.
But something had snapped inside Dominique since the housekeeper had told them who was on the phone. The more Andreas molded her body to his with barely suppressed savagery, the more she felt distanced from him.
In fact she had the strangest sensation that she was standing outside her body, aware of what was going on, but no longer with the capacity to derive or give pleasure.
In pure revelation it came to Dominique that Ari was his mother’s trump card, one she would play over and over again in the future. There would always be another crisis, another problem, or she would manufacture one.
Theo hadn’t given up on his son out of a lack of human feeling. He’d given up because the power of the tie between Olympia and Andreas was too great to contest, let alone break. You could try, but in the end you’d only dash your heart to pieces against it.
Dominique had come back to Greece to fight for her marriage, but she’d arrived at least twenty years too late.
No matter what time Andreas returned to Zakynthos, he wouldn’t find her waiting for him. Never again.
It was after ten p.m. when the doctor came into the waiting room of the pediatric ward looking for Olympia. Andreas stood up when he saw him.
“Your baby’s going to be fine, Mrs. Panos. You can take him home. He had a bout of gastroenteritis, but the worst has passed. Check with my office tomorrow if you have any more questions.”
“Thank you.”
In a few minutes they’d bundled little Ari up in the carrycot and left the hospital for Olympia’s apartment. Once they were inside and she’d put him to bed, she turned pleading brown eyes to Andreas. “Would you stay with me tonight?”
His mind replayed his wife’s warning.
All she has to do is ask, and you come running. It’s because for years and years you’ve been programmed to respond that way, and she knows it. Only she’s not a teenager anymore. Her ploys are growing more desperate…
“Where’s your aunt?”
“She’s gone to my cousin’s for the weekend.”
More of his conversation with Dominique came back to haunt him.
Her aunt has a nephew? That’s news to me. Where does he live?
In Athens.
Then it’s very interesting that Olympia would call you to help her with her aunt when there’s a nephew nearby.
He’s rarely available.
How do you know? Have you talked to him?
Andreas cocked his head. “I thought she was too sick to go anywhere.”
“The medicine the doctor gave her made her feel a lot better. I think she wanted to get away from the baby’s crying.”
No matter what, Olympia always responded with a comment that sounded logical. He’d never bothered to question her. Apparently both he and Maris had been far too naïve when it came to Olympia.
“I’ll stay for a while.”
“Good. Let me fix us some coffee.”
He followed her into the kitchen. In a minute they were sitting across from each other, sipping the steaming hot brew. She looked too happy.
It sickened him to realize how many years he’d been blind to her machinations. His inability to see through her had brought him dangerously close to losing Dominique.
“Olympia?”
“Would you like a sandwich with that?”
“No, thank you.” The time had come. “This can’t go on any longer.”
“What do you mean?”
He took another swallow, then set his coffee down. “I’m talking about the fantasy world you’ve been living in since you first became friends with Maris at school.”
“Fantasy world?”
“Yes, the one where I’m your husband and Ari is our baby. That’s fiction, Olympia. Something you thought up in your head that has no basis in reality. You were a friend of my younger sister. That’s all. Because Maris had no guile she couldn’t see it in you. Neither could my parents, who included you like you were their own daughter. And Maris was killed before you could be exposed for repaying her loving friendship with a lifetime of insidious treachery.”
“Treachery?” she challenged.
“It’s as good a w
ord as any to describe your behavior. You’ve hurt a lot of people, done a lot of damage. Some of it can’t be undone, but thank God that doesn’t include Dominique.”
Her eyes flashed angrily. “She’s turned you against me!”
“If you mean she’s helped me see into your disturbed psyche, then, yes. I give her full credit. I love my wife with every fiber of my being. She’s my priority for the rest of our lives. There’s no room for anyone else. Not ever.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Olympia suddenly threw the rest of her coffee in his face. He sat there and let it drip off him.
“By that answer, I see that you do.”
Her face crumpled like a child’s. Those big brown eyes filled with tears. So many times throughout their lives he’d seen that look and it had brought out his protective instincts.
Andreas was aghast to think how long she’d managed to manipulate him and he’d never caught on.
“How come you never loved me?”
Her question was pathetic, sad, awful.
“How does anyone explain chemistry? It’s either there or it isn’t. The moment I met Dominique I fell in love with her. Madly, wildly, passionately in love. She transformed my life. That was it for me. She was the one.”
“She’s not worthy of you!”
“No one asked for your opinion. The fact that you refuse to accept her presence in my life has led you to the point where I’ve been forced to have this ugly confrontation with you.”
“Dominique’s not your type.”
“She’s my exact type!” he countered. “Within seconds my soul, my whole psyche, knew it.”
“No!” she cried out in anguish.
“Listen to yourself, Olympia. You’re a thirty-year-old woman with a baby. Yet you’re carrying on like a spoiled little girl having a temper tantrum. You need help—the kind I certainly can’t give you. I’m putting you on notice now. I won’t be available to you anymore. The relationship is over. Please don’t call or come near me or Dominique again.”
“You don’t really mean that—”
“Try me and I’ll instruct my attorney to have legal action taken against you. It’s the last thing I want to do, but you’re out of control.”
She shook her head in denial.
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