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Lena’s heart did a little skip at his possessiveness and couldn’t help the tiny prick of hope. Maybe Yaya had been right with this crazy idea that made so much sense now that they were talking about it. Yaya had told her to trust her; after all, she’d never been wrong before.
“I need to get ahold of Sophia,” she finally managed to say. “We’ll need her signature as well.”
“We can have a lawyer draw up the papers in a day or two,” Apollo said. “Then we’ll Fedex them to Sophia and she’ll have to get to the embassy to have them notarized since they’ll be in Greek.”
“In the meantime, Mick should get a paternity test done,” Lena suggested. “I don’t know how long it takes to get the results.”
“I looked it up,” Mick said, his voice almost sheepish. “It should only take a couple of days if we can send the samples quickly. There’s a private laboratory in London that can do it within 24 hours and will post the results online.”
“You two are going to have to put on a good show,” Apollo said after a moment. “If you want both the U.S. and the Greek courts to believe that you two are married in every sense of the word, so you can get custody, you’ll need to make this work.”
“I can,” Lena said, glancing at Mick. “Can you forgive me for what I did so we can do what we have to for Mihalis?”
“I’ve already forgiven you,” he replied gently. “I understand what happened. My mother can be… intense. I don’t blame you for being afraid. I just wish you’d trusted me to take care of it, but I know why you didn’t, so don’t worry about the past anymore. We do have to talk about the future, though.”
“One thing at a time,” Lena said. “I don’t know how much more I can absorb just yet.”
“You should try ringing Sophia in her room at the resort later today,” Apollo said.
“Is she going to be willing to give up the child she’s raised since birth?” Mick asked.
Lena nodded. “She’ll still be his aunt and have the ability to spend time with him. I can’t imagine she’d say no—it was her idea to come clean.”
“Is the next step getting engaged?” Mick asked, his blue eyes slightly shrouded, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do.
“Don’t you want to wait for the paternity test?” Lena asked, frowning.
“You said you never slept with anyone else while we were together… did you?”
“No.” Her mouth went dry as he looked deep into her eyes. His gaze was unnerving, so intense. So blue. How had she forgotten what it was like when he set those incredible blue eyes on her?
“Unlike you, baby, I trusted you then and I trust you now.”
“Even after what I did?” she demanded, trying to stop feeling so many… feelings.
“You made a mistake but one mistake doesn’t define us. At least, it doesn’t for me. We have a chance now to do the right thing for our son—and I have to believe I wouldn’t have loved you as much as I did if you weren’t the woman I thought you were.”
She blinked rapidly, trying to hide the emotions surging through her veins.
“I have an idea,” Apollo said quickly, standing up. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into the kitchen.
“Are you okay?” Mick asked her softly. “You’re really pale and you’ve been on the verge of tears this whole conversation. I don’t want to do this if it’s going to make you unhappy.”
“I’m not unhappy,” she whispered, trying to express the depth of her feelings without telling him more than she was ready for him to know. “I’m terrified that doing this is going to make you unhappy! I’ve already hurt you once… knowing I did it again would kill me.”
“I’m a big boy, Lena,” he said softly. “And we made Mihalis together—you didn’t do that alone.”
Before she could respond, Apollo came back with something in his hand. “This is my grandmother’s… she gave it to Paige to use as a temporary wedding band until we could buy something together. Paige wears it on a chain around her neck now, but we thought you could borrow it, as a temporary engagement ring until you have time to shop and find something you both want to wear. No matter what happens, you should have rings with meaning—for Mihalis’ sake, if nothing else.”
Lena took the ring and put it on her fourth finger, surprised it was a perfect fit. “Thank you,” she said. “This is so thoughtful and sentimental—it means a lot to me.”
“And to me,” Mick said, holding out his hand to Apollo.
“You’re my brother,” Apollo responded. “What else could I do? It’s not as though I can choose sides—I love you both and Mihalis is my nephew. One way or another we were going to have to come to an understanding and I wasn’t going to give up on either of you to do the right thing.”
“I’m going to go have a good cry,” Lena murmured. “I’ll be okay once I’ve gotten it out of my system.” She hurried out of the room, leaving Mick staring after her regretfully and Apollo thoughtful.
“She’s awfully emotional,” he said. “You haven’t knocked her up again, have you?”
