The weeks leading up to the new year were passing so quickly now. In a little over a month the baby would be born.
After work one evening, Damen drove her to a north Athens suburb to show her a house that had recently been built.
“It literally just came on the market today,” he said, as the huge gates swung open and he headed up the long private drive. “It was a custom build and the owner is deeply in debt and is desperate to offload it. I know you prefer older architecture, but the house is on three acres, in a great location and has fantastic views. The only thing we would need to do is buy furniture and prepare the nursery.”
He rounded the corner and the coastline came into view, along with the dazzling blue sea.
“How many acres did you say?” she asked.
“Three.”
“Perfect. Yes. Buy it.”
“You haven’t even seen the house yet. You might hate it.”
“We can fix it.”
He parked and turned to look at her. “I don’t want you having to worry about anything. I just want you to relax.”
“I’m relaxed.”
“And happy.”
It felt as if she’d swallowed the sun. Everything within her glowed warm and bright. “I’m unbearably happy, Damen.”
He smiled and leaned toward her, kissing her. “Marry me, Kassiani.”
She kissed him back. “We’re already married, my love.”
“But let’s do it again. Because this time it’s a love marriage. I need you to know—”
“I know.”
“I need the world to know.”
“Who cares what the world thinks?”
His smile was crooked. “Maybe I just want to show you off. Maybe I just feel like celebrating because I have the most beautiful, brilliant wife, and we’re going to have a baby soon.”
She couldn’t help smiling back. How could she not when the ball of happiness inside her shone bigger and brighter? “You are sleeping with me every night.”
“All night. Now that I have you back in my bed, I’m not going anywhere.”
She laughed, because yes, that was true. He did stay all night with her now. He’d stopped leaving her room—their room—after lovemaking. Damen slept touching her, a hand always near the small of her back.
She liked it.
She loved him.
Desperately.
EPILOGUE
THE VOW RENEWAL took place on New Year’s Eve.
She wore a Grecian-style wedding dress, a simple one-shoulder gown in a gorgeous creamy white. Her long dark hair was loosely pinned up with a delicate antique wreath of gold leaves on top of the gleaming dark curls.
Kassiani was just four weeks from giving birth and she felt huge, but also blissfully happy. Damen came to check on her just before the ceremony began. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I’m good.”
“You look so beautiful.”
She ran a hand over her huge belly bump. “There is so much of me.”
“I have always loved every bit of you, even when I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“The past is the past, my love. It’s time to let it go and focus on the future.”
“Maybe I can, after tonight. I have made so many mistakes in my life.”
“No one is keeping score.”
“I have. You deserved a proper wedding and a proper wedding day. I just want the world to know how much I love you.”
“I don’t really care about the world, and what they know or think. I care about what you think.”
“Which is why we’re doing this tonight. We’re going to have a party with a few close friends and family, and we’ll dance and take pictures and put those pictures in an album, and other pictures in frames, so our children will know how much their father loved their mother, and we can be an example to them that true love is worth fighting for.”
Her eyes burned and a lump filled her throat. “I had no idea I’d married such a romantic.”
“I adore you, my wife, my heart, my life. I adore you and am grateful for every day with you.”
The ceremony went off without a hitch, as did the elegant, intimate reception at the Dionysus Restaurant. The restaurant overlooked the sacred rock of the Acropolis and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and both were illuminated at night.
Kass thought there was something profoundly spiritual about dining and dancing with the Acropolis in the background, and the evening was made perfect by having a few of their respective families there. Her father had flown into Athens, and Mrs. Alexopoulos had traveled by ship. Mrs. Alexopoulos had made Kassiani’s bouquet, adding bits of olive branches from the groves on Adras, the olive branches for peace. And love. It was perfect. Kassiani had found her home.
And when Kassiani went into labor two weeks later, Damen was there at her side. Her father sent flowers but Mrs. Alexopoulos returned, anxious to provide help.
Damen had been worried that Kassiani wouldn’t want his mother in the house, but Mrs. Alexopoulos wasn’t one of those critical, interfering mothers-in-law, but an unending source of wisdom and encouragement.
Kassiani felt grateful to have a husband who loved her so much that he was willing to fight for her, and them, and a doting grandmother for her baby boy. Their baby boy, their son Alesandro, a symbol of their love, and a commitment to the future.
As winter shifted to spring, Kassiani looked forward to returning to the company office on a part-time basis. She enjoyed the work, but adored her son, and was thankful she didn’t have to choose between them.
The past year hadn’t been easy. Both she and Damen had fought hard for their marriage and fought hard for their love. But wasn’t that the true definition of family?
Families fought for each other, not against each other.
Love healed, and love hoped, and love endured.
She hadn’t always made the right choices, and yet she’d never given up on him. And just when she didn’t think she could fight anymore for them, Damen had shocked her by coming through, by choosing to fight for her, for them, for the happiness they all desperately needed.
Dreams really did come true.
* * *