had been less of a problem than it might have been, owing to the fact that within three months of Jill meeting Theodore—just after the two girls had finished university— Sophy had been offered a wonderful opportunity on the strength of her degree in Maths and Business Studies to work in London as a trainee buyer for one of the top fashion companies.
She had left Cambridge—her home town—within the month, just days before Jill had discovered she was pregnant with Michael, necessitating a hasty register office wedding which Sophy had attended before shooting off back to the capital. From that point the twins’ lives had gone in very different directions—Jill looking after her family and helping her husband in his very successful restaurant business, of which Christos was a partner, and Sophy following her own star in her dream career and rising to her present position of fashion buyer.
Sophy had always held the private opinion that Theodore had got her sister pregnant purposely, knowing Jill was unable to take the Pill due to being the one woman in several hundred thousand it made ill—but she had been wise enough to keep her suspicions to herself. However, over the years she had seen her sister change from the bright, sparkling, happy creature of former days to a mere shadow of the old Jill: quiet, withdrawn and totally under her dominant husband’s control. But Jill had never complained and had always changed the subject when Sophy had tried to ascertain if all was well, and so she had had to leave the matter of Jill’s marriage alone and respect her twin’s privacy.
‘So…’ Sophy brought their attention back to the letter lying at the side of the laundry basket which had started their discussion in the first place. ‘You feel you ought to go and meet Theodore’s family, then.’ She could understand her sister’s decision a little better in view of what had transpired, although it still felt like allowing a lamb to walk into the wolf’s den.
‘Just for a short holiday, like they’ve suggested. They can meet Michael and, more importantly, Michael can meet them and get to know the only grandparents he has.’ The twins’ father had walked out just after they were born and their mother had died some years ago.
‘And then?’ Sophy asked gently.
‘Then we’ll come back and carry on like before,’ Jill said quietly. ‘I can help Christos in the business; we’ve already talked about that, and Michael can carry on at his present school with all his friends. I wouldn’t even think about staying out there, Sophy, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
She didn’t know what she was worried about exactly, except that if the family were anything at all like Theodore they would persuade her easy-going sister that black was white. Jill had always been the malleable, docile one, acquiescent to a fault and utterly unable to stand up for herself.
‘Look, if you’re uneasy about me going alone with Michael, why don’t you come too?’ Jill said matter-of-factly. ‘Theodore’s father has already offered to pay for me and Michael and a friend—his suggestion, Sophy. He wrote I might feel more comfortable if I brought a friend along too. I’d much prefer you to come with me but I thought you’d probably be too busy. I know you’ve been backwards and forwards to Paris like a boomerang the last few weeks and I didn’t want to add to your stress levels!’
‘That’s all finished now the collections are reviewed,’ Sophy said thoughtfully. ‘The next few weeks will be more low-key, besides which I’ve still got some holiday left from last year, let alone this! When are you thinking of going?’
‘Any time. I’ll fit in with you,’ Jill said quickly. ‘Do you think you could come, then? Oh, Sophy, it’d make all the difference!’ And she burst into tears again which immediately settled the issue as far as Sophy was concerned, without another word being said.
Jill needed her. The job, work commitments and anything else came a very poor second to that.
The Greek airport was typical of all airports, crowded and noisy and confusing, but the journey had been relatively comfortable and Michael’s excited chatter had kept both women occupied and taken their minds off the forthcoming meeting with Theodore’s estranged family. Sophy had been busy with making sure their luggage was intact and that Michael didn’t disappear for the last few minutes—Jill being in something of a daze—and so she only became aware of the tall dark man waiting for them when Jill gripped her arm and breathed, ‘Sophy, that’s Andreas, Theodore’s brother—it has to be. Look how he’s watching us.’
She turned to look in the direction in which her sister was staring, keeping one hand on Michael who was jumping about like a small jack-in-the-box, and then became transfixed herself as her eyes met the hard, black, narrowed gaze riveted on the women.
There was no time to make any comment because in the next instant the man was making his way towards them, his tall, lean powerful body cutting through the crowd as though it didn’t exist.
‘Mrs Karydis? Jill Karydis?’ His voice was deep and gravelly and strongly accented, and dark eyes flashed from one twin to the other, eyes that were set in a face that was cold and handsome.
Jill seemed to have gone into some sort of frozen limbo, and after waiting a second Sophy was forced to say, ‘This is Jill,’ as she indicated the pale silent figure at her side, ‘and Michael too of course,’ as she brought her small nephew in front of her. ‘How do you do, Mr…?’
‘Please call me Andreas.’
As soon as she had spoken, he had transferred his attention to Jill, who was gripping Sophy’s arm as though her life depended on it, and still didn’t seem able to speak. And then, as he held out his hand, Jill seemed to come to life—much to Sophy’s relief—saying, ‘Hello, Andreas,’ as she let go of her sister’s arm. ‘Thank you so much for coming to meet us.’
‘It is a pleasure,’ Theodore’s brother said coolly.
Sophy could well understand Jill’s present state of shock because she was feeling a bit that way herself. The man in front of them was nothing like Theodore—which was a relief in one way. Theodore had been just a little taller than Jill, his light brown hair and brown eyes pleasant but unremarkable, and his body stocky if anything.
His brother was aggressively handsome, at least six foot tall, with a powerful top-heavy masculinity that didn’t detract from the lean muscled body’s impact on the senses. His eyes were not dark brown, as she had thought, but a deep compelling grey, and his hair was black—jet-black.
But there was one area in which Andreas’s resemblance to his brother was evident: there was no sign of softness about him at all. He could have been fashioned from a slab of granite.
And then Sophy had to recant the last thought as the grey eyes fastened on Michael’s inquiring young face, and, letting go of his sister-in-law’s hand, Andreas knelt down in front of his young nephew and said softly, ‘Manchester United, eh?’ He nodded gently at Michael’s tee-shirt—his favourite, which Sophy had bought her nephew for his last birthday—as he said, ‘I, too, am a fan of the football. We will have to have a kick around together, yes? You would like this, Michael?
‘Yes.’ It was said with great fervency. And then Michael added, his voice quieter, ‘You’re my daddy’s brother, aren’t you?’
Andreas didn’t move and his face didn’t change as he said softly, ‘Yes, Michael, I am your daddy’s brother, which makes me your uncle. This is good, eh? This means that already we are friends?’
Brown eyes, very like Theodore’s, stared into grey, and for a long moment Michael surveyed his new uncle. And then, coming
