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Mia thought about it for a moment. Given their tumultuous history, wouldn’t some women have held out for more? Hadn’t she heard someone at work talking about making her mangrovel? Well, maybe that was okay for some people, but not her. It smacked too much of manipulation and that was just not her thing. Because she had adored this man from the moment she’d met him and had never stopped adoring him, no matter how hard she’d tried. Her clever, charismatic, mercurial and always surprising Theo. The man who had been so short of real love despite all his stellar achievements.
She thought of the journey they’d travelled to get to this place and nobody could deny what a difficult and meandering path it had been—but none of life’s paths were ever completely straightforward, were they?
What did she say?
There was really only one thing he needed to hear. Eternal words which encompassed just about everything.
‘I love you, Theo,’ she said.
EPILOGUE
‘YOULOOK...’
‘Tired?’ Mia prompted as Theo’s words trailed off.
‘Different,’ he said thoughtfully.
She finished removing her blouse and dropped it in the laundry basket before putting her arms around his neck. ‘How?’
‘I don’t know.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘You look particularly beautiful this evening.’
‘Theo, I don’t.’
‘Mia, youdo.’
‘How can I when I’ve been helping at the rescue centre all afternoon and the air-conditioning broke down?’ She wriggled her shoulders and gave a satisfied sigh. ‘And all I want to do now is to have a long, cool shower.’
‘Mmm... What a good idea,’ he murmured, unclipping her bra with consummate ease and bending his mouth to hook it around one rocky nipple. ‘I just might join you.’
She giggled as they wriggled out of their clothes and turned on the powerful jets, her laughter quickly turning into gasps of pleasure as she wrapped her legs around Theo’s back and he thrust inside her, the tiles deliciously cool against her back. Ecstatically her fingers dug into his wet flesh as he took up a hard and exquisite rhythm which made her gasp with pleasure. He knew her so well yet every time he made love to her, it felt as incredible as the first time. Soon she was shuddering out his name, revelling in his own urgent moan, which was drowned out by the gushing torrents of water.
Afterwards they dried off and wrapped themselves in light silk robes to wander out onto the bedroom terrace, where they sat on the swing seat in the soft heat of the early evening and gazed out at the gold-edged and glittering sea.
‘Would you like something to drink?’ he murmured against her damp curls.
But Mia leaned her head back against his arm and shook her head. ‘Not yet,’ she said drowsily. ‘I just want to sit here and count my blessings.’
And there were so many.
Following Theo’s declaration of love, Mia had left the Granchester hotel—the farewell party they threw for her was still being talked about weeks later—and had moved permanently to Greece, where she’d started learning the language in earnest.
After renewing their wedding vows in the same small church where they’d married the first time, Mia had laid her posy of pure white lily-of-the-valley on the grave of her beloved grandfather and said a silent prayer for him.
She had advised the veterinary nursing college that she’d have to let her place go—she was going to be busy enough learning Greek and setting up their new animal rescue centre. And being Theo’s wife, of course. Because Theowasher life, as she was his. They enjoyed friends and concerts, eating out and reading. All the usual stuff. But her relationship with her husband underpinned her happiness.
A contented Tycheros now lived with them and Mia had been angling for a puppy to keep him company, and although Theo wasn’tquiteconvinced, she was confident he’d come around to her way of thinking. He usually did. Her grandfather had left his entire estate to her, which she had ploughed into the rescue centre, where she volunteered as much as she could. Of course, that would all soon change because she wouldn’t have quite so much time on her hands.
With the swing-seat rocking softly, she turned to look at the man beside her—at the dark chiselled profile which looked much softer these days—and her heart turned over with love and longing.
Sensing her gaze on him, he glanced down, his lazy smile indulgent. ‘What?’ he questioned.
‘I love you,’ she said.
‘And...’ His eyes narrowed perceptively. ‘I sense there’s an “and” coming.’
‘I’m pregnant, Theo,’ she whispered, her voice breaking a little. ‘I’m having your baby.’
A split second of incredulity was followed by a look in his eyes which Mia couldn’t properly describe, though later she tried her best, when they were lying in bed in the bright moonlight. She told him she had seen his hope and excitement—along with a tiny dash of natural fear. All the stuff which happened to every prospective parent.
As she gazed out at the metallic sea in front of them, Mia gave a sigh of blissful contentment...
Because most of all she had seen his love.
