“My fictional cousin Leia Vasilakis was in reality a friend I met in Nicosia while I lived there. Her family worked with my grandfather who was the ambassador on Cyprus then. He made all of us take fictional names while on vacation because of political unrest, fearing the enemy might use me for a target.”
Nico listened, but he had a hard time taking it all in.
“Last evening you told me you thought something horrible had happened to me. That was my grandfather’s fear when I went on vacation, that an enemy might try to take me hostage to force my grandfather’s hand in some insidious way. Thus the fake name. But I was never taken hostage. The person who carried out the treachery was my own friend, Monika Gataki. You knew her as Leia.”
What she was saying now had the ring of truth, leaving Nico dumbstruck.
“Her family asked me to spend my three-week vacation with them in Salonica. The second day we arrived, I met you. From that first moment, Monika was so consumed by jealousy over my relationship with you, she found a way to hurt us and returned every letter you wrote to me at her parents’ address. Her revenge was as total as Hera’s, destroying your life and mine.”
With each veil dashed from his eyes, Nico struggled for breath. “How could anyone have been that spiteful?”
“I asked myself that same question.” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t know what she’d done until four years later when she phoned me out of guilt and told me the truth. I almost died with that revelation, knowing it was too late for us.”
“Too late?”
“Yes. My grandfather made inquiries about you and found out you were just recently married.”
Nico wheeled around. Anger raged inside him. “It’s never too late to learn you’re a father! Married or not, why in the hell didn’t you tell me we had a child? In fact, why didn’t you get in touch with me the second you knew you were pregnant?”
She edged away from him. “I knew you’d ask me these questions. But the reasoning of a seventeen-year-old girl who was intimidated by what Monika had told me about your family won’t make any sense to you. I’ve known from the beginning that neither Dimitra or you will ever forgive me. I’m leaving it up to the two of you to do what you want now that you both know the truth.”
In the next instant she ran past him and the tourists toward the parking area while he stood there with the birth certificate—his daughter’s birth c
ertificate—still clutched in his hand.
* * *
Alexa had done the unpardonable to Nico. The second she returned to the house, a sobbing Dimitra met her in the living room. Her daughter had gotten dressed and had been waiting for her. She held up one of the letters.
“I’ve been reading everything. This is his first letter to you. He loved you, Mama. He really loved you! I don’t know how Monika could have done that to you. But it’s your lie I can’t forgive. You could have gotten in touch with his family when you found out you were pregnant. They would have contacted him. He would have uncovered the mystery because he’s that kind of man. All these years I could have had my father.”
“Honey—”
“I’m leaving,” she broke in. “Kristos phoned and is coming for me. My father has already told him what you confessed at the monastery. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” She flew out the front door.
“Dimitra—”
“Let her go, Alexa. Give her time.”
She turned to her grandfather. “I did it all wrong, Papoú.”
“You did what you felt was best for everyone. But now you have another problem.”
“I know. My penance will be to live with what I’ve done for the rest of my life.”
“That too, but I just had a call from Kýrie Angelis. He’s coming by for you in...” he checked his watch “...twenty minutes.”
She panicked. “I don’t believe it.”
“Why? Dimitra needed to go off and talk everything over with Kristos. That leaves Nico. You dropped your bombshell, now he needs to talk everything over with you. He’s one of the most important men in Greece, a man who has been used to taking charge all his life and doesn’t hesitate. That’s why he’s so successful.”
Alexa shuddered. “I’ve told him everything.”
“In one hour? You think?” Her grandfather laughed.
“I’m afraid of his anger.”
“I don’t blame you, but now you’ve opened the door.”