hadn’t been hard. She loved her brother and she always would. She couldn’t imagine anything coming between them. He was stuck with his little sister for life.
Xander pulled back and placed the ticket in her hand. “This is your birthday gift. Please take it. I have it on good authority that you always wanted to take the cruise.”
She’d only told one person about her desire to cruise around Greece, Montenegro, Croatia and Italy. It would be her trial run to see if she enjoyed voyages before booking something a little farther from home, say the Caribbean, or possibly something a bit cooler, like Norway.
“Lukos told you?” She said it matter-of-factly.
Xander nodded. “He was disappointed he never got to take you on a cruise.”
Xander’s words took the fight out of her. She’d forgotten all about the things she’d wanted to do before Lukos got sick. They somehow seemed so trivial after all that had happened. Maybe Lukos somehow knew she would feel that way and this was his way of propelling her forward.
And now there were no more excuses—no more reasons to cling so tightly to the past. She needed to fulfill her husband’s final wish. She needed to look to the future and find her new path in life.
Her choice needed to be something meaningful. She needed a purpose, a compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning.
Her husband had done his best to watch out for her, leaving her enough money that, when combined with what she’d inherited from her family, it would keep her quite comfortable for the rest of her life. But she couldn’t wake up in the morning, enjoy her coffee and drift through the rest of the day. That wasn’t how she’d been raised.
She needed a reason to get excited. She needed a goal to strive for and even some setbacks to overcome to remind her of life’s many blessings. But what she didn’t need was being patted on her head and dismissed because people thought she wasn’t up to the challenge.
“Okay. I’ll go.” She forced a smile to her lips. All the talk of Lukos had deflated her mood. He should be going with her on this adventure, but she knew he would always be in her heart—it just wasn’t the same.
“And when you get back, I’ll have a business deal or two for you to look over. If one of them isn’t to your liking, I’ll keep looking until we find the right deal for you.”
She didn’t say anything about her waning interest in the real-estate market and wanting to strike out on her own. But she wanted a firm plan before she said anything to anyone.
“Thank you.” She hugged him again.
This cruise was going to be a turning point in her life. She’d take her laptop with her and make it a working trip. When she got back, she’d have her life all planned out.
Two weeks later... Athens, Greece
“DID YOU MAKE IT to the ship in time?”
“Why would I be late?” Stasia stood on the busy deck. She pressed the phone to her ear, straining to hear her brother over the voices of dozens of excited travelers.
Xander sighed. “Must you answer a question with a question?”
A smile pulled at Stasia’s lips. “Why must you act like the overprotective brother?”
She knew the answer. Xander felt guilty because he was happily married with a baby girl, not to mention living on a private Greek island. And she, well, she was alone now.
Not so long ago, she’d been happy when her college sweetheart had become her husband. Back then, they’d had dreams—lots of dreams. However, it was all cut short when a stomachache turned out to be so much worse than the flu.
From that point, their dreams radically changed. Instead of wishing for exotic vacations, they started wishing for just one more Christmas, one more birthday, one more month, one more day. Stasia halted her thoughts. She pushed away the heart-wrenching memories before she drowned in them.
She’d been on her own for nearly two years now. There had been a lot of tears shed over that time—her first Christmas alone, her first anniversary alone. And when filling out forms, her hand would hover over the married box before ultimately checking single. It hadn’t been easy learning to be a widow—not at all.
Eventually she’d been able to donate Lukos’s clothes, including his tailored suits and silk ties. It took a long time until she could bear to slip off her wedding ring and place it with Lukos’s in the back of her jewelry box.
Her thumb nervously rubbed over her ring finger. It was something she’d started to do when she’d waited in the doctors’ offices and hospital waiting rooms. Feeling the smoothness of her wedding band and knowing the love behind it had somehow bolstered her strength to face the horrible diagnosis Lukos had been given.
She glanced down at her now bare finger.
She was on her own. Each step had taken time. Some steps were big and some were tiny. Each of them had pulled on her heartstrings.
“I... I worry about you.” Xander’s voice cut through her thoughts.
“I know you do.” And she knew it wasn’t easy for him to admit it. Xander had always held his feelings close to his chest. “And I appreciate it. But it’s okay. I’m okay.”
“So you’re on the ship?”
She nodded, and then, realizing he couldn’t see her, she said, “Yes, I am.”
“Good. Now watch out for any smooth-talking men. Don’t fall for their lines. Tell them to push off or else your big brother will take care of them—”
“Xander, I’m not in school anymore. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.”
Her brother sighed. “I know.”
“But you worry.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No.” How could she reprimand him when she’d done something similar when he’d hooked up with Lea? Stasia had posed as a potential buyer of Infinity Island in order to find out if Lea was a gold digger. In the end, Stasia had learned that Lea had a heart of gold. “But you have to trust me. I can take care of myself.”
“If you need anything, I’m only a phone call away.”
And then a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was a tall man with dark hair. Though she could only see the back of him, there was something familiar about the way he held himself and the way he moved with sure, steady strides.
She told herself she shouldn’t stare even if it was from across the deck, but she couldn’t turn away. Or maybe she was using this distraction to keep from thinking about what her brother was saying. Did Xander really think she was incapable of caring for herself?
She knew then and there that she had to prove to him—to herself—that she could stand firmly on her own two feet. She’d thought she’d been doing that ever since Lukos passed, but it seemed that wasn’t so clear to everyone. She promised herself that by the time the cruise ended, she would have a firm life plan for herself.
In the beginning of this horrible nightmare, she’d had her doubts about facing life alone. But one day faded into two, and with each passing day, she’d somehow mustered up the strength and determination to put one foot in front of the other. And now nearly two years later, she was feeling strong and determined. She just needed a direction.
As Xander spoke of the bungalow he could build her on Infinity Island, her gaze focused on that tall, dark man across the way. He was busy speaking with a striking young woman. No doubt it was his girlfriend or wife.
And then the