“That’s good. Are you taking any other medicine besides your antinausea medication?”
“Just prenatal vitamins.”
He drank part of his drink, then got to his feet, too restless to sit there. “When you walked in my office, I was on the phone with Frato.”
“I know. I recognized his voice.”
Leandros stared at her moodily. “He’s taking over for me while I’m gone.”
That statement caused her to lift startled eyes to him. “Where are you going?”
“I told him I needed a vacation, but no one knows my plans.”
“You’re taking another one?”
It didn’t surprise him she’d ask that question. A month ago he’d taken time off to fly her back to Philadelphia. He was pleased to detect a note of concern in her voice before she smoothed her hands over her knees in what he recognized was a nervous gesture. “That’s right.”
“For how long this time?”
“For as long as it takes.”
She stared at him. “I don’t understand.”
Leandros rubbed the back of his neck. “I was going to take my jet and fly to Philadelphia today to talk to you about giving us another chance. If you hadn’t come to the office this morning, we would have missed each other.”
Her eyes widened, then grew shuttered, and her lovely features hardened. “It’s too late. Our divorce will be final soon. The fact that I’m pregnant changes nothing.”
“I get that, Kellie, but I’d like you to hear me out first.”
“What more is there to say?” The bleakness in her question crushed him. “I only came to discuss future visitation for our children and get it in writing.”
He had to weigh his words carefully. “Our babies haven’t arrived yet. Until they do, we have a lot to talk about that impacts our lives right this minute. What I need you to know is that I did listen to what you said to me before I flew home from Philadelphia a month ago. To my shame, it took me until last week to come to terms with it. I can’t lose you, so I’ve made a decision that will affect both of us.”
A troubled expression entered her eyes. “That sounds ominous.”
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