Along Came Twins…

He sucked in his breath. “I’m willing to do as you asked and go to marriage counseling with you.”

Looking dumbstruck, she put her glass on the coffee table. “I thought you didn’t believe in it. I brought up the subject a year ago, but you were adamantly against it.”

He scowled in self-deprecation. “It’s my nature to believe only in myself, but after being apart from you this last month, I recognize how arrogant that was of me. Since you suggested counseling as a last resort, I’m willing to try anything to save our marriage.”

Besides her inability to get pregnant, which had tested them to the breaking point, there’d been other side issues throughout their marriage to exacerbate what was already wrong. One of them was Kellie’s insistence that Karmela had a crush on him. Whenever she’d brought it up, he’d dismissed it, telling her Petra’s sister was simply a clingy girl who needed lots of attention. Her behavior didn’t mean anything. In fact, Petra had asked him to be extra kind to her.

But, he remembered, when Karmela had said last night that Kellie wasn’t good enough for him, something in him had snapped. Mostly because in trying to do as Petra had asked, he hadn’t taken Kellie’s concerns seriously enough, he realized.

She got to her feet, as if on the verge of running away.

“I realize it will have to be someone you trust,” he added, “so I want you to pick the therapist.” Leandros knew this was a drastic departure from his former attitude, but he was desperate. Seeing her again proved to him he couldn’t live without her. “We can do it here in Athens, or we can fly to Philadelphia and find someone there. It’s your choice.”

Without saying anything, she moved over to the French doors and opened them to walk out on the patio. He followed her, inhaling her flowery fragrance and the scent of the lemon trees close by. Incredible to think that inside her beautiful body, their babies were already seven weeks old and growing.

“Are you too embittered at this stage to even consider it, Kellie? I wouldn’t blame you if you were…but I’m begging you.”

She clung to the railing. Still no words came.

“I’ve spent the last week doing research on the best therapists in the city and came up with a list of six names recommended to me. Four men and two women. Let me show you.”

He went back inside and reached for his briefcase. After pulling out his laptop, he set it up on the coffee table and turned it on. Kellie came back in and watched as he clicked to the file so she could see it.

“I was going to give you this list when I flew over to see you, but you can look at it now if you want. All the information I’ve gathered is here. But if this doesn’t interest you, I’ll fly you back to Philadelphia tomorrow and we’ll search for a therapist there.”

She shot him a startled glance. “You can’t just go back and forth from Greece between sessions. Therapy takes time.”

“I can do whatever I want. Frato will be running the company for as long as necessary. He knows the business the same as I do. With both our fathers still alive to advise him, along with other family members on the board, the company will function seamlessly. If you and I decide to do therapy in Philadelphia, then I’ll live there and do business. With your help, of course.”

“My help?”

“Yes. You once asked me if you could work for me. I told you I’d rather you didn’t, but I was wrong about that and a host of other things. We can be a team and scout out a property for the first Petralia resort in Pennsylvania. But since you’re pregnant, we’ll have to proceed as your health dictates.”

“You’re not serious,” she whispered.

“Try me and find out.” He fired back the response. “We’ll buy or build a house in Philadelphia near your aunt and uncle, if that’s what you desire.”

She shook her head. “And take you away from your family and responsibilities?”

“You’re my family. No one else is more important. If we decide to live there, I’ll step down as CEO.”

“I wouldn’t want or expect you to do that. Never!”

He stared into her eyes. “Why not? Don’t you realize no place is home to me without you? I’ll do anything, Kellie,” he vowed. “I know we can make this work. It’s not too late. For the sake of our unborn babies, I’m pleading with you to reconsider. If counseling will help us, then it will be worth it for all our sakes. We’ll postpone our divorce while we’re in therapy.”

If Leandros had said these things to her a month ago…

But he’s saying them to you now, Kellie.

For a proud man like her husband to be willing to undergo therapy told her how far he’d come. She moved closer to the coffee table, where she could see the list of names on his laptop. He’d done all this without prior knowledge that they were expecting twins? She couldn’t believe it.

After supplying her this kind of proof that he was serious, she had to believe he’d planned to fly to Philadelphia today. But for Leandros to submit to marriage counseling…It just wasn’t like him.

He was a dynamic wonder in the business world and a law unto himself. He’d probably last one session and that would be it. She couldn’t imagine therapy working on him. But since she’d been the one to suggest it in the first place, how would it look if she told him no?

Kellie knew exactly what he’d think. During one of their arguments he’d told her she was inflexible, unreasonable and didn’t really mean what she’d said. He would have every right to accuse her now of not putting their children first.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized the wisest thing to do would be to try out one of these therapists in Athens. When the counseling didn’t work, then she’d fly back to Philadelphia and the divorce could go through. She’d have to let her aunt and uncle know. The news would be welcome to them, because they adored Leandros and were crushed by the news that he and Kellie were getting a divorce.

He watched as she sat down and scrolled through the list of names. All seemed to have impressive credentials. She was glad he’d included some women. She preferred their therapist to be a female, who would understand Kellie’s point of view about things. Leandros probably wouldn’t like it, but he’d said this was her choice.

She looked at their ages. The first woman was forty-eight, younger than Kellie’s aunt. The other therapist was seventy-six. That sounded pretty old, but she did have a long record of running a practice. At that age she’d probably seen thousands of couples, with every type of problem, enter her office. To still be in business meant she’d enjoyed a certain amount of success.

“Today is a workday.” Leandros’s deep male voice permeated to Kellie’s insides. “Is there a name on the list you’d like to call now?”

He stood behind the couch, more or less looking over her shoulder. Though he’d sounded in control just now, she sensed his impatience for their therapy to get started. Actually, she was anxious, too. The sooner they met with someone and discovered counseling wouldn’t help, the sooner she could go home and start getting over Leandros once and for all.

“I’m rather impressed with this older woman, Olympia Lasko.” She glanced back at him. “The notes say she’s been in practice forty-five years. That’s longer than any of the other therapists’ histories. I think it speaks quite highly of her.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Go ahead and phone her.”

Leandros didn’t act the least upset with Kellie’s choice. If he was, he’d learned how to hide his true feelings. That ability made him the shrewd genius who’d become one of the leading business figures in Greece.

She reached in her purse for her cell phone and made the call. It rang several times before a woman answered. “This is Olympia Lasko.”

“Oh—” Kellie’s voice caught. “I guess I expected a receptionist.” She spoke in Greek.

“I’ve never used one. Your name, please.”

“Kellie Petralia.”

“What can I do for you?”

“M-my husband and I are on the verge of getting a divorce and need marriage counseling,” she stammered. “Could I see you soon to discuss our situation, or are you too booked up?”

“Both of you come to my house tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”

“Both?” Kellie had planned to talk to her first and explain things.

“I never see you individually. It’s together or nothing.”

“I see.” She bit her lip. “Then we’ll both be there.”

“What’s your husband’s name?”

“Leandros Petralia.”

“Thank you. When you enter the driveway, keep going until you reach the side door. Just walk in.”

The other woman rang off without making a remark about Kellie’s husband. Ninety-nine percent of the time, people couldn’t refrain from commenting on him and the famous Petralia name. Kellie sat there blinking in surprise.

Leandros walked around to look at her. “When can she see us?”

“Tomorrow at ten. We’re to go to her house. She must work out of her home.”

“Would that we all could do that,” he murmured.

“I can’t believe she had an opening this fast.”

“My dentist always leaves the first hour free for emergencies. It sounds like she operates the same way. I’m impressed already.”

Kellie got up from the couch, unnerved by the prospect of talking to Mrs. Lasko in front of Leandros without any private time first. “She’s very different than I’d supposed.” No chitchat of any kind.

“Let’s keep the appointment. If we decide she’s not the one for us, then we’ll try someone else.”

Leandros was being so supportive, just as he’d always been during their visits to the hospital, that Kellie felt like screaming. But not at him. She was frightened, and nervous of being alone with him. “I think I’m hungry now.”

“Why don’t we drive to Chora and have an early dinner.” He was reading her mind. She needed to be around other people and he knew it. “Do you have any particular cravings at this stage in your pregnancy?”

“Not yet.”

“Let’s try a restaurant you haven’t been to. The Circe is on the far side of Chora. It’s cozy and the cuisine is basically traditional Andriot.” He’d probably been there with Petra. Of course he had, you fool. If the therapy didn’t work out, Kellie would have to take part of the blame, because she couldn’t rid herself of her demons. “You’ll love their seafood mezes and froutalia.”

“I’ve forgotten what froutalia is.”

“A sensational omelet with sausage and other kinds of meat.”

“Oh, yes. That sounds delicious.”

“Good. Why don’t you freshen up first. I’ll meet you at the car parked around the side of the house.”

“I’ll hurry.”

“There’s no need. We have all the time in the world. By the time we get back, Yannis will have arrived with your luggage. You can have an early night in the guest bedroom.”

Her heart ached as she realized how far apart they’d grown. No sleeping in the same bed for the past two months. Most likely never again…

When Kellie went outside a few minutes later, he was waiting for her, and helped her in the passenger side. She glanced at his striking profile as he started the engine. Whether immaculately groomed or disheveled with a five-o’clock shadow as he was now, Leandros’s male beauty stood apart from other men’s.

Her heart thudded ferociously. A month ago she’d never dreamed she’d be on the island with him again, going to a romantic spot for dinner.

During the six-mile drive to town, she stared out the window at the fruit trees dotting the ancient landscape. When she couldn’t stand the silence any longer, she turned to him. “Have you seen Fran and Nik?”

He nodded. “They invited me to their apartment last week for dinner. Demi is thriving and has started to say words even I can understand.” Kellie smiled. “I’ve never seen two people so happy.”

Guilt washed over Kellie for the part she’d played in trying to influence Fran to stay away from the gorgeous Nik Angelis, Leandros’s good friend. The press had labeled him Greece’s number one playboy. Like Leandros, Nik was the head of his family’s multimillion-dollar business and could have any woman he wanted.

In Kellie’s zeal to protect her divorced friend’s wounded heart, she’d done everything she could to get her away from Nik. She’d been convinced he would only use Fran. But it turned out Kellie was wrong. Ultimately, he’d proved to be the perfect man for her, and had married her on the spot. Since he couldn’t give her children and she couldn’t conceive, they were adopting Demi, who’d lost her parents in a tornado. In time they planned to adopt more.

“I’m so happy for them,” Kellie said aloud.

“Me, too.”

To Leandros’s credit, he didn’t rub it in about Kellie’s behavior with her best friend before they’d flown to Philadelphia on his private jet. “I’ll phone her while I’m here.”

“She’ll be delighted. Being a mother has turned a light on inside her.”

You mean unlike me, who’s pregnant but still wants the divorce?

Kellie wouldn’t blame Leandros for thinking it, but again, he kept his thoughts to himself. That was the trouble between them. They were both festering in their own private way from behaviors that had driven them apart.

The therapist would have to perform a miracle for them to put their marriage back together. How ironic that Kellie had been the one who’d brought up the idea of counseling. Yet now that Leandros had finally agreed to it, she was only going through the motions. Deep inside she had no real hope of success.

There’d been too much damage done during those months of planning each hospital visit like clockwork. Everything had to be gauged down to the second—the temperature taking, the preparation, Leandros’s time off from work…. All of it had affected the natural rhythm of married life.

If he suggested they skip a month of going to the hospital, and give things a rest, she was afraid he was losing interest in her. Maybe he didn’t want a baby as badly as she did. When she asked him if he would still love her if she couldn’t give him a child, he’d acted incensed, which in turn made her afraid to approach him again about it.

There were times when she’d feared he needed a break from her, and would tell him to enjoy a night out with friends or go visit his family. If he took her up on the suggestion, she cried herself to sleep. If he insisted on staying home with her, she feared it was out of a sense of duty. The spontaneity of their lives had vanished.

Aside from making sure she’d prepared a good meal for him at night, Kellie found herself spending more and more time playing tennis at Leandros’s club with friends, or studying Greek with the tutor he’d hired for her at the university.

With the gulf so wide and deep between them because of what they’d gone through to have a baby, they were different people now. Her heart ached, because she couldn’t imagine how they could find their way back to the people they’d once been.

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