the cabin with the twin beds. If you can’t make love, then please tell me. Don’t you know it could never matter to me?”
He reared his head in obvious surprise. “There’s nothing wrong with me in that department.”
For a moment she couldn’t breathe, she was so thrilled to hear that news, for his sake. “I—I’m sorry if I jumped to the wrong conclusion,” she stammered. “Thank heaven you’re all right.”
But another part of her was humiliated to have given herself away. It meant he had another reason for not making love to her. Afraid she knew what it was, she got off the bed and put the fallen quilt back on the crib railing.
“Looking back on the explosion, I suppose you could say the collateral damage didn’t take everything away,” he murmured.
Needing to do something to deflect the pain after that grim assessment, she started cleaning up the mess they’d made. He took the plastic from her hands. “I’ll take care of this.”
Unable to meet his gaze, she reached for a book she’d been reading, and hurried up on deck to put distance between them. Now that she knew the whole truth of their situation from her husband’s lips, she could envision what life had been like after Nikos’s father accused his mother of being unfaithful, all of it based on a vicious rumor. The thought that the baby might not be his had changed the dynamics of their marriage.
Was Nikos following the same pattern? Unsure of her still, would he go only so far and no further while he waited for the result in January?
Stephanie had thought her husband was beginning to believe their baby was his. A few minutes ago she’d felt closer to him than she’d thought possible. Though she could shout it to the heavens that the stamp of a Vassalos would be on their little boy, she would never be able to convince Nikos of it until after the delivery.
“Stephanie?”
She wheeled around just as she’d arranged a lounger to sit in while she read. “Yannis! I didn’t know you were here. We thought you wouldn’t be back until tonight.”
“I’ve got some repair work to do and decided to get at it before dark.”
Put on a good face.
She could tell he was dying to know how her doctor’s visit went, but he was never one to pry into her business. “We got back a while ago. Nikos set up a crib in my room. You’ll be impressed what a good job he did. Our baby boy will be very happy in it.”
A grin broke out on the man’s bronzed face. “You’re going to have a son?”
“That’s what the doctor said. We plan to call him Alex.”
“That’s a fine family name.”
“Yes. Ask Nikos to show you a picture.”
The older seaman’s eyes looked suspiciously bright. “I’m very happy for you.”
“We’re happy, too.” She would keep up the pretense if it killed her. “Thank you for all your kindness to me, Yannis. You do so many things to help me, and I’m grateful.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
“Nikos couldn’t get along without you, even if you do put him through torture every day helping him do his exercises. But you already know that, don’t you?”
For once she saw him blush.
“He’s a slave driver, all right.” Nikos had just joined them. “I guess my wife has told you the news.”
Yannis clapped him on the shoulder. “She says you have a photo.”
“Right here.” Nikos pulled it out of his pocket.
The seaman’s eyes squinted against the light to get a good look. “He’s beautiful, like his mother.”
“I was just telling her he’ll have the most beautiful woman on the island for his mana.”
But you can’t take credit for being the father yet, her heart cried.
Stephanie would have to harden herself, because this was going to be the way of it for the next five months.
CHAPTER NINE
December 10
STEPHANIE LOVED HER Greek lessons. For the last four months Yannis had driven her faithfully to and from the school on Oinoussa every weekday after breakfast for her two-hour session with Borus. The forty-year-old was a part-time counselor who was glad for the extra money. He was also a lot of fun.
The closer she drew to her delivery date, the more taciturn and anxious Nikos had become. Whether or not he believed this child was his, she knew he worried. Even though Dr. Panos had assured him at every appointment that she was coming along normally, with no unexpected complications, he didn’t seem to quite believe it, and hovered over her until there were times when she wanted to scream.
With the baby due in three weeks, he argued with her that she should stop the lessons. A month ago he’d told her no more swimming with Tassos’s wife in order to give her scuba pointers.
While they were eating breakfast this morning, she asked Nikos if he was ordering her to stay home today. The question turned his features into a cool mask before he told her the lessons would end when her teacher left for the Christmas holidays on the seventeenth.
With that pronouncement Nikos got up from the table, taking his coffee with him to the lounge to work. These days the Diomedes stayed in port and he used a small cruiser to travel back and forth from the rig erected offshore.
To her joy his business with Tassos was growing, and he’d acquired rights to drill off some of the other uninhabited islands of the Oinousses cluster. His strong concern for the environment made certain there’d be no damage to the local habitat.
As usual when Stephanie came out of class, she tried out what she’d learned on Yannis, who was an excellent teacher himself. But today when he greeted her, she could tell he had something serious on his mind.
“What’s wrong? Has something happened to Nikos?” she cried in alarm.
“No, no.”
“Thank goodness.” She had to wait for her heartbeat to slow down.
“You have a visitor on board. She’s very anxious to talk to you.”
Stephanie frowned. “Who?”
“Kyria Vassalos, Nikos’s mother.”
“Oh...” She couldn’t believe it. “Is Nikos with her?”
“No. He’s gone to the rig. She came when she knew he wouldn’t be here.”
“How did she know?”
“Because I worked for her when he was just a boy. We’ve always been friends.”
“Which means you’ve always kept her
