The Greek's Christmas Baby

CHAPTER ONE

"She's coming out of it."

Eden heard the words, but didn't recognize the voice. Her eyelids felt glued together over a layer of sandpaper. It took a Herculean effort to force them apart and, at first, all she saw was white light and moving shadows.

There were more words, but they sounded like they were coming from under water.

Someone moved to her right. "Yes, Doctor."

Her eyes began to adjust, making recognizable interpretations of the light and shadows.

A young doctor bent over her, his pale blue eyes intent on her face. "Hello, Mrs Kouros. I'm Adam Lewis, the doctor on call when you were brought in. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a truck," she rasped. Her tongue felt parched and swollen.

"You were…or at least your car was."

Images flashed in her mind. Driving rain, a wet road, the sound of squealing tires. Headlights coming straight at them. The grating honk of a car's horn, long and penetrating. Aristide swearing in Greek and English. His arm coming out to shield her, the airbags rendering the gesture superfluous. Her brown hair swirling around her face, it and the airbag blocking everything else from view.

More distressing images bombarded her and her hand moved restlessly to cover her still-flat stomach.

Her gray eyes clung to the doctor's, begging reassurance. "My baby?"

The paramedics had said the tiny life inside her probably wouldn't survive the trauma, but she'd prayed desperately they were wrong. She didn't remember anything from that desperate prayer until waking up just now.

"You're still pregnant."

"Thank God," she said brokenly, relief pouring through her slight body.

"Unfortunately, you're spotting. The good news is that there is no amniotic fluid in the blood. However, the amniotic sac has disengaged from the wall of your womb in one place. We'll do everything we can to save the baby, but the next seventy-two hours are going to be critical. You must remain in this bed and stay calm."

She nodded and winced at the ache in her head. "Hurts…"

"Yes." He shone a small flashlight in her eyes and made a note on her chart. "You're suffering a minor concussion and have several small abrasions on your right arm from shattered glass."

Now that he mentioned it, her arm did sting, but her entire body felt like she'd been beaten.

Where was Aristide? Surely he wouldn't leave her to face this alone. He might not love her, but he adored being a father. Even after their argument, he would be by her bedside for the baby's sake.

"Where is my husband?"

The doctor laid his hand on her forearm. "You must remain calm, are we agreed on that?"

"Yes." She willed her emotions in check, despite fear trying to take a choke-hold on her. "Please tell me."

"Mr Kouros is in a room down the hall. His vitals aren't bad, but he hasn't come round yet."

"He's in a coma?"

"Yes."

She flinched as if the word had been a physical blow. She felt like it had been. Prior to the accident she'd convinced herself and told Aristide that she was ready for her marriage to end. She had believed there was no greater pain than loving a man she was certain cared for another woman, but she had been wrong.

The prospect of Aristide dying hurt much worse.

"Will he come out of it?" She could barely make herself ask the question, she was so terrified of the answer.

"There's no way to tell, but indications are good."

"I need to see him." If she could see him, it would be all right. It had to be all right.

"Not just yet. As I said before, moving you would be detrimental to your pregnancy. You must remain here."

"How can I stay here while Aristide is in a coma in another room?" She struggled to sit up.

He pressed gently against her shoulders, putting a halt to her feeble efforts. "Your husband will continue to live without you by his side, but, if you attempt to go to him, your baby might not. When he wakes up, we will bring him to you."

She appreciated the "when" rather than the doctor saying "if, but his promise was not enough. "Please… isn't there some way you can take me to him?"

"Your baby's life depends on you remaining calm and remaining flat on your back in this bed," the doctor said too firmly for her to ignore.

She gave up trying to move. "Seventy-two hours?"

"If he hasn't woken up by then and you are no longer spotting, we will arrange for you to be taken to his room to sit beside his bed."

She knew she had to be strong, but it was so hard. She just wanted everything to be the way it had been before she got married, when she thought Aristide was just poor at expressing his emotions toward her…before she'd decided he didn't have any.

The doctor squeezed her shoulder in comfort before stepping back. "Bed rest is the best chance you have of ensuring the viability of your pregnancy at this point, Mrs Kouros. I know it is difficult, but you must stay here. We will keep you apprised of your husband's progress. I promise."

"Thank you." She blinked away tears at the kind understanding she saw reflected in the doctor's eyes. "I need to make a phone call."

"Of course."

She called her mother-in-law. Phillippa was frantic at the news of the accident and Aristide's coma. Even so, she did not neglect to ask how Eden was doing.

"I'm fine. Some minor complications… a concussion… it will keep me on bed rest for a few days, though." The only family member who knew she was pregnant was Aristide and she had every intention of keeping it that way.

She'd found out very recently herself and the news had come as a total shock. She was still breast-feeding Theo, or had been, but her milk had stopped producing and she'd gone to her doctor to find out why. She'd been dumbfounded to discover she was pregnant again so soon after the birth of her first child. Theo was only nine months old.

Even if it had been a planned event, she would have hesitated to impart news of her pregnancy to her mother-in-law when there was a chance it would end in grief.

Her heart contracted at the thought and she sent yet another desperate prayer heavenward.

"I'm so glad Theo is staying with you."

"You must not worry about your son. All is well."

Eden actually managed a smile; thoughts of her son always gave her pleasure. "Thank you."

It had been murder leaving him behind and she went to sleep every night with images of his baby features, so like his father's, firmly fixed in her mind's eye. Theo shared Aristide's dark curly hair and olive complexion, but he had her gray eyes. She missed him like crazy, but she had intended this trip to New York to be an opportunity to cement her relationship with Aristide.

She had thought that by coming back to where they had met and been lovers, she could recapture the way things had been between them. However, the trip had been a dismal failure. She'd ended up playing second fiddle to Kassandra…again, and getting so mad about it, she'd asked Aristide for a divorce.

She could barely believe she'd done it. She'd been crazy in love with him from practically the moment they met. She'd thought he felt the same way. He'd certainly acted like it.

They'd bumped into each other in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It had been a muggy day in summer and Eden was visiting her dad in the city. He was busy in a last-minute business meeting and had cancelled their plans for lunch. There was nothing new in that and she'd taken herself off to the museum as she'd done on so many occasions in the past.

Only this time, she'd never made it inside.

Busy thinking, Eden let her instincts guide her toward her destination. Now that Dad had cancelled lunch, she'd have time to meet with that new glass artist she'd heard about. Would he be open to showing his work in the upcoming "History of Glass in Art" exhibit at the small museum she worked for in upstate New York? Not all artists were open to museum exhibition.

There was little to no money in it for them, but the exposure was good.

She was composing her approach to the artist in her mind when she hit what felt like a brick wall and bounced backward. Her gaze flew up as two strong, masculine hands grasped her shoulders and prevented her from falling.

Not a brick wall. A man. The most stunningly gorgeous male specimen she had ever seen. Easily six foot four, the dark-haired Adonis had eyes the color of blue lapis and a finely sculpted body encased in an Armani suit of perfect fit. He even smelled gorgeous. Wow. She thought maybe she mouthed the word, but wasn't sure.

He smiled down at her and she felt all the air go whooshing from her lungs while the blood rushed from her head. Dizzy, she could only be grateful he had kept his hold on her shoulders.

Those incredible blue eyes skated over her features with tactile intensity. "Excuse me, I did not intend to nearly knock you over."