something.
As appealing as it was to remain here on this idyllic island with its clear blue water, gentle sea breeze and charming village, she couldn’t hijack her brother’s life. She’d been here long enough. It was time to head home to Athens.
“Let’s go for a walk.” Stasia took the last sip of her iced coffee.
Xander scooped up the cruise ticket and then got to his feet. “Lead the way.”
She didn’t have any particular destination in mind. She just needed to move. “I’ve never seen you happier.”
“I am happy,” he said. “My life is complete. And...and I feel guilty.”
Stasia stopped walking and faced her brother. “Why should you feel guilty?”
“Because when you were so happy with Lukos, I was being foolish and getting in your way. And by the time I got my head on straight about your husband, he was...well...”
“He was dying.” She never thought she’d be able to say those words without breaking into a fit of tears. The memory of losing Lukos far too soon still hurt. She supposed it always would, but she was learning to live with the loss. “It’s okay, Xander. You can say he died. I won’t break into a million messy pieces.”
The look in his eyes said he wasn’t sure he believed her. “I miss him too. You do know we got to be good friends at the end.”
“I know.” The friendship between her husband and brother might not have happened as soon as she would have liked, but she was grateful they’d worked out their differences. She wasn’t sure how she’d have made it through that dark period without her brother by her side. “Lukos thought of you like a brother when he died.”
Xander reached out and gave her a great big hug. Lukos had made her promise that, no matter what happened in life, she wouldn’t let anything come between her and Xander. She’d made the promise. It hadn’t been hard. She loved her brother and she always would. She couldn’t imagine anything coming between them. He was stuck with his little sister for life.
Xander pulled back and placed the ticket in her hand. “This is your birthday gift. Please take it. I have it on good authority that you always wanted to take the cruise.”
She’d only told one person about her desire to cruise around Greece, Montenegro, Croatia and Italy. It would be her trial run to see if she enjoyed voyages before booking something a little farther from home, say the Caribbean, or possibly something a bit cooler, like Norway.
“Lukos told you?” She said it matter-of-factly.
Xander nodded. “He was disappointed he never got to take you on a cruise.”
Xander’s words took the fight out of her. She’d forgotten all about the things she’d wanted to do before Lukos got sick. They somehow seemed so trivial after all that had happened. Maybe Lukos somehow knew she would feel that way and this was his way of propelling her forward.
And now there were no more excuses—no more reasons to cling so tightly to the past. She needed to fulfill her husband’s final wish. She needed to look to the future and find her new path in life.
Her choice needed to be something meaningful. She needed a purpose, a compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning.
Her husband had done his best to watch out for her, leaving her enough money that, when combined with what she’d inherited from her family, it would keep her quite comfortable for the rest of her life. But she couldn’t wake up in the morning, enjoy her coffee and drift through the rest of the day. That wasn’t how she’d been raised.
She needed a reason to get excited. She needed a goal to strive for and even some setbacks to overcome to remind her of life’s many blessings. But what she didn’t need was being patted on her head and dismissed because people thought she wasn’t up to the challenge.
“Okay. I’ll go.” She forced a smile to her lips. All the talk of Lukos had deflated her mood. He should be going with her on this adventure, but she knew he would always be in her heart—it just wasn’t the same.
“And when you get back, I’ll have a business deal or two for you to look over. If one of them isn’t to your liking, I’ll keep looking until we find the right deal for you.”
She didn’t say anything about her waning interest in the real-estate market and wanting to strike out on her own. But she wanted a firm plan before she said anything to anyone.
“Thank you.” She hugged him again.
This cruise was going to be a turning point in her life. She’d take her laptop with her and make it a working trip. When she got back, she’d have her life all planned out.
Two weeks later... Athens, Greece
“DID YOU MAKE IT to the ship in time?”
“Why would I be late?” Stasia stood on the busy deck. She pressed the phone to her ear, straining to hear her brother over the voices of dozens of excited travelers.
Xander sighed. “Must you answer a question with a question?”
A smile pulled at Stasia’s lips. “Why must you act like the overprotective brother?”
She knew the answer. Xander felt guilty because he was happily married with a baby girl, not to mention living on a private Greek island. And she, well, she was alone now.
Not so long ago, she’d been happy when her college sweetheart had become her husband. Back then, they’d had dreams—lots of dreams. However, it was all cut short when a stomachache turned out to be so much worse than the flu.
From that point, their dreams radically changed. Instead of wishing for exotic vacations, they started wishing for just one more Christmas, one more birthday, one more month, one more day. Stasia halted her thoughts. She pushed away the heart-wrenching memories before she drowned in them.
She’d been on her own for nearly two years now. There had been a lot of tears shed over that time—her first Christmas alone, her first anniversary alone. And when filling out forms, her hand would hover over the married box before ultimately checking single. It hadn’t been easy learning to be a widow—not at all.
Eventually she’d been able to donate Lukos’s clothes, including his tailored suits and silk ties. It took a long time until she could bear to slip off her wedding ring and place it with Lukos’s in the back of her jewelry box.
Her thumb nervously rubbed over her ring finger. It was something she’d started to do when she’d waited in the doctors’ offices and hospital waiting rooms. Feeling the smoothness of her wedding band and knowing the love behind it had somehow bolstered her strength to face the horrible diagnosis Lukos had been given.
She glanced down at her now bare finger.
She was on her own. Each step had taken time. Some steps were big and some were tiny. Each of them had pulled on her heartstrings.
“I...
