He nodded. “The one he sees now is at the main clinic here on the island.” The same place her new OB practiced. “His name is Dr. Ganis.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you’re back. I don’t want him to know I heard anything until I’ve talked to the doctor.”
“I think that would be best.”
“Does he have flashbacks often?”
“Since he got out of the hospital, he had one the first night on the yacht, and last night.”
“The wedding must have triggered thoughts of Kon. I’d better go below so he doesn’t know I was up here.”
“That’s a good idea. He’ll notice the red mark along your jaw.”
Yannis didn’t miss much. “I’ll cover it with makeup.” She patted his arm before hurrying toward the stairs.
The first thing she did on entering her room was get the card for her appointment out of her purse. Once she found it, she phoned the off-hours service at the clinic and left word for Dr. Ganis to call her back ASAP. As soon as she mentioned it was Mrs. Nikos Vassalos calling about her husband, the receptionist said she’d get in touch with the doctor right away.
For the next hour Stephanie got ready for the day. First her pills, then she took a shower and washed her hair. By the time she’d finished blow drying it, marks had come out on her left arm. She’d been afraid of that.
An application of makeup to the small blotch near her chin helped, plus a coating of mango frost lipstick. Then she headed for the closet. Stephanie thanked providence she’d had the foresight to buy a long-sleeved blouse. It was an all-over print in a gauzy fabric that hung just below the waist. She put it on and matched it with a pair of white pleated pants that accommodated her thickening figure.
Stephanie had just put on some lotion when 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