Husband By Request

“Except for the one he wanted,” she whispered.

Andreas groaned.

“Darling—do you remember when you entered the bedroom at the villa and teased him about having hidden talents?”

“What about it?”

“He was turned away from you so you couldn’t see him, but his face went red because you’d caught him in a tender moment, interacting with the baby. It was very revealing. I saw a whole new side to him I hadn’t realized was there. I bet he’s been silently grieving for Maris all this time and no one knew it. Tonight while we were watching the videos, I watched his face. His eyes were glued to Maris the entire time.”

“He should have told me,” Andreas muttered in a tortured voice.

“It was too long ago, and you couldn’t have done anything about it,” she said. “But maybe sometime you might ask him if it’s true. It’s possible he’ll unburden himself. I’m thinking it might be a relief to him. Like Olympia’s secret, that drove such a wedge between us, his secret may have deprived him of ultimate happiness with Maris. Tonight was good for your parents, but I got the feeling Paul left the penthouse with a heavy heart.”

He stared hard at her for a minute. “What else did my brilliant wife see tonight in those videos that I didn’t?”

“A handsome little boy who grew up into a gorgeous, vital man. One who I can’t believe saved himself for me,” she admitted in a tremulous voice.

Andreas lifted her face to him. “I love you, Dominique. You’re my very life. Come to bed with me. I want to show you over and over again what you mean to me. I need you, darling, now more than ever.”

How long had she waited to hear those words and know he really meant them…?

Monday morning, Dominique left her tutor’s office at the University of Athens with an armful of assignments. Next she took a taxi to Acropolis Hospital, where she arranged to meet with the head of volunteers to talk about her new project.

During a party on Saturday night, that she and Andreas had hosted for some prominent businessmen and their wives, he had surprised her by announcing that his wife was going to head a new cancer foundation center.

It had been his way of letting her know she could depend on his full support, even if it was still hard for him to deal head-on with the subject.

Nothing could have thrilled her more. Their marriage was going to work. She just knew it.

But there was one person she wanted to talk to.

Before she left the hospital, she phoned Paul and asked him to meet her for lunch. He must have sensed it was important, because he didn’t hesitate to join her at a little café near the hospital.

She got there first, and ordered juice while she waited for him. Always prompt, he approached her table before long and sat down to peruse the menu.

After the waiter came and they’d both ordered salad, he said, “Thank you for inviting me the other night. You’re an excellent cook.”

She smiled. “I don’t mind hearing that twice. But compliments weren’t the reason I wanted to see you.”

“I didn’t think so. What’s going on?”

“Paul—” She stared at

him. “Did you know Olympia was raped?”

The silence between them lasted a long time. Eventually he said, “I didn’t know about the rape until months after you’d gone back to Sarajevo.”

“So my husband kept it from you too?”

“I doubt he would ever have told me, but we had a fight over you and it finally came out.”

“You fought over me?”

“Yes. I told him he was a fool not to go after you and beg you to come back to him. He was bitterly angry at the time, and said that if you didn’t have enough faith in him and his love for you, then it was too late for your marriage.

“That’s when I told him that if I’d been in your shoes I would have done the same thing and left him too. One thing led to another. We traded verbal blows until he finally admitted that there were things I didn’t know—things he’d had to keep a secret from you. When he told me about the rape, I told him he was an idiot to have ever believed anything Olympia told him.”

Dominique blinked. “Then you don’t think she was really raped?”