the phone rang. She grabbed for it and clicked on immediately. It was Dr. Ganis’s nurse, who indicated he had an opening at 11:00 a.m. if she could make it. Stephanie said she’d be there and hung up.
Things couldn’t be working out better. She’d planned to go into town, anyway, and buy some picture albums. While she was at it, she’d look for a handicraft store in order to start making a quilt for the baby. While Nikos did business, she intended to stay busy and not bother him.
Nikos had told her she could use the car. While she left him alone to work, she would carry on with her new life. Besides loving to explore new places, Stephanie liked to cook. She could shop for food and fix their meals from now on. This evening she planned to prepare a totally American meal and surprise him. She wanted to help him. There was no use kidding herself any longer. She loved him desperately.
* * *
Once Nikos had showered and shaved, he got dressed and walked down the hall. Just as he knocked on Stephanie’s door, she stepped out of the bedroom and then collided, wringing a small cry from her. He grabbed her arms to steady her. To his surprise he saw her wince. Not only that, he noticed a slight bruise along her jaw that hadn’t been there when she’d gone to bed last night.
“You’ve hurt yourself!”
She averted her eyes. “It’s nothing.” She tried to ease away, but he prevented her from walking out the door.
“What’s wrong with your arms?”
“Not a thing.”
“Since you’re wearing long sleeves, I’ll be the judge of that. Let me see.” With care he pushed the sleeve of her blouse up her right arm, but found nothing. When he did the same thing to the left, it was a tug-of-war, but he prevailed and saw bruising both above and below the elbow. “Who did this to you, Stephanie?”
“No one. When I was in the galley, I was clumsy getting something down from the cupboard. It hit my jaw and jammed my arm against the counter by accident.”
“I don’t believe you. Look at me.” When she refused, he said, “These marks were made by someone’s hand. You’re trembling. Tell me the truth.”
Finally, she lifted her eyes to him. Those dark blue pools stared at him in pain. “About three-thirty this morning I heard moaning sounds coming from the deck and thought it was an animal. When I went up to see...”
Nikos drew in a burning breath. “You found me.”
“Yes. I knelt down to try and comfort you.”
He raked a hand through his hair, gutted to think she’d seen him like that and he didn’t even remember it. “I could have done real damage to you and the baby. I could have given you a permanent injury, or worse!”
“But you didn’t, Nikos. You were jerking, but you weren’t violent and didn’t walk around. Mostly you were crying Kon’s name. I wouldn’t have let myself get close to you otherwise.”
“I should have told you about my PTSD. The doctor gave me medicine, but sometimes the nightmares come on, anyway. By not saying a word to you, I put you at risk and have done the unforgivable.”
“That’s not true!” She cupped his face between her hands. “I’m glad I saw you like that. It helped to understand what you’ve been going through since the explosion. You’ve suffered so terribly. All I wanted to do was calm you down.” She kissed his lips. “After a little while you started to sleep peacefully again. I sat there until Yannis came on board.”
Nikos backed away from her. “Forgive me.”
“For deserting me on our wedding night?” she teased.
“You know what I mean.” He rapped out the words angrily.
“Nikos, there’s nothing to forgive. Now that I know, I have a suggestion, because I’m worried about you sleeping up on deck when one of those flashbacks hits. As you told me on the way out of the church, I’m your wife now, for better or worse, so why don’t we sleep in the room with the twin beds? That way we can keep an eye on each other. When you have a bad night, you’ll be safe and so will I.”
“I’m not safe to be around anyone, especially not you when you’re pregnant.”
“Where did you get an idea like that? Thousands of soldiers come home from war with battle fatigue. They resume their lives with their wives, who are pregnant or not, and they work things out. To be honest, I asked Yannis for the name of your doctor this morning. I have an appointment at eleven. I’d like to hear what he has to say, and want you to come with me. But if you won’t, I’m going anyway, because I need to know the best way to help you.”
She headed for the galley. Nikos followed her and watched her reach for a roll. She darted him a glance. “Have you had breakfast?”
“I couldn’t.” He wasn’t able to tolerate the thought of food after what he’d done to her. “Stop being so damn brave.”
“That’s what I’ve wanted to say to you since I saw that cane you’ve refused to use in front of me. Why don’t we agree that you’ve tried to be brave long enough? Now it’s time for us to be totally honest with each other. Otherwise how are we ever going to get through the rest of this pregnancy without losing our minds?”
Totally honest?
Since Stephanie had shown up on board the Diomedes, he wasn’t sure he was in control of his mind or his fears. Deep down he wanted the baby to be his more than anything in this world.
She poured herself a glass of orange juice and drank it. “I’m planning to do some grocery shopping while we’re in town.”
“We just stocked up a few days ago.”
“Have you forgotten you’ve picked up an American wife since then? She’d like to make you some of her favorite foods.” He blinked. “Oh, and will you bring the camera? We can take it to a print shop and have the pictures downloaded so we can mount them.”
He cocked his head, amazed by this unexpected domestic side of her. Being with Stephanie on vacation hadn’t prepared him for this aspect of her. “Anything else?”
She flashed him a full, unguarded smile that knocked him sideways, though the sight of the bruise on her jaw tortured him. “Since we don’t know the gender of the baby yet, I think I’ll work up a white puffy quilt and stencil it with the outline of a lamb. I’d love your input on the materials.”
She washed out her glass in the sink. “I’ll get my purse and see you at the car. If not, would you give me the keys?”
He ground his teeth. “I’m coming with you.” As they left for town it occurred to him he needed to buy them a house, preferably today. The yacht was a great place for him to do business with Tassos, but it was no place for a woman whose nesting instincts had already kicked in.
While Nikos waited for her outside the local photo shop, he called Tassos, who knew of a villa he’d had in mind for Nikos for a while. It was in a more exclusive area of town that would be perfect for them.
With a phone call to a friend who was a Realtor, he made the arrangements and gave Nikos the address. The man agreed to meet Nikos and Stephanie there at one o’clock. That would give them enough time to see the doctor first.
It seemed to make Dr. Ganis’s day to find out Nikos was married to a wife who intended to be proactive over his PTSD. He gave them a card they should both read regularly, but all the time he spoke, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Nikos had already come to learn that with Stephanie’s blond beauty and lithe figure, taking her out in public was proving to be a hazard. He could already count one traffic accident because the male driver had taken one look at her and driven right into the back of another car. It served the poor devil right.
Nikos read what was on the card.
Always be truthful with