The park held its share of children, some with their mothers. A few older people sat on benches talking. Several tourists on bikes had stopped to catch their breath before moving on. It was a benign scene until she noticed the striking man who sat beneath the fronds of a palm tree reading a newspaper.
There was an aura of sophistication about him. A man in control of his world. One of the most powerful men in Greece actually. Everywhere he went, his bodyguards preceded him, but she would never know who they were or where they were hidden.
Today he’d dressed in a silky blue sport shirt and tan trousers, a picture of masculine strength and a kind of rugged male beauty hard to put in words.
She glanced at the twins. They didn’t know it, but they were looking at their daddy, a man like no other who wasn’t more than ten feet away.
His intelligent eyes fringed with inky black lashes peered over the newspaper at them before he put it aside and stood up.
Gabi moved the stroller closer until they were only a few feet apart. Hardly able to breathe, she touched one dark, curly head. “This is Kris, short for Kristopher. And this…” she tousled the other gleaming cap of black curls “…is Nikos.”
Andreas hunkered down in front of them. Like finding a rare treasure, his eyes burned a silvery gray as his gaze inspected every precious centimeter, from their handsome faces to the tips of their bare toes.
He cupped their chins as if he were memorizing their features, then he let them wrap their fingers around his. Before long both his index fingers ended up in their mouths.
Gabi started to laugh. She couldn’t help it. “He tastes good, huh. You little guys must be hungry.” She undid the strap and handed Nikos to him. “Sit down on the bench and you can feed him.” In a flash she supplied him with a cloth against his shoulder and a baby bottle full of formula.
“If you’ve never done this before, don’t worry about it. The boys will do all the work. Let him drink for a minute, then pat his back gently to get rid of the air bubbles. I’ll take care of Kris.”
For the next little while, she was mostly aware of the twins making noisy sounds as they drank their bottles with the greatest of relish. Afterward they traded babies so he could get to know Kris.
Every so often the sounds were followed by several loud burps that elicited rich laughter from Andreas. When she’d approached him in his office yesterday, she hadn’t thought he was capable of it.
Any misgivings she’d had about starting up this process fled at the sight of him getting acquainted with the boys. It was a picture that would be impressed on her heart forever. Wherever Thea was, she had to be happy her sons were no longer strangers to their father, even if he’d never sought her sister out again.
Gabi didn’t know the outcome, but this meeting was something to cherish at least.
“We’ll have to make this fast because I don’t want to keep them out in the sun much longer.” She flashed him a quick glance. “Next time—if you want there to be a next time—you can take them for a walk on your own.”
He made no response. She didn’t know what to think. Another five minutes passed before she said, “There now. They’re as sated as two fat cats.” Again she heard laughter roll out of him.
Together they lowered them back into the stroller. Her arm brushed his, making her unduly aware of him. She put the empty bottles and cloths away. When she rose up, their glances collided. “I have to go,” she said. Maybe she was mistaken, but she thought the light in his eyes faded a trifle. “If you want to see them again, call me on my cell.”
Pulling out his phone, he said, “Tell me your number and I’ll program it into mine right now.”
Maybe that was a good sign. Then again maybe it wasn’t. A small shiver ran down her spine in fear that when he contacted her next, he would tell her that, cute as the boys were, he was still signing his rights away and they were all hers with his blessing.
After she’d given him her number, he pushed the stroller toward the path leading out to the street. One of the older women caught sight of the twins and shouted something about them having beautiful children.
“Efharisto,” Andreas called back, thanking the woman as if this were an everyday occurrence.
Gabi didn’t want to tear herself away, but her mother would worry if she wasn’t back soon and would want to know why the delay. “I really have to go.”
“I know,” he said in a husky tone before giving the boys a kiss on their foreheads. “I’ll be in touch.”
With those long powerful strides, he left the park going one way while she trundled along with the stroller going the other. The farther apart they got, the more fearful she grew.
He wasn’t indifferent to the twins. She knew that. She’d felt it and seen it. But one meeting with his children didn’t mean he wanted to take on the lifetime responsibility of parenting them. Between his work and girlfriends he wouldn’t have much time to fit in the twins.
She’d told him she’d be leaving for Virginia next week. If he didn’t want her to take them away, he needed to make up his mind soon.
Maybe he would compromise. She’d raise them and he’d be one of those drop-in daddies. For the boys’ sake Gabi couldn’t bear the thought of it, but having a daddy around once in a while, even if he only flew into D.C. from Greece once a year with a present, was better for them than no daddy at all, wasn’t it? Gabi loved her own father so much, she couldn’t imagine life without him.
The only thing to do now was brace herself for his next phone call.
Accompanied by his bodyguards, Andreas rushed toward the helicopter waiting for him at the Heraklion airport. Once he’d climbed aboard, he directed his pilot to fly him to the Simonides villa on Milos where the whole clan had congregated for the weekend.
Last night there’d been a party to celebrate his sister Melina’s thirtieth birthday, but he’d been forced to miss it because of a life and death situation. Gabi Turner had been right about that.
Though his married sister had been gracious over the phone, he knew she’d been hurt by his excuse that something unavoidable had come up to detain him in Athens. He’d promised to make it up to her, but that kind of occasion in her honor with extended family in attendance only happened once a year. Now the moment was gone.
Yet, sorry as he was, he had something much more vital on his mind and couldn’t think about anything else. Throughout the flight he still felt the strong tug of those little mouths on his fingers. Their touch had sent the most peculiar sensation through Andreas.
Even though he had ten nieces and nephews, he hadn’t been involved in their nurturing. The closest he’d come was to hold their weightless bodies as they were being passed around at a family party after coming home from the hospital.
Today had been something totally different. It was as if the blinders had come off, but he hadn’t known they existed until contact was made. Kris and Nikos weren’t just babies. Those excited bodies with their bright eyes and faces belonged to a pair of little guys who one day would grow up to be big guys. Guys who had the Simonides stamp written all over them.
As soon as he entered the main villa Andreas went in search of his vivacious mother, who was in the kitchen supervising dinner preparations with the cook, Tina.
“There you are, darling,” she said the minute she saw him.
He gave her a kiss, already anticipating her next comment. “My absence was unavoidable.”
Her expressive dark brows lifted. “A delicate merger?”
“Incredibly delicate,” he muttered. The memory of Nikos and Kris so trusting in his arms as they inhaled their formula never left his