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“On what?”
“You. If you are at the helm, it should remain Dukas Shipping, shouldn’t it?”
“At the helm? Damen, I don’t know anything about the business yet.”
“You can learn it. You’re a fast study. You figured me out in less than a week.”
She exhaled softly, her eyes stinging. “Do you mean this?”
“I do.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“The business relationship, or the personal? Because they’re separate, Kass. You can have one without the other. You can choose any option and not be with me.”
A lump filled her throat. He was saying all the right things and giving her all the reassurance she needed, but it made her feel worse. It made her feel impossibly guilty. She had to tell him about the pregnancy. It was time, more than time, but it also might change everything because she was sure he’d be upset that she’d kept the secret so long. Telling him the truth might ruin everything now.
Blinking back tears, she blurted, “I’m pregnant, Damen. I’m twenty-two weeks along.”
He didn’t immediately reply. The silence was deafening. Her heart pounded so hard she thought she might get sick.
“Damen?” she whispered after a long minute. “Please say something.”
“Open the door, kitten. I’m still here. Outside.”
She raced to the door and flung it open, wiping away tears as he stepped into her foyer.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, drawing her into his arms.
“Please don’t be mad—” she choked.
“Not mad.” He kissed the top of her head. “Is the baby healthy? Are you okay?”
“We’re both good. It’s been an easy pregnancy. The only hard part is knowing you were so far away.”
He released her, his hands on her shoulders. “I haven’t been far away. I’ve been here in San Francisco the entire time.”
“What?”
“I didn’t want to be far in case you needed me.”
“Damen.”
“How could I be sure you were safe if I was on the other side of the world?”
“But you never came to see me! And my father let me think you were coming and going—”
“That was him being dramatic, that was not from me. I never went anywhere. I have a suite at the Palace Hotel and it’s where I go every night after I leave Dukas Shipping.”
“Did you ever come by the house? Did you ever try to see me?”
“I drove past every day. I sometimes parked across the street just to watch your lights come on and off.”
She drew back, feeling worse, not better. “Did you know I was pregnant?”
“I suspected, but wasn’t sure.” He grimaced. “My mother thought you might be.”
“What? How?”
He shrugged. “She’s always had a sixth sense about things like this.”
Kassiani blinked. “So why give me those options if you knew I was pregnant?”
“Because you have always wanted to be part of the business, and there is no reason this pregnancy or future pregnancies should keep you from being part of the business. The only reason you shouldn’t work is because you don’t want to.”
“I thought traditional Greek wives stayed home.”
“I don’t want a traditional Greek wife. I want you.”
“What if I choose Option 1, to remain in San Francisco and live independent of you?”
“Then I’d buy a house here so I could be part of our child’s life.”
“You love Greece.”
“I love you and our child more.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything right now. Think about it. Take time. In fact, take a lot of time. Just allow me to woo you and court you, and spoil you. Let me show you that I can be a good husband. Let me prove to you that I can be trusted.”
Her heart ached. “It’s been a bumpy four months.”
“Very bumpy. And it’s my fault—”
“No. It’s mine. You were promised the best daughter—”
“And I married the best daughter,” he said fiercely. “You were the best and only option for me. You and your strength and your courage helped me confront a past that has kept me from living, and loving, and I wouldn’t be here, who I am now, if it wasn’t for you being you. I love you, Kassiani, and I will love you for as long as we both shall live.”
* * *
He did woo her properly, too, taking her out to dinners and the theater, and even to an American football game, which neither of them enjoyed very much, but Damen had reserved a whole luxury box and they ended up sitting at the back, kissing and talking, and it was there that Kassiani asked him about Iris, and his parents.
“I don’t understand why you blame your parents for what happened to you when you were a boy,” she said softly, uncertainly, “unless it’s because they couldn’t protect you—”
“I don’t blame them, at all.”
“But you don’t...like...your mother?”
“Dislike my mother? No! Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Because you don’t see her and she said you’ve changed, and become hard—”
“Not toward her, kitten. But, yes, I changed. And it isn’t easy seeing her, knowing that she refuses to let me buy her a nice house, or make her more comfortable, and a son is supposed to provide for his mother, but she’s stubborn and insists on living as she always has.”
“So you’re not punishing her?”
“Is that what you thought?”
Her shoulders lifted and fell. “I thought because of Iris, you maybe...blamed them...”
“No. I don’t blame them in any way for what happened. They were victims, too. And I would give anything to have my mother come to Athens, and be part of my life there. But so far, she’s stubborn and has refused my invitations.”
“And you struggle with going to Adras.”
He nodded. “Our stalemate, yes.”
She processed this for a moment. “And Iris? You’ve blamed yourself for her death, too, haven’t you?”
He nodded again, his strong jaw flexing.
“Do you know why she took her life? Did you two have a fight?”
“No. But I’ve had plenty of time to think about that as well, and the only thing I can come up with is that she felt betrayed by me after I left Adras.”
“Why? Was she pregnant?”
“No! But we’d always talked about our future and how we were going to marry and then I left, and I never looked back.”
“A year after I left, she died.”
Kassiani squeezed his hand. “You do know that you weren’t responsible—”
“She’d reached out to me, a number of times, writing letters, long letters. I never answered them. I never—” He broke off. “I did fail her. I know I did. But I thought I was doing her a favor. I thought she’d be happier without me. I was so damaged at that point. I was not the boy she’d loved.”
“And you blamed yourself all these years.”
Kassiani reached up, her hand lightly cupping his jaw with just a hint of rasp from his beard. “No more guilt, no more blame,” she whispered, kissing him. “No more looking back.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you, my husband.”
* * *
After a month and a half of dating her husband, Kassiani chose Option 3, and they were now back in Greece, in time for her third trimester. And while Greece wasn’t yet home, she felt comfortable there because Damen made everything feel right. Wherever he was, she wanted to be.
She went into the corporate office with him each day, and he kissed her goodbye at the elevator and she went to her office while he went to his. She worked closely with one of his managers, learning the ropes a
nd everything she could about the shipping industry. Some of the men she worked with were crusty and unhelpful, while others were delighted that a member of the Dukas shipping family had joined Aegean’s team.
