Husband By Request

“I think I’d better.”

She sat up against the headboard. He reached for the phone on the bedstand and handed it to her.

“Hello?” she said, after clicking on.

“This is Dominique?” a female voice asked in heavily accented English.

“Yes.”

“I am Elektra. Alex said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yes. Thank you for calling me, Elektra.”

“That is fine. You have cancer too?”

“I did have. I hope it’s gone for good.”

“I hope the same thing for me.”

“Do you run as part of your exercise?”

“No, but I think about doing it.”

“Would you mind if I come by the gym tomorrow evening and talk to you after you’re finished with your workout?”

“Fine. Seven o’clock. I will look for you.”

“Thank you so much. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Andreas relieved her of the phone and put it back on the table. “You’ve been busy today. Already making inroads on your plans. You’re a very remarkable woman, Dominique. I’ll go with you tomorrow night and put in a workout.”

Her husband was true to his word.

The next evening they both worked out and got acqua

inted with Elektra. Alex joined in their conversation and said he would help to organize the run. He’d already collected a list of six names for her.

When they reached the penthouse, Dominique made an omelet for them before they went to bed. Andreas didn’t try to make love to her. They simply held each other until they fell asleep. It formed a pattern for the rest of the week.

On Friday evening they had dinner at his parents’ home. Just the four of them. While Andreas and Eli chatted in the living room, Dominique helped his mother in the kitchen. She’d made her son’s favorite dishes.

Before the night was over Dominique had written down the recipes so she could experiment at the penthouse. Everything seemed to be going along so pleasantly, by Saturday she’d almost forgotten their haunting problem.

After breakfast they flew to Zakynthos for a day of swimming and sun. The weather was idyllic. While they lay on mattresses and floated around in the pool, she practiced the Greek she’d learned on Andreas.

He was actually a much better teacher than her tutor at the university. She couldn’t imagine ever speaking Greek like a native, but she was determined to try. Andreas was very complimentary.

In truth he was wonderful to her, and waited on her hand and foot. She felt like a royal princess. Food and drinks appeared before she asked. He turned on music, some soft Greek rock that was so much fun to listen to. Everything from CDs to television helped her pick up the language.

They ended up playing a game where she couldn’t say anything unless it was in Greek. At first Andreas asked her easy questions that only required one word answers. Then little by little the answers became more complicated and she started using infinitives instead of conjugated verbs.

He laughed so hard he fell into the pool and pulled her after him. While they were under the water, he kissed her. The kind of kiss he hadn’t given her for several days.

When they surfaced, he carried her out of the pool into the house. Eleni caught up with them before they reached the bedroom.

“I’m very sorry to interrupt you, kyrie, but Olympia is calling from Athens. She’s worried about little Ari and wants to talk to you.”