Home to Hellas (The Challenge Series)
Page 9
“Nothing, I…I’m moving to Greece. I’m on my way to the airport, and I saw the sign and….”
“No way. You’re leaving, see the sign, and come here to find me wanting to eat Greek yogurt.”
Jenn snorted, shocked at the sick woman’s humor. All this time she’d projected doom and gloom when thinking of her, but here she was, fine, like Dr. Arogos said. Even if she wasn’t, Jenn didn’t feel the same responsibility she once had.
“Are you okay?” she asked, finding her voice. “Can I do anything? Get you that yogurt, maybe?”
She shook her head. “Oh no, you’ve done enough. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
“What do you mean?”
“The foundation money, silly.” Her brow wrinkled. “The Jennifer CeCe Kallis Fund. I thought it was funny that you did your full middle name, you know, since it’s usually initials. But I guess just initials got us in trouble from the start. The social worker said it was pretty fitting the first grant from the Jenn fund went to another Jenn. The money has been a godsend. My daughter is still able to go to preschool, and Jeffery has been able to take time off of work to take me to appointments and…thank you.”
Jenn hadn’t put the foundation into effect, but she knew who had. Though she didn’t think it was possible, she loved him more.
“Are you feeling okay?” the other Jenn asked. “It might be me, because I feel like a ghost, but you are pale. Maybe you should sit a second.”
Jenn stumbled to the chair. Her head spun. The nausea and shortness of breath came from travel and stress. Walking the beaches of the Mediterranean would be the best medicine.
A nurse stepped in as she closed her eyes. She’d catch her breath and call Charlie.
Someone rubbed her arms too hard. The touch annoyance had eased up, but run-of-the-mill displeasure surged at the rude awakening. She wanted to sleep.
“Hey, sunshine. You back with us?”
She opened her eyes. “What are you doing out of bed? Are you okay?”
The other woman shook her head. “Wow, you’re something aren’t you? Nurse Jackie, she’s back with us, no problem. What’s up, buttercup?”
“Nothing. I think it’s all the travel. I am so sorry I did that. I’ll go and let you recover.”
“You know,” the other Jenn said, “I fainted like nobody’s business when I was pregnant. It used to make Jeffery nuts. We couldn’t even go shopping without smelling salts.”
Her stomach spun. “I’m not pregnant. Just travel tired. You need to get in bed.”
She chuckled. “Okay, I will, but get scooting to your flight. When you land, see a doctor and get things checked out.”
The nurse frowned. “I’d prefer you get checked out before you leave, especially if this is a new phenomenon for you. Some women are ultra-sensitive to blood sugar shifts. I brought in some chocolate milk. I’d feel a lot better if you drank it before standing.”
“Yeah, blood sugar, that’s all.” Jenn did as instructed and the nurse left. She felt fine after the milk, but she attributed her improvement more to her sweet companion than the sugar.
The other Jenn took her place in the bed, once again looking small and frail, but she was okay. “You have a plane to catch.”
“Yeah, I do.” She put the television remote closer and tucked a blanket higher. “I wish you the best. Keep healing, okay? Get better?”
“Of course. Those are the only things on the to-do list for the moment. Hey, and you have a blast in Greece, you hear? It’s not every day you get to live your dreams.”
“You want to go to Greece?” Her mind jumped to a way to make it work.
“Nope.” She closed her eyes and relaxed on the bed. “I’ve got my dream here in Ohio. It’s a little stormy right now, but it’ll get better. You go have yours. I do envy you the yogurt.”
She laughed, her heart light with hope for the other woman. Dr. Arogos would have called this one incorrectly. She’d needed the visit and couldn’t regret even a moment.
“Take care, Jenn.”
She waved from the bed. “Will do, cockatoo. Stay out of trouble and make sure you check in with a doctor in Greece. Make him a cute one, just for giggles.”
Tears burned again, but good ones this time. She headed out of the hospital with her blinders on. She might need to visit a doctor soon if her light-headedness and nausea didn’t ease up, but she couldn’t do one more thing, not today.
She found Charlie waiting in one of the close-by parking spots. He leapt out of the car and held the door open.
“You okay, ma’am? Not that I mind waiting when I’m being paid, but I started to worry.”
Jenn settled into the seat once again. “Everything is great. I’m ready when you are.”
Chapter Fifteen
A text had come through the second Jenn used the ticket he’d sent. Dorian checked the flight time again and looked at the clock above the airline ticket booth. She should be here soon, and he had some serious making up to do.
After catching hell from Zoe, Augusta, and Athena he’d considered his parting words to Jenn and found them lacking. She deserved better and he…he had to express himself more clearly. He felt so connected with her, or had until she packed this last time, but that didn’t mean she could read his mind. The ring he’d bought burned a hole in his pocket. He’d wanted it on her hand, regretted not putting it there before she left.
If he’d been thinking, he would have been supportive, even offered to travel with her. He would have answered her calls, emails…everything. But for over a week, his pride hurt, his heart grieved, and he’d allowed himself to believe he’d been wronged when, in fact, he was wrong. Even after losing that attitude, he’d hesitated, ashamed of his behavior.
Jenn was on her way home, and he’d make things better. The board blinked to life, announcing new arrivals from New York City within minutes. He stood, straightening his jacket. It would take a while for her to make it through customs, but he wanted to be the first person she saw when she stepped through the gate. He checked his watch a dozen times, the minute hand ticking slower than ever.
Finally, red-eyed travelers began trickling in. He moved closer, searching for the woman to whom he owed an apology. Businessmen, attractive coeds, octogenarians—none of them mattered, not until the love of his life shuffled toward him.
Her paper-white complexion held none of its usual vitality. Her freckles popped on her nose and cheeks, magnifying the lack of color. Their eyes met, and while Jenn’s happiness showed, misery chased it away. He reached her side in time to prop her up.
“What is wrong?”
“I feel terrible,” she whispered. “I want to go home.”
His heart flipped. She wanted to go back to Ohio so much it made her ill.
“Please take me to the villa.” She leaned into him. “Please, no clinic or hospital. I want to go home with you. Promise?”
Home was with him at the villa. He would promise her anything, but her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell into him.
“Jenn!” He eased her to the ground.
Flight attendants hurried to them and, scared out of his mind, Dorian was grateful he hadn’t promised to bring her home.
Chapter Sixteen
The scent of disinfectant tickled Jenn’s nose before she fully woke. Sweat on her brow confirmed her conclusion.
“Calm down,” Dorian’s smooth voice broke through the panic but didn’t make her feel much better. “I wouldn’t have brought you here if you hadn’t passed out and taken ten years off my life. You were dehydrated, and the doctor says your blood pressure is too high. I tell him it is stress. He says you are too young and beautiful for such stress and gives me hell for allowing it.”
She smiled at his put-out tone. “Sorry you got a lecture.”
“You should be. If you were in my care, you would never have come here, but that is my fault. I should not have let us part as I did, with so much anger. I love you and I’ve been an ass. I hope you
will forgive me.”
She’d missed him so much. Being closer made her feel better, but not enough to open her eyes and confirm their location. “Apology accepted, now please get me out of here. I’m getting better, I promise, but I don’t want to be here.”
His fingers tangled with hers. “Did you visit your doctor in the States?”
“Kind of. I saw him when I visited the other Jenn.”
“What did he say?”
“He said I looked pale,” she mumbled, more sweat pouring down her back. “Really, we have to go. I don’t want to have to be sedated or something.”
“We’ll go, but the doctor did a blood test, dear one, and I have news.”
Her heart dropped. “Cancer?”
He cursed, but her mind raced to the worst. Her body shook, as it had the first time she received the diagnosis. The initial emotions warred with her mind, reminding her she had Dorian. He would help. They would support each other and find reasons to live. She’d be okay.
Warm hands cupped her face. “Open your eyes, woman.”
She didn’t want to. He loved her and when things got worse, he’d be with her. She’d never been more determined to live life to its fullest.
Jenn blew out a breath and forced her eyes open.
“You do not have cancer,” he said. “You are pregnant.”
“No, I’m not.”
“It is so easy for you to believe you are dying, but a child between us is so impossible?”
It really was. And yet, looking into his eyes, so wide and glistening….
“Are you crying?” She ran her fingertip across his cheek. “You are.”
He chuckled. “It has been a very long time since a woman I loved carried a child. It is just as amazing as it was the first time, an honor I cannot explain.”
She wrapped her arms around Dorian, wishing away the IV as it tugged, but with him so close, she could ignore it, at least temporarily.
“I’m pregnant?”
“The blood tests say yes,” he whispered. “I had them do it twice while you were still out because I knew you would find it unpleasant. The nurse will be in soon to take out your IV so we may go home. My physician will visit in the morning, and we will arrange things there so you won’t have to make many visits here.”
She didn’t want to let him go, but she did when the nurse entered. Instead of returning to the chair, he stayed at her side and nudged her face toward him.
“You look at me, love. She will do a good job, but we won’t pay attention.”
“I can handle it,” she protested, feeling foolish at the fuss.
“Of course you can.”
The nurse’s actions were much easier to stomach since she couldn’t see them. Gazing deep into Dorian’s eyes proved the best medicine.
“See?” he said. “Better. Now we will go. I even told them, no silly gown for you. You wear clothes so we can go.”
He helped her to her feet and unhindered by the IV, she launched into his arms. The tears stayed at bay as her heart beat with his.
“I’m so glad to be home. I never want to leave again.”
“Good. We will stay together now and forever, as we should have from the start.” She nodded, his scent drowning out the hospital, his heartbeat louder than the noise. She was home.
Chapter Seventeen
One Year Later
Pitiful cries woke him from his doze. Dorian kicked away from his desk and ran his hand over his face. There was a reason most men had their children young and enjoyed their grandchildren at their leisure. Even if he had considered that before Jenn became pregnant, he would have set the thought aside. As he stepped into the family room where Jenn and Zoe lay with the babies between them, he thanked everything good he hadn’t known better.
He might miss sleep, but he loved his son and grandson more every day. On the sofa, watching on like a proud hen, his mother grinned.
“Here comes the man, on the run when the babes cry,” she said. “Your boys are exercising their lungs. Strong boys, very strong. My grandson, just like my son.”
“I don’t know, Ya Ya.” Zoe said, running her hand over Ladon’s blond head. “He resembles Jenn.”
His marriage to an American still brought a few comments from his mother, but they’d eased since Ladon’s birth. She knew well grandchildren came best from their happy mother’s laps and she went out of her way to make Jenn smile.
“My grandson could do worse than to take after his pretty mama,” his mother said, making him proud. “But I see my boy in his nose. You can’t hide such a nose.”
Jenn kissed the little one’s cheek before waving Dorian closer. “I agree with you, Berenike. Such a noble nose should be celebrated, and I’m proud my son takes after his father. Actually, I think these two boys resemble each other, what do you think?”
He couldn’t believe his blessings as he took in the sight of his wife and son beside his daughter and grandbaby. Apollo’s birth, six months before Ladon’s, had brought fresh life to the family. Ladon’s confirmed they were ready for the next generation. He was ready.
Dorian sat beside Jenn and rested his hand on her hip. She threaded her fingers with his. “I’m glad you could escape work. We were starting to miss you.”
He kissed her smiling mouth. “Missing me with so much company?”
“Your mother very sweetly offered to watch Ladon for a few hours. Can you take a little more time off?”
“Yes,” the older woman said, listening on shamelessly as ever. “Go with your wife. Zoe and I will watch the babies. We want more, and you aren’t getting any younger.”
From warning him away from her to encouraging more…. He didn’t need to understand his mother to love her. He stood and offered Jenn a hand.
“Shall we have dinner? Perhaps a walk on the beach?”
She shook her head and squeezed his fingers. “I had something else in mind.”
He followed her lead, waving to Zoe and the babies before chasing after Jenn, whose saunter showed every sway of her hips.
“Oh? What’s that, love?”
Her eyes sparkled with mischief when she peered over her shoulder. “I was tidying up the pool room, and you won’t believe the skimpy bikini I found in the drawer. Amazingly enough, it’s my size.”
He’d tucked it there the year before, when he’d wanted her more comfortable. They’d taken to swimming naked together after their marriage.
“Oh?”
“Yep, I thought you could strip it off of me.” She giggled. “But you’re going to have to catch me first.”
She shook his hand loose and ran.
With the sun on his shoulders as he passed a window, Dorian counted his blessings once again. Growing old could wait. He had a wife to play with.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When Stephanie Beck’s mother told her to quit whining about less than perfect stories and write her own neither of them could have guessed what would happen. Ten years later that advice has become a fulltime passion and occupation. With a wonderful husband and three beautiful children, the fulltime status makes for very long days, but she breaks up the romance and steamy scenes with knitting, walking, sewing and reading.
Please contact Stephanie at stephaniebeckauthor@gmail.com or find out more about her additional works at http://www.stephaniebeck.net
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Maggie Chase has a wild night of passion planned with the help of Madame Evangeline’s dating service, 1NightStand. A single night with an incredible man, what more can a busy girl ask for?
Sam Peterson requests that Madame Evangeline help him find a woman who isn’t after him for his money. Maggie may just fit the bill, but with her list of fantasies in hand, she may be more than he bargained for.
Forever isn’t on either one of their minds, but maybe it doesn’t have to be.
Smut Therapy
What’s a cowboy to do when the love of his life puts him on a boot-knocking schedule?
In hopes o
f having a baby, Jenny sets a strict sex timetable. For Aaron, the zealous plan takes the fun and freedom away from their sex life, leading to stress and irritability on both of their sides.
To make the baby they both want and survive each other’s tempers until that day, Aaron proposes a little smut therapy, but getting Jenny to agree will require more than words.
Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR