Christakis's Rebellious Wife(65)

                Happiness foamed up inside Betsy, banishing the pain, the worry, the insecurity, and opening up a view of the future that was gloriously inviting. ‘I was really scared that you only came back to me to give our marriage another chance because I was pregnant.’

                ‘That was only my excuse. The truth is that I wanted to come back and once I got the idea in my head I couldn’t wait to do it,’ he confided, looking at her with tender appreciation. ‘I can’t face my life without you in it.’

                Betsy pushed her face into his throat, breathing in the familiar scent of him with huge satisfaction, knowing he was finally home with her in every way. ‘Will Cristo ever forgive you for what happened tonight?’

                ‘We’ve made our peace. He knows he was in the wrong.’

                Betsy studied him in dismay. ‘That’s not what—’

                ‘He shouldn’t have had any feelings for you at all and he knows it,’ Nik parried stubbornly.

                ‘I’m tired,’ she whispered, briefly resting her heavy head down on his shoulder. ‘Let’s go to bed before it gets any later.’

                In the hall, Nik lifted her up to carry her upstairs.

                ‘You don’t need to do that any more,’ she reminded him gently.

                ‘Carrying you gives me a kick, latria mou.’ Nik laid her down on their bed and a charismatic smile flashed across his wide, sensual mouth. ‘And when one of you becomes three and the babies are born, life will be even better because I’ll have two extra people to take care of.’

                ‘And we’ll all be very demanding,’ Betsy forecast in warning as he unzipped her gown and helped her to take it off.

                ‘I love you enough to put up with anything you care to throw at me, pethi mou,’ Nik asserted, sliding into bed beside her to reach for her slight body and ease her close. ‘I think I must have fallen for you the very first time I saw you because I couldn’t get you out of my mind.’

                Her pale fingers skated lovingly through his silky black hair as she relaxed into the circle of his arms. ‘It was mutual,’ Betsy confirmed drowsily, winding her arms round his neck. ‘I need to get up and take my make-up off. Don’t let me fall asleep...’

                But Nik was much too content holding his sleeping wife to wake her up. Wide awake, he luxuriated in his wonderfully new sense of peace and contentment. Betsy stirred and snuggled into him with a faint sigh of satisfaction as even in sleep he was the source of her security. In the darkness, Nik smiled. This, he was convinced, was the essence of being happy...

                * * *

                Baby giggles filled the air as Nik chased his twin daughters across the beach. ‘Come back here!’ he yelled, finally acknowledging defeat.

                From the picnic rug, Betsy waved baby cups of juice and Dido and Ione hurried back to claim them, little toddler legs moving fast and confidently. In the sunlight the diamond-studded eternity ring that Nik had presented her with when they became parents glittered on her wedding finger. Their daughters were almost two years old now and full of spirit. They were identical twins, rejoicing in black curls, olive skin and their mother’s blue eyes.

                Rolling his eyes at the ease with which Betsy had contrived to recall the two little girls, Nik folded his long, lithe sun-bronzed body fluidly down on the rug beside his wife. ‘Why don’t they do what I tell them to?’ he demanded.

                ‘You spoil them and you never tell them off,’ Betsy pointed out as the toddlers arrived to claim their cups and drink thirstily from the plastic spouts.