The Summer Deal (22 page)

“How are you feeling?” He spoke softly.

“Like I was in a bar brawl, but I feel better.” She raised her head and looked around the room. “What time is it?”

“About four. Do you want something to drink?”

“No. But why are we whispering?”

Demo laughed in a very low tone. “We have a house full of family. Athena and Zoë are sleeping next door, my parents are downstairs, and Tony is with Athena’s fiancé. They probably can’t get comfortable enough to sleep.” He’d forgotten she had no idea about the evening’s events.

“Oh, I see,” she said, and settled her head on the arm he stretched under her.

Her hair reflected the moonlight, and he pressed his cheek against it. He stared at the creamy crescent outside the window, and his insides quivered as he thought about how he could have lost her today. Inhaling deep, he slid his hand around her ribs and pulled her closer.

“I thought you’d be looking for the injured tourist the girl had told us about. How did you know it wasn’t true and that Brad was here?”

“You told me.”

He stroked her hair as he spoke. He couldn’t get enough of her, but he knew this was no time for personal need. He was grateful she let him touch her and keep her close. Thankful she welcomed the comfort his arms ached to give her. He wanted to erase the last day from her memory and to keep her safe forever.

“You had said that the
bastardo
would play on people’s emotions and sympathies, striking them where it will scar the most.”

She trembled against him and wrapped her hands around his arm. He felt her warm breath quicken and her lashes caress his bicep as she listened. He thought she must be trying to shut the hideous image out of her mind. He continued to run his fingers lovingly through her hair.

“As we were driving down the road, Manoli said something like ‘not again.’ When I questioned him, he was surprised I didn’t know about the tragic accident that occurred three years ago. A group of college students was in the gorge and one had fallen. He’d fractured his skull when he misjudged the length of the safety rope.”

“Had Mano gone after him then?” she asked.

“No. It was fall and a weekday. He wasn’t here. The only people here were the older villagers, and none of them could go down to help. The students were in shock and couldn’t think straight, so he was on his own until the rescue team arrived. He didn’t make it.”

“How horrible. But it wasn’t their fault. Even if they had been able to get to him, they wouldn’t have had the resources to help him,” Sammy said.

“True. But the accident took a great emotional toll on the village. From what Manoli said, it was unbearable. Daniels must have done his homework and found out about it. You were correct. He struck where it hurt the most.”

Silence. He didn’t want her to deal with the image of Bradley Daniels anymore. He didn’t want to continue talking about it, but she quietly urged him to continue.

“When I learned this and realized that we had been intentionally separated, we were almost a kilometer down the road. It was narrow spiral, and there was no place for the car to turn without going off the edge. Figuring it would be faster, we started to run back.”

He spoke in a low voice. He didn’t want her to hear the anger and anxiety he felt. Continually immersing himself in her scent by burying his face in the crook of her neck, he was able to sound calm.

“Tony and Teddy were driving up. They’d suspected he was on his way to the village.”

“How?” she interrupted.

“Honestly,
agape mou
, we didn’t get that far. But they’ve been looking for him all week.”

He held her and didn’t speak. The time between when he’d realized what had happened to the moment he saw her at the doorstep had been the longest and most terrifying of his life. His whole body had churned with horror as his feet hit the pavement in a relentless rhythm up the mountain and back to the house.

Meeting him at the balcony entrance, Teddy and Tony had insisted they needed to enter with a soundless surprise. His brother had practically tackled him at the front gate as he tried to storm the house. They had held him down until he’d agreed to go in together.

She still had her back against him. His hand traced her face, committing each curve and softness to memory.

After much time, she whispered into his palm. “I was going to go in alone.”

He covered her belly in a very protective hold. “I couldn’t live with anything happening to you because I had been taken by his scheme.”

“You came. What if this happened once we got back to New York? I would’ve been really alone.”

“That’s not true,” he said.

“Yes. Our summer deal would be over. You’d be back to your real life.”

He must have heard wrong. “Sammy, you can’t—”

“Shh.” She placed a finger over his lips. “You’re going to wake everyone.”

Shaking his head, he pulled away and sat up. “I don’t care. You can’t be serious about that summer deal stuff. What we have isn’t a casual ‘summer deal.’ What I feel for you is real, it comes from here.” He balled his fist over his heart.

Then it occurred to him that she might not feel the same. After all, she had never given him...no, that wasn’t true. He hadn’t imagined the look in her eyes all those times he’d caught her gazing at him. He had seen her blush and felt the heat when he stood close behind her in the office. And the recent past spoke for itself. Sammy had real feelings for him. She just never vocalized them.

“It’s not about feelings, Demo. It’s about our life goals and desires. I can’t give you what you want.”

“I want you.”

She turned away from him again and brought a pillow against her stomach. His fingers found her beautiful back tense and tight under his touch. When he moved toward her, her shoulder rose around her neck to prevent him from settling his chin there.

“I can’t.”

He felt her body shudder.

“I can’t—”

“Stop. Don’t talk anymore. It is the wrong time for this conversation. I’m sorry, I should’ve realized. Sleep,
agape mou
, just sleep.”

She was so distressed, and he was an insensitive idiot.

“I’ve waited for you from the first day I met you. I’ll wait for you now.”

Settling behind her, he gathered a stiff Sammy into his arms and silently watched the sky until the sun made its appearance.

The rooster was crowing a wakeup call and doves abandoned their roosts to fly in the morning sky.

Sammy slid from his embrace and rose from the bed. She shuffled to the balcony and stood at the wooden banister.

She was so beautiful. Radiant. She stood in the fresh rays of the sun in white cotton with bare feet and a tousled mass of copper adorning her head. “You are my queen, and I will be your king,” he whispered to himself and smiled as she pulled his shirt over her nose and nuzzled into it. Yes, this woman had real feelings for him.

Sleepless, Sammy lay in the arms of the man who held her heart. A piece of her was forever with him. She sighed, trying to contain the hurt inside. She didn’t want him to see, she didn’t want him to know. If he did, he’d take pity on her and deny his need for a family.

Trying not to wake him, she slid out of his warm embrace and out of his bed. Separating from his scent, heat marred her heart. It hurt so much. How would she ever survive walking away from him?

Baby steps, small baby steps
.

She’d build up to it slowly. She would straighten her back, raise her chin and deny her soul a little bit more with each step. She took tiny steps and shuffled out to the balcony, away from Demo.

Exposed to the chilly dawn, her skin prickled as she stared down the gorge. A regal aura emanated from the mountain, commanding the rugged and grueling landscape that stretched as far as she could see. The strength and authority of the tall monarch flowed into the environment.

Above a certain elevation, she saw the clumps of what she knew to be tiny bluish flowers growing bunched in circles. At the bottom, she saw the white flowers that grew out of rocks swaying in the soft breeze, and she could just imagine the little stream swelling to a river in the spring. It was a marriage of beauty and power displayed for all to see.

Her prayers to find strength and love had been answered, and she now had to find the ability to turn away from them. She walked back into the room and looked at Demo while he slept. Her spirit ached to go back to him. But this was the first baby step, to deny the need to bask in his love, and accustom her heart to the pain of truly loving.

Loving him enough to leave him hurt, but she had to do it. For him.

She mouthed a silent prayer. “Give me the strength to put my needs aside and to do the only thing that will spare him. Please.”

*****

Demo had been right. Tony and Alexandros were sleeping on the balcony. She smiled and quietly let herself out the door and walked to the bakery.

She sat on a stool at the end of the counter talking with the baker’s wife as they enjoyed coffee and
koulourakia
. The buttery, orange-flavored braided cookies melted on her tongue and justly took their place as her favorite cookie in the world.

Sammy felt welcomed enough to help the woman wrap some loaves of warm bread when all the locals came in at the same time. She had a feeling of belonging, of being a part of something bigger, and finally having achieved what she had craved in her solitary walk through life: a large, extended family. She was part of something. But now she had to leave it behind and continue down the lonely path again.

Returning with a basket of fresh roles, cookies and breakfast pastries, Samantha met Mrs. Maria Lakis. The tall and graceful matriarch smiled and came to the door to greet her.

“
Kalimera, kori mou
,” Mrs. Lakis said. Instead of taking the basket, she wrapped her arms around Samantha and said in perfect, slightly accented English, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you. But I’m with you now, and I will help you any way you need.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lakis. You’re very generous.”

“No,
kori mou
, not generous. We take care of our family, and we live for our children. I cannot imagine the horrible experience of yesterday, but if I were in that situation, I know I would want the comfort of the people who love me.”

Sammy’s knees went weak. This woman was implying she loved her, Samantha Mallone, a person she had just met.

“You look pale, Sammy. Sit down and let me get you something to drink.” Mrs. Lakis took the basket in her right hand and wrapped her left arm around Sammy’s waist. “Come on,
kori mou
, you must be tired.”

“Thank you. I guess I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Of course, but you will sleep better today, and you can take a nap after you’ve had some breakfast. Each day you will get stronger, and by the time your mama arrives the day after tomorrow, you will not be pale or weak. I will see to that.”

Her heart jumped and her breath stopped. “Mom is coming here?”

“Yes. Demo sent for her yesterday. She would have come sooner, but with her work and the time diffe—”

“No, no. She mustn’t come,” Sammy cried.

If her mother were here too, then everybody she loved would be gathered in this heavenly place. Where would she find the strength to leave? Where would she go?

“She can’t take time from work right now. And... And... She’s afraid of flying and has never been on a plane. She can’t—” Sammy stuttered, unable to complete the sentence.

“A mother does the impossible for her child. She needs to be with you,” Mrs. Lakis insisted. “She will be fine. Don’t worry about her. A mother can walk through fire and not feel the heat if her child needs her. You will only understand when you have your own children.”

Trembling hands dropped into Sammy’s lap. Nervously licking her lips, she attempted to breathe the air that had gone out of the room. It was time to face the truth.

“I don’t plan to have any children.”

“Not now,
kori mou
. But one day, after you’ve spent time with your husband and have established yourself professionally, you will. Children are the greatest gift a man and a woman can give each other.”

Pain swelled in her chest and a cold chill claimed Samantha’s body. Her throat closed and she wasn’t able to speak. The room grew fuzzy and hot.

Mrs. Lakis’ face blended into the sun, black orbs floated about, and then darkness.

“Wake up Sammy. Open your eyes.”

No, she didn’t want to. The darkness masked the pain. It was safe there.

“Wake up, Samantha!” Demo demanded. Reluctantly her eyes opened, and she saw the relief spread across his face. It hurt to look into his dark loving eyes. They revealed a man who would do anything for her.

Now she had to do the hardest thing in her life for him. She had to leave.

“
Mama, nero
,” Demo called.