GET the picture of Chris carrying his son up the stairs out of her mind. How he’d held the baby so close and just how much he’d doted on him.
Would he have doted on their baby just as much?
She wanted to think he would, but she couldn’t be sure, and the fact that they would never know made her sad. Made her ache.
It had been a long time since she’d let herself think about her baby and the miscarriage. She never let her mind go there...it was too painful.
Work usually took care of that, but now she was working with Chris and he constantly reminded her of what might have been. What she might have had.
“You’re awfully quiet, Naomi,” Lisa said, interrupting Naomi’s thoughts.
“What?”
“I said you’re quiet,” Lisa teased. “I thought you were a chatterbox when we first met.”
“Sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.” Naomi fidgeted with her napkin and tried to put Chris and his son out of her mind—but she couldn’t.
She just saw him again and again in her mind’s eye, kissing that baby who was the spitting image of him.
“I noticed. You’ve completely missed those handsome men over there who have been trying to get your attention for some time.”
Naomi turned and glanced over at the men in question. They were young—around Lisa’s age, which was about eight years her junior. They were definitely flirting with them, but Naomi wasn’t interested.
“Did you know your father’s mother? Our yia-yia?”
Lisa frowned. “Not really. She died when I was about seven years old. She lived outside of Athens and we rarely went to see her. She hated my mother. And Yia-yia travelled a lot. She died shortly after she came back from America.”
“She used to say I was cursed.” Naomi laughed half-heartedly.
Lisa looked confused. “Cursed? What? You were like...what...? Fourteen when you met her?”
Naomi nodded. “Yep—and she called me cursed or the cursed one the entire time she was visiting. Really annoyed my mother and father.”
“Well, my father said that Yia-yia had that effect on people. I don’t think you’re cursed, and I definitely don’t believe in curses, but people around here do take religion seriously. When they bring out the Saint for his yearly airing, people are really into seeing his mummified remains being carted around in a gold sarcophagus. They say it brings good luck, but I don’t know...”
“I could use some good luck,” Naomi said, and groaned. “This bachelor auction is coming up fast at the end of the month. It’s being held in Athens now, rather than on Mythelios, so we can get more exposure and hopefully more funds for the wider community as well as the clinic. Theo thought I was the perfect person to take it on, and it’s a great idea, but now I have to find some bachelors from Mythelios to auction off. Bachelors who are willing to give a romantic fantasy type of date. I was hoping to coerce some of the male doctors here into it, but they all have someone.”
Lisa took a sip of her iced tea. “There’s always my boss. He’s single. He has a baby, but it’s just a date for charity. It’s not like you’re selling off husbands or something. I’m sure if he knew what it was for he’d say yes. He’s quite generous.”
I’m sure.
“I’m sure he has enough women on his hands that he doesn’t need to be auctioned off.”
Lisa frowned. “Actually, no, I’ve never seen him on a date. He’s totally devoted to his son and his work. Mind you, I’ve only known him since I was hired to care for Evan. I don’t remember him from when my family would visit the island when I was a child.”
“Do you know anything about the baby’s mother?”
Lisa frowned. “Nothing. I just know that she’s not in the picture and that Chris has full custody of his son. Which is why he hired me shortly after he returned to Greece a few weeks ago. The only woman who lived with him before I came was Dr. Erianthe Nikolaides, but not for long. She’s married to Dr. Xenakis now.”
Naomi worried at her bottom lip, because she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of woman Evan’s mother was. Why didn’t she want her baby?
Naomi would’ve given anything to keep her baby.
One thing she knew: she felt really sorry for that sweet little boy, growing up without a mother.
“I can’t ask Dr. Moustakas to take part in the bachelor auction,” she said, steering the subject back to the auction because she didn’t want to think about Chris and his baby. How it had made her completely weak in the knees to see them together.
She’d never seen him like that before. So gentle, so loving. It made her long for what had been taken from her. For what she’d never got to have.
“You can ask Dr. Moustakas. He’ll probably say yes—and, honestly, he needs a night away,” Lisa said. “He really has no life.”
Lisa continued to chat about different things, but Naomi was only half listening. It surprised her to hear that Chris had become something of a hermit when he’d been the quintessential playboy in Manhattan—or so all the tabloids had said, when she was doing her fellowship in Nashville.
The church bell in the center of the old town chimed the hour.
“I’d better get back. Evangelos is due for a walk and Dr. Moustakas has to get back to work.” Lisa picked up her shawl and purse. “Are you heading back to Athens tonight?”
Naomi nodded. “There’s no place to stay on the island after the earthquake—though Dr. Nikolaides did offer a boathouse. But a place like that is more suited to a bachelor. Are you headed back to Athens too?”
“No, I’m on for three nights and then off for two. I have a small room close to Evangelos. I suppose when the boy gets older I’ll be making the commute daily, but it’s really not that long.”
“No, but it would be easier to stay here. Isn’t there a ferry that goes to Spritos?”
Lisa frowned. “Spritos? What do you need to do there?”
“There’s another small clinic there, and I was told Spritos could be accessed by ferry from Mythelios.”
“On the other side of the island. The ferry only runs twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Pray you don’t get stuck there, because they really have nothing—but it’s a beautiful place.”
Naomi walked Lisa back to Chris’s house.
“I hope we can visit more,” Lisa said as she unlocked the old wooden door to Chris’s home. “It’s nice that you’re here, and if Yia-yia did put a curse on you, perhaps we can lift it, eh?”
Naomi laughed. “I would like that.”
She turned and began walking back to the clinic. She made slow progress and was annoyed with herself for wearing completely impractical heels—especially when walking on cobbled streets. Then her heel broke, and she swore out loud and leaned precariously against a wall to inspect the damage.
Yep. Definitely cursed.
There was the beep of a horn behind her, and she looked over her shoulder to see a little scooter being driven by none other than Chris, who was grinning from ear to ear as he leaned over the front.
“I told you those heels would be your downfall one day.”
She snorted. “I wasn’t thinking. In Athens it’s no big deal.”
“Here, especially on the cobbled streets of the old part of town, flats are your friend. How badly is it broken?”
“Bad—but