Along Came Twins...

by Rebecca Winters

“I want you so much, I wish I could bite the heart out of your body. But then I’d never be able to have that experience again, so we need to get married as soon as possible. Don’t tell me you don’t want the same thing. I’ve got you in my arms and can feel your heart leaping to reach mine.”

  “I’m not denying it.” She’d half gasped the words while she tried to catch her breath.

  “Not everyone experiences the intense desire we feel for each other. It’s a precious gift we don’t dare lose, Kellie, or neither of us will ever be happy again.”

  A tremor shook her body when she remembered that incredible night and her passionate response.

  Yet the month before she’d left him, she’d been too distrustful and angry to turn to him for the intimacy she’d always craved. It seemed it had been years since they’d made love. The more he’d tried to love her physically, the more she’d pushed him away.

  What if he’d done the same thing to her?

  But he hadn’t! No matter how bad things had gotten, he’d always reached for her in bed. She was the one who’d moved into the guest bedroom and had made plans to vacation with Fran.

  Rejection like that could be too painful to forget. Leandros was the total opposite of a spiteful person, but if he didn’t crave her affection in the same way anymore, it was because she’d killed something inside him.

  Last night he’d gone to bed when his parents did. Their presence had never inhibited him before if he’d wanted to be alone with her. Since her return, he’d had every opportunity to come into her bedroom, whether they were at the Cassandra or on Andros.

  All these thoughts were torturing her as they shopped for Demi’s gift. The whole time they were in there, he didn’t suggest they pick out something for their babies. Her old husband would have bought out the store for them by now.

  As the clerk wrapped their gift of an adorable pink top and shorts, Kellie felt a blackness descend. This was how all the pain and suffering had started before. She’d let her fears develop into giant problems without sharing them with Leandros.

  What was the expression about not learning lessons from the past, or mankind was destined to repeat the mistakes? Suddenly Mrs. Lasko’s warning filled her mind.

  “Surely today has given you your first inkling of where to dig to start finding understanding. You’ll have to be brutally honest, open up and listen to each other. You’ll be forced to wade through perceptions, whether false or accurate, and no matter how painful, arrive at the truth.”

  It came to Kellie that the problems of trying to get pregnant and the disappointment each time it didn’t happen had blown up all the other problems until there was no more communication. Now she was dealing with another inner conflict, one she had to step up and face.

  What if she girded up her courage and asked him outright how he felt right now?

  Why was it so hard?

  What was her greatest fear?

  That he’ll tell you the truth, that his desire for you has waned.

  Was she brave enough to hear the truth from his lips? If she wasn’t, then she’d learned nothing from therapy.

  They left the shop and went back to the car. As they were leaving the town, they passed the church where they’d been married. On impulse, she turned to him. “Leandros? Would you pull over to the curb for a minute?”

  He shot her a concerned glance and immediately found a parking space. “What’s wrong? You went quiet on me in the shop. Aren’t you feeling well?”

  “That’s not it,” she assured him. “I feel fine, but I realize I haven’t been in the church since we took our vows. I only want to go inside for a moment.”

  A puzzled look broke out on his face. “Why?”

  “It’s one of my whims. Will you humor me? I’ve been getting them a lot lately. Do you know, while we were planning our wedding, one of your family members mentioned you and Petra had been married on Andros and—”

  “And you assumed this was the church.” He ground out the words.

  “Yes. I’m sorry to have to admit it was another one of my false assumptions.”

  He shut off the engine. “Do you want me to go in with you?”

  Yes, yes, yes. “If you’d like to.”

  “I would have brought you here whenever you wanted, but you never expressed a desire. If I’d had my wits about me, I would have asked you to tell me why.”

  She shook her head. “I wouldn’t have told you the real reason. Not then. As for now, I’d like to see it again, knowing you didn’t marry Petra in here. Let’s face it. I had more than one veil over my eyes on our wedding day.”

  “I was blinded by the wonder of you.”

  Leandros.

  He came around and helped her out of the car. They walked across the cobblestones to the entrance. The beautiful white church with the latticelike windows had two of the

  Cycladic, blue-topped spires.

  A few people were inside as they entered the nave. Kellie looked around, marveling over the paintings on the walls and ceiling. He escorted her past columns to the front, where they’d stood before an icon of the Virgin to become man and wife.

  His gray eyes searched hers for a heart stopping moment. “What do you remember about that day?” he whispered.

  “Being terrified I’d make a mistake in front of all your family and friends,” she whispered back. “What about you?”

  His features sobered. “I couldn’t believe you’d agreed to become my wife. Throughout the ceremony, which I confess was mostly a blur to me, I prayed you wouldn’t back out at the last minute.”

  “You truly worried about that?” She couldn’t fathom it. Not Leandros of all people.

  “I chased you from the moment we met. You were such an elusive creature, you’ll never know the relief I felt when the priest finally made you mine.”

  Kellie was bemused by his answer. “So I was yours, eh?” she teased.

  “Yes,” he declared savagely.

  Emotion almost closed her throat. “I was so in love with you, I feared you couldn’t possibly love me the same way. What had I done to earn such a man’s love?”

  “Don’t you think I asked the same question about you? How come this wonderful, beautiful American woman had agreed to marry me?”

  “All I know is I got my heart’s desire.” Her pulse rate sped up before she grasped his hands. “Two years have gone by and with them a lot of history. Now it seems the tables have turned and I’m the one chasing you.”

  At first she didn’t think he’d gotten the full import of her words. Not until she saw his chest rise and fall, and felt his fingers tighten around hers.

  “We’re standing before God. If you lie to me, He’ll know it and so will I. So I’m going to ask you a question. Leandros Roussos Petralia—do you still want me in all the ways a man wants a woman? You know what I mean.”

  A sound like ripping silk came out of him.

  “Cat got your tongue? Remember, you’re under oath.”

  He looked tortured. “Kellie...what’s going on?”

  “If you think about it hard enough, it should come to you.”

  Removing her hands gently from his, she walked out of the church to the car without looking back.

  * * *

  Leandros grabbed hold of the last pew to steady himself. He didn’t know what to think. Kellie was the kind of passionate lover a man would kill for, but she’d never taken the initiative with him in their marriage, not verbally or physically. It had always rested on him.

  Therapy had taught him she’d been too insecure all her life to say the words and reach out to him first, of her own accord. But if he’d read her correctly just now, she’d done something unprecedented by letting him know with words she wanted him. They hadn’t even been to their next therapy session.

  Maybe it had taken being in this holy place, with no associations of Petra, for her to find the courage. He was blown away to realize she wanted to sleep with him again. But this didn’t necessarily mean she was re
ady for the final step to get back together.

  In a sense he felt fragmented. Part of him couldn’t wait to get her home alone. Yet another part feared that once he’d made love to her again, and then she decided she couldn’t live with him, after all, he wouldn’t be able to handle the pain. One night with her would never be enough.

  Before he made a fatal mistake and temporarily assuaged his longing, only to find out there would never be another time, they had more talking to do. With a mixture of elation and terror, he left the church and joined her in the car. She didn’t look at him as he started the engine.

  Once they were on the road, he glanced at her profile. “To answer your question, I want you a hundred times more now than I did on our wedding night. If I haven’t touched you, you know the reason why.”

  “That’s all I need to hear.”

  “Kellie—you could have no comprehension of how I felt in the church just now when you let me know you wanted me. Those are the words I’ve dreamed of hearing you say, but never expected the moment to happen. You’ve changed from your former self into a woman I hardly recognize.”

  That brought her head around, causing the golden strands to swish against her shoulders. “I’m sorry you’ve had to wait so long for me to say the words in my heart,” she said with tears in her voice.

  “I’m not,” he replied. “The wait has made them all the sweeter. Your bravery has emboldened me to ask the one question still unanswered for me. Do you want to call off the divorce? I never wanted it. When you told me you were leaving me...” He gripped the steering wheel harder.

  She reached over to touch his arm. “It sounds like you expect me to spell it out, so I will. I don’t want a divorce.”

  “Thank God.”

  “Deep inside, whether I was consciously aware of it or not, I know I flew to Athens to get my marriage back. Our precious babies were an excuse to face you after all the terrible things I’d done to you. But that version of me is gone, Leandros. You’re beholding the new me, who’s ready to love you like you’ve never been loved before. How am I doing on answering your question so far?”

  He could hardly breathe. “Just keep talking until we reach the villa.”

  “I adore you, Leandros. I always have. You’re my whole world, my whole life! I couldn’t bear that we were having problems.”

  “Tell me about it.” He half groaned the words.

  “It didn’t seem possible to me that you could be such a loving husband, and yet be carrying on behind my back with your sister-in-law. Nothing made sense, but I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

  “You weren’t alone.”

  “I have something else to tell you. I spoke with my aunt and uncle for a long time last night.”

  The information was coming at him like a meteor shower. He could scarcely take it all in.

  “The bottom line is, they’re going to move into your uncle Manny’s villa just as soon as we can arrange it. As you know, Aunt Sybil was always against relocating to Greece because of her worries for Uncle Jim’s health. But I got them both on the phone so she couldn’t answer for him.

  “It would have warmed your heart to hear him tell us how much he loves you and how crazy he is about the idea of a new adventure. After I explained that your dad would love a fishing partner to go out with every morning, my uncle got excited. He told my aunt he didn’t want to miss out on one day of watching their grandchildren grow up. My aunt broke down in tears of happiness. I think we can get Frank to help them here until we find a permanent replacement for him.”

  Speechless, Leandros grasped her hand and clung to it.

  “I wonder what Olympia will say at our next session.”

  The blood pounded in his ears. “She’ll tell us to go slowly.”

  “I know. And she’ll ask questions we haven’t thought of.”

  “That’s good. She’s been pivotal in helping us see into ourselves. I’d like to keep going to her so we’ll stay on track.”

  Kellie squeezed Leandros’s fingers. “So would I. Later on we’ll have to send her the right gift to show our gratitude. I’m going to have to think about it for a while, but I can’t think while I’m sitting next to you, dying to be in your arms.

  “When we get back home, I want to go out on our cabin cruiser. I’ll pack the food we love. We’re going to need a couple of days and nights to get reacquainted, without anyone else around.”

  Leandros was already thinking a month at least.

  “Be warned, I plan to ravish you before I grow as big as a house!”

  He laughed with joyous abandon.

  “Then I plan to love you to death and never let you go back to work, but that would make you unhappy.”

  “You don’t really think that—”

  “I really do. So in a few days you should fly to Athens and do what you do best, by running the Petralia Corporation. Frato is trying to pull his weight, bless his heart, but I happen to know every man and woman in the company is holding their collective breath until you’re back at the helm.”

  His natural impulse was to speed the rest of the way home so he could crush her in his arms, but the instinct to protect his family was stronger and had come out in full force. His wife had finally come back to him, and their babies were growing inside her. What more could a man ask for?

  The second he pulled up to the villa, he hurried around to Kellie’s side of the car. She already had the door open and flew into his arms, almost knocking him over. “Kiss me, darling,” she cried, lifting her mouth to find his. “Don’t ever stop.”

  There was no space between them as they tried to assuage their great longing for each other. His wife was vibrantly alive, kissing away the shadows. Every touch and caress, every breath filled his mind and body with indescribable ecstasy.

  He carried her into the house and followed her down on the bed with his body. But he was careful with her as they found old ways and new to bring each other the pleasure denied them for so long, while they’d been sorting out their lives.

  It was evening before they lay sated for a while, their legs entwined, simply enjoying the luxury of looking at each other and being at peace. “The first time we swam together and made love, you reminded me of a painting of the famous Spanish artist Luis Falero. It was called A Sea Nymph. She’s appearing above the waves with her body submerged. Very enticing. I was taken with it at first glance.”

  Her smile lit up his insides. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Because you’d never been intimate with a man before and you were easily embarrassed.”

  She kissed his lips. “But now that I’m with children—yours, as a matter of fact—you think I can handle it.”

  “I think if you saw it, you’d blush, as you do so charmingly. But that was over two years ago and pregnancy has changed you.”

  “Is that right.”

  “In the most incredibly gorgeous ways.” He pressed a long, hard kiss to her tempting mouth. “Falero did another painting called The Planet Venus. The centerpiece is a goddess with flowing gold tresses, very much like you, in fact. After studying you now, I believe his model was in the early stages of her pregnancy. I was always drawn to it.”

  “I had no idea you were such a lover of nudes.”

  “Admirer of many, lover of one,” he corrected, provoking a gentle laugh from her.

  “Well...” she eyed him playfully “...since this is confession time, while you were lounging on the sand after we’d made love, it was like the Reclining Dionysos on the Parthenon had come to life before my eyes. He’s quite spectacular.”

  Leandros laughed again. “That’s not fair. He’s missing some of his parts.”

  She brushed her hand across his well-defined chest. “Everything important is still there.” Suddenly the teasing was gone. She leaned over him. “I love you so much, Leandros. Make love to me again. I’m on fire for you and am feeling insatiable.”

  “That makes two of us, agapa mou.”

  CHAP
TER TEN

  “CONGRATULATIONS, MRS. PETRALIA. You’ve reached your thirty-fifth week and all is well with your little boys. Most patients with twins deliver between now and thirty-seven weeks. Since I can predict your babies are going to come earlier than the desired forty weeks for a single baby, I want you to be especially observant of what’s going on with your body.”

  “What isn’t going on?” she exclaimed. “Last week, when we told our marriage therapist we wanted another appointment with her, to talk about how to be parents to twins, I told her I was as big as a house. I don’t think she believed me until she saw me. Secretly, I’m afraid Leandros compares me to a giant walrus.” Dr. Hanno burst into laughter. “It’s true. That’s exactly how I feel.”

  “It won’t be long now. Those menstrual-like cramps you’ve experienced are normal. So is the lower back pain and uterine pressure. Sometimes you can’t tell if you’re having contractions. You’ll need to listen to your body very carefully from here on out. My advice is to stay off your feet for a few hours every day to avoid that pressure.”

  “You mean my swollen stumps?” she quipped. “I can’t even bend over to see them.”

  “Be sure you’re still getting the equivalent of four glasses of milk a day. Any questions before you leave?”

  “Yes. How do I help my husband to calm down? He’s known for being a tour de force in the corporate world, but you wouldn’t know it if you lived with him.”

  The doctor grinned. “There’s no cure for what he’s got except to have those babies.”

  “I realize that. Half the time he watches me like a hawk. If I yawn or sigh, he asks me what’s wrong. When I get up in the night lately to go to the bathroom, he’s pacing on the patio off our bedroom. I’m glad he has to go to work! But throughout his day, he phones every few hours. His parents and my aunt and uncle are a stone’s throw away from our villa, but nothing seems to ease his mind. Every night he comes home from work with a new toy or outfit. At this rate we’re not going to have room for the babies.”

  Dr. Hanno eyed her speculatively. “I’m sure you know how lucky you are. Too many women don’t have a husband, and even if they do, he’s not like yours.”