know that. She loves you. So do I.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Thank you. I’m so glad you’ve come home.” Her love meant everything to Takis.
After she hurried inside, he chatted with Cassia during the short ride to the old Manolis Hotel. He pulled around the back next to his father’s truck. Lukios’s car wasn’t here, which meant he’d gone to his house a block away. Both his brother and sister lived nearby.
“Come on, sweetheart.” He lifted her out of the seat and entered the private back door where his parents had lived in their own apartment since their marriage. “Mama? Look who I’ve got with me!” His mother came running from the kitchen into the living room. “She’s breathing just fine now.”
“Ah!” She pulled Cassia into her arms. “Come with me and I’ll give you some grape juice.” Grapes grew in profusion on this part of Crete.
“Tak-Tak!” his niece called to him, not wanting to be parted from him. He smiled because she couldn’t say the is part yet. He grinned at his mother, who laughed.
“I’m right behind you, Cassia.”
While his father was busy with hotel business, he had his mother to himself in the kitchen. She put a plate of his favorite homemade dakos on the table, a combination of rusk, feta cheese, olives and tomatoes. Cassia sat in the high chair drinking her juice while he devoured six of them without taking a breath and finished off the moussaka.
Afterward he held Cassia and read to her from a bundle of children’s books he’d brought her on his last trip home. She had a favorite called Am I Small? He had to read it to her over and over again.
The little Greek girl in the story asked every animal she met if she was small. It had a surprise ending. Cassia couldn’t wait for it. Neither could Takis, who was totally entertained by her responses.
At quarter to ten, Kori ran into the apartment and found her daughter asleep in his arms. She thanked him with a hug and hurried out to the car where Deimos was waiting for them.
Takis turned out lights and went to bed in the guest room he used whenever he came home for a visit. However, now that he was back for good, he needed to figure out where to live. Tomorrow he’d look around the neighborhood and find a house like his brother’s and Kori’s, close to the hotel.
Takis took a long time to get to sleep, knowing the nub of his restlessness had to do with a certain female who’d come to live in his heart. They weren’t engaged yet, but the way he was feeling, he didn’t know how he was going to keep his desire for her to himself much longer. Earlier in the car he’d kissed her, but it hadn’t lasted long enough and he’d been forced to restrain himself.
The next morning, he installed the other two car seats before visiting a Realtor in the village. By late afternoon he’d finally been shown a small Cretan stone house he liked with a beautiful flowering almond tree. It had been up for sale close to a year and was two blocks away from the hotel. The place suited him with two bedrooms upstairs and a little terrace over the lower main rooms covered in vines.
Takis stood in the kitchen while they talked about the need to paint the interior and upgrade the plumbing. The house would do for him and not stand out. While he and the Realtor finished up the negotiations, his cell phone rang. One check of the caller ID caused his adrenaline to kick in. He swiped to accept the call.
“Lys?”
“I’m glad you answered.” She sounded a little out of breath. “Can you talk?”
“In a few minutes I’ll be free for the rest of the evening.”
“I just flew back from Kasos.” She’d been with Danae. “How soon can you meet me at my suite?” The fact that she wanted to see him right away might not be good news, but he refused to think that way.
“I have a better idea. I’ll pick you up in front of the hotel in a half hour. There’s something I want to show you. We’ll talk then.”
“All right. I’ll be ready.”
He hung up and thanked the Realtor, who drove them back to his office. The older man handed him the keys to the house. Takis walked outside to his car with a sense of satisfaction that he was now a homeowner on Crete, the land of his ancestors.
En route to Heraklion, he stopped for some takeout of his favorite foods; rosemary-flavored fried snails, Sfaki pies and a Greek raki liqueur made from grapes. He liked the idea of sharing his first meal in his own home with Lys where they could be alone.
Before long he reached the hotel. Lys stood out from everyone when he pulled up in front. Her black blouse and dark gray skirt made the perfect foil for the tawny gold hair he was dying to run his hands through. He leaned across and opened the door for her.
“Hi!” Lys climbed in the front, bringing her flowery fragrance with her. “Umm. Something smells good,” she remarked as he drove away and headed out of town.
“I’m hungry and thought we could eat after we reach our destination.”
“Where are we going?”
“To Tylissos. I bought a house today and thought you might like to see it.”
She made a strange sound in her throat. “Already?”
“My parents’ apartment is small. They don’t need another person underfoot while they tend my niece during the day. She naps on the bed I use while I’m here.”
“How old is she?”
“Cassia is three. I’m crazy about her. The cute little thing has chronic asthma. Yesterday my sister had to take her to the hospital so the doctor could help her, but she’s back home now.”
“Oh, the poor darling.”
“She handles it like there’s nothing wrong. Now tell me about you. I take it you’ve had a talk with Danae.”
“Yes.”
The short one-syllable answer could mean anything. “Is it a good or bad sign that you can’t look at me? Don’t you know I’m fine with whatever you have to say?” At least that’s what he was telling himself right this minute.
“After discussing everything with Danae, she surprised me so much I’m not sure what I am supposed to say.”
He left that answer alone and drove into Tylissos and it wasn’t long before he pulled up next to a house on the corner. “We’ve arrived.”
While she got out, he reached for the bag of food on the backseat. After they walked to the front door, he put the key in the lock and opened it. “Welcome to my humble abode. I’m afraid we’ll have to eat in the kitchen standing up.”
Her chuckle reminded him not everyone had such a pleasant nature. So far there wasn’t anything about her he didn’t love. While she wandered around, he put their cartons of food on the counter next to the utensils.
After a minute, she came back and they started to eat. “Your house is charming, especially the terrace.”
“Best seen at twilight.” The house needed work from the main floor up.
“Takis—”
They both smiled in understanding. It felt right to be here with her like this. He’d never known such a moment of contentment and wanted to freeze it.
Once he’d poured the raki into plastic cups, he handed one to her. “To our health,” he said in Greek. They drank some before he asked her what Danae had said. She kept drinking. “Why are you so reticent to tell me?”
Her frown spoke volumes. “I wish I hadn’t talked to her at all.”
“Why?”
“Because she thinks an engagement could be a good idea for the reasons you suggested, but she says it doesn’t go far enough.”
* * *
“What