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“I have no idea,” she admitted, “but maybe we can figure it out together.”
Those were the sweetest words he’d heard in a long time.
It had been a long, emotional evening but Lena didn’t sleep. After getting home she and Mick went their separate ways, agreeing to sleep on everything that had happened and regroup in the morning. Sleep was the last thing on her mind, though. Pulling her knees up to her chest as she watched the sun come up, she stared out at the sea and thought about what she needed to do to get through this. Once upon a time she and Mick had been two halves of a whole. She knew the way he thought, the way he handled stress, his work ethic, and on top of that, she was acutely aware of how intensely he loved. He might not ever love her again, but he would love their little boy with everything he had. She had to focus on that, and not on the whirlwind of emotions he’d evoked when he’d kissed her last night. God, she’d missed him and it had taken all of her resolve not to throw herself at him when they got home.
Impulsively pulling out her phone, she called the one person she could not only trust, but also count on for sound advice. Her grandmother had helped raise her and they were close. Thespina Lakkas was her father’s mother and had lived with them after she became a widow in her late 40s. Though she was in her late 60s now, she was spry and active, with a mischievous sense of humor and wisdom that went beyond her age. She was close to all her grandchildren, but Lena was a favorite. Lena had nearly told her the truth many times since Mihalis was born, but it had never been the right time. Now it was.
“Pos eise, pethi mou?” How are you, my child?
“Terrible,” she muttered in English.
“Ti?” What?
Lena switched to Greek. “I’ve made such a mess, Yaya.”
“With Mihalis?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you and Sophia handled it? That you would help her raise him with Giorgios?”
“But Giorgios isn’t his father.”
Thespina paused. “It’s that boy from college, isn’t it? Apollo’s friend Mikos.”
Thespina had always called Mick “Mikos” even though she never had trouble calling any of their other American friends by their American names. It had always amused Lena, but now it just made her sad; Mick and Apollo were so damn close and she didn’t want their friendship to suffer. She told her grandmother everything, going back to the night Mick’s mother had approached her nearly four years ago, and ending with what she and Sophia had done when she went into labor. When she finally finished, Thespina was silent, which was very unlike her.
“Yaya?” Lena asked softly, almost wondering if she’d hung up.
“I’m here.”
“Are you mad?”
“No. I’m just so very sad for you. I wish you had trusted me when you were pregnant—I would have come to America to help you make a better decision.”
Lena sighed. “It’s too late for that. What do I do now, Yaya? How do I make things okay again?”
“Ayapi mou, tell me something.” My love.
“Of course.”
“Do you love him?”
“It’s been nearly four years and—”
“That’s not what I asked,” Thespina interrupted firmly. “Do you love him? Is he the reason you never married Kosta? Is he why you don’t even look at the men who ask you to go out with them? Does your heart beat faster when he’s in the room? Do you see him each time you look in your son’s eyes? Tell me the truth, Lena.”
“How do you hold on to that kind of love?” Lena whispered, leaning back and letting her hair trail out behind her. “How can I still love a man I haven’t been with for four years?”
Her grandmother laughed. “Your grandfather has been dead for twenty-five years and I still love him with all my heart—I’ll never get over my Apollo.” Lena’s brother had been named after his paternal grandfather.
“But you had a life together!” Lena protested. “Children, a home, a family. Mick and I had…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of a way to describe it.
“Fun?” Thespina suggested.
“Well, yes, of course. We were in college, having the time of our lives.”
“Romance?”
