Alex kissed her head and gently said, “Time to go, beautiful.” She shook her head slightly. He picked her up and carried her to the door as she pulled in even closer to him. Alex walked by Paolo and Paolo held out his arms as if to take her. Alex offered him a cold wink. “Nah, I’ve got her, pal.”
The rain had stopped and the ground showed only a hint of dampness. Alex set her on her feet by the passenger side of Paolo’s car and they held each other tightly for a few minutes, ignoring Paolo and the rest of the world. She started to tremble again and Alex pulled her in tighter, as Lars brought her another blanket from the backseat of his car. Alex took the blanket, his eyes never leaving hers, as he opened the passenger door and helped her in. Then he wrapped the blanket around her with so much tenderness that it overwhelmed her. Paolo stood outside the car, looking helpless. Finally, he climbed in behind the wheel and stared blankly straight ahead.
Alex touched Valeria’s face memorizing every detail. He started to pull out of the car when she pulled him into a passionate kiss.
Lars interrupted with a pat on Alex’s back. “We need to get going before the guests begin waking.”
Paolo started the Aston Martin and she heard Lars close the door to his Mercedes behind them. Alex kissed her again, softly. Then he stepped back and closed her door. The car pulled away from what she knew would always be her home…and her love. She watched Alex as he stood alone in the driveway and her heart began aching, again.
They drove for hours in silence along the countryside, with the sun rising behind them. Finally she asked, “Why didn’t you tell Jeremiah?”
There was a long silence. He took a deep breath.
“Alex was my best friend and...” Paolo focused on the road, unwilling to complete the sentence. His voice sounded pained and exhausted.
“And?”
“And because I have loved you since the first moment I saw you.”
She nodded and closed her eyes.
CHAPTER 18
Valeria opened her eyes abruptly to see that it was now early morning and Paolo had pulled off into the same field where he had stopped the day before. His face was more serious than she had ever seen it.
“I think it will be best if we alleviate any questions,” he said.
Rubbing the tension out of his neck, he seemed to be thinking and then with an exhausted sigh he said, “We do not know who will see us. Hopefully, the guests will still be asleep. I instructed the caterers to open my finest champagne and to pour liberally but we cannot risk a meeting with any of them.”
She noticed that Paolo was unbuttoning his shirt. “What are you doing?” she asked, alarmed.
“There will be questions if you are seen in your dress. You will wear my shirt so that other assumptions are made.”
He removed the cuff links and pulled off his shirt and then handed it to her. He immediately jumped out of the car and opened the trunk. He came back a few moments later with two bottles of champagne and one glass. Paolo faced away from the car to allow her privacy while he opened both bottles.
Taking a drink from one of the bottles, he then filled the single glass and dumped out most of the first bottle.
“Are you dressed?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said softly, as she buttoned the last button and scooted his long sleeves up to reveal her hands. Then, she picked up her dress from the floorboard of the car, and started to fold it. Paolo got back into the car and handed her the glass. Then he took her dress, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the back seat.
He joylessly clinked the near empty bottle against the crystal flute that she held, and then took a large swig. Noticing that she only took a sip of her champagne, he said, “As we say in the clubs, alla goccia—drink up!” He put his hand at the bottom of her glass to assist. His eyes trailed down her chest as some of the champagne dripped down the front of his shirt she was wearing. Nodding, his eyes evaluated her for a moment. He reached over and unbuttoned the top three buttons of the shirt, so that the shirt was open almost to her navel. She took a large gulp of her champagne and started to push his hands away, but something in his eyes told her that she needed to comply. He scrutinized her appearance and then ran his hands through her hair messing it up a bit more. Satisfied with her appearance, he said, “We need to get into my room without questions.”
“Your room?”
Paolo started the car as he handed the almost empty bottle to Valeria. “Hold this, please.” And then she noticed that his hands were trembling. He turned the car around, as he spoke, “My room is on the ground floor. Do not speak to anyone, not even Camille. Drink bella, remember, you have had too much champagne.” His normally velvet voice was now marred with exhaustion and worry.
As they pulled up the drive of his home, everything looked quiet. Paolo stopped the car short of the house at an odd angle. He drew a deep breath and then reached over and grabbed the near empty bottle of champagne. Climbing out of the car, he chugged the last of it before sauntering around his car toward her door. He pasted on a lusty smile as he opened her car door. She popped out holding the glass and the other bottle of champagne. Paolo pushed the full bottle up to her mouth and she tried to drink, but it mostly spilled and went up her nose.
He grimaced. “Sorry.”
Glancing at her feet, he said, “Take your shoes off.”
She kicked her heels so that they flopped off into the car and he tossed them onto the backseat, along with the blankets. Then he grasped her hand and wrapped it around his waist.
They headed down the drive toward the back of the house. As they rounded the corner near the door to his room, some guests walked into the garden.
“If they speak to us, they will suspect all is not as we...” He swallowed. “We must make them very uncomfortable.” He pushed Valeria into the wall and, this time it was a kiss of duty, not passion. As they heard the giggles from the guests, Paolo pulled the shirt off her shoulder and it was only his chest that kept her covered. Wondering if they would ever leave, Valeria reached around and grabbed Paolo’s behind; to her delight, the guest’s snickers grew even louder. Finally, Paolo grabbed her leg and pulled it up on the side and she wrapped her leg around him. The amused snickers became embarrassed chuckles, but the guests remained in the garden.
“Ask me to make love to you.”
“No,” she whispered.
“Please, Valeria…loudly.”
She moaned, “Paolo, make love to me.”
“Wrap your legs around my waist.” She did as he asked without questioning him, and he kept his mouth on hers as he carried her through the French doors into his bedroom. Paolo turned his head toward the guests and offered them a wink.
In the bedroom, he carried her straight to the bed and sat her down, pulling the shirt back up on her shoulder before releasing her and then he drew a deep sigh.
Walking back to the French doors, he closed and locked them and then slid the forest green curtains shut causing the room to instantly darken. Then he slumped into a gold and green upholstered chair and placed his face in his hands.
“Paolo?”
“Yes.” His response was abrupt, as if he was upset with her.
“I’m sorry for all of the trouble.”
“You need to try to get a few hours of sleep. This is not over.”
“I had to go.”
Paolo sighed and ignored her.
“Paolo?” Valeria asked softly.
“What?” he said in frustration.
“Thank you.”
∞
A light mist outside of the cottage rose with the sun. With her eyes still closed, she listened to the melody of the songbirds in their celebration of summer and then breathed in that wonderful mix of fragrant jasmine and that extraordinary blend of soap and aftershave. Valeria felt Alex’s kisses before opening her eyes, just as she sensed his smile, before seeing his beautiful face. Everything was right with the world.
“Good morning, Mrs. Morgan!” His eyes sparkled and she
felt the thrill of his words.
“Good morning, Mr. Morgan!”
His eyes filled with desire as they disappeared under the covers.
A knock woke Valeria from her dream…the first dream she could recall, except for the hallucination, since she’d been away from Alex.
“Val?” It was Camille.
“Hmmm…come in.” Valeria looked around and remembered that she was in Paolo’s room, not the cottage.
Camille closed the door and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked like she hadn’t slept well. “Do you know what you put me through last night when I came back to get you and you were gone?”
Valeria felt bad that she had upset her friends, but she was not sorry that she had gone—the trip had renewed her soul. Looking into Camille’s eyes it was clear she had not slept. Valeria was certain that neither Paolo nor Lars had slept either and no telling who else. In fact, she was certain that of all of them involved, including Alex, she was the only one who had slept; although, according to the clock, it had only been a few hours.
“I am so sorry,” Valeria said, reaching for her arm. “I would never want to worry you.” Valeria wondered if Camille knew where she had been. It didn’t matter because Valeria couldn’t withhold her joy. “I knew that if I talked to anyone, I wouldn’t go.” She closed her eyes. “And I needed to see him.” Her eyes filled with tears of joy, remembering the feeling of being back in Alex’s arms.
“I’d have done the same thing.” Camille’s eyes shined with interest. “So?”
Valeria’s smile said it all.
“Ahhh! And you know, he needed to see you, too.” Camille shrugged. “Surprisingly, Paolo handled it well. When we finally had to tell him that you were missing, we both expected that we would have to tie him up to keep him from doing something really stupid. But he was just…more concerned about you and about the others discovering that you were missing.”
“He was actually pretty amazing last night…with the whole situation.”
Walking toward the window, Camille pulled back the sheers and peeked out. “You should have seen how he handled your disappearance with the guests this morning.” Camille went on, “And the empty champagne bottle on his car—great touch!”
“Camille? Could you bring me the blanket in the back of Paolo’s car?” She thought for a moment. “Oh…and you don’t need to tell Paolo about it.”
“Sure, I’ll get Alex’s blanket for you.” She looked down at her watch. “I know you’ve only slept for a few hours, but right now, my job is to get you ready to head to the airport. Most of the guests have left. We are keeping you completely out of sight until the last guest is gone. So I’m going to pack for you. Don’t worry about a thing.”
Rising, Valeria hugged Camille as they heard a knock at the door. Paolo entered and Valeria noticed the dark circles under his eyes.
“Everyone has left, Valeria. I have brought your robe.” She was still in his shirt from the night before. “You can go to your room and dress. But we need to leave within the hour.” She hugged him as she left the room. The surprise came when Camille hugged him too.
While Camille packed, Valeria showered and dressed. Then they grabbed their bags and loaded up for their drive to Milan and the flight to Corfu.
Valeria walked toward Lars’ Mercedes, obliviously happy. But he stopped her. “Sweetheart, I think after last night it would be best for you to ride with Paolo.”
“Oh, alright.” Valeria turned and just as happily strode toward Paolo’s car and slid into the passenger seat. She realized that her nerves were significantly calmer than the rest of theirs. She wondered if there was more to this than she knew. But she opted not to think of that, and instead, decided to indulge in the memories from the night before. Paolo seemed absorbed in his own thoughts, so there was no forced conversation.
If she permitted herself to think about returning to Paxos, she was certain it would have caused a nervous reaction; but having had time with Alex, Valeria felt almost serene. She was a natural optimist. And while the past months had taken the wind out of that sail, last night had given her back the outlook she had somehow, always before possessed. Alex still loved her! She would go through the actions she needed to. She could marry Paolo if she had to. But at night, when she closed her eyes, her mind would be with Alex. She sensed that Paolo now also knew that, and she suspected that was part of his pain.
They drove along the coast for some time, weaving along the colorful cliffside towns overlooking the Mediterranean on their way to the Milan airport. She would have liked to have been able to spend time here with Alex. But now, that would never happen. She was marrying another man.
Landing on Corfu, she was plunged back into memories of her last trip. She remembered the visit to the mayor’s office, and the rehearsal. She remembered her beautiful wedding gown and briefly wondered what had happened to it. She remembered the romantic evening, hours before her world had crashed…and she almost remembered returning to Corfu, alone.
At the ferry dock in Corfu, Valeria saw a sight that immediately caused her to smile: Caleb! She glanced at Paolo and she ran to hug her young superhero. Caleb was especially excited to show Valeria his new trick. Tavish had made a miniature fan that ran off the power of his finger tip. She noticed that he seemed slightly older, which would be no big deal for a normal child, but Caleb was far from that.
She was grateful that their ferry bypassed the beautiful harbor leading to the town of Gaios, and then passed the southern boundary of the island of Paxos, continuing almost a mile to the tiny island of Anti-Paxos. While Paxos was covered with olive trees, a family had planted vineyards covering most of Anti-Paxos. For a moment, Valeria imagined that she was coming back here to marry Alex. That felt considerably more real than the idea of marrying anyone else.
Lars, Camille, and Caleb had decided to stay with them at Paolo’s estate. While Valeria was thrilled to have them with her, she was certain that the intention was to ensure that she didn’t disappear again.
It was the end of June and the temperature was fantastic. Despite his obvious exhaustion, as soon as they arrived at the estate, Paolo changed into his swimming trunks.
Sitting by the pool, she sipped her kale and strawberry smoothie as she held a book that almost had her attention, A Room with a View.
Paolo glanced at her as he carried two oars down to the dock. “Valeria, if you refuse to come in the water, then you should sleep. Tonight may be difficult, and it is important that you have your wits about you.”
She had no interest in partaking in any water sports. She had snorkeled only once in her life, and look how that ended up—she was now engaged to Paolo. Still, she knew that she should rest as she had slept no more than five hours over the past few days. But she just couldn’t. She wanted to think about every detail of the night before while it was still fresh in her mind.
Caleb was only too anxious to fill the void and play in the water, although he had to wear a wet suit so that Paolo could help him. They intended to kayak and snorkel, and Paolo said maybe even do some scuba diving. Valeria didn’t know what the rules were in Greece, but she wasn’t really comfortable with Caleb scuba diving when he wasn’t certified. Paolo promised he would take good care of the boy. She was surprised that Caleb and Paolo seemed to have an instant camaraderie. Occasionally, Valeria would hear an echo of Caleb’s joyful laughs coming over the sound of the surf. Paolo and Caleb were gone for almost five hours before Paolo conceded that he needed to get some sleep.
∞
That evening, while Caleb played a video game, Camille, Lars, Paolo, and Valeria loaded onto the trog, the low boat that would take them into the underworld. Valeria was reminded of that momentous evening, now almost four months ago, that had changed her happy future.
Because she hadn’t gone shopping, Paolo had arranged another dress for this evening. He had selected a white Grecian style one-shoulder gown with a gold cord that wrapped around her. This gown was as beautiful as the on
e the night before and she decided to wear her hair up.
The mood was far more somber than it had been on the previous trip. Everyone except Valeria seemed nervous, particularly Paolo. “Remember, bella, you must not offer the council more information than necessary.”
She remembered. He had said the same thing three times in the past hour. Still, she didn’t know what to expect. They all hoped that she would not be required to testify or answer questions. Two of the council members were already convinced that she should marry someone other than the man whom she truly loved. Hopefully, that would be enough. She attempted unsuccessfully to keep her mind from wandering to the “ifs”: If the marriage was approved, could she end the engagement and go back to Alex? Or, if the marriage was refused, could the Law of Nevia still be removed? She didn’t suspect the answer to either question was yes.
The boat turned off its lights as it approached the east coast of Paxos and continued just off the rocky cliffs. They laid their seats back and Valeria was reminded of Alex sitting next to her, with the wind blowing through his hair, his champagne glass coolly in his hand. That thought swelled her heart.
The driver throttled the engine to position the boat toward the steep cliffs where, hidden from view, there was an opening into another world. She heard the familiar gunning of the engine timed in between the swells, as they headed for the cliffs. Still, the view caused her heart to pound.
“Valeria, I’m certain that you recall that you must remain reclined,” Paolo warned.
The driver revved the engines and headed toward the cliffs. Moments later, they were in total darkness and the only sound was that of the surf crashing on the entrance to the cave behind them. Valeria felt Paolo’s hand on her arm. He must have sensed her anxiety.
Finally, she felt the boat stop and heard the sound of a match being struck as the cave filled with light. They stepped onto the ledge and she watched as the trog used a thick rope that ran along the cave’s edge to retrace its journey and then disappeared. Then Lars held the torch, leading them along the path. She heard a loud creaking sound as the bridge was lowered.
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