Buch lesen: «The Greek's Long-Lost Son»

CHAPTER ONE

AFTER a hard day’s work negotiating prices with their overseas clients, Stella Athas left her office at the Athens headquarters a little after three o’clock in her new white Jaguar XK convertible, the first car she’d ever owned. Until she’d bought it with her own money two months ago, she’d used the old clunker estate car to get around.

Along with her new purchase, it seemed a different hairdo was necessary too. She’d always worn her dark hair long and straight, but all that had changed with the convertible, because the whole point of having the top down was to feel the sun and the breeze. It had only taken one day of whizzing around in it looking like the head of a mop for Stella to go to a beauty salon and get her hair cut in a trendy jaw-length style.

Everyone seemed to approve of her new look. Her colleagues said it emphasized the high cheekbones of her oval face. Her friends insisted it brought out the velvety texture of her midnight-brown eyes.

Her oldest brother, Stasio, teased her that she’d better watch out; she was a great beauty like their deceased mother. All the men, eligible or otherwise, had their eye on her now that she’d been seen around Athens in her flashy new sports car. When was she going to get serious over Keiko and take him for a ride in it? Didn’t she know she was breaking his heart?

Stella knew that her brother was hoping she and Keiko Pappas would get together, but she’d been too burned by an experience in her past to get into an intimate relationship with another man. She preferred to remain friends with Keiko or any other guy hoping to get close to her for that matter.

As for today, she didn’t want to think about anything but having fun because this marked the beginning of her three-week vacation from work. It was also the end of the school year for her six-year-old son, Ari.

Although she liked the family’s town villa in Athens well enough—after all, it had been home to the Athas clan for three generations—she was a beach girl at heart and always looked forward to their holidays on Andros with Stasio and his wife, Rachel.

When Stella had attended college in New York, she’d met an American girl named Rachel Maynard. They had become best friends at a time when Stella had been recovering from what she could only look back on now as a nervous breakdown. When Theo Pantheras had deserted her and their unborn child, she’d allowed it to almost destroy her. Of course, that had been six years ago. She’d long since recovered, but the experience had caused her to lose her faith in men.

Still, with a vacation looming, none of that mattered now. She was eager to join Rachel, who’d married Stasio and who now had two little daughters, Cassie and Zoe, who adored Ari and he them. Everyone was looking forward to being together at the family villa on Andros and at some point her brother Nikos would be arriving from Switzerland with his wife Renate to vacation with them, too.

Nikos’s arrival was always a worry for Stella, because he had a nasty temper and could make life difficult when he wanted to. Hopefully, this time he’d be on his best behavior, but she didn’t know if it was possible.

Rather than be flown in Stasio’s helicopter, Stella planned to drive her and Ari this visit. She wanted the new car at her disposal as she sped around the island and enjoyed the glorious summer. Tomorrow morning they’d leave early and take the ferry from Rafina. Ari loved ships of all kinds and adored being on the water. So did she and couldn’t wait to get away from the city. It was starting to get overcrowded with tourists.

Once she’d pulled around the back of the house, she parked away from the trees and birds and hurried through the screened-in back porch where deliveries were left. When she entered the big kitchen, she saw the elderly housekeeper watering a plant at the sink.

“Yiasas, Iola. How was your day?”

She turned her gray head to look at Stella. “Busy.”

“Cheer up. Ari and I will be leaving in the morning. With Stasio’s family out of here, too, you’ll have three weeks to take it easy and enjoy yourself.” Stella gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going upstairs to get packed.”

“Everything has been washed and dried. You want me to bring up the luggage?”

“Thank you, but my suitcase is already in my closet. We don’t need to take that much to the beach. Mine will hold both our things.”

Grabbing an apple from the basket, she took a big bite and headed for the staircase at the front of the house. When they weren’t on Andros, Stasio and Rachel lived at the villa on the third floor with the girls, she and Ari on the second. Nikos’s suite was on the first floor next to the pool, but he was rarely here.

Once she entered her suite adjoining Ari’s, she got to work. Ari had gone to spend the day with his school friend Dax, and Stella planned to pick him up at his friend’s house around four-thirty. That gave her an hour.

While she started gathering tops, shorts and swimsuits for both of them, the house phone rang once. She picked up the receiver at her bedside table. “What is it, Iola?”

“You need to come downstairs. The postman has a registered letter for you that only you can sign.”

Stella frowned. “Anything legal goes to Stasio’s office, but you already know that.”

“I told him, but he said this one is for you. He insists he has to deliver it into your hands, no one else’s.”

The postman could have done that while Stella had still been at the office. “I’ll be right down.”

What on earth was going on? Stella hung up the phone, eager to straighten out what was obviously a mistake so she could finish her packing. She hurried downstairs to the foyer and entered the front room.

“Yiasou.”

The postman nodded. “You are Despinis Estrella Athas?”

“Yes.” But no one ever addressed her by her birth name.

He thrust a clipboard at her. “Please sign the card on the bottom line to prove this was delivered to you personally.”

“May I ask who sent it?”

“I have no idea.”

Despite her irritation, Stella smiled while she wrote down her signature. “Don’t shoot the messenger, right?” But her comment was wasted on the postman, who remained stoic.

He took the clipboard and handed her the letter. “I’ll see myself out.”

Iola followed him to the front door and shut it behind him. Stella wandered into the foyer, more bemused than anything else by the interruption. “Perhaps I got caught speeding in my new car by one of those traffic cameras. You think?” Stella quipped.

“Aren’t you going to open it and find out?”

Stella had waited too long for her vacation to be bothered by anything now. “Maybe after I get back from our trip. After all, if this had been brought to the door tomorrow, I wouldn’t have been here.”

“But you signed for it today!”

“True. Why don’t you open it and tell me what it says while I finish packing.” She handed it to Iola before starting up the stairs to make inroads on her packing.

Stella fully expected the housekeeper to come rushing after her with the news, yet no such thing happened. In fact it was eerily quiet. After a few minutes Stella stepped out in the hall and walked to the head of the stairs.

“Iola?”

Total silence.

“Iola?” Stella called in a louder voice.

When nothing was forthcoming she raced down the stairs. No sign of her in the salon. “Iola?” She ran through the house to the kitchen, where she found her sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, her head in her hands. The letter lay open on the table.

As she started to reach for it, Iola grabbed it from her and pressed it to her ample bosom. “No! This is not for your eyes.”

The loyal housekeeper had been with their family since Stella had been in elementary school. She knew everything that went on under their roof. Stella had no doubt Iola would defend her to the death if the situation warranted it.

“What’s so terrible you don’t want me to see it?” Her question was met with quiet sobs. Stella sat down on the chair next to her and put a loving arm around her heaving shoulders. “Iola? Please. Let me see it.”

A minute passed before she handed Stella the one-page letter. Her eyes fell on the missive. It was handwritten in bold, decisive strokes that looked faintly familiar. Stella’s heart skipped a beat.

Dear Stella:

It’s been a long time since the last time we were together. After the letters I sent you came back unopened and I’d exhausted every possibility of finding you, I left for New York to work, but now I’m back in Athens for good.

I saw you walking near your villa with a boy who has Pantheras written all over him. He’s my flesh and blood, too.

You and I need to meet.

I can be reached at the phone number on my office letterhead. I’ve also written my cell phone number here. I’ll expect your call tomorrow before the day is out. Don’t make me petition the court to secure my right to be with my son. That’s the last thing I would want to do to either of you.

Theo.

Stella’s cry reverberated against the walls of the kitchen.

As she read the letter again, Theo’s name swam before her eyes. She started to get up from the chair, but her body began to feel icy. Nausea rendered her too weak to stand. There was a ringing in her ears. In the distance she heard Iola cry before she felt herself slump against the housekeeper.

When next she had any cognizance of her surroundings, she discovered she was lying on the kitchen floor. Iola was leaning over her whispering prayers while she patted Stella’s cheeks with a cold, wet cloth. As the housekeeper fussed over her, a memory of the letter filled her mind.

After six years Theo Pantheras had reappeared in her life, as if from the dead, wanting to talk to her? The very idea was so staggering Stella could hardly fathom it.

She’d known moments of anger in her life, but no amount of pain compared to the violence of her emotions against Ari’s father, the man who’d come close to destroying her.

For him to think for one second she would pick up the phone and call him was too ludicrous to comprehend. The night she’d told him she was pregnant, he’d acted thrilled and told her he would find a way to take care of her and their baby. They would get married immediately despite their families being against it.

They had arranged to meet at the church, and once Theo arrived they would get married in secret, but Theo never came and Stella never saw him again. It was as if he’d simply disappeared off the face of the earth. The pain and the shame of waiting for him pretty well shattered her. Without Stasio’s love and support, and of course the love she had for her gorgeous Ari, she probably would have died.

“I’m all right, Iola,” she assured her. Sheer negative adrenaline flowed through her body, driving her to get to her feet. She clung to the chair back while she waited for her head to stop reeling.

“Drink this.” Iola handed her a glass of water.

It tasted good and she drank the whole thing. “Thank you.”

“Theo Pantheras has obviously been stalking you. That is not good. You must call Stasio at once.”

“No,” she countered in a quiet voice. “That’s the one thing I won’t do. I have Ari to think about. This is something I intend to handle myself.”

Since her parents’ deaths, Stella had relied on her brother for everything. It had almost ruined his life in the process, but she wasn’t a helpless teenager anymore. She’d grown into a twenty-four-year-old woman with a responsible position in the company, who’d been raising her son for the last six years.

Stasio had done more for her and her son than any human could expect of another. Her love for her brother bordered on worship. The only way to repay him in some small way was to leave him out of this. He had a wife and children he doted on, and Rachel was expecting for a third time. Stella wasn’t about to impose her problems on him or his family. Never again.

She stared at Iola. “Not one word of this to anyone, especially not Nikos or Stasio. It will be our secret. You understand?”

The older woman nodded, but she said another prayer under her breath.

With no time to lose, Stella went upstairs for her purse. While there she phoned Dax’s mother and told her she was coming to collect Ari. After telling Iola where she was going, she put the letter in her purse, then left the villa and drove to Dax’s house.

As soon as Ari saw her, he ran down the steps of the front porch carrying his backpack and got into the car. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How was your last day of school?”

“Okay. We had to bring all our pictures and stuff home. Can we fly to Palaiopolis tonight?” It was the village on Andros where Stasio lived.

“No, honey. I’m planning to drive us tomorrow morning. I’d like my own car while we’re on vacation.”

“Hooray! I love our new car.”

She chuckled. “So do I.”

“Stasi says I’ll be able to drive a car like this one day.”

“Not for years yet, honey.”

Whatever Stasio said, that was it. Long ago, when Stasio had told Stella he’d help her raise Ari, Nikos had warned Stella that Ari would always look to Stasio as his father. No other man could hope to compete. Nikos had told Stella that she should put her son up for adoption so he could have a normal life with a mother and father, but Stella wouldn’t hear of it. Ari was her life! Since Theo had opted out of all responsibility, a boy could pray to have a surrogate father like Stasio.

While they waited for an old man to cross the street in front of them she glanced at her son. For six years she’d purposely concentrated on his Athas traits, but since receiving the letter from Theo, she was forced to take a second look at him.

Like Stasio, Ari was tall for his age with brown-black hair. He had Nikos’s beautiful olive skin and her smile. But if she were honest with herself, his jet-black eyes, the musculature of his lean body, the shape of his hairline with its widow’s peak belonged to Theo.

Pain stabbed her heart. Ari was the most adorable six-year-old in the entire world. Theo had no idea what he’d given up when he’d turned his back on the two of them. Why in heaven’s name would he be interested in his child now? It didn’t make sense.

She moved on. The breeze played with Ari’s overly long hair. It had a tendency to curl at the tips, like Theo’s…. Sometimes he held his head at an angle while he was looking at something with intensity, and again he reminded her of the man she’d once loved so completely she’d thought she couldn’t live without him.

But that man who’d shown her so much love and had made her feel immortal had disappeared from her life. After realizing he was never coming back, she’d thought she was in the middle of a nightmare and would wake up. To her horror, she discovered she’d been awake the whole time. Welcome to the new reality of her life.

Remembered pain still had the power to shake her. She glanced at Ari. “Are you hungry?”

“No. Dax’s mom fed us. Do you think Dax could come to Andros for part of our vacation?”

Any other time she would have said yes without thinking about it, but her entire world had been turned upside down this afternoon. She dreaded broaching the subject of his father with Ari, but if she put it off she would become more frantic than she already was. Then he’d know something was terribly wrong.

Ari had a very intuitive nature. Since she’d always been honest with him, she couldn’t be any different now. When they pulled around the back of the villa, she didn’t immediately get out of the car.

“Ari—before we go inside, there’s something I have to tell you.”

He looked upset. “Is it about Dax? You don’t like him, huh.”

She blinked. “Where did you ever get that idea? He’s my favorite friend of yours.”

“Because you wouldn’t let him come with us to Andros last year, either.”

Stella let out an anxious sigh. “That wasn’t the reason. Dax’s parents had other plans for him, remember? They took him to Disneyland. It was a surprise. That’s why he couldn’t come with us.”

“Then how come you haven’t said he can come with us this time?” He continued to look at her with those penetrating black eyes while he waited for an answer. Sometimes he could be very adult for his age. It always caught her off guard, probably because he reminded her of the Theo she had once known.

At sixteen Stella had been so shy and unsure of herself, yet he’d been tender and patient with her and he’d slowly built her confidence. When Nikos had been mean to her and made fun of her and her friends, Stella had turned to Theo, whose love and acceptance had made all the hurts go away.

Where had that man gone? After he’d disappeared from her life, she’d wanted to die.

Clearing her throat she turned to Ari and said, “Do you remember when you asked me if I knew where your father lived and I said no?”

All of a sudden she felt Ari go quiet. He nodded.

“It was the truth. I didn’t know anything about him. When I asked why you wanted to know, you said there was no reason, but I knew that wasn’t true.”

He didn’t move a muscle.

“I…I’m afraid I haven’t made it easy for you to talk about your father,” she stammered.

“Stasi said he hurt you so much you got sick.”

“He was right. You see, my mommy died before you were born. Then your father went away and I never saw him again. I was so sad I fell apart for a while.”

To make the pain even more unbearable, Nikos had been cruel and impossible to live with back then, always siding with their father that Theo came from the wrong kind of people with no background or class and no money. A marriage between them was unthinkable. She should be thankful he was out of her life.

Sensing how traumatic the situation was, how fragile her feelings were, Stasio had taken Stella to New York to have her baby. Six months later their father had suffered a fatal heart attack. After his funeral she and Ari had stayed in New York for the next four years. With Stasio there doing business half of every month, it had worked out well for all of them, and Stella had been able to get her college degree.

Thankfully at the time, Nikos went back and forth from Athens to the family’s condo in Chamonix where he skied. She rarely saw him. That was a plus.

“Because of your uncle Stasio’s love and kindness, I got better. The point is, that was a long time ago and a lot has changed since then.” She moistened her lips nervously. “I found out this afternoon that your father has been living in New York.”

His eyes rounded. “Just like we did?”

“Yes.” That had come as another shock. For four years they’d both lived in the same city and hadn’t even known it. Incredible. “However, he’s back in Athens now to stay. He…wants to see you.”

A long silence ensued. She could see him digesting what she’d just told him, but before he could ask another question, she needed to tell him the rest.

“Because it’s been six years and he’s never come near us until now, I need to know how you feel about seeing him. You don’t have to answer right now. Just think about it. If you decide you’d like to meet him, then we’ll call him up, but if you don’t feel comfortable, Ari, you just have to say so—okay?”

If he didn’t want to meet his father, then Stella would phone him when Ari wasn’t aware of it. How she would love to hear Theo’s reason for wanting to be with his child after all this time!

She couldn’t imagine what Theo could say that would absolve him of what he’d done to her—to them! Stella couldn’t comprehend a man walking away like that with no conscience, but it happened to other women all the time.

There were a lot of amoral men in the world, but she didn’t want this one to be anywhere near her son. To her horror, Theo had brought up the possibility of getting the court involved if she didn’t cooperate. She couldn’t bear the thought of it, so she didn’t dare ignore his letter.

Ari lowered his head. “I don’t want to go and live with my father. I want to stay home with you. But I’d like to see him.” He reached for her.

Waves of intense love for her son swept over her. “If that’s your decision, then we’ll tell him together.”

He squinted up at her. “Can he make me go with him? Alex always has to go with his father to his new house and he doesn’t like it.”

Alex was one of Ari’s friends. The situation in their home was very sad since his parents had divorced.

Her heart pounded with sickening intensity. The court could order visitation, but in the letter Theo had said he didn’t want to go that route. Right now she was praying he meant it. “Let’s not worry about that today.”

In an abrupt motion Ari broke away from her and got out of the car with his backpack. “I’m going to call Stasi.”

“No, Ari!”

That brought her son to a halt. He turned around, not quite believing her firmness. “Why can’t I?”

“Because he’s been forced to worry about us for too long as it is.”

“But—”

“I said no.” She cut him off before getting out of the car herself. “This isn’t his business and doesn’t involve anyone but you and me. Do you understand? After we go into the house we’ll phone Dax’s parents. Maybe they’ll let him come to Andros with us for a few days. But whatever happens, when we get to the island, I don’t want you to say a word about your father to anyone.

“Except for Iola, no one else knows he’s back in Greece. You’re not to tell the girls or Rachel or Stasio or Nikos. Can you promise me you’ll keep quiet about it?”

“Yes.” She’d thought the mention of Dax joining them might take the edge off this new worry in his life, but she was a fool to think that. After hearing his father wanted to see him, what little boy could think about anything else?

At this point Ari was horribly confused. So was she, and heartsick for him. His dark eyes filled with tears before he trudged toward the porch, leaving her devastated.

The resort Theo had built on St. Thomas in the Saronic Islands brought an influx of the elite from the major continents. The manager Theo hired said they were fast becoming the preferred vacation destination in all Greece and had the statistics to back it up.

That was always good news, but after leaving Athens to spend the night here, he’d had other things on his mind. He’d give Stella another hour to respond to his letter before phoning her. There was no telling where she was right now. Probably with her brothers while they planned a way to stop Theo cold. It would do them no good.

There was a reason for that and it lay in front of him. The velvety green of the golf course extending in two directions from the sprawling white hotel represented many lucrative investments that now ensured Theo’s wealth. It took this kind of money to be on a par with the Athas dynasty.

Theo had never been a mercenary man. He still wasn’t. That was why the medium-size villa he’d had built on Salamis was comfortable without overwhelming Theo’s own parents and siblings with a lifestyle foreign to them.

Needing an outlet for his energy, he walked around the resort to the marina. Most of the motorboats and small sailboats were out enjoying the beautiful late afternoon. One morning soon he’d take his boy out on the calm water.

He didn’t doubt his son had been exposed to every water sport imaginable, but he’d only been taught by the Athas family. There was a whole side to him he didn’t know about yet that only Theo could show him because he was his father.

After chatting with a few of the employees, he entered the hotel and headed for the manager’s office. The other man had arranged for Theo to meet the new head chef and go over the various menus for Theo’s approval.

Once their business was concluded, he had the office to himself. Boris, his bodyguard, stood outside the room while Theo walked over to the window that looked out on the blue sea. He pressed the digit for Stella’s cell phone he’d programmed into his. Nestor Georgeles, his attorney, had his methods of obtaining information. Theo flicked on the device that blocked his caller ID.

When Stella picked up after four rings, she was still talking to someone else. He could hear another voice in the background.

“Hello?”

It was her voice. Yet it was different. It was the voice of a woman.

“Kalispera, Stella.”

He heard her sudden intake of breath. “Theo—h-how did you—” She paused. “Never mind. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“I have to admit that when I drove past your villa for old-time’s sake, I was surprised to discover you hadn’t aborted our baby after all.”

“Aborted?” she cried.

Just then Stella had sounded too aghast at his comment to have faked it. He clutched his phone tighter. Among Nikos Athas’s many sins, he’d coldbloodedly lied to Theo about Stella getting rid of the baby.

Sickened by the possibility that she’d really gone through with it and couldn’t face him with the truth, Theo had left for NewYork determined to start a new life and make the kind of money so his family would never know poverty again.

However, now that he was back home and had discovered he had a son, no power was going to keep Theo from him. If Nikos interfered again and tried to do his worst, it wouldn’t get him or her brother Stasio anywhere. Theo was more than prepared to fight fire with fire because he intended to be a full-time father to his child.

All these years he’d accused her in his heart of doing the worst thing a mother could do. He should have known she wouldn’t have done away with their child. It wasn’t in her nature. But for her to keep all knowledge of their son from him wounded him so deeply, he could hardly talk. His eyes smarted.

“What did you name him?”

There was a period of silence before she said, “I…I’m surprised you didn’t find that out since you seem to know everything else.” After another pause while he waited, she added, “He was christened Ari.”

He sucked in his breath. “Is that an Athas family name?”

“No. I just liked it,” she murmured.

Now that he knew that, he liked it, too. Very much, in fact. For the moment she was sounding like the old Stella.

In the past they’d been forced to speak quietly over the phone so her family wouldn’t know she was making plans with him. She hadn’t been allowed to start dating until she was eighteen, but she’d caught his eye before her seventeenth birthday. The thrill of falling in love had made both of them careless.

They’d slipped out at different times to be together. Theo had paid an old fisherman on a regular basis for the use of his wooden rowboat. There had been a protected cove on Salamis and he had always taken her there. They’d swim and then lie on a quilt spread on the sand. Theo knew he shouldn’t touch her, but he couldn’t help it, not when she begged him to make love to her.

She had been so giving, so utterly sweet and passionate while at the same time being so innocent, he had told her that if they waited until she turned eighteen, they’d get married and have a real church wedding. Though they’d tried to wait, there came a day when neither of them could stand it any longer. Once they’d made love, there was no going back.

He cleared his throat, intent on learning everything about his son. There were six years to catch up on. “If you could tell me the most important thing about him, what would it be?”

“I couldn’t pick just one thing.” Her voice shook. “He’s sweet, loving. I think he’s the smartest, kindest little boy in the world.”