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And then the reaction set in. The same one that had hit her that night in the restaurant. Her tongue felt heavy, the clamminess, nausea and that awful tightening in her chest.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
KALLIE was struggling to breathe through the intense pain. ‘I can’t…Alex…I can’t breathe…can’t move…’
For a moment when Kallie pushed weakly at Alexandros’s chest, he thought she was still fighting him. He looked down. She was pasty. That same colour as the night in the restaurant. Panic slammed into his body, even as he tried to rationalise what could be causing the same reaction.
He lifted her up into his arms and strode through the house, an unbidden and constricting fear making him feel uncoordinated. He bellowed for Thea and when she appeared at the top of the stairs he instructed her to call the doctor.
After Kallie had thrown up, he brought her over to the bed and sat there, cradling her in his lap, until the intense, violent shaking calmed somewhat, until the storm had passed and she could breathe again. She was so limp that he felt a shard of ice slice through his chest. He was about to shout for Thea again when the doctor appeared at the door. The relief he felt was intense.
He paced up and down outside while the doctor examined Kallie. Thea was wringing her hands. Finally the doctor came out and told Thea to make Kallie a hot, sweet cup of tea. Thea left. Alexandros looked at the doctor, barely able to stay civil.
‘Well?’
The doctor took off his glasses and put them away. He looked at Alexandros, and led him away from the door. ‘From what I can see, and I’ve given her a thorough check-up, your wife has just suffered a severe panic attack. They’re not serious but can be very frightening to the person undergoing it, and to the people with them. The common symptoms are shortness of breath, rising fear, shaking, nausea, feeling like they can’t breathe, intense chest pain…She has all those—a classic case.’
Alexandros reeled. A panic attack?
‘It happened out on the patio…is there any reason why it might have happened there?’
Alexandros felt a grim suspicion settle into him. ‘Maybe…I’m not sure.’
The doctor continued, ‘She told me the same thing happened one night when she had alcohol—she said until then she hadn’t had a drink since she was in her teens. It’s extreme but possible she could have reacted like that. It would seem to me that it’s all linked. Something happened and ever since then something triggers the reaction. It’s a lot more common than you’d think…’ The doctor frowned slightly and shrugged. ‘Only she knows the answer.’
Alexandros was grim, things that he didn’t want to face becoming illuminated, begging for his attention. ‘Thank you for coming at such short notice.’
The doctor shrugged. ‘No problem. Any time.’
As he watched the doctor walk away, Alexandros couldn’t halt the image coming into his head of Kallie that night, aged seventeen, taking the bottle of ouzo out of his hands and drinking. Yet she’d never touched a drop since he’d seen her again, except that night at the restaurant. If the doctor was right and she’d stopped drinking years ago…He rubbed a weary hand over his face.
Thea came back up and he took the cup of tea she’d prepared, bringing it into the bedroom. Kallie looked at him from under the covers with big scared eyes. He made her drink the tea and watched as the colour came back into her face.
‘Alexandros…’ she said finally.
‘Shh.’ He put a finger to her lips. ‘We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some rest.’
They had a lot to talk about. He left the room only when she fell asleep, then he went back downstairs to the patio. He didn’t sleep that night.
And very early he got into his vehicle and left the villa.
Kallie woke and sank back against the pillows, groaning. She couldn’t believe she’d had that reaction again. And could it really just have been a panic attack, as the doctor had suggested? Yet it seemed to make sense, as she remembered her shock on realising where they were last night.
Could it really be because of that night? Could she have been so upset—and hurt—by what had happened that she’d somehow, in her head, placed her fears and guilt onto something random like alcohol that night in the restaurant? Used it as a trigger? How else would she have had exactly the same reaction just from being on the patio?
She felt a weight lift off her shoulders, even as she felt absurdly embarrassed and mortified. What must Alexandros think? A hysterical female. She swung out of bed, relieved not to feel the familiar morning nausea. She cringed again. He’d already witnessed her emptying the contents of her stomach into a toilet bowl. Not exactly the most romantic thing in the world. But, then, what did romance have to do with any of this anyway?
She got dressed into casual trousers and a sweater, tied her hair back and went downstairs with a leaden feeling in her chest. If anything was likely to make Alexandros run to arrange a divorce, this was it. He’d go back into the smooth, coiffed arms of Isabelle Zolanz in a heartbeat rather than watch Kallie throw up again. She didn’t even have the energy to castigate herself for that thought not making her happy.
Thea met her and Kallie gave up silent thanks that they were friends again. She couldn’t have borne Thea’s condemnation any more. Thea fussed around Kallie and made her breakfast, sitting down beside her at the kitchen table where Kallie had insisted on eating.
‘When are you going to tell him?’
Kallie nearly choked on her toast. ‘Excuse me?’
Thea looked stern. ‘You know very well what I’m talking about…’
Kallie’s stomach fell and she said brightly, ‘Oh, that? It was just a panic attack, can you believe that? I’m fine now. The doctor even said that once you know what it is, it can stop happening.’
