Her anger flared. “Last night you questioned if it was even yours.”
“Last night I was in denial that a miracle had happened.”
She shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“A lot has occurred since we last saw each other.” He didn’t need to tell her that. Her whole world had been turned upside down. “I was in a boating accident that landed me in the hospital with a spinal injury.”
Stephanie bit her lip, pained by the news. “I knew something was wrong,” she whispered. “Sometimes you’re a little unsteady. I noticed it wh-when you were holding me.”
“Nothing gets past you, does it? Your unexpected presence on the Diomedes gave me away. Fortunately, I’m getting stronger every day and use the cane only when I’m tired. But I’m not the man I once was and never will be. Furthermore, the accident had certain repercussions I can’t do anything about.”
Her mouth went dry. She was almost afraid to hear. “What are they?”
“For one thing, my injury left me sterile.”
Sterile?
A slight gasp escaped her lips, for she knew that kind of news had to be soul wrenching to a man. “Surely it’s only a temporary setback?”
“No.” His eyes again narrowed to slits. “It’s permanent.” The throb in his voice carried its own haunting tale.
Stephanie pressed her hand to her mouth to stifle her cry. “I’m so sorry, Nikos. I hardly know what to say.”
“Perhaps now you understand why your coming here to tell me you’re pregnant, at the very moment I’ve been dealing with my news, made me go out of my head for a little while. After having to give up all hope of having my own child, I suppose I was afraid to believe you were telling me the truth.”
Stephanie’s lungs tightened while she tried to absorb the revelation. “What was the other repercussion?” She feared it was going to be horrible, too.
“My best friend died in the accident.”
“Kon Gregerov?”
Nikos nodded gravely.
“Oh, no...” She couldn’t hold back the tears. They rolled down her cheeks. He’d mentioned his friend several times while they’d been diving. He’d told her they were closer than he was to his own brother. They’d grown up together and would have done anything for each other.
After such trauma, was it any wonder he’d changed so completely in every way? Other than anger over what life had dealt him, Nikos had to feel dead inside. If their positions were reversed, Stephanie knew her life would look black to her.
“Now that you’ve heard the truth from me, here’s my proposition. I want to marry you as soon as possible, and we’ll live here. It will mean having to give up your job. You can either sell or rent your condo, and put your car and furnishings in storage for the time being.
“It’s the only way I can protect you and the baby. But it wouldn’t have been fair to you if I hadn’t told you I can’t give you more children. Millions of other men can. You need to think about that very carefully before you commit yourself legally to me.”
Stephanie was thinking. It was a shock that she was going to have a baby at all. Right now she couldn’t contemplate having more children. Though she knew Nikos wasn’t in love with her, she had proof he’d been deadly honest with her just now. Knowing the only child he would ever have was on the way might give him a reason to go on living.
But there was a part of him that didn’t know if he was the father or not. And she had concerns, too, if a marriage between them was going to take place. She knew so little about him.
“Nikos?” She wiped the moisture off her face. “What is it you do for a living?”
He put his hands in his back pockets. “I used to work for the family shipping business. Now I’m in the process of starting up something new with Kon’s elder brother. It’s a project we used to talk about a lot.”
“What’s his name?”
“Tassos. He’s a good friend, too, and married, with a child.”
“Does it have to do with shipping?”
“No. We’re planning to drill for natural gas in this part of the Aegean.”
She knew Nikos was extraordinary, but to consider such an undertaking meant he was a man with vision. It took away her fear that he may have lost interest in everything, including life. To know he was working on something so vital for his own well-being, not to mention his country, thrilled her. Suddenly all those maps and charts she’d seen in the desk made sense.
“You don’t need to worry that I can’t take care of you,” he said mockingly.
“Don’t be absurd. The thought never crossed my mind. Nikos? Have you ever been married?”
A caustic laugh escaped. “No, although my family has had a girl picked out for me for years now.”
Someone he loved? “You mean a beautiful, well-heeled Greek woman of a good family from your social class. Until I showed up yesterday, were you planning to marry her?”
“No. Natasa wants children. That’s the one thing I can’t give her.”
But he’s given one to me, his only one. Stephanie’s heart rejoiced, despite the fact she knew he wasn’t in love with her.
“When the news gets out that you and I are married, she’ll have to move on,” he muttered.
Nikos hadn’t answered her question, but it didn’t matter. Having another woman waiting at home, approved of by his family, explained why he’d never made a commitment to Stephanie on the island. She had enough charity in her heart to feel sorry for Natasa. Nikos was a prize who stood out from every male she’d ever met.
“If I were to agree to marry you, I wouldn’t want a big wedding, Nikos.”
“That’s one area we fully agree on. We’ll have it take place in private, with only Yannis and the Gregerov family as witnesses.”
Alarmed, she turned to him. “Not even your parents?”
“Especially not them.” Stephanie cringed, there was so much heat behind his declaration. “My father and I have been at odds for a long time.”
“Your mother, too?”
“Let’s just say she’s loyal to my father and takes his part in most everything, to keep things civil.”
That’s why Nikos had never spoken of them on vacation. What could have happened to cause such a breach? “I’m sorry.”
He eyed her soulfully. “No more sorry than I am for you to have lived with the hurt your mother inflicted, even if she did it for what she believed were the right reasons. My father justifies his decisions in the same way, without considering the damage. You and I share a common bond in that regard.”
A world of hurt laced his words.
“After we’re married, we’ll drop by the house for a visit and tell them. They’ll come around after the baby’s born. My parents want grandchildren.”
Stephanie eyed him carefully. “Do they know that the accident made you s-sterile?” she stammered.
Frown lines marred his face. “No. To them, children are everything. I don’t ever want them to know.”
She could understand that. If his family pitied him, he’d never be able to handle it. Stephanie was coming to find out what a private person he was. “Have you considered how they’ll feel about me when we’re introduced? I’m afraid they’ll never see a pregnant American woman from a single family, with no father in the picture, as worthy