The Giannakis Bride(28)

"So," Hermione continued, "I phoned my husband a little while ago and  told him I will be visiting my granddaughter this morning."

"And how did he take it?"

"Oh, he growled and muttered, just as I knew he would, then asked when  he might expect me home. I said I'd be there sometime this afternoon,  and that whether or not I stayed depended on how reasonable he was  prepared to be."

Brianna couldn't help herself. She hiccupped with laughter. "You did not!"

"Yes," Hermione said placidly. "I did."

"And what did he have to say to that?"

"He growled and muttered some more, but in the end asked what he should  tell Artemis, our cook, to make for dinner." She laughed then, too. "I  chalked that up as one victory for me."

"Do you think it's going to be that easy to change him?"

"Of course not. Nor do I really want to change him all that much. I have  loved Mihalis with all his flaws for the better part of forty years. I  don't relish the prospect of finding myself married to a stranger at  this late date. All I want is for him to show his son and granddaughter  and you the good heart he so seldom lets anyone but me ever see. Did you  know, for instance, that when he heard Poppy was hospitalized, he  donated a huge sum to the clinic, anonymously?"                       
       
           



       

"Dimitrios said his father refuses to acknowledge Poppy."

"Dimitrios has never brought Poppy to meet her grandfather. The last  time my husband and son sat down to a meal together and exchanged  anything resembling civilities was almost nine years ago. They have been  estranged ever since."

"But you met Poppy."

"I went to see her in the hospital when she was born. Mihalis refused to  come with me. He would not give Dimitrios the chance to turn him away.  And Dimitrios would not give his father the chance to reject his  granddaughter."

"A vicious circle," Brianna murmured, realizing what she should have  known all along: that there were always two sides to every story.

"Precisely. One that has been in effect for a very long time, and since  neither of these proud, stubborn men I love so dearly will break the  cycle, then I have decided that I must. And thanks to you, my dear, I  feel confident that I can do so. You are the kind of woman I once was. I  intend to become that woman again."

"I'm glad," Brianna said, "and, Hermione, I'm so proud of you.  Hopefully, between us, we can bring about some sort of lasting peace in  this family."

Hermione covered her hand. "When women stand together, they're  unstoppable, so if I fall back into my old, weak ways, I shall count on  you to set me straight again."

"Consider it done." She finished the last of her yogurt, drank her coffee and laid her napkin to one side. "So, what next?"

"Dimitrios thought you'd want to see Poppy."

"Yes, I spend most mornings with her. I'm usually up earlier and he  drops me off at the clinic on his way to work, but I slept in today."

"That's what he said, but he didn't want to disturb you. Instead, he  left instructions for Spiros to drive you to Kifissia when you're ready,  and suggested I might go with you. He'll meet us for lunch later and  after that … " She shrugged and made a little face. "Then I go home and  face the music."

"Does that worry you, Hermione?"

"I'm a little apprehensive, I suppose. This is new territory for me,  after all. But my mind is made up. From now on, Mihalis will have to  dance to my tune, at least some of the time. And knowing I have you and  Dimitrios behind me, well, that makes all the difference. You're very  good for him, you know."

Brianna thought of the night just past and felt a blush stealing over  her face. The lovemaking had been amazing and wonderful and stupendous.  But there'd been so much more to it than just sex. She and Dimitrios had  reached a new depth of understanding, of commitment. There'd  undoubtedly be more rocky times ahead, but for the first time she really  believed that together they could overcome whatever life flung at them.

"He's very good for me," she said. "We're good for each other."

Hermione nodded. "Yes. A match made in heaven."

Yesterday Brianna had questioned that. Today she almost believed it.





Chapter 11





She floated on the same cloud of optimism throughout the following week.  Although no word came through on the test results, Poppy was holding  her own and thrived under the extra attention of a grandmother who came  to see her most days.

From all accounts, Hermione was gradually chipping away at her husband's  obstreperous insistence that she choose between him and their son. "He  claims my first loyalty is to my husband," she confided to Brianna on  the Wednesday, her brown eyes sparkling with something close to  indignation. "He says that when I married him, I promised to be a  dutiful, obedient wife. I pointed out that didn't translate into my  becoming his doormat."

"I shudder to think how he responded to that!"

"Actually, he was so taken aback that at first he didn't react at all.  Then he glowered as only he can, and grumbled under his breath that  women today were too bold and didn't know their proper place in life.  And I said I knew exactly my place-it wasn't under his heel, and  suggested he get used to the idea."

Was this really the same timid mouse who'd crept into the ladies' room  at the yacht club less than a week ago, Brianna wondered. But then she  remembered Dimitrios telling her that his mother had once been a  vivacious, spirited woman, so perhaps the person she was looking at now  was the real Hermione Poulos.                       
       
           



       

"Well, I've been working on Dimitrios, too, and trying to get him to  soften his attitude toward his father," she said. "He puts up a good  front of pretended indifference, but I suspect he's not as averse to the  idea as he pretends to be."

Hermione sighed. "I suppose, if truth be told, they're both tired of  being at odds. They just don't know how to bring about an armistice  without losing face."

Regardless of the issues separating Dimitrios and his father, however,  between Brianna and Dimitrios blissful harmony reigned. On the Thursday  night they had a picnic dinner in the quiet cove below the villa. They  sat on a blanket and toasted each other with champagne. They ate salad  and wonderful Greek bread Erika had baked just that morning, and big fat  prawns which Dimitrios grilled over an open fire. For dessert there  were fresh figs and apricots and decadent little squares of baklava. And  when the fire dwindled to glowing embers and the moon rose round and  yellow over the sea, he withdrew a little box from the picnic hamper and  slid a dazzling two-carat diamond and platinum solitaire on her finger.

"Now it's official," he declared, lifting her hand to his mouth. "You're mine and I'll never let you go."

If he sounded a tad too triumphant, as if he'd just pulled off a  business coup that left his competitors eating his dust, she supposed it  was understandable. After all, they'd traveled a rough, unhappy road to  get to this point, but she was finally where she'd always wanted to be,  wasn't she? So why quibble over a few words uttered in the heat of the  moment? Still, she couldn't help saying lightly, "This ring designates  me your fiancée, Dimitrios, not a corporate acquisition."

He drew her down on the blanket and ran a possessive hand over her body.  "It signifies to the whole world that you're everything I want, chrisi  mou kardia. Everything I need."

And with the night as witness, he showed her just how deeply he wanted  and needed her, making love to her with such exquisite tenderness, such  masterful finesse, that her silly doubts sank into oblivion. The moon  rose higher, spilling over their naked bodies in tacit blessing. The  waves rolled gently ashore, whispering approval. The entire universe  narrowed to a few yards of sand still warm from the day's heat, and the  only man she'd ever loved.

Hermione, of course, was thrilled to see the ring on Brianna's finger.  Erika clucked like a proud mother hen. Alexio and even the taciturn  Spiros beamed. Just briefly the dark cloud that had hovered over the  villa for so long lifted, and the sun broke through again. There was to  be a wedding, a bride, a celebration.

But first, there was the gala to get through on Saturday evening. The  high point of the season before people fled the summer heat of Athens  and left it to the tourists, it also marked Brianna's official debut  into society as the future Kyria Dimitrios Giannakis.