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‘There’s nothing to forgive, Loukis. For so long, I was afraid of it all coming out. Of people thinking exactly what Meredith did. And I think I needed that. I needed to actually see it and feel it, to realise that it’s how I see myself that matters. That I know that wasn’t what I had intended. And that sometimes people do make mistakes. Unintentional ones. Like me. Like my father. How did you...?’
‘I called him, told him what happened. That I loved you and asked him if he could provide a statement for the court. He was more than happy to do so and within twenty minutes of the end of our conversation, he’d emailed it through.’
‘You did that for me?’ she asked as if still incredulous at the lengths he would go to for her.
‘I would doanythingfor you,’ he replied, the promise on his lips soul-deep and eternal.
‘Do you think the judge is still in the chamber?’
‘No idea.’ Loukis was confused as to the direction of her thoughts. ‘Why?’
‘Because I can’t wait a minute longer to become Mrs Célia Liordis. I think it will be my most favourite name yet.’
Loukis’s heart soared. This incredible woman wanted to be his wife, his future and his love. And Annabelle would be with them for every step of it. Family. The thing he’d avoided for so many years was now the only thing he wanted from the rest of his very happy ever after.
EPILOGUE
AUGUSTHADBECOMECélia’s favourite month. Since their wedding—sadly not the day of the court case owing to licences and other frustrating legalities, but a beautiful day full of family, friends, flowers and the most gorgeous dress Célia had ever seen—Ella and Roman’s family would come to the island for four whole magical weeks.
It hadn’t been long after the wedding that Célia had discovered she was pregnant with their first child, Georgia, and then not long after their second, Antonis, much to Annabelle’s great delight. With Ella and Roman’s children, Tatiana, Adeline and Tikhon, Loukis would joke about opening a crèche.
But that wasn’t what was occupying a large portion of Célia’s recent spare time. She had gone back to university, deciding to honour her childhood dreams of computer sciences. She had no plans yet to return to the industry, but as she now well knew...plans changed and people changed with them.
Even Meredith, she ruefully acknowledged. It had taken a long time, but Loukis and his mother seemed to have found a balance and a sense of accord from their mutual love of Annabelle. The older woman had eventually apologised when she realised how much damage her actions in court had caused to others. It appeared she had truly been in love with Byron and in her desperation to be the perfect wife and mother he envisioned, she had gone too far. But Meredith had worked hard to prove her love for her fiancé as well as Annabelle and was even making tentative steps towards repairing her relationship with Loukis too.
It was the only thing that had prompted the hesitant suggestion from Loukis that perhaps the following August, they might invite Meredith for a short period. Célia had known how difficult that had been for him, but she also knew how important it was to forge those relationships—as she had done herself with her own parents. August had become the most precious time for them all. All business was put on hold and each company’s workforce was given a month-long holiday to spend with their own families, because each and every one of them knew the importance of it.
As Célia checked and rechecked the fridge and pantry, ensuring that there was enough food for their first evening meal together that year, she paused—delighting in hearing the joyous sounds of Annabelle playing with Georgia and Antonis, their excitement at being reunited with Tatiana, Adeline and Tikhon. A last-minute addition of Yalena, Iannis and their family wouldn’t even put a dent in all the food and produce Loukis had ordered.
‘Do you think we’ve got enough?’ her husband asked from over her shoulder.
‘What, for the apocalypse? Yup. We should survive,’ she replied drily.
‘No one will go hungry in my house,’ he declared.
‘Little chance of that,’ she assured him, turning towards Loukis as he reached his arms around her waist and drew her towards him. They never tired of the little touches that had brought them so close together in the early stages of their relationship. And Célia had never stopped wondering at the fact that something so wonderful, so pure, so loving could have come from such fake beginnings.
‘Mmm...’ she mused. ‘Why is it that I’m thinking you’re hungry, but not for food?’ she teased.
‘Because you know me so, so well.’
‘I also know,so,so well, that our guests will be arriving in little under two hours and I’ve still yet to put the bedding in the spare rooms, tidy the sitting room, and clear away the playthings from the outside table.’
‘Ella and Roman won’t mind. They’re used to it.’
‘But Yalena and Iannis—’
‘Will absolutely, one hundred per cent understand. Anyone who has taken one look at my beautiful wife would understand,’ he assured her.
And it made her think of all the ways he’d seen her since that day in the courtroom. Flush with the excitement of their reunion, the passion he could tease from her, terrified and exhausted as her first labour went from its thirty-sixth hour into an emergency C-section, awed and infinitely full of love as she held their first child, then their second just a few years later. Grief-stricken when she had lost her father, but resolute and comforted by the way that they had found a peace between them and forged a loving relationship in those final years. But the best of it was each and every morning when she opened her eyes to find him looking at her as if he’d never seen anything more beautiful or more beloved.
The soft bent of her thoughts was yanked back to the present with an outrageous cry as he slapped her behind.
‘Bedroom. Now,’ he commanded with light, laughter and passion ringing his gaze.
The absolutegallof the gorgeous man she was proud to call her husband, the father of her children and the love of her life.
Her outrage died the moment she saw the impassioned look in his eyes and she raced him all the way to the bedroom and beyond.
