The Counterfeit Bride

by Liberty Blake

  ~*~

  Cassidy couldn’t believe how cold it was. Even for winter, it was colder than the inside of Kelley’s nonexistent heart. The wind battered the car, pushing the small compact all over the road. Rain began to pelt the windshield not long after she left Los Ybanez. By the time she had reached the outskirts of the next town, the rain drops had given way to sleet splatters. The window fogged up and the sleet froze on the outside of the windshield, which happened at the exact time she realized that neither the defogger, the heater, nor the passenger side windshield wiper worked. She had to pull off the road several times to clear the windshield of caked on ice, both in and out of the vehicle.

  Thank heavens the tires were in good shape. Patches of hidden ice had caused her to skid several times, and within five miles of home she actually went into a three-sixty spin. A lump was already growing on her forehead and she was sure her belly was turning a marvelous shade of purple. Theron had said he had been first captivated by her purple eyes; she wondered how he would feel about her huge purple belly. A hysterical giggle fought to get out of her throat. She had to be crazy thinking about a man who only wanted her for one reason. And that wasn’t even sex. His reason didn’t have anything to do with Cassidy. All he cared about was Cassiopeia and what she could bring to him.

  She knew better than to fall for him, and yet she had.

  And fall she did. Again. Physically, when she climbed out of the Geo to open the gates. Two inches of frozen water coated the sensor, so once again she had to expose herself. But this time there would be no Jenkins to attack her. That situation had been taken care of forever.

  While the gates opened Cassidy slid her way back to the car. Tucking herself back into the seat, she worked her way down the driveway. Praying all the way there were no trees down. What she needed the most right now was a clear road home.

  Somehow she managed to stop the car short of the kitchen porch, and without the help of the porch. With a sleeping Zio clutched in her arms, Cassidy slowly skated her way to the door. The door to the mudroom was unlocked and the light on. She wasn’t expected, so there was no reason Mountain Man would have left the house open for her.

  A wave of exhaustion swept over her and obliterated any fear that might have arisen. She was finally home. Tired. Pregnant. Hungry. Soaked. And freezing. But home.

  She couldn’t stop in the mudroom; there was no place to put Zio down while she took off their coats and boots. She hated to track the slush into the house, but it was more important to tuck Enzio into his own bed. Then she could worry about herself. Get into her own lonely bed.

  The kitchen was dark. Something hard hit her foot. It wobbled. When it crashed to the floor she realized it was one of her metal kitchen chairs. Enzio whimpered in her arms. The overhead light flared on.

  The breath caught in her throat.

  Damn I’ve really lost it now, she thought. I’m hallucinating Theron in my kitchen.

  He was a vision. Ebony curls brushing his bronzed shoulders. Much longer than it had been on their wedding day. Black eyes stared at her. The sensual full lower lip caused a gush of moisture to rush to her reawakening female center. Cassidy’s hungry eyes followed a path down his bare chest to where his jeans were unbuttoned at the waist and showed his delicious belly button. She had licked that belly button.

  She shook her head. Her lips formed a circle “Nooooooo,” She heard herself moan. She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready to see him yet. She wasn’t sure she would ever be ready.

  For one frozen moment, Theron was silhouetted in the kitchen doorway. The next moment, his arms encompassed her bulky frame; thick wet coat, big sleeping baby, big baby belly, and all.

  She stared at him wide-eyed as his head lowered to hers. His lips touched hers and her power to think was lost. Delicious warmth swirled from her inner core to her extremities. She was wrapped tight in his arms. Zio tucked safely between their bodies, still sleeping, still secure.

  She waited for his tongue to invade her mouth, but it never came. Instead he pulled his head away. Her lips tried to follow his, but he kept just out of her reach. Only his arms looped tightly around her hips kept her from total despair.

  “Theos! Where have you been, agape mou?” He asked, a haunted look in his eyes.

  She wanted to give him a smart mouth answer, but nothing would come out. Love overwhelmed her, turning her knees to jelly and her eyes into blazing twin beacons of hope. Why was he here? Was this a sign? A good sign?

  Theron felt Cassidy quivering. Or was she shivering? Was it from cold or fear? Was she afraid of seeing him after all these months? Had he done something to make his wife fear him?

  He remembered the look on her face when she told him of the atrocities her uncle had committed when he repeatedly tried to rape her. And he, Theron Christofides, insensitive lout that he was, had insisted on making love to her. Over and over again. His ego had thought she had enjoyed. Now he was not so sure. She seemed to be terrified of him. Was that why she ran away the next day? Was she afraid he would give in to his base animal and take her right there on the kitchen table? Not that he would not like to, but he had to remember to take it slow. He had to gain her trust.

  Her shivering increased. He slipped one arm under her legs and carried her, with Enzio still in her arms, into the bedroom.

  Her pansy eyes opened wider when he placed her on the bed. “What are you doing?”

  “You are shaking. You must rest.”

  Sadly, Cassidy admitted to herself, she did need to rest, but not until they settled a few things. “I have to put Zio in his own bed and get out of these wet things.” She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and used a hand to leverage herself into a sitting position. “Gross. There’s mud all over my quilt from my boots.”

  Theron reached out his hands. “Give him to me. I’ll put him into bed while you get into something dry and warm yourself up.”

  Cassidy wanted to keep Zio as a shield, but she couldn’t deny the fact that she was freezing. The pouring rain mixed with sleet had soaked through the seams and shoulders of her jacket, ran down her collar, and managed to cut through her layers of clothing to soak her to the skin.

  Just as she made the decision to hand Zio over, Theron dropped to his knees. “Hold the baby a minute longer. Let me get these wet boots off of you.”

  She squeezed her eyes tightly shut in order to contain the tears which flooded her eyes. She was so sick of being a watering pot.

  He was being so tender. Why couldn’t he love her like she loved him?

  She waited until Theron had entered Enzio’s room before she stood up and closed her door. She dropped her voluminous duffle coat on the floor and headed for the bathroom, dropping wet clothes as she walked. A hot bath was what she needed after the trip from hell. Zio was well cared for. Now she had to take care of the two little ones she still carried. The trip was just as hard on them, if not harder, than it was on her.

  Bubbles. She needed lots and lots of sweet smelling bubbles. Bubbles to cover her from chin to toe. Bubbles to chase away the bad smell of old body odor and frenzied people. As the steam started to rise from the claw foot tub, she opened the bottle of aroma-therapy bubble bath and poured more than half into the tub. Bubbles were good. They could make you forget the worst parts of life, at least while you covered your face with bubble mustaches and white a long goatee.

  Before she lowered her body into the frothing tub, she ran her hands over the red welts that crisscrossed her belly from the seat belt. She needed to see a doctor and have him confirm the babies were fine, but she knew realistically she couldn’t trust the roads again until a sander went by or the thaw came. It would be all right. The babies were fine. She was sure of it. As she sank into the relaxing water, they started rolling and tumbling. They were already auditioning for Riverdance. She had seen all the ultra-sounds. She had seen both babies. She knew there were only two of them, but suddenly it felt like a dozen pairs of tap shoes were dancing on her bladder
. Great she had just gotten into the tub and now it would take her five minutes to leverage her bulky self out of it again.

  She had just risen on her knees when the door opened and Theron walked in. Her bubble laden hands slipped on the tub rim and she floundered a bit in the water as she tried to maintain her precarious balance. A cool breezed brushed against her already burgeoning nipples. Neither she nor Theron drew a breath, nor did they make a sound. She could hear the bubbles coating her breasts popping and she felt exposed. Even the lavender scent was not able to soothe the agitation building inside her.

  It was difficult, but Theron finally managed to swallow past the mountainous lump in his throat. Theos She was more beautiful than ever. The shine of her make-up-free face made him want to lick her from her forehead down to her toes.

  The light glistened on patches of her porcelain skin peeked through the bubbles on her wet breasts. Although they were very effectively camouflaged, he thought they looked much larger than he remembered. A flurry of little pops drew his eyes to a newly revealed nipple.

  Yes, there was something different about her. She was not the same little dynamo she had been the last time he had seen her. She was rounder, softer, more opulent.

  Suppressing a groan, his feet ate up the space between him and the object of every erotic dream he had had since the day she walked into the Metroplolis and stopped his wedding to the woman he never wanted.

  Placing his hands under her arms he pulled her to her feet and began devouring her lips. Her wet sudsy body pressed into his. Something had changed. She still melted in his arms, but she felt like she was holding herself away from him.

  Something rippled against his stomach, causing him to draw in a breath. Was this some form of muscle control? Perhaps a yoga move designed to increase a man’s level of stimulation? What had she been doing while they were separated?

  The pressure changed and her abdomen rolled from top to bottom. There one second and gone the next. Then the action repeated itself. Before Theron could wrap his mind around this strange sensation, something hard hit him square in the stomach. He pulled away. Her glorious purple eyes fluttered open.

  “Did you just hit me?” he asked her.

  Cassidy’s face turned a furious shade of red. “Oh dear, you felt that?” Her voice was wispy.

  “It is not often a man is almost hit in his orchis by his newly found wife.” Seeing the look of confusion on his American wife’s face he translated. “Testicles, woman, you almost hit my testicles.”

  He watched in fascination as her lower lip trembled and a tear drop quivered on her lush eye lashes. Then a mutinous look entered her face as she locked her jaw and shoved him away from her. “Listen, buddy, if I had wanted to hit you in the balls you’d be on your knees right now.”

  His lip curled. This woman had left him the day after they married. He had searched for her for months, and not one word did she send him. His scathing eyes dropped to her breasts.

  The bubbles were gone and he noticed a marked increase in size. Numerous purple marks formed feather patterns across the formerly creamy skin. His hand shook as he gently touched her breast. Did she have her breasts augmented and some butcher botched the job?

  Why would she do that? They had been perfect before. So sweet. So responsive. “You are hurt.”

  “No. No, I’m not hurt. The marks will fade. The doctor promised.” Cassidy sputtered.

  “Theos. You have seen a doctor?” Both hands now gently cupped Cassidy’s shoulders. Theron’s eyes dropped lower and so did his jaw. Her formerly flat belly was now watermelon shaped. The cute little innie belly button with the sassy jewelry was gone and replaced by something that protruded like a finger, sans jewelry. It pointed like an accusing finger at the guilty party.

  Realization may have been slow in reaching Theron’s brain, but then again, in his own defense, he had not had a thought in his head from the moment he had seen her standing in the kitchen. He had never seen a pregnant women close up, and certainly never naked, but he was sure his lovely little wife was pregnant. But where was the baby bump everyone talked about?

  His hand lowered tentatively to her rounded abdomen. This “bump” was the size of a mountain on her small frame.

  Theron closed his eyes as he felt the satin smoothness of her skin. The solid firmness of his child growing within her. Their child. His knees quivered. He dropped to them. His arms embraced her as his head leaned against the miracle before him.

  Cassidy’s fingers stroked his curls.

  When he had regained the power of speech, he scooped her into his arms and started for the bedroom. “I want you in bed.” The gruff voice did not sound anything like his own.

  Her chuckle warmed him. “I can’t go to bed like this, silly. If I don’t rinse all the soap off, I’ll be ripping my skin open by morning.”

  He kissed her on the lips, reversed course, and climbed into the tub with her, jeans and all. Then with gentle hands he made sure there was so trace of soap or bubbles left anywhere on her.

  After wrapping her glowing body into a fluffy bath sheet, he lowered her onto the bed while he shucked his wet jeans into the corner of the room. Then, not being able to resist the call of his body, he placed his frame over hers. His arms bore all his weight, holding him above her, but not quite on her. “I have missed you so much, agape mou.” He nuzzled her neck. “Why did you leave me?”

  “I couldn’t bear the look on your face when Costas said he had a DNA test and Julia was Cassiopeia. You looked so betrayed,” she ended in a whisper.

  “That was not betrayal, my love. That was anger. Costas had no right to speak in such a way to you. I wanted you away from there before he could say anything else that would hurt you.” He looked into her pansy eyes, willing her to feel his love.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” Cassidy’s honeyed voice stirred his soul. Her fingertips danced from his shoulders down to his buttocks. “So are we gonna talk all night or are you gonna make love to me.”

  “I cannot. I fear I may hurt you or the child,” he groaned into her neck. “We must wait and see what the doctor says.”

  “The doctor says ‘git it while the gittin’s good’. In a few months we’re going to be too tired to do anything more than sleep when we are in bed together.” His fingers traced the dimple in her cheek.

  “The child will not disturb us. I will hire you a nanny.” He could see disagreement in her eyes and quickly added. “You will need one to assist you with Enzio and the new baby.”

  “I will agree to a nanny, but the primary care taker of my children will be me.”

  Relief rushed through his veins. He had never expected his little firecracker to agree so quickly.

  Her fingers stopped the fluttery motions they were making on his back and slid around to stroke his erection and cup his sac. His hips started moving without any directions from his brain. “Come on, big boy, let’s make love,” she purred in his ear right before her pearly white teeth nipped his lobe.

  He knew then that his life would be forever entwined with his fiery lady, and he would not change that for the world.

  Epilogue

  Theron and his four year old son Enzio were doing laps in the pool while Xander and Zoe, his two-year-old twins, napped with their mommy. Theron smiled. Today was Zio’s birthday and the Grandmothers were coming with gifts and good cheer.

  Yesterday when he got home from the office he could see that Cassidy was bursting at the seams with a secret, but she would not tell him anything. She wanted to come here, to the island he had bought for her. The Meteora, his mountain retreat, was long gone. It was now Ajax’s eyrie.

  Theron knew what Cassidy’s surprise was. He knew her body and its rhythms as well as he knew his own. Actually, he knew hers better.

  He waited for her to tell him the news in her own way. Then he would gift her with the new pair of horses he had bought for the Pegasus Ranch in Texas. Under Lynda and Mountain Man’s supervision, the ranch was thriving. r />
  On the twins’ first birthday Theron had helped Cassidy open Pegasus Two in Greece. Special needs children from as far away as England and Sweden came to enjoy the special activities and develop relationships with the magical horses Cassidy raised.

  When he had been a young boy walking his mitera home from the taverna, he had never dreamed life could be so satisfying. It just took a pyrotechnia mikros to bring the sunshine and joy into his life

  ~*~

  Cassidy gave a contented stretch. She and Theron had just made glorious love and he was happy to find out they were having another baby. Although he did joke and say he hoped they would only have one this time. At least she hoped he was joking.

  Theron had found Tia Maria, Rico’s mother. She wasn’t dead after all. The Jenkinses had fired her after Cassidy had left and Maria had disappeared into another household. Tia Maria loved Greece and loved all her grandchildren; Xander, Zoe, and Zio were equal in her eyes, just as they were in Rena’s. Maria’s house was a few blocks away from Rena’s and they had become great friends.

  Lynda was currently staying with Rena for a week’s working vacation. The three grandmothers were a tight group.

  Kelley was also there. Cassidy could not call her ‘Mother’, but Kelley was trying very hard to make up for the past, and she obviously loved her grandchildren, so Cassidy was giving her a chance.

  All the grandmothers were on the island for Zio’s fourth birthday. Theron had insisted that they spend the night and Cassidy had the feeling he did so because he had already guessed about the pregnancy. Her suspicions were confirmed after she had told him, when right before he fell asleep, he suggested they tell the yia yias the good news at breakfast.

  Cassidy had a solid relationship with Theron. He told her often that he loved her and proved it to her on a daily basis. Their love was deep and strong. With that kind of love she had to share it with others, which made the four grandmothers very happy.

  *~*~*

  Author’s Notes:

  A few years ago I was privileged to go on an academic field trip with fellow students and professors from Plymouth State University. I had a blast. The people of Greece were friendly and helpful to an American with no linguistic skills. Kimberley Connors Hughes you might remember the Metrópolis cathedral and the Church of Agios Eleftherios, also called the Little Mitropoli in this book. We visited it on our first day in Athens.