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Jane trembled. ‘How could I tell you? I thought you were going to marry Ariadne.’
‘Hristo, Jane, you knew why I was marrying Ariadne!’
Jane shook her head. ‘I know. But—so much had happened. I couldn’t bear the thought that you might think I had only got pregnant to ruin your life for a second time.’
‘Not telling me about this baby would have ruined my life,’ Demetri assured her forcefully. ‘Theos, a baby! I’m going to be a father! I can’t believe it.’
‘But—you’re—happy about it?’
Demetri cupped her face in his hands and pressed a hungry kiss to her open mouth. ‘I’m not just happy,’ he told her thickly. ‘I’m freakin’ ecstatic! My wife! My baby! Theos, it doesn’t get any better than this…’
EPILOGUE
NIKOLAS DEMETRI LEONIDES SOUVAKIS was born on Valentine’s Day. He weighed in at a massive ten pounds five ounces, and Jane was pale but triumphant when her in-laws came to view the new arrival.
Demetri had been with her throughout the twenty-four hours of her labour. And, although at times he would have opted for a Caesarean, Jane had wanted to have their son naturally, wanted Demetri’s hands to be the first the baby felt on his arrival into the world.
It was wonderful that Leo could be there to hold his grandson, too. Actually, in recent months, since he’d welcomed Jane back to Kalithi again and learned of her pregnancy, he seemed to have acquired a second lease of life. And despite her opposition to their reunion , even Demetri’s mother had been unable to hide her pride that she was going to be a grandmother at last.
Stefan, too, had been to see his nephew, but now he’d flown to England to bring Jane’s mother and sister back for a visit. Even Mrs Lang had been persuaded that her daughter had never been happier, and, because there was going to be a new baby visiting her house, she was much more tolerant of her other grandchildren’s antics than she had used to be.
Olga, meanwhile, had sent a message expressing her delight at the news. She would come out to see the baby on one of her frequent buying trips to Greece. Jane knew Olga was hoping that one day she’d reopen the gallery in Kalithi, but that would be a long time in the future, if at all.
Jane’s mother and Lucy had arrived and welcomed the new baby, but now they’d returned to the villa and the suite of rooms Angelena had prepared for them. It had been agreed that all guests should stay at the villa and not with Jane and Demetri. Her daughter-in-law needed rest, Maria Souvakis had insisted, for the first time considering Jane’s feelings before her own.
It was much later that night before Jane and Demetri were alone together. Jane had slept for a while and then taken a shower, and when her husband came into their bedroom she was looking deliciously relaxed and rested in an ivory satin nightgown with tiny pearl buttons down the front. Demetri thought she’d bloomed in the last six months, and their happiness was palpable.
‘Tired?’ Demetri asked now, coming to sit on the side of the bed nearest his wife, and Jane stroked his cheek.
‘A little,’ she conceded. ‘But I’ll get over it. How about you? You haven’t even been to bed.’
Demetri shrugged. ‘I don’t like sleeping alone,’ he confessed softly, playing with the buttons on the front of her gown.
‘You don’t have to,’ she said at once, moving across the huge bed to give him room. ‘Come on. You know you want to.’
Demetri hesitated. ‘You need your sleep,’ he said, glancing at the clock.
‘You need yours,’ she countered. ‘I want you to stay, Demetri. I don’t like sleeping alone either.’
Demetri regarded her for a long moment and then he stood and unfastened his shirt. Tossing it onto a chair, he followed it with his trousers, and then drew back the covers to get into bed.
‘You don’t sleep in boxers,’ Jane pointed out huskily, and, with a rueful grimace, Demetri kicked them off as well.
‘Goodness knows what Nurse Seledha will say when she brings Nikolas for his feed,’ Jane added, teasingly. And when Demetri would have protested, she reached over him and turned off the lamp. ‘Don’t fret, my darling. She’ll just be envious of me.’
